The Fifth Annual Essex County Deer Management Program begins next week in county reservations. Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo, Jr. announced details of the six-week-long program at a press conference earlier today.
This year marks the program’s fifth consecutive year in South Mountain Reservation and in Eagle Rock Reservation and third consecutive year in Hilltop Reservation. The three reservations will be closed to the public on the days the program is being conducted.
DiVincenzo lauded the initiative’s success, noting that since its launch over 1,000 deer have been removed from the reservations. Reducing the deer population helps to preserve the forest habitat and decrease traffic accidents involving deer. “The numbers speak for themselves,” he said.
In fact, DiVincenzo noted, just yesterday there was a serious auto accident caused by a deer on Pleasant Valley Way in Verona.
“If a deer runs in front of a car, the car loses,” said Sheriff Armando Fontoura. “It happens all the time and it’s a very dangerous situation.”
Striking an almost plaintive note, DiVincenzo told the audience: “This is not something I want to do, it’s something I have to do in order to do my job.”
The county also conducts a pilot program with the NJ Department of Transportation to install detection devices that reflect car headlights and emit a high-pitched sound to scare deer away from roads. Officials said the program had so far been “quite successful.”
Twenty-two licensed marksmen will participate in the hunt; all are subjected to a marksmanship test and must complete an orientation program with the Essex County Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Essex County Sheriff’s Office. Venison will be donated to the Community FoodBank of New Jersey in Hillside, which distributes the meat to the needy and homeless.
Fontoura noted that prior to every hunt, officers in ATVs sweep the entire area and then secure it. “Public safety is our number one concern,” he said. He added that if deer with antlers were shot, the antlers would be cut off and used by the county for educational purposes. “They won’t go home to hang on anyone’s fireplace,” he said.
The program also aims to restore growth to forests. “This is not just about culling deer,” said the County Executive. “The underbrush is gone, and there is nothing left for deer to eat…it is a serious problem and we are addressing it.” He also said that the issue should have been confronted years ago.
DiVincenzo noted that in the future, the county might reduce the number of days the program runs, but that there is “no question” the initiative will continue in coming years.
The program takes place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from Tuesday, January 17th to Thursday, February 23rd. For more details and information about road closures, visit the county web site.
Why now? In most “normal” places, hunting season is in November.
“This year marks the program’s fifth consecutive year in South Mountain Reservation and in Eagle Rock Reservation and third consecutive year in Hilltop Reservation.”
Wouldn’t it suggest that the program was not working if they have to keep doing this year after year?
State Street Pete said:
“Wouldn’t it suggest that the program was not working if they have to keep doing this year after year?”
Either that, or it means that the deer are mating to beat the band.
What’s the definition of insanity?
Albert Einstein
“Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
Wouldn’t it suggest that the program was not working if they have to keep doing this year after year?
Brushing one’s teeth is an exercise in futility based on that logic.
It’s probably safer to be a deer than an Iranian nuclear scientist.
How many sets of antlers does one really need for those “educational purposes?”
Couldn’t they instead, if the hunt has to happen, just hand them out to any interested shamans out there?
Either way, here’s another good reason not to go to Tim McLoone’s restaurant in South Mountain Reservation. The place is lovely, yes, but the food is pretty blah.
This month the deer are launching their first ever human car-accident suicide campaign. They will be jumping out in front of cars in an effort to cause fatal accidents, with the goal of culling the human population, which as we know has reached unsustainable proportions. The car-accident suicide campaign, or CASC, will occur every year until the human population is reduced to what it was in the pre-Columbian era, which was 3 people per square newa nemen–literally “four eyes” in Lenape, which loosely translates as “the area one can survey from a high point.” The current population density of humans in northern New Jersey (including high rises in Manhattan visible from here) stands at 9,453,455 people per newa nemen. Obviously this will take more than one year to accomplish.
Bring the wolves back. That will only p*** off the sheep and cattle ranchers in NJ, of which there are not many. One of the most interesting facts to come out of the repopulation of wolves in Yellowstone had not to do with animals, but with plants. The caribou herds were not only trimmed down (and overall healthier), but their eating habits changed — no longer could they linger and eat every plant to the ground. Many species of plants that had just about gone away came back over the years, and a more natural balance of flora and fauna was reestablished. Of course, as Mathilda said, population densities per newa nemen are quite a bit lower in Montana and Wyoming than here in The Garden State.
Fire away and be accurate.
The return of wolves to Yellowstone encouraged the regrowth of native flora and many small animals. These had been devastated by over population of elk, coyotes, etc. Although the analysis will take decades to unfold, there’s reason to believe the wolves have been very helpful in restoring a balance in the ecosystem.
A scholarly paper from the Colorado Dept of Wildlife:
Kangaroos are being culled in Austraila for many of the same reasons. The thought of a six foot plus Roo crashing into a car is frightening.
As a resident of Montclair near Eagle Rock Reservation I know first hand the damage the deer are doing to the forest, the woods, and underbrush, and I support this program 100%.
I have a wooded back lot where the deer have completely wiped out everything that used to have leaves in the winter. The deer are starving and eating plants like native Rhododendron that they never ate before. Any other wildlife that might have benefited from those plants is out of luck because despite years of effort – trying sprays and other methods to preserve the undergrowth – the deer have killed just about everything they can reach.
Joey D. sees the bigger picture here and I am greatful that he has put in place a well thought out program to deal with this situation.
yay, a mathilda post!
ROC gets my nomination for Featured Comment.
PR, Not sure how to handle the brushing teeth-culling deer connection but I’ll try…If you brush your teeth every day, but you still got cavities would you keep brushing the same way, with the same brush, and the same tooth paste, expecting that it would suddenly start working? Wouldn’t you try another tooth paste? another brush? another method? At the very least, you’d stop wasting your money on the tooth paste or brush that didn’t work.
As far as I can tell the county has told us only how many deer have been killed over the last five years, not the actual size of the population and by how much it may have decreased because of the hunt. Without that information, we don’t know if this method works or not. If we keep doing this year after year, and the population remains static, wouldn’t that suggest that the hunt is not having the desired effect?
“If a deer runs in front of a car, the car loses,” said Sheriff Armando Fontoura. “It happens all the time and it’s a very dangerous situation.”
Um, wait a minute. The last time someone in the family bagged a deer without a loaded weapon, the car had $5k of damage and the deer was stone-cold dead.
Poor adage, Mr. Sharif. And pass the Peter Luger’s for the 8 pointer I got this year.
If deer culling doesn’t seem to be reducing the population, then either we have deer who breed like rabbits, or rabbits are growing horns. My brother had a trophy jackalope on his wall. Quite impressive.
Maybe the problem is that we have too many undocumented deer. I think we need the Border Patrol to fence off all the illegals from coming into our pristine parkland preserves. Essex for Essex deer! Would eliminate the lines of deer waiting for a day labor job down the hill at the garden center.
And if a GOP candy-date picks up the thread, he/she can add “No Contraceptives for Deer! – Every Fawn a Friend! – Life Begins at Mounting”!
Boy I miss my Ritalin.
Here’s the scholarly paper from Colorado’s wildlife department:
http://wildlife.state.co.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/DOW/WildlifeSpecies/SpeciesOfConcern/Wolf/YellowstoneAfterWolves.pdf
When is the storm debris going to be cleared from Crest Drive in Eagle Rock? Hurricane Irene was in August and the road is still closed. If only deer could feed off tree branches.