Southland Deer Trapped in Net of Progress

A mule deer is minding his own business in the back-country of northern Orange County when a helicopter swoops low and chases him into a net.

The deer squirms and bleats a pathetic cry as handlers wrap leather hobbles around his legs.

“Don’t be afraid to pull it tight,� says Bob Tiegle, a big-game capture specialist for the California Department of Fish and Game. “It’s not going to hurt ‘em.�

Easy for him to say.

Once bound, the deer is blindfolded to calm him, injected with vitamins and has blood drawn. His temperature is taken and a radio transmitter collar is attached so the people performing these indignities will know where to find him the next time.

“Deer are typically high-strung,� says Jon Fischer, a DFG wildlife biologist. “They’ll make noise, acting like they’re hurt, but they’re not. I’m sure they’re scared--a lot.�

If the deer only knew. They will never understand it’s all an act of kindness designed to protect them from graver, future threats in a battle they cannot win and can only hope to survive.

If mountain lions don’t get them . . .

If grazing cattle don’t eat their browse or trample their cover . . .

If they don’t perish from disease . . .

If they don’t starve to death . . .

. . . They may survive the eight-lane freeways that by the year 2000 will crisscross their range.

At least until houses are built.

A planned 23-mile toll road along the Eastern Transportation Corridor of northern Orange County was the reason for this project to capture 30 deer during the last few days. The state’s first toll road in this century will cost $840 million and bisect the Santa Ana Mountains to connect the California 91 and Interstate 5 freeways and open the area to development, including the construction of 12,300 homes on Irvine Company land.

The Transportation Corridor Agencies commissioned P&D; Technologies of Orange to determine for their state environmental impact report whether the deer can live with the road. The study will cost $135,000, including $35,000 for the helicopter, radio collars and other aspects of the capture operation.

“We would like to see deer in Orange County from now on,� said Greg Gerstenberg, an Orange County-based DFG wildlife biologist who coordinated the capture. “We would like to protect these deer.�

Hunting is not a threat. The 200 to 300 deer in the immediate study area of 16 square miles of Irvine Company property are on private land. Bulldozers, not guns, are their enemies.

“Weir Canyon, which is a large oak woodland--really nice deer habitat--is going to be isolated from the (Cleveland) National Forest,� Gerstenberg said. “Freeways are basically a complete barrier to animal movement.

“We proposed that they start this deer study to find out where deer cross, why they cross and what the preferences of habitat are, so when they do build the freeway they can provide mitigation, be it underpasses or whatever can be done.

“Also, if we find out there is some limiting factor, (such as) water or mineral licks, we can make sure that’s on both sides of the freeway, so they won’t want to go across.�

The deer have been fitted with numbered ear tags and radio collars, each with its distinctive beep and a range of about two miles. Their movements will be monitored for the next two years, by which time the batteries will die or the collars rot away.

Michael Benner, supervising environmental planner for P&D; Technologies, said the company has had zoologists doing preliminary tracking by “looking for deer and signs of deer, such as pellets, tracks . . . (and) identifying areas that are good deer habitat.

“We have a feel where the animals are moving to and from. As they move west, they go across these canyons that the (Eastern Transportation Corridor) also is in.�

Fischer said: “If we can identify a movement corridor--a fairly broad area that the deer tend to use--maybe we can get a freeway built that allows for movement across that.�

There is a proposal to build a bridge for deer across Blind Canyon into the proposed Weir Canyon Regional Park, where no immediate housing or commercial development is planned. But it will take four or five years to build the freeway, and Fischer said, “If they work in an area that has deer, the deer are going to move.

“And if this facilitates housing projects on both sides of the freeway . . . if it’s going to be wall-to-wall housing, the whole study becomes moot because the deer aren’t going to be there.�

But where would the deer go? Generally, a resident, non-migratory herd is slow to abandon its habitat, even when pushed.

Larry Sitton, DFG wildlife management supervisor for Region 5, said: “We’ve got public land up there in the Cleveland National Forest, but if we lose national forest land, we’re really going to be hurting. That’s where the Cajalco development--the freeway coming over the top--would be the bad impact. That’s all these animals have anymore. Development has taken most of the private land away from them.�

The proposed Cajalco project would connect Interstate 15 to Interstate 5 west of El Toro.

Tiegle said it’s possible to transplant deer to other ranges. “We have relocated animals,� he said. “We could put ‘em in a trailer and haul ‘em off to another site.�

But that might be a last, desperate resort, when the deer are dodging commuters on the freeway or nibbling at the back yard begonias of housing tracts.

“We’ve tried that before, and the deer generally end up dead within just a few weeks,� Sitton said. “They don’t adjust very well to new habitat or environments.�

Also, they crowd the limited habitat of the resident deer--like moving in with the in-laws.

The DFG also has done some studies over the last six months, including analysis of the remains of deer killed by mountain lions.

“The animals that we’re seeing in Orange County are right now on the ragged edge of starvation,� Sitton said. “They don’t look too bad right now. They have some weight on them. But the fat content in the bone marrow is down to around 50% when it should be up around 60% or 70%.

“That means they’re not getting proper nutrition and are metabolizing that marrow fat. Once they get down to a level slightly lower than right now, you start seeing them become more susceptible to disease and injuries.�

Then, are these deer doomed?

“All we need is some good weather,� Sitton said--meaning rain. “We’re into the fourth year of a drought and five inches behind our normal (rainfall) right now, and it doesn’t look real good.�

Rain would be a short-term solution, not a guarantee of the herd’s survival. Already they compete year-round with cattle for their food.

Esther Burkett, also a DFG wildlife biologist, said the Irvine land has “a lot of cattle grazing. A lot of people will pull their cattle off in the wintertime and let the green germinate, then put ‘em back on in the spring. But even now they have their cattle out there.�

There is some risk in a deer-capture project, to humans as well as animals.

“If they’ve got antlers, you’ve got to be careful,� Fischer said. “Accidents happen. It would be very easy for a doe to break her leg. But we’re learning things that enable us to safely capture the animals, (so that) the losses are offset by the information we gain.�

The nets, hung from free-standing poles, are eight feet high and 100 feet long, with a five- or six-inch mesh. They’re designed to collapse when deer run into them, giving the team time to come out from behind bushes and pounce.

Tiegle said: “Does are easy. Bucks are a lot craftier (and) smarter.�

The study was hoping to collar 10 bucks and 20 does but at last count was three bucks short.

Margaret Wild, a senior veterinary student at Colorado State University, supervised the medical procedures at one of the two capture sites. She crashed through heavy brush to tackle one large doe herself and seemed unaware that her face was scratched and bleeding as she worked over the animal.

The procedure takes 10 to 15 minutes. On one deer, Fischer was concerned that its body temperature--normally 101 degrees--was getting close to the safety limit of 107 from stress. Sometimes they will pour water on a deer to keep it cool.

“It’s 105,� said Scott Yoo, a volunteer.

“Do we have the water up here?� Fischer asked. “We’d better get rid of this sucker.�

But all of the deer appeared to be unharmed as they bounded away.

Those weighed were from 60 to 115 pounds--smallish for deer generally, but Fischer said: “These animals are in good condition. There aren’t a lot of parasites. And we’re getting the first weight information we’ve had for Orange County deer.�

The herd also seems to have a good ratio of one buck to every five does.

“We have good ratios,� Sitton said, “but the trouble is that we’re losing the habitat. The way Orange County is growing, they’ll be lucky to have any deer in the future.�