Holiday lights are not for deer and other wildlife

Aaron Berscheid is a district wildlife officer for Colorado Parks and Wildlife. Aaron covers the ìwildî side of Northeast El Paso County, including Black Forest, Falcon, Peyton and Calhan. He also covers some of Elbert County, north of U.S. Highway 24 and south of State Highway 86, including the towns of Elbert, Kiowa, Ramah, Simla, Matheson and a small portion of the Limon area.

---

The Halloween decorations in the Black Forest, Peyton and Falcon area were top notch this year. You folks always do a good job, but it seems this year was especially frightening.†Iíve also noticed that many of you did well to avoid one of the most common problems when it comes to wildlife interactions and holiday decorations. And, no, Iím not talking about scaring the pants off a rabbit. Iím talking about deer entanglements in decorations.It has already happened a couple of times in the Springs, where deer (usually bucks) are running around and end up getting fake spider webs or lights or other string-like decorations stuck to their antlers.Itís bad enough you may have lost your neighborhood contest for the best decorations. But a deer dragging around lights and webbing can create serious problems.The problems range from a minor annoyance for the deer to something as serious as becoming immobilized or being unable to eat and drink. Webbing and lights can also hinder their vision, leaving them vulnerable to traffic.This will only get worse as the fall progresses into the time of year when the bucks begin chasing the does. The bucks will begin to rub their antlers on trees and bushes, as well as fighting with each other. This can lead to even worse entanglements and possibly sticking two bucks together.So, as you take down your Halloween decor and put up Christmas lights, inflatable Santas, Nativity scenes and more, here are some tips on how you can still have an amazing decoration display, while limiting entanglement issues:

1. Do not place decorations like fake snow, lights or other string type items lower than 6 feet from the ground.
2. Fasten light strings or other string-like decorations securely at the ends.
3. Do not hang lights on low bushes or over trails deer like to walk.
4. We have seen deer with plastic jack o’lantern type buckets on their heads and necks, so please donít leave any of these unattended in your decoration displays, especially if they have food or candy inside. Please do not leave outside any containers that have handles and openings large enough for an animal to poke its head inside.

As always, any food sources should not be placed outside. At Halloween, we cautioned against† pumpkins, corn or even candy. Deer and bears both love pumpkins and we want to be sure that we are not feeding wildlife. At Christmas time, weíre talking candy canes and the like.Entanglements not only happen with Halloween and Christmas decorations, but they also happen with lawn furniture like hammocks and swings.†Hammocks are good in the summer, but should be taken down in the fall and winter months to also avoid entanglements. Deer have also been found entangled in sports nets, so keep that in mind, as well. The easiest way to avoid these entanglements is to take the nets down when not in use.I know I come off as a party pooper sometimes, but I only speak from experience. The time and effort involved with relieving deer from their trappings, and the stress these trappings induce on the deer is significant.Deer are not the brightest animals when it comes to this topic, and are more than likely the cause of their own misfortune. We, as humans, should do all we can to avoid making it easy for the deer to be dumb.In the coming months, Iíll share more of those stories as I write about wildlife issues in our community: Got a question, problem or column idea, please email me at aaron.berscheid@state.co.us or call me at 719-227-5231.I might even answer your question in a future installment of ìWildlife Matters.î