By Justin Folks/DWR
Introducing a new Notes from the Field blog from the Deer Project Leader at the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR), Justin Folks. Justin is looking forward to explaining the challenges DWR is facing in deer management, what the current populations are like across the state, and what DWR’s current objectives are. He’s also looking for questions for the public—see the bottom of the article for more on that! We start off with a quick Q&A with Justin to get to know him.
DWR: What’s your background, and what appealed to you about the job of Deer Project Leader at DWR?
Justin Folks: I fell in love with deer, nature, and the outdoors at a young age through hunting and fishing with my dad. Science was my favorite subject in grade school, and as I got to college, I knew I wanted a career in wildlife management. I was lucky enough to work on a long-term deer research project while in graduate school at the Caesar Kleberg Wildlife Research Institute at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, which only fueled my love for and fascination with deer.
During my grad school days, observing a domestic doe eating for a research project. Photo by David Hewitt
I started my career with DWR as a Private Lands Biologist where I focused on native habitat management, which I discovered was another passion. I then moved into the role of a District Wildlife Biologist in Verona, doing all things wildlife, but deep down I knew I wanted to focus on deer. When my predecessor, Matt Knox, retired, I jumped at the opportunity.
What’s the ultimate goal of the deer management strategies of DWR?
The ultimate goal is to manage for healthy deer populations while attempting to balance the desires of all citizens of the Commonwealth. It’s also critical to prevent overabundant deer from causing ecological damage that can impact other wildlife species. We want healthy deer, (relatively) happy citizens, and healthy/diverse habitats.
What challenges do you face in overseeing Virginia’s deer management?
Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) is a huge challenge. Urban deer management is tough and is only getting worse as our state continues to urbanize. Deer populations are managed through regulated doe (female) harvest, and many hunters seem reluctant to harvest does. Hunter access to private lands is a challenge, and we struggle to meet deer population objectives on private lands. On top of all of this, our population of deer hunters has been and continues to be declining. Successfully meeting our deer management goals greatly depends upon recreational deer hunting, and the function of our agency also greatly depends on funds from hunting license sales (approximately 80 percent of all hunting license holders hunt deer).
What are the rewards of your role?
Having only been in this seat for two years, my most rewarding experience thus far came from a presentation I gave at a conference for private landowners where I was asked to discuss the importance and benefits of hunting to manage deer. I emphasized that deer management is a community effort—whether you’re a hunter or not, we all play a role. After my talk, I received questions from attendees on how to get into hunting and heard later of landowners considering allowing hunting on their properties after not allowing hunting for many years.
Even if you don’t hunt, it’s important to support hunting to successfully manage deer and to empower others to do so. We also have some things in the works to help connect military veterans and others to properties that struggle to meet deer population objectives, which many of us are excited about.
What do you hope to help hunters and the general public understand in this series of blogs?
I’m finding out there are a lot of misconceptions and misunderstandings about the who, what, when, where, why, and how of deer management in Virginia, and I hope that this blog will help clear some of that up along the way. Rather than putting out a “deer management manual” that likely few will read, I felt it may be more valuable to allow YOU to ask the questions that YOU have about deer management in Virginia.
I’m always interested in hearing from anyone interested in Virginia’s deer, whether they’re hunters or not. If you have any questions about Virginia’s deer management strategies, please email editor@dwr.virginia.gov. I’ll post answers to some of those questions in upcoming blogs. (Other DWR queries can contact the agency here.) I can’t possibly answer every single question, but your question may be selected to be answered in a future blog. Also, if I see common themes or common questions, it helps me to do my job better.