Q: I woke up to find a deer strolling down the street in front of my Butler-Tarkington home. Just how many live within city limits?
A: You’d be surprised. No one knows exactly, but the Indiana DNR reckons it’s about 40 per square mile. Marion County encompasses 403 square miles, so it works out to a population just north of 16,000. That’s one of the highest deer densities in the state, believe it or not. Turns out that our urban-suburban environs provide just the right mix of grass for nourishment and trees for hiding and resting. Other counties have lots of woods but not enough grassland to feed that many herds. Indianapolis, however, offers plenty of parks, golf courses, cemeteries, and lawns, often with adjoining wooded areas where deer can retire after meals. And with next to no hunting here, getting hit by a car is Bambi’s greatest threat.
