Town To Kick Off Sharp Shooting Program To Cull Deer Herds

Scores of North Fork residents turned out Saturday morning at a meeting of the East Marion Community Association to tackle what some consider the most critical concern on the North Fork — a local deer problem that has led to tick-borne illness, devastating impacts on the local environment, car accidents and even death.

"Managing the Deer Problem: A Special Meeting for Orient and East Marion," was be held at Poquatuck Hall in Orient.

At the forum, Southold Town Supervisor Scott Russell said a solution might be in sight: The Long Island Farm Bureau, he said, has secured $200,000 in grant funding to embark upon the United State Department of Agriculture's sharp shooter program as soon as January.

In September, a crowd of almost 300 filled the Southold Town Recreation Center Thursday night for a deer management forum organized to bring a multi-pronged approach to the escalating problem — demanding answers and pleading passionately for help.

At the meeting in Orient, Vanessa Hands said deer are "an emotional topic. But we need to do something to get our herds to sustainable numbers — for our own health."

"The town is wrestling with solutions to the complicated problem caused by the infestation of white-tailed deer," Russell said. "Numbers are at critical levels."

Speakers included Sherry Thomas, who teaches classes on the North Fork about how to deal with deer in the garden. 

"The stories I've heard are unbelievable," she said. "Deer trying to get into the house through the front door, on the decks eating plants, in the driveway."

The town should have 17 deer per square mile she said; currently, there are 65 or more per square mile.

The problem is made worse, she said, because in recent years, farmers fenced-in their properties to protect crops, "pushing the deer everywhere else."

She added, "If we do nothing in the next few years, it will be 400 deer per square miles. It will go from unsustainable to disastrous."

Deer, she added, do not have good eyesight, adding to why they are a danger on the roads.

And, she said, while many ask what plants are deer-proof, "There aren't any, anymore. Babies will eat anything. If they are hungry enough, they will eat almost anything."

No natural predators exist, such as coyotes or bobcats, she said.

John Rasweiler, of Southold Town's Deer Management Task Force, discussed the environmental damage the deer are wreaking.

Deer, he said, are devastating natural forests and woodlands, native plants and animals.

On his own property and in other areas around town, "All forestry generation has essentially stopped. Small tree seedlings that poke up don't stand a chance of surviving to maturity. They're mown off by deer."

Native wildflowers are decimated; low vegetation and ground-foraging species are destroyed, he said. The habitats of ground-nesting birds are gone.

Deer also spread harmful seeds of invasive weeds such as the wild garlic mustard plant.

Forest destruction also leads to the "ominous affect" of increased storm water runoff and forest debris being "dumped into the bay."

After inviting experts to survey the area forests, Rasweiler said the consensus was that "forest regeneration has essentially stopped. They are on their way to becoming ecological slums."

Jeff Standish, of the town's deer management program, spoke about the town's deer management program, established in 2008. Today, over 110 hunters participate on over 530 acres, he said; to date, 739 deer have been harvested.

A refrigeration box has been set up so hunters can harvest additional deer and donate the meat to food banks; 14,500 pounds have been donated.

One audience member said while it is illegal to sell venison, that might be changed to allow for incentive. Russell said that's a federal decision.

Town incentives include a waiving of fees for all hunters, as well as for the disposal of carcasses, and two additional doe tags, Standish said.

"We need the public to open their eyes and say a lot of land's not being hunted," Standish said, with private land owners allowing hunting on their property.

Also, Standish said, the town has to abide by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation's mandate of 500 feet setbacks from homes and any dwellings for bow  hunting. The goal is to change that to 150 feet, he said.

Russell said the town has looked at options, including a 4-poster program used on Shelter Island that sets up deer feeding stations where their heads, necks and ears are covered with permethrin, which kills the ticks.

Russell said each station costs $5000 to maintain annually, or over $4 million to implement in Southold

One resident suggested the program not be ruled out and suggested grants be sought out to fund the program, which has wide success on Shelter Island. Shelter Island, he added, might allow Southold to rent its stations at a lesser cost.

As for sterilization, Russell said that posed additional challenges; contraception would require booster shots. 

Don Stewart of the North Fork Deer Alliance said the problem was three dimensional — deer spread disease, are devastating to the environment, and pose a physical threat on the roads.

"It's a terrible thing when we are afraid to go into our gardens or let our grandchildren play outside," he said.

"The only way to get the numbers down is through an aggressive culling program," he said, mentioning the sharp shooter program being organized by the Long Island Farm Bureau with the USDA.

The program, he said, "is humane," killing deer with a single shot.

Russell added that the goal is to ask for state changes, to look at deer not as wildlife management, but as pest control, with towns allowed to exercise a home rule message.

The state hasn't eased restrictions on a host of regulatory issues since the 50s, Russell said. Trapping and baiting aren't allowed under New York State laws.

"No one wants to kill Bambi," he said.

The stumbling block, he reiterated, was Sweeney.

One Orient man suggested a bounty for hunters to bring in deer.

Another resident suggested looking for funds from insurance companies for each deer harvested.

Another suggestion was a gun with a sterilization dart.

Something needs to be done, Russell concluded: From 2000 to 2012, deer have been responsible for 2289 accidents, 82 injuries and one death.

Added one woman: "We have disease, accidents with casualties and fatalities — and I have gigantic deer crapping ten pounds per deer on my property. We have to do something."

She suggested a public health emergency be declared.

Russell said the idea has been considered but hunters refuse because the town does not have the authority to declare that emergency and hunters would be hit by DEC fines and lose their licenses.

The sharp shooter program, Russell assured, "should be underway shortly."