Too many f***ing deer in NJ (Opinion)

Unless you live in the middle of a heavily populated urban area in New Jersey, you may have noticed that we have a deer problem. The problem is so bad in the suburbs and rural areas that you can find a dead deer on almost every road in the state right now. The problem is so bad for farmers that they have taken to high measures to try to assess just how many of these critters they're dealing with, to figure out the best way to get rid of them.

They're using drones to determine the amount which can be as much as 114 per square mile as measured in Princeton. Good luck avoiding hitting one, especially right now during the rut, or mating season. The males are crazy with the "urge to merge" and are chasing doe everywhere, and both sexes (yes deer still have two sexes) are running out in the road in the frenzy.

I can count up to 15 deer in my backyard in Evesham, Burlington County, just about every day of the year. A listener sent these pictures of multiple deer (above) and turkeys standing across the street from his house in Holiday City, a 55 plus community near Toms River. He was putting up a sign and they decided to stay a while and watch. This morning I passed an accident involving three cars and a deer. The DEP has lengthened hunting seasons and increased limits on taking of deer, but that may not be enough to stop what is clearly a situation out of control.

They carry ticks and cause millions of dollars in vehicle damage and injury every year, not to mention the human death toll. The machinery of state government moves slowly, so I guess a few dozen more people will have to die and a few more thousand cars will have to be totaled before drastic measures are put in place. The deer are in "rut" right now but state government is in a permanent rut. Both cost us a fortune.

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