The Deer Hunter, Westchester Style

For anyone handy with a bow and arrow there is good news: Westchester needs you. The county is counting on a few good marksmen to help rid the area of deer herd that are roaming the area, ruining vegetation and testing the patience of even those inclined towards Bambi sentiment.

As my son noted while approaching the group of deer that regularly makes a morning pit stop in our back yard before luxuriating on the lawn, "Why aren't they afraid of anyone?"

Probably because they know among the beasts here they have the majority rule. Westchester is teeming with white-tailed deer -- more than 60 per square mile in one park area, according to wildlife experts. That's about five times the number that can be managed for a county this size.

Hoping to curb a population boom that many associate with increased rates of Lyme disease and loss of biodiversity, county officials have tried various tactics including the expansion of the deer hunting season that now runs ten weeks instead of eight.

Yet still they multiply. It turns out the species is particularly adept at adapting their fertility rates to available food sources (of which there is an abundance in a county carved out of natural vegetation and populated by enthusiastic gardeners). A lack of natural predators that might temper deer population growth has also meant a booming birth rate.

In response, Westchester has decided it will allow bow hunters to take their best shot at deer roaming in a designated 850 acres of county parkland beginning this November.

The move follows a lengthy task force study released last year and has the support of local hunters like Doug Erickson, president of the Westchester Bowhunters Association.

Mr Erickson describes the hunting of deer using a bow and arrow as an effective and humane method of eliminating an unwanted member of the population - at least when executed by those with competency in the method. If performed correctly - which means aiming at a target the size of a tack that is situated near a vital organ - the animal expires in about ten to twenty seconds due to blood loss.

There is also the question of safety of the human kind. Bow hunting allows for a range of 40 yards at the most. "We're not talking about hunting in large woods or mountains," Mr. Erickson says. "This is a short-range weapon, so in tighter quarters, like suburban plots, the risk of an accident goes way down."

Not everyone sees the benefit of bows for stalking and shooting at animals for the purpose of population control, particularly when there are other methods like sterilization and birth control.

"It's an easy out," says Laura Simon, the urban wildlife director at the Humane Society of the United States who served on the Westchester task force charged with looking at ways to curb deer population.

Simon remains opposed to bow hunting and not only for the humane factor (some studies show it has a high crippling rate compared to other methods such as sharp shooting and when it goes wrong, as it did several years ago on Fire Island, the method is unquestionably cruel to the animal), but also because she questions whether plucking out a certain number of deer will have any long term effect on the ecosystem. Deer can both control the spread of certain invasive plants while helping to proliferate others, according to a report Simon presented to county officials.

"Biodiversity loss is a huge, complex problem due to a lot factors including human impact, acid rain and climate issues," she says.

In the meantime, Westchester is proceeding with its bow hunting recruitment, holding tryouts next month in which interested parties will have to prove residency along with a skill set that includes the ability to hit a 9-inch target at a distance of 25 yards three out of three tries.

Officials say they will allow up to 50 designated hunters to begin shooting in November with some 15 additional hunters to serve as alternatives.

That might seem a high number of skilled hunter slots to fill until you consider that Mr. Erickson's group already has some 100 registered bow hunters, any one of whom, he says, would have the right stuff for the job at hand. "There won't be any problem finding available hunters," he said. "I expect we'll have a long waiting list."

Comments

[larry278]

If there is a deer season for bowmen, who will be the 1st bowman to hit a human being who is in a house? How about large dogs, trucks, minivans, small cars; who'll be the 1st to harvest these targets? Yeah, I'll take a toke.

[glorialovelace]

Here in Westchester County, the deer are both a health and safety problem -- a problem that until now has been largely ignored. The bow-and-arrow solution is a mere drop in the bucket -- better than nothing. The culling needs to be done on a much, much larger scale.

FWIW, the county also has no policy with regard to rabies and the disposition of rabid animals. Considering the wealth and pretensions of the people running the show here, that's pretty outrageous.

[JASchein]

Having a near fatal car accident with a deer jumping through my car two years ago and a year of recovery, its hard to make the case that thinning the herds is not a good idea. I'm not a hunter and haven't shot an animal and never will. But the problem of an overpopulation of deer is real and dangerous. We are have much responsibility for this situation and also have a responsibility to solve it. What is the humane approach? Who really knows. However, with approximately 30,000 deer related auto accidents per year, its time to really get this whole situation under control.

[usescience]

As to the connection between lyme disease and the abundance of deer, you are incorrect. Please see New York Times July 30, 2009 discussing recent studies showing no correlation between deer and ticks due primarily to the fact that ticks feed on racoons, skunks, opossum and other medium sized mammels. There is in fact a study from Penn State University entitled "Localized Deer Absence Leads to Tick Amplification" which shows that deer reduction leads to a concentration of ticks in backyards which become "tick hot spots".
Deer reproduce in reaction to a sudden decrease in herd size, often due to hunting. Please consult your wildlife experts. This phenomenom is called "compensatory rebound" and explains why after years and years of "culling" in places like Princeton, NJ, herd sizes remain pretty much the same. So, culling or killing deer, is an annual undertaking like mowing the lawn that never resolves the problem.
This is a complex issue that deserves more attention and education. Perhaps you could take the lead and look into this further.

[Vickster]

Re: "Deer reproduce in reaction to a sudden decrease in herd size, often due to hunting."

Okay, take a lesson. Deer rut in the fall. It's believed that the shorter days trigger the heat cycle in does, beginning in October, the does coming back into heat every eighteen days until they're bred. In captivity, deer and related species (such as goats) will continue coming into heat every eighteen days until February or March, when the cycle ends until the next fall. In the wild, most does are bred before the middle of November.

Also, to lower the deer population, one must hunt the does. After all, one buck and ten does make more babies than one doe and ten bucks.

[ellenparker]

Vickster, I think you missed the point of the poster you were answering here. All does (as well as many other species of animals) respond to the shorter daylight hours by going into heat. But the point the previous poster was making, was that intensive hunting causes something called "reproductive rebound". Because fewer deer are then being sustained by more available food, does tend to be more fertile, and have twins or triplets instead of only one fawn. So the RATE of reproduction is increased. Game bureaus are well aware of this phenomenon, and use it extensively when they want to increase herd sizr, keep hunters happy, and increase the number of hunting licenses sold.

[wm1066]

We have this problem in the Minneapolis Twin Cities area. I was biking with a friend in a park close to the river when we came upon a grove of trees and there must have been a hundred deer all just staring at us.
We have hunters that go in and cull the deer in our parklands.

[NemoNoOne]

Please refer to the hilarious experiences of Princeton, NJ where an even more widespread "deer problem" is found. Among solutions suggested and shouted down by tree-huggers and even some sane people are birth control baits, bow hunting, firearms with ceramic bullets that won't ricochet, etc. Try the local paper for full descriptions of the proposed fixes and the equally off-the-wall opposition thereto.