Deer Management Survey Results

In June 2010, a Deer Management Survey was released to the public in an effort to obtain information about residents’ experiences with, and perception of, white-tailed deer in Fairfax County. As well, the survey was an outreach tool designed to gauge residents’ opinion of the Fairfax County Deer Management Program and current use of available deer population control tools. The survey closed August 2010 following extensive survey outreach efforts.

The Deer Management Survey was developed in collaboration with the Fairfax County Wildlife Biologist, other County officials, and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries staff, over the course of several months.

The response to the Fairfax County Deer Management Survey was outstanding as 6,376 Fairfax County residents elected to complete the survey.

Some points of interest from the survey:

64.2% of respondents are not at all familiar with the current Fairfax County Deer Management Program. Only 3.0% of respondents are very familiar with the Deer Management Program.
66.5% of respondents would prefer the deer population decrease.
45.9% of respondents are very concerned they will be in a deer-vehicle collision within 12 months.
50.4% of respondents are very concerned they will get Lyme disease within 12 months. 62.7% of respondents believe deer are directly related to the risk of transmitting Lyme disease.
62.7% of respondents support public managed hunts (deer population control).
66.4% of respondents support the Archery Program (deer population control).
57.0% of respondents support police sharpshooting (deer population control).
60.3% of respondents support legal hunting on private property (archery or shotgun)

59.5% of respondents oppose no deer population control efforts; 12.2% of respondents support no deer population control efforts

Fairfax County Deer Management Survey Results

The results of the Fairfax County Deer Management Survey have been graphed to easily view the information provided by survey respondents. Please left click on the graph to view the survey question graph (response) more clearly.