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Buck Masters Article - Staten Island

If you haven't seen the latest Buck Masters magazine there's an article in there that goes over the Staten Island deer problem and gets into how other cities handled the same problem in their area.

While several of the expert biologists stated this program will not work, the article also supported Dr William's approach to the problem deer in urban areas. It said that hunters who get permission on private land in these areas can't view it as a private shooting club for going after trophy bucks only, but rather they need take as many doe as possible to reduce the total herd count. Yes, Doc! I'm agreeing with you.

Some of you may remember one of my first posts on this site where I stated that I don't see backyard deer hunting the same as big woods hunting. The deer are not as wary of people as they are on heavily hunted state land. So if a landowner says kill them all, if you MUST agree to those terms as a guest on his property I would feel obligated to keep that agreement.

One of the conclusions was interesting. It said many of the municipalities are taking the same path for deer management in urban areas. They try non-lethal means first and then realize the results are not permanent and they are also costly, and revert back to hunting, either professional or with volunteers. Since the pro route is also costly, the volunteer route seems to be the most popular.

They also mentioned a tick study where rollers soaked in tick spray were placed at feeders and the deer were forced to stick their heads through the series of rollers to get at the food, placing the tick spray on their necks. It was deemed to be highly successful and you can buy or make your own roller mechanisms.

Bob -

I've not seen that mag in a while, sounds like an interesting article. Wonder if they will have it in an online version or at the bookstore?

I do think suburban deer are as wary as big woods deer. The difference to me is that they seem to have "learned" context. IE, walk along at a steady pace on a trail and they will watch you walk by happily, but stop a time or two, and they are in the next county. SW CT is the only place I've hunted where I literally saw deer walk along and intentionally look up to scan the trees for danger.

Suburban deer are uniquely challenging in their own way.

Unrelated, I love your "dont do this" thread. It is stuff that happens to everyone as they learn and grow.

The deer in my backyard come up to the feed and they can't go three seconds without popping their head up to look around. They will not let me get near them at all. As long as I'm sitting in my chair they tolerate me.

You are right Bob. The professional route is expensive and cities/municipalities usually opt to use volunteer hunters. Volunteer hunters can only get densities down to a certain level before it gets to be work and not fun anymore; spending hours and hours afield seeing no deer. But communities often want densities taken down further than traditional hunters can. So this is where the venison for sale/some kind of financial reimbursement for the time and money hunters spend is being looked at. I think we are at the point in FF County where the backyard deer are very wary of hunters and that is why guys are frustrated and feel like there are not any left. The sharpshooting crew said the deer in Redding were some of the smartest, cagiest deer they had ever seen, circling 8 times to come into a bait pile while checking the wind and looking up into the trees the whole time. How does that happen? By being educated by hunters for 4.5 months out of the year. And yes, 4 poster devices, as they are called, put a pesticide on deer that come into them to feed. They can be effective in killing ticks, but you are feeding deer and improving their health, which leads to more deer and more ticks. See link for all you want to know about 4-posters.

We KNOW it will work if people will "allow" logic and facts to be discussed intelligently. Mad Dog

Wow a discussion where everyone is getting along! :)

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