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The Village of Lansing Trustees discussed progress on a deer management plan that officials hope to put in place by this year's hunting season.  Trustee John O'Neill presented a second draft of a plan he is working on to establish an invited, controlled bow hunt this October.  With the deer population out of control, local flora decimated, and an average of 30 collisions with cars per year, officials decided to take action to try to control the herd by taking advantage of the Department of Environmental Conservation's (DEC) deer management program.  "We need to establish a program," O'Neill said.  "It is then submitted to the DEC for their approval before we can authentically move forward as the agent for them."

The plan is to invite only qualified and experienced hunters from the Lansing Bowhunters, a subset of the LBH Archery Club to a closed hunt on Murray Estates, also know as Sundown Farm.  The area is the largest open area in the village, and a frequent haunt for deer.  After a presentation by DEC officials in February, O'Neill set about devising a program that utilizes the DEC's Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP).
 
DMAP is used by landowners and land managers to control deer populations by providing extra tags for hunters who participate in the program.  The Village will be granted deer management and nuisance permits that it will distribute to designated bowhunters.  The Village will oversee the hunt, making sure that only invited hunters participate within the allotted area.  In February DEC officials explained that such a hunt must be conducted at lease 500 feet from residences unless all the landowners grant permission.

So far little if any opposition has been expressed to Village officials about trying to manage the deer population.  Damage to gardens and trees is a universal problem in the Village, including strong concerns about the safety of new plantings along Triphammer Road.  While Trustees note that a previous hunt was problematic, mainly because uninvited hunters from out of town crashed the hunt, they expect most residents will be supportive of a controlled, humane hunt.  "An organized hunt is different from what happened before," noted Trustee Lynn Leopold.  "In this case the Village is involved, and our citizenry is aware, and there's a lot more advocacy."

The hunt will focus on deer without antlers, which the DEC says is necessary for population control because does can begin reproducing when they are only one year old.  "The antlered deer are supposedly taken care of by the regular hunting season permits," O'Neill noted.  "Going for the antlerless deer stunts the growth of the herds.  "

The village program will require that any deer killed that the hunters cannot use themselves will be donated to a donation program, where the meat is butchered according to FDA standards, then distributed to people in need.  O'Neill says that coordinating with the donation program has been easy, and most of the work on that is done.  He also says DEC officials have been helpful in forming the village program.  "They seem to be very flexible. ," he says.  "They're anxious to see this program in place and see if it works."

O'Neill said that the Village will also distribute nuisance permits to landowners in the Village who qualify to participate in the program.  Trustee Lynn Leopold said that she and husband Carl would like to invite a bowhunter onto their property to help control deer there.

O'Neill's draft plan included a number of 'action items,' which include negotiating insurance coverage that protects the Village and the landowner.  Another item is to coordinate with the County Sheriff and to arrange for a retired or off-duty police officer to provide security during the hunt, as well as to designate a field coordinator.  He said he would be sending a letter to neighboring landowners explaining about the hunt, and mentioning that the program will be discussed at the next public Trustees meeting in two weeks.

While most of the pieces are falling into place, O'Neill stressed that there is still vital work to be done if the program is to be in place in time for hunting season.  He asked his fellow Trustees for their input into the plan, saying he would be drafting the letter to residents and filling in the DEC application this week.  "We have to move on this as quickly as possible," he said.

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