DIAMOND POINT — After moving to Diamond Point seven years ago, Cindy DeVore has learned to live with the deer that inhabit her neighborhood.
She built a tall fence to protect her garden and acts as casually around the animals as they do around her.
But on Monday afternoon, she found herself part of the kind of clash that can occur between people and game when they share the same space.
DeVore, 62, was driving down her street after a trip to the grocery store when she came across a couple of poodles chasing about five or six deer across the road.
A moment after stopping her sport utility vehicle to avoid hitting any of them, a doe crashed into her driver side door, smashing her window.
“It was running at full speed, terrified,” she said.
The impact left the doe injured and unable to stand. It was shot by one of her neighbors, DeVore said.
DeVore was bruised from the impact but otherwise unhurt.
The incident is one of many clashes between the residents of Diamond Point and their sometimes less-than-welcome neighbors, said state Fish and Wildlife Sgt. Phil Henry.
The deer have been a problem for the neighborhood for at least 20 years, he said, and a few have even been hit by airplanes landing at the Diamond Point airstrip.
Henry said the problem is that deer have found Diamond Point and the many other neighborhoods on the North Olympic Peninsula that border wilderness a perfect place to live.
Predators, such as coyotes and cougars, tend to stay away, and residents are typically prohibited from shooting them inside the neighborhood.
“The deer have discovered that it is probably the safest place in the world for them,” he said. “Plus, they have lots of highly nutritious food there.
“It’s deer heaven.”
Deer are further encouraged by a few residents who feed them.
“It creates a population that is just way too large for that area,” Henry said.
In response to complaints from Diamond Point residents, state Rep. Kevin Van De Wege, D-Sequim, introduced a bill earlier this year to ban the intentional feeding of deer, as well as elk, bears, cougars, wolves and coyotes.
The bill passed the state House of Representatives but died in the Senate in March.
Van De Wege said Thursday that he hasn’t decided whether he will reintroduce the bill if he is re-elected in Tuesday’s general election.
Van De Wege, a firefighter and paramedic, faces Republican Dan Gase of Port Angeles, a real estate managing broker and consultant.
His bill lacked sufficient support last session because legislators were hesitant to support banning the feeding of deer and elk, Van De Wege said.
He is not confident that the legislation would pass if reintroduced.
“People enjoy doing it [feeding deer and elk],” he said.
“It would sink it again.”
Henry said the residents of Diamond Point, which live with “several dozen” deer, may have to get used to the animals’ presence.
He said Fish and Wildlife doesn’t have the funding to relocate the deer, which would cost about $1,000 per animal.
Henry added that the best ways to deal with the deer are to avoid feeding them, build fences at least 6 feet high to keep them out of yards and plant bushes that they don’t like to eat, such as rhododendrons.
DeVore said she doesn’t mind having the deer in the neighborhood, despite the damage to her SUV.
“It wasn’t the deer’s fault,” she said. “It was the dogs’.”
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Reporter Tom Callis can be reached at 360-417-3532 or at tom.callis@peninsuladailynews.com.
