A couple weeks ago, I heard a disturbing sound coming from the back yard, like someone ripping siding off the garage. I grabbed my headlamp and ran out back. Two bucks were vigorously clashing their racks as a couple does stood by watching the fun. I shone the light on them and fully expected them to move on. But no, they stopped fighting, turned toward me and the larger buck put his head down, snorted and started hoofing the ground. I retreated behind the willow and blinked my light at them a few times. They both moved closer and I decided discretion was safer than valor. I went back inside and they recommenced their contest.

A week later, the granddaughter and her mom were charged by a doe with yearlings while taking the path over to the neighbors. It was a symbolic charge, stopping well short of them, but startling enough to get them scurrying on their way and insecure about coming back without some backup. Aggressive behavior is common in urban deer. According to some reports, 5 to 10 people are killed by deer every year in the U.S.

Recently, it has not been uncommon to see four or five deer in the yard. On one weekend, I saw three different bucks. Doe or buck, when they are interested in the apples or the garden, no amount of shooing will move them more than a couple feet. I sometimes throw windfalls at them while yelling and waving my arms. Often they move off to where the apple landed and stop to eat it. I even found a couple bottle rockets left over from the Fourth and was amazed to watch the deer flinch and look around, but then start grazing again as if nothing had happened.

I like critters and all that, but geez, there's a limit. They have pruned some of the trees quite badly. They've eaten more than their share of the apples. They literally decimated the garden earlier this year. I know several folks in the neighborhood who have packed a lot of good money and time into building fences to keep out the roving hoards.

But the damage and mitigating expenses are just the start. I want to chase them out of the yard, but twice this has corresponded with passing vehicles slamming on their brakes or horn. Deer collisions are a known problem with increasing urban deer populations and those can be nasty wrecks since the deer often come through the window of the car. So now I chase them out the back. However, this just sends them to my neighbors' yards. Really not the best solution.

It gets worse. Deer carry quite a few diseases that can affect humans. They are notorious reservoirs of E. Coli. That creates risk for children who are more likely to pick up a windfall than find a way to reach fruit still high up in the trees. But there's more. Deer carry ticks. Several tick-borne diseases can affect humans and pets. Some can be serious. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus or blue tongue virus can affect humans, though rarely. Also rarely, bovine tuberculosis carried by deer can affect humans. There are other diseases, like spongiform encephalitis, that can spread through the herd and transmit to domestic animals, though transmission to humans is undocumented.

However cute these critters are, they definitely increase health risks in the human community, whether through aggression, collision, or disease. But that's not my biggest fear.

With all the young, tender yearlings ambling about, I have already heard an increase in coyote activity here on the southside in the Padden/Connelly drainage. I'm not too concerned about coyotes, but how long do they have to yip and yelp before Mr. Cougar decides to check out the commotion? Not likely? Well, I can show you a cedar tree up the Padden gorge with two deer skeletons hidden under the canopy. Not too many years ago, a sheep was killed by a cougar a block from my house. Game officials took a plaster cast of a paw print and figured it was a 150 pound male.

We all like critters, but when is enough enough? The prospect of big cats casing the joint for tender vittles makes me downright nervous with a three year old grandkid in the yard. It may be less likely than acquiring E. Coli from a tasty looking windfall, but the end result is more certain.

In my opinion, It doesn't make sense to let the deer population run out of control in an urban setting. There are too many risks and some of them are quite serious. Should we wait until someone is hurt by aggression or collision, until a child suffers kidney failure from E. Coli, is sickened with Lyme disease or killed by a cougar? How many deer are just too many? Is it time for officials in charge of these critters to assess those risks and come up with some kind of management plan?