The deer population on the South Shore has more than doubled in the past decade, wildlife officials say, and it is showing up in nibbled shrubs, chewed-up vegetable gardens and more close calls and collisions for motorists.

Blue holly and Japanese yew rank high on the “great eats” list for deer, but garden experts say there is practically nothing the animal won’t eat.

“We get it all the time,” said Philip Wyman, owner of Wyman’s Nursery in Hanson. “People come in with the branch of a shrub that’s obviously been eaten by a deer. They say, ‘I don’t have deer in my yard. I don’t live in the woods.’ But that’s what it is.”

The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife would like to see a deer population of 15 to 20 deer per square mile in Bristol and Plymouth counties. That’s the stated goal of the agency’s wildlife management plan.

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