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The Village of Lansing Trustees voted Monday to apply for Deer Depredation (nuisance) Permits (DDP) that will allow hunters to hunt in the Village outside of normal hunting season, and under special rules that include hunting 24 hours a day and placing bait to attract deer.  The Village's deer management program is one of several in the county that attempt to mitigate overpopulation of deer in an area that is unable to sustain large herds, resulting in starvation and disease.  Cornell University Department of Natural Resources' Dr. Bernd Blossey manages the Village of Lansing program.  He said that the program has been somewhat successful, but there is more to do.

"The question is, what do you consider a success," Blossey said. "We can debate that.  We try to measure things in terms of recruitment of vegetation.  That's not where we need to be.  The landowners are telling us some things are coming back, but we are not there in terms of ecological damage or with Lyme disease.  It's more difficult to shoot a deer in the Village than outside, but that's OK.  We're on the right path."

Over the years the program has had varying levels of success, from a low of 2 deer taken in 2008 to a high of 68 2014, the first year the DDPs were available in the Village.  Numbers dropped in the following three years.  Last year 47 deer were taken among 14 properties spread around the Village.

The Village program requires bow hunters to sign up and be approved for the program, essentially making them the only hunters permitted in the Village with the exception of landowners who hunt on their own property with regular deer season permits.  Blossey's group has monitored properties that landowners have approved for the program, and may hunt outside of the regular deer hunting season.  Last year the program yielded 16 deer in October, 14 in November, 5 in December, and another 8 in the first three months of this year.

Blossey said the harvest rate was appreciably high last year, despite a drop in participation after New Year's that resulted in fewer deer being taken.  He talked about changes to the program that he hoped would maintain the level of participation, and asked the Trustees to continue to allow hunting 24 hours a day for hunters who are program participants.  He said the typical hunting season hours determined by the DEC end at 11pm, but trail cameras show deer traffic later than that.

"It allows us to be flexible to be there when the deer are there," he said. "Some of our cameras show that deer traffic is particularly high from 2 to 4 o'clock in the morning.  One or two individuals venture out at that time.  A few years ago the DEC said there is no problem with allowing 24 hours, so we have had that for at least the last two years or so.  It doesn't make much difference for most people.  The majority are there until before midnight."

The other difference from regular hunting season is that bait may be laid to attract deer to specific locations.  Blossey said this has been effective, but the source of corn the program has been using went out of business.  Trustees discussed possible alternative sources that are near enough that program hunters can obtain it in a timely manner.

Mayor Donald Hartill said he has seen more deer than usual lately, but Blossey found that surprising in light of the Village program and deer management programs in neighboring municipalities, including Cayuga Heights , which harvested 47 deer by darting.

"They estimated that they had nine survivors," Blossey said. "If you go to Cayuga Heights and look around at the yards, it looks very sweet over there."

Replacement growth in forested areas is the goal of the program, as well as homeowners ability to have gardens without the deer decimating them.  Blossey said that new growth has been reported by property owners, but not yet at acceptable levels.  Nevertheless, Village officials also measure the program by another metric.  In 2007, the year the Village first instituted the program, Mayor Don Hartill said that 30 to 35 deer per year were killed in the village in collisions with cars.  According to  Superintendent of Public Works John Courtney deer/automobile accidents in the Village have been significantly reduced.

"We used to pick up one deer a week in the Village," Courtney told Blossey at a Board of trustees meeting Monday. "We pick up one deer a year now.  You've done your work."

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