HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/22/2011
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JAMES C. McMAHON Town Hall, 53095 Main Road
Chairman H Z u P.O. Box 1179
d Southold, New York 11971
Telephone (631) 765-1253 Ext.235'f~o apl,'
Fax (631) 765-9015
Deer Management Committee
TOWN OF SOUTHOLD
MINUTES
March 22, 2011
7:00 P.M.
Southold Town Hall, Conference Room
A meeting of the Deer Management Committee was held Wednesday, March 22, 2011 at the Town Hall,
.Conference Room, Main Road in Southold.
Present were: Scott Russell, Supervisor
Jeff Standish, Chairperson
Adam West, Member
John Rumpler, Member
Laura Klahre, Land Preservation Representative
Alice Hussie, Guest
Michelle Givens, DEC Representative
Chip Hamilton, DEC Representative
Nancy Foote, Committee Secretary
Call to order
Jeff Standish called the meeting to order at 7:00 P.M.
Discussion
Jeff Standish began the meeting by reviewing the final report for the 2010 Deer Management Program. He
reviewed the 2010 goals that were met and the 2011 goals the committee intends to fulfill.
Committee members discussed whether a year round Nuisance Permit is suitable for the Town of Southold
similar to programs presently in place on Shelter Island and North Haven, both in effect from September -
March. Jeff Standish believed that this extended program through March would be appropriate for the Town of
.Southold.
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Supervisor Russell believes the Town of Southold is nearly at a point of no return. He added "we are learning
as we go". He would like to have a program in place that is user friendly with an integrated approach that will
be successful in increasing the amount of deer harvested. The Town would like to meet some level of balance
and keep the hunters interested. Discussion continued with possibility of paying hunters for each deer harvested
and sharp shooter program but both will be too costly.
Laura Klahre reported that the exploding deer population has had an effect on local ecology. The large amount
of deer are moving through the woods and eating all the small seedling trees preventing forest regeneration.
Optimally the Town would like to follow the population standard of 15-20 deer per square mile a figure BNL
uses. Supervisor Russell believes this would be a manageable amount.
Chip Hamilton will be emailing the permit application for the Nuisance Permit to Supervisor Russell. The
Town will submit the application for the nuisance program along with maps of open properties to be hunted and
then revisit a possible baiting program. DEC will contact Albany for the baiting program consideration. DEC
recommends starting with a Nuisance program and only if this effort fails incorporate a baiting program. Jeff
Standish said the program would be offered to certain hunters. Supervisor Russell offered opening up the
program to hunters other than town residents if the program does not receive a strong response.
Jeff Standish addressed the DEC with the suggestion of having a DEC check station here on the North Fork.
The availability of the check station will allow the hunters to report harvested deer and receive additional tags.
Michelle Given recommended someone from the Town (train 3 people, employee or resident) to be responsible
•for tags and paperwork. Mr. Hamilton suggested a tag book where hunters sign tags in and out. He stressed the
importance of getting the tags logged and the hunter's ID numbers. The DEC recommends giving out tags one
at a time to prevent having to collect unused tags from hunters. As tags are used up, the Town will contact the
DEC and more will be sent. The program could be streamlined on a computer for the tags, permits, and hunter
IDs. It was also suggested to have the refrigerated truck longer than the three months the Town provided for the
2010 season or put the harvested deer to mulch during the extended hunting period.
Nassau Point in Cutchogue was discussed. This area is secluded with no open Town space available for
hunting. In addition Alice Hussie, a resident of the Bayview area of Southold reported that the area is overrun
with deer. She has suffered from lyme disease 3 times and would like to see a more aggressive method of
controlling the deer population. Supervisor Russell is trying to get homeowners to participate. Hunters can
hunt deer outside 500 feet of a residence. Adding to the problem, homeowners, vineyards and farmers are
putting up fences essentially fencing in the deer's food source forcing them onto the private properties to eat.
Supervisor Russell believes that Nassau Point can't be addressed without a baiting program, the deer have just
become too comfortable there. Ms. Hussie suggested exploring a contraceptive program, ie: salt lick. Ms.
Givens stated the program has lowered the fawning rate on Fire Island but has done nothing to the adult
population. Supervisor Russell reported that a sterilization program is costly and has health issue concerns.
Ms. Givens stated it works for a small population but in Southold, the problem is our area is so transient. The
health concerns with contraception and inoculation is contaminating the venison and the danger of domestic
animals coming in contact with the chemical used in salt licks or rubbing posts. Ms. Givens informed the group
that there is no NYS contraception that's approved at this time. Supervisor Russell added that there is no legal
way of doing it and Mr. Hamilton believes that the technology is not there yet. It's not effective on the first
!application. In a closed system with two years of treatment, there is still adult deer.
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• Opening additional properties owned by Suffolk County and business was also discussed. Water Authority
property is available but the Town has been unsuccessful in having SCWA agree to opening the space to
hunting. Mr. Hamilton offered to step in and negotiate with SCWA on behalf of the Town.
To help remedy the situation on the North Fork the committee would like to set up the check station with the
help of Chip Hamilton. Jeff Standish would like to hand out more tags to encourage hunters to shoot more
does. Set up a Nuisance permit program on Town properties to encourage more hunting Oct - March. The
committee will canvas Deer Management participants to see how much interest there would be for this extended
hunting season and possibly open the program to county residents for bow hunting with a lottery.
The committee is disappointed with the fact that the DEC Wildlife division is short staffed and there is no
biologist on staff for the LI region. The committee would like to reach out to local, county and state offices to
hire a deer biologist for Long Island. The DEC reps concurred.
The meeting was adjourned 8:20 PM. The next meeting was not scheduled at this time.
Respectfully submitted,
•
Nancy Foote
Deer Management Program
Committee Secretary
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