In Morgan’s Point Resort, white tail deer in the hundreds share the roads and yards of residents there. In Temple, bushy-tailed coyotes, though not nearly as prevalent, consistently draw calls to the city’s animal control when they make an appearance.

According to wildlife experts, animals in the wild often make their way into cities, often during droughts, and there is not an easy solution for those who consider it a problem.

Capt. Fred Churchill with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is uniquely knowledgeable of the deer population in Morgan’s Point and the love-hate relationship it has with residents. At one time he lived there for five years.

To him, deer should be living in the wild. Deer in an urban setting represent a public safety hazard, he said.

“The first thing they need to do is stop feeding the deer at Morgan’s Point,” he said. “That’s the cause of a majority of the problem.”

He said people often feed deer corn, which not only encourages the animals to stay, but it also has no nutritional value to them. He said once people stop feeding the animals, their natural urge to find food will trigger a migration.

Churchill also said that although hunting is very good management tool, it is difficult to make it work within a city.

“There’s a way to do it, to allow hunting, but it’s a big step for a community to take,” he said.

He said it would take a community-wide effort to allow the use of crossbows or shotguns and an open space in an attempt to thin out a herd.

He said other communities have worked with the department to relocate deer.

Dirk Aaron, Bell County Extension agent, said that in addition to not feeding deer, residents can watch carefully what they plant, since there are some plants deer do not like. But, he added, at times deer eat what they are not supposed to like.

“When things are really droughty, the deer tend to eat anything,” he said. “I’ve even seen them eat oleander, which is toxic to them.”

He suggested that people choosing landscaping plants should contact local nurseries that have been in Central Texas a long time and have learned from experience what plants really works keeping deer at bay.

John and Barbara Lennan of Morgan’s Point tend to be skeptical of “deer proof” plants and, like many of their neighbors, have landscaped their yard with stones.

The Lennans seem to represent the middle ground of Morgan’s Point between those who feed the deer and those who would like to see them graze their way out of town.

Sitting at their dining room table, they wait for Daisy to make her twice daily appearance at their back door.

Although they do not feed deer as a rule, Daisy, a favorite of theirs from years ago, showed up at their back door a few weeks ago with an injured leg. They have attempted to treat her wounds and began feeding her while she was healing, even though they realize it was the wrong thing to do.

“She had a chunk missing from her leg - you could see muscle and tendons showing,” Ms. Lennan said.

When she and her neighbor splashed the wound with an ointment sold to them by a veterinarian, the deer ran off.

“We didn’t see her for two days,” she said. “Then she came back and she would lay out there by the back door and we fed her for two or three weeks.”

Since receiving her treatment and food, Daisy did what other deer in the area often do - she stayed.

“Now she comes and looks in the door twice a day, breakfast and dinner,” Ms. Lennan said.

Mr. Lennan said he is confident that as the deer gets stronger she will show up less and less.

Ms. Lennan said she and her husband are aware that deer that stay in the same location tend to interbreed and get diseases.

“… And they get dumber,” Mr. Lennan said.

He agreed that sometimes deer eat plants that they are not supposed to like, including many the Lennans have planted in their yard.

“Supposedly they don’t eat Aloe vera either, but this one is a replacement,” he said, pointing out a healthy Aloe vera plant living indoors on a mantle now.

The Lennans and others in Morgan’s Point have taken to putting chicken wire fencing around small trees and shrubs to keep the deer from feasting on their plants - a method that so far has worked for them. But others continue to feed the animals.

“We are really causing our own problems,” Ms. Lennan said.

Randy Dixon, police chief in Morgan’s Point, said the department does not shoot deer unless they are severely injured. He said deer versus automobile accidents happen multiple times per week.

“In our mind there is nothing we can do about them,” he said. “Some cities have tried trapping them, but then they come right back. The only feasible thing is an ordinance about not feeding them at all.”

Coyotes

In Temple, as in many urban areas, coyotes often make visits to town, winding their way up and down creeks and other waterways in search of food.

Jan Loven, district supervisor of USDA Wildlife Services, said the presence of coyotes, like the deer, is based on food, including small pets. He said developments in cities actually provide coyotes additional hunting grounds.

“Coyotes have a smorgasbord in every urban area of the U.S.,” he said.

“Coyotes kill pets every night of the year in the Metroplex area,” he said. “They move where they want to, drought or not.”

And that’s not going to change he said, based on the fact that coyotes are smart and adaptable.

“Coyotes might be the smartest animal that there is and one of the most successful, if not the most successful, (at) raising their young,” he said.

He added that coyote families, even members of previous litters, have been known to help raise the younger kin.

“This makes them extremely successful,” he said.

Without means of deterring coyotes, he said, one of the best things city residents can do is take care of their pets.

“If you have small animals … obey the leash laws,” he said. “Be a good pet owner. Keep pets in their own yard and under control.”

Walter Hetzel, Temple Animal Services director, said drought does result in an increase of a coyote presence.

“They tend to come into town more frequently during drought, or other times when their natural food source is less available,” he said. “Once they enter town they are in hunting mode.”

He said food sources include food left in trashcans, dumpsters and pet food left outside - not to mention small pets themselves.

“They can attack small, domestic dogs and cats as a food source, and anything else in that size range,” he said, including small wild animals such as opossums. And that, he said, is what draws them back for repeat visits to the city.

The city of Temple has had to deal with coyotes off and on in past years, and has at times set traps for them. Coyotes are euthanized by the when caught.