New data: Deer kills up dramatically this season
Deer cull numbers rise as the town’s Deer & Tick Committee members speculate on the increase of kills.
With only days remaining in the 2014-15 hunting season, Shelter Island has experienced a marked increase in the number of deer taken — 346 compared with 250 last year.The numbers, compiled by Jennifer Beresky for the town’s Deer & Tick Committee, may be lower than actual kills, given speculation from committee members that hunters may have taken more, but not reported them. Committee members also speculated that other deer may have starved to death during the brutal winter.
Of the 346 reported, only 13 were killed during the so-called “nuisance hunt” — extra hunting time muncipalities can request from the state — that started in January and will end March 31. But low kill numbers are typical during the nuisance season, since many hunters don’t participate and hunting is allowed on only a few of the town managed properties .
Deer harvested from October 1, 2014, to the present were taken on town-managed properties, at the Mashomack Preserve, Sylvester Manor and others taken with bonus tags — licenses issued to hunters who take anterless deer, usually females.
The newly released number of deer killed reflects a 30 percent increase in kills, not including Mashomack Preserve, said Deer & Tick Committee Chairman Mike Scheibel, who is natural resources manager at the Preserve.
The new data was disseminated via email since this week’s meeting of the committee was cancelled because of a lack of a quorum. Members responded to questions in a series of emails.
Mr. Scheibel speculated that the increase this year may be due to more deer residing on the Island or may reflect a more aggressive effort by hunters to cull the herd.
“That would correlate well with the town’s increased efforts to provide incentives,” Mr. Scheibel said, referring to a system established to give hunters entry into a raffle for every deer they take. The winner each week received a gift certificate for purchase of sports equipment. Also, was a one-time $100 gift card to a sporting goods store that went to hunters who had taken a certain number of deer in the program, but that was not announced.
But Mr. Scheibel’s speculation on more deer living here speaks to the question regularly posed by committee member Marc Wein, but remains unanswered: How many deer are there on Shelter Island? Mr. Wein has been trying to get a reliable estimate that would indicate whether Shelter Island is making progress in controlling its deer herd or just treading water.
He is still hoping to get cull numbers that would track over a 10-year period.
Committee member Jim Colligan said he’s hoping that at least 100 more deer were taken by hunters who didn’t report the kills.
Mr. Colligan said he was encouraged, that despite the cold, ice and snow of recent months that might have discouraged some hunters, he thought this year’s numbers showed the town is “moving in the right direction” and needs to continue its incentive program “to motivate our local hunters.”
Mr. Scheibel agreed and said state Department of Environmental Conservation wild life biologist Josh Stiller would be willing to attend a future committee meeting to discuss recent regulations relating to deer and tick control.
The DEC can’t give advice to the Town Board about what it should or shouldn’t do, Mr. Scheibel said. But Mr. Stiller can provide information to the committee that can then decide what it wants to recommend to the Town Board.
