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DEC releases final version of 5-year deer management plan

Posted 10/19/11

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has adopted a final version of a five-year deer management plan, which was revised based on public comment on a previously released draft version. …

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DEC releases final version of 5-year deer management plan

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The state Department of Environmental Conservation has adopted a final version of a five-year deer management plan, which was revised based on public comment on a previously released draft version.

The plan is available at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html.

The plan describes six primary goals that encompass priorities for deer management and the values and issues expressed by the public:

• Manage deer populations at levels that are appropriate for human and ecological concerns

• Promote and enhance deer hunting as an important recreational activity, tradition, and population management tool in New York

• Reduce negative impacts caused by deer

• Foster public understanding and communication about deer ecology, deer management, economic aspects and recreational opportunities

• Manage deer to promote healthy and sustainable forests and enhance habitat conservation efforts to benefit deer and other species

• Ensure that the necessary resources are available to support sound management of white-tailed deer in New York.

Public comment on the plan was reviewed by the department, and several notable changes were made in the adopted plan, including:

• change to a 5-year cycle for evaluating deer population objectives

• removed the proposal to completely discontinue either-sex and antlerless-only tags

• implementing a youth deer hunting opportunity

• clarified that a special antlerless-only season for muzzleloader hunters will only occur as the third phase of a multi-phase process, and only in WMUs where additional doe harvest is needed.

DEC intends to begin parts of the deer plan immediately. While many strategies will take several years to develop, DEC expects to begin rule-making for a number of hunting-related aspects of this plan prior to the 2012-13 hunting seasons, including:

• Establishing a youth deer hunt

• Starting the Southern Zone bow season October 1

• Allowing DMPs to be used during the bow and early muzzleloader season in the Northern Zone

• Expanding mandatory antler restrictions into 7 WMUs in southeastern New York.

DEC Commissioner Joe Martens said, “DEC’s new deer management plan provides strategic direction for our staff over the next five years and will help us focus our efforts where they can best meet the biological and social demands associated with deer.”

“This plan emphasizes the importance of hunting for deer management, and we are particularly excited to create new opportunities for young deer hunters,” Martens said. “We are also cognizant of the significant ecological impacts associated with deer, and we are eager to more fully bring our knowledge of these impacts into the population management process.”

DEC strives to provide a deer management program that balances diverse public interests and values with the biological needs and ecological relationships of deer, for the benefit of New York’s white-tailed deer herd and the people of New York.