DEC Releases Draft Statewide Deer Management Plan

DEC Releases Draft Statewide Deer Management Plan

November 27, 2020 11:30 a.m.

Press Release from New York State DEC:

DEC Releases Draft Statewide Deer Management Plan

Plan Would Help Guide Current and Future State Deer Management Using

Science and Public Input

Public Comments Accepted until Dec. 28

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC)

Commissioner Basil Seggos today announced the release of a draft Deer

Management Plan for New York State for public review and comment. The plan

builds upon the progress made by DEC's first deer management plan, released in

2011, and will guide DEC's deer management actions to balance natural

resource protection, public safety, and recreational and economic interests for

the next 10 years. The

draft plan

is available on DEC's website and public

comments will be accepted through Dec. 28, 2020.

"With this draft management plan, DEC is taking innovative steps to improve deer

management for the benefit of deer, deer habitat, and New Yorkers,"

Commissioner Seggos said. "We are seeking new ways to address

overabundant deer in urban and suburban areas, provide relief to farmers and

forest owners experiencing deer damage, protect New York's deer from the

potential devastation of Chronic Wasting Disease, and enhance our great deer

hunting traditions."

The draft plan details a new method for setting deer population objectives that

integrates an assessment of deer impacts on forests with public preferences for

deer population changes. It emphasizes new and adaptive approaches for

harvesting antlerless deer by recommending strategic hunting season and tag

changes in rural landscapes where additional harvest is needed and developing

new opportunities for community-based deer management in suburban and

urban landscapes.

A summary of the accomplishments from the first plan, many of which have

become integrated into DEC's deer management program, is also included. In

addition, the plan provides greater transparency into the processes behind deer

management including the methodology for setting Deer Management Permit

(DMP, antlerless tag) quotas and the calculations for estimating annual deer

harvest totals. Finally, this plan identifies a series of statutory recommendations

that would improve deer management capacity throughout New York.

Significant elements of the Draft Plan include:

Establishing desired deer population trajectories (more deer, fewer deer,
stay the same) for 23 regions of the state by aggregating existing deer
management units, including deer impacts on forest regeneration with new
tools like AVID (see below), and considering public preferences for deer
population change;
Monitoring deer populations for diseases such as Chronic Wasting Disease
and taking steps to reduce disease risk;
Recommending several hunting-related changes to provide additional
hunter opportunity such as a Southern Zone holiday hunt, special seasons
to meet local objectives, and increasing antlerless harvest where deer
population reduction is warranted;
Maintaining a voluntary approach for letting young bucks go and re-
evaluating the existing mandatory antler restriction program for consistency
with hunter values and management objectives;
Encouraging voluntary use of non-lead ammunition (such as copper) by
deer hunters to reduce human and wildlife exposure to lead by ingestion;
Pursuing regulatory mechanisms to improve the Deer Management
Assistance Program and Deer Damage Permit program so landowners and
municipalities can reduce deer damage and deer-human conflicts;
Providing technical assistance for community-based deer management
including local hunting programs, suburban/urban hunter-training
workshops, and other management tools;
Exploring the potential for a small grants program to assist communities in
developing local deer management plans and implementing actions from
those plans;
Promoting the Assessing Vegetation Impacts of Deer (AVID) protocol for
citizen science monitoring of deer browse impacts on forests; and
Better understanding and addressing public values and interests regarding
deer populations, impacts, and deer management decisions.