Many people who live elsewhere might think having an abundance of deer in their community would add to its charm.

That’s the attitude of some people who live in Port Townsend, but the “abundance” part isn’t always so great.

The town’s population of blacktail deer sometimes causes problems. Some can be aggressive or walk in front of moving vehicles. They have a penchant for ornamental plants, which can be expensive and annoying for property owners to replace.

“We used to be able to tell people the deer won’t eat this or that,” said Patty Smith, who has worked at the Port Townsend Garden Center since 1987.

But now, she said, “there’s not much left that you can say they do not touch.”

“The youngest ones will take a bite out of something, destroy it and spit it out. They don’t know what they’re not supposed to like, so they have to take a bite [and then] ruin it. The bigger ones, they rub their horns on the trees. They’re much worse than they were when I first started here,” she added.

“Better” or “worse” are viewpoints that officials with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife don’t express, but the state agency does try to help manage and mitigate friction between man and beast, according to Conflict Specialist Matt Blankenship.

Port Townsend has a long history with blacktail deer, he said. They can be found throughout western Washington state, but their populations are difficult to track because they are more solitary than elk and live in smaller groups.

A while ago, wildlife department representatives met with city officials to advise them on how to address the conflict taking place, not just between blacktail deer and those who find them a nuisance, but between humans on both sides of the love-‘em-or-hate-‘em argument. Fans of the deer tend to feed them, so naturally the creatures appear to love living in Port Townsend.

“There were quite a few people who were doing that, and it was at the point where they were congregating in certain locations and running over like the dinner bell was being rang,” Blankenship said.

According to City Manager John Mauro, a bit of progress has been made on the blacktail front, but not a lot.

“We have yet to undertake a more comprehensive and strategic approach to deer management,” he wrote in an email to The Leader. “We had an initial conversation but haven’t had the staff capacity to go beyond the initial important step of code enforcement related to deer feeding.”

“On that front, I can inform you of at least some progress: our code enforcement officer has told me that her code enforcement efforts have been successful in halting some regular deer feeding in Uptown. She also sends courtesy letters to those who might not be aware that it’s against our code to feed deer and that often has a positive result,” he added.

For those who want blacktails to stay away from their plants, Blankenship said there are “quite a few options.” Fencing is one, especially fences that are maybe eight feet in height.

“Community-based management could come into play, like allowing a high fence,” he said, referring to municipal ordinances.

There is also electric fencing and “various scent repellants” to keep deer away, the state agent said.

Mauro mentioned he has briefed the city’s new communications and marketing manager, Shelly Leavens, and that Leavens is “thinking through how we might use general city communications to help our community live safely with wildlife like deer in our more urban environment.”