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Village of Lansing officials have been considering changes to their deer management program since early summer.  Dr. Bernd Blossey, who has organized bowhunters for the program since it began, told Village Trustees Monday how new DEC (Department of Environmental Conservation) rules will impact the local program.  They also considered whether to change Village law to allow crossbow hunting.

The biggest change is that hunters are now allowed to take two antlerless deer per day in Deer Management Focus Areas.  Additionally an extended hunting season in these areas has been added between the second Saturday in January through January 31.

"In this area that is so densely settled around Cornell, the Village of Lansing, Cayuga Heights and surrounding areas, hunters have access problems," Blossey said.  "Some hunters are able to do that, but they are then limited by the hunting regulations.  You could maximize your hunting tags to eleven deer per hunter per year.  But we also have experience that some hunters are really good and dedicated, so they could potentially shoot more.  Now they've opened it up to allow hunters who have access to take as many deer as possible because the goal is deer reduction to get the herd down so they don't do damage any more."

Currently bow hunting is the only kind of hunting allowed in the Village.  In past years the DEC granted a limited number of DMAP (Deer Management Assistance Program) tags that the Village could distribute to approved hunters.  Officials and Blossey received permission from local landowners for approved hunters to hunt on their land.  That kept other hunters from hunting anywhere in the Village outside the population control program unless they received permission from landowners.  It also meant that the Village effectively passed out the authorization to hunt extra deer. 

The permits are free, and Blossey says hunters will be able to print them from the DEC Web site.  Hunters using these permits will also be required to submit a hunting activity log that reports all harvested deer.


Village officials had feared that would take their control of at least part of the local deer management program out of their hands, but Blossey says it may improve the effectiveness of the current population control program.  He said that a DEC official told him that the Village maintains control of what happens within its boundaries, despite the relaxed state rule.

"We'd like to keep going along exactly the same path we have been doing it," said Mayor Donald Hartill.  "We want that same kind of oversight."

The jury is still out on crossbows.  While the Board has been considering allowing crossbow hunting, it has been in no hurry to do so.

"The question of crossbows is a complex one," Hartill said.  "My own opinion is that a crossbow is not that different from a compound bow.  In fact the range is probably less."

Blossey said the speed of a crossbow bolt is a little higher than arrows shot from a compound bow, but there is no significant difference in range.  He said reloading is a nightmare because the movement involved in doing so may spook the deer.  He said there is no safety issue in allowing crossbows.

Dr. Jay Boulanger, who manages the Cornell 'Earn A Buck' program that also aims to control the deer population, told the board in June that it should allow crossbow hunting within Village boundaries.  he noted that crossbows are easier for handicapped hunters because less strength is required than is needed to hunt with compound bows.  He noted that accuracy with a crossbow, as with a traditional or compound bow, depends on the hunter's skill.

A week later resident Lowell Gardner submitted a letter to the board in opposition to crossbows, saying that their quiet operation could increase poaching in the area.

Hartill noted Monday that there hasn't been an outpouring of people asking the Board of trustees to make crossbow hunting legal.  Hartill says the board can always amend the law, even during the hunting season, if enough people request it.  Blossey said that only two people have requested crossbow use so far.

"It looks like it's only a 5% impact," Hartill said. 

Hartill says that fewer deer are being killed in automobile collisions than before the population control program began, but officials acknowledge that the local deer population is still out of control. 

Last year 25 hunters participated in the Village program, with most of the deer being shot by five or six of them.  Because the number of properties was limited the deer quickly learned where the hunters were, and avoided those areas.  Blossey and Boulanger have been going door to door to get permission from selected landowners this year to add as many properties as possible.  He said by moving hunters from property to property the program is more likely to be successful.

"The people who hunted hard last year are also the people who hunted hard the year before," Blossey said.  "Now we have the opportunity of scheduling them differently.  I have no idea what it will mean to the deer harvest numbers, but now we can go to places where we know the deer are coming from that had been off limits to us before."

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