- By Dan Veaner
- News
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As the clock ticks closer to the start of deer hunting season Village of Lansing officials are working fervently to finalize a deer population control program. The deer control program dominated Monday's Trustees meeting, with key items including sending an official Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) application to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), finalizing an agreement with the owner of Murray Estates, and making sure the Village has insurance that covers the program. "The program is being initiated because there has been no hunting on any of the Village properties for three or four years," explained Trustee John O'Neill. "Consequently the deer herds have increased in number greatly. Deer are beautiful, but unfortunately they bring along with them some problems that people need to consider."
If this year's program can be finalized in time it will serve as a test case for both the Village and the DEC to see whether a controlled bow hunt can be successfully managed. While Village officials admit that the small-scale hunt they plan for this fall will not do much to reduce the deer population, they hope to continue and expand the program once they have a feel for how to make it work. "This is not going to be a holocaust of deer," Trustee Frank Moore said. "It's going to be a small number, and more in the nature of an experiment than anything else."
O'Neill explained that the program consists of two parts: one that is specific to procedures the Village is negotiating with the owner of Murray Estates, and another that applies generally to the Village deer control program. "Small landowners -- five, ten, fifteen acres -- may also identify somebody or they may hunt themselves on their property. But they have to follow the perimeter rules of being 500 feet from any adjoining property, and 500 feet from any roadway."
A maximum of seven hunters from the Lansing Bowhunters club will be qualified and certified by the owner. Aside from meeting with the owner they will be required to hit a six inch target five out of five times from 15, 16, and 17 yards. About five Long Island friends of the owner are also planning to participate during the first weekend of the hunting season, but officials say they will have to abide by the rules of the Village program to avoid confusion and insure safety. Two parallel programs will allow hunters to kill one buck and up to three does. The one male and one female permit is part of the State's regular hunting permitting, while the additional females are by special permit through the DMAP program.
O'Neill said that deforestation, the decimation of delicate flora on the forest floor, collisions with automobiles, and lime disease are all reasons to control the local deer population. With an average of 30 auto collisions per year and the destruction of gardens, trees, and forest lands, most Village residents seem to agree that any steps the municipality can take to control the problem will be worthwhile, as long as the program is tightly controlled and insures the safety of Village residents, their families, and pets. About a third of Murray Estates neighbors who received a letter explaining the program responded within the first week to allow certified hunters onto their land if a wounded deer should go beyond the boundaries of the hunt. Many included comments encouraging the program. One noted hundreds of dollars of damage on his property, encouraging the village to 'Sic 'em!'
O'Neill countered that studies he has seen contradict those that De Leo cited. He said that DEC studies and experience in this region show that hunting is effective. And he noted that the sterilization program in neighboring Cayuga Heights was ineffective. "I am not persuaded to try something else," he said. "It's been tried, and according to the DEC reports and reports from our people at Cornell Veterinary School it's not effective."
Captain Mark Dresser of the Tompkins County Sheriff's Office gave O'Neill a direct line for reporting trespassers, and the certified bowhunters will also report trespassers. O'Neill says that a security camera will also be employed in spotting illegal hunters. O'Neill reported that Dresser told him that if one or two trespassers are arrested the word will get around very quickly, dissuading other hunters from hunting illegally on the property.
Trustees say the ultimate success of the program will be quantified by fewer deer carcasses along Village roads. But for now they are attempting to get permits, complete agreements, and finalize insurance and security for the pilot program. O'Neill referred to the program as 'an attempt to restore rationality to deer management.' He said he would attempt to finalize negotiations with the landowner, send in the formal application to the DEC and communicate with the neighbors again by letter.
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