Amy Boren will look at the woods with wary eyes this summer.

Boren, a professor of horticulture, was one of six victims of on-campus deer attacks last summer. She said the university has not done enough to reduce the likelihood of incidents similar to the one that left her with bruises, a broken rib, and kidney problems.

“All they have done, to my knowledge, is tape off the woods and put warning signs up,” she said.

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Boren said a doe attacked her last May when she was walking in the woods near Campus Lake. She said the deer was standing in the middle of a path and the animal attacked her when she tried to back away.

“Every time I would get up she would try to knock me back down,” she said. “I finally got a stick and poked at her and got behind a tree and she continued to go after me.”

Fifteen deer attacks have been reported in the Thompson Woods and Campus Lake area since 2005. Each incident has occurred during the summer months when female deer are especially protective of their newborn fawns.

University spokesman Rod Sievers said no definite plans have been made regarding the prevention of deer attacks this summer, but officials are working on a public awareness campaign that may involve distributing fliers and doing radio interviews.

“Last year we held some seminars and invited people to come, but they were very sparsely attended, so I don’t think we’re going to do those again,” he said.

Boren said an educational campaign is appropriate, but the university should take measures to control the deer population on campus.

“I would open it up for deer hunting,” she said. “We are in the heart of southern Illinois, where deer hunting is a way of life.”

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Clay Nielsen, a wildlife ecologist at the SIUC Cooperative Wildlife Research Lab, said deer hunting could be a reasonable way to control the campus’s deer population, but would not be allowed in all areas.

“You wouldn’t do it in Thompson Woods,” he said.

Any area hunted would be roped off and police would be involved to protect public safety during such a hunt, Nielsen said.

He said in years past the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign has used controlled hunting to constrain the deer population at its Allerton Park location.

Beyond the potential for attacks, Nielsen said deer at SIUC eat significant amounts of vegetation.

“The deer population probably hinders the ability to do research at times,” he said.

Nathan Liszewski, a freshman from Nashville studying mechanical engineering, said he would be leery of any on-campus deer hunting operation.

“I think people would go crazy and then there wouldn’t be any deer around at all,” he said.

Luke Koett, a senior from Milledgeville studying forestry, said deer don’t attack people who use common sense.

“I’ve seen girls walk into the woods with their camera phones like ‘Oh this little deer is so cute,'” he said. “She’s just asking for a beat down by the mom.”

Boren said there is a common misconception that a deer will not attack unless a person provokes it.

“That was not the case in my situation at all,” she said.

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