Letter: Choice Between Dart and Shotgun a 'No-Brainer'

The writer is Susan Russell, Wildlife Policy Specialist, with the Animal Protection League of New Jersey.

Recently, the Animal Protection League of New Jersey responded to Hilltop Conservancy anti-deer activist Theresa Trapp’s claim that deer killing programs are somehow superior to non-lethal approaches. Now, Ms. Trapp has responded to our response (March 19). Humane deer management is an important public issue. We welcome the exchange, but we do insist on adherence to fact and avoidance of straw man arguments. Key facts omitted in Hilltop Conservancy’s initial pro-kill position included white-tailed deer response to hunting programs (stimulated reproduction), the Department of Agriculture’s rating of GonaCon’s efficacy, burdensome requirements that deer be captured and inoculated account for most of the cost, and the ecologically damaging …

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Letter: Legal Impediment to Non-Lethal Deer Control Methods

Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Patch Letter to the Editor on deer control.

Anti-culling activists insist there are economical and effective non-lethal alternatives to control local deer populations. A previous letter explored the high cost ($3,000+ per deer) and low effectiveness of immuno-contraceptives like GonaCon. Surgical sterilization (either tubal ligation or ovariectomy) would be less expensive (~$1,800 per deer) and far more effective – however, given New Jersey’s current regulations, neither method is operationally feasible. Under statute N.J.S.A. 23:4-42.4, a municipality wishing to conduct any kind of deer management program must first obtain a community-based deer management program permit from the DEP. Imbedded in this statute’s language is the requirement for prior written consent from surrounding …

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Letter: Deer Contraceptives: It’s About the Politics ­and Science

The following letter was submitted by the Animal Protection League of New Jersey.

Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp (Deer Contraceptives: It's All About the Math posted on Feb. 14) omits key facts when claiming that the annual killing of deer at Hilltop and in South Mountain Reservation is somehow more effective than non-lethal approaches. First, there is established science: the white-tail’s breeding ecology. Deer, especially previously non-hunted populations, respond to hunting pressure with higher fecundity. Hunting stimulates breeding by increasing carrying capacity. Fewer competitors results in more food for surviving females, earlier pregnancies, better neonatal health, and larger litters. Non-hunted sites show no increase in breeding. By Ms. Trapp’s own admission: "… and yet 30% of female fawns become …

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Deer Contraceptives – It's All About the Math

Hilltop Conservancy Treasurer Theresa Trapp pens Letter to the Editor regarding county deer hunt.

  Essex County’s 2013 deer hunt has come to a close, once again removing many of this over-abundant species from our reservations (Hilltop – 61, South Mountain – 43). Contrary to naysayers, deer have not become extinct because of the program, and there are small signs that our nature preserves are beginning to recover from decades of browse damage. Contraceptives are sometimes proposed as an alternative to hunting. However, we need to acknowledge that non-lethal methods to control deer populations would involve significant investment of taxpayer dollars, particularly immuno-contraception (e.g., GonaCon). Each GonaCon inoculation costs more than $1,000 per dose (including locating, immobilizing, inoculating and collaring). In addition, each…

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Sixth Deer-Culling Season Ends, Will Continue in 2014

Essex County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. announced the county's deer management program was successful and will continue.

Trained marksmen were responsible for killing 152 deer at two reservations as part of the sixth year of Essex County’s deer management program, county officials announced Wednesday. The program, which ended last week, will continue into 2014, County Executive Joseph N. DiVincenzo Jr. said at a press conference to discuss the program at the South Mountain Reservation. "There's no question for the last six years this program has been very successful," DiVincenzo said. "This will program will continue next year." This comes a year after DiVincenzo announced the continuation of the deer management program this year was under discussion by the county.  However, the county did scale back the program from last year's 24 hunting sessions in 12 …

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Essex County Deer Hunt Begins Tuesday (Poll)

Do you think the county should continue the annual hunt?

Let the hunt begin.  The sixth year of Essex County's deer management program begins Tuesday. The hunt will be held on Tuesdays and Thursdays until Feb. 7.  Hunting will take place at South Mountain Reservation in South Orange on Tuesday and Thursday, and Jan. 29 in the afternoon only. In addition, hunters will be allowed to track trails in the Hilltop Reservation and the old Essex County Hospital Center site in North Caldwell in the mornings and afternoons on Jan 31, as well as on Feb. 5 and 7.  The hunt has been scaled back this year. The program has been reduced from 24 hunting sessions in 12 days in 2012 to nine sessions in six days this year.  Open/Closed During the deer hunt, the reservations and Fairview Avenue in Cedar Grove will …

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Hilltop Reservation Deer Hunt Slated to Start Jan. 29

Essex County scales back deer management program.

The sixth year of Essex County's deer management program—slated to begin Jan. 22—has been scaled back from previous years, County Executive Joseph DiVincenzo Jr. said Tuesday.  The program has been reduced from last year's 24 hunting sessions in 12 days to nine sessions in six days. It will run from Jan. 22 to Feb. 7 on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  Also this year, there will be no hunting in Eagle Rock Reservation. "This program, in my mind, is more of a maintenance program each and every year just to maintain what we have," DiVincenzo said. "The numbers speak for themselves." On county roadways, the number of deer carcases removed last year was down to 201, from 363 in 2011. North Caldwell Borough Administrator Mel Levine said although the …

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North Caldwell Eager to Control Deer Population

Concerned about reports of Lyme Disease, borough considers options.

Bow hunting, pesticides and fencing are some of the ways North Caldwell is considering curbing the borough’s deer population. But what will actually work? That’s the $64 million question faced by the three-square-mile suburb’s governing body. At Tuesday night's council meeting, Borough Engineer and Department of Public Works Director Frank Zichelli suggested the town ask residents what they are doing to keep deer off their properties in a survey that will be mailed to all households later this year.  The survey’s main goal would be to count the number of confirmed cases of Lyme Disease—a number the mayor and council feel they need in order to assess what could be a public health crisis.  A survey conducted last year by a Deer Task Force …

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Plea to County: Continue Deer Culling in Reservations

The letter writers represent Hilltop and South Mountain reservations in Essex County.

The South Mountain and Hilltop Conservancies are mobilizing a petition drive for supporters of the Hilltop, South Mountain and Eagle Rock Reservations to counter a possible end to the County's deer management program.  After several years of culling deer densities in our area have been reduced somewhat, but are nowhere near the 10-per-square-mile number needed to allow the forests and their ecosystems to regenerate. We believe that stopping the culling, even for a year, is extremely ill-advised. With no natural predators in our area (wolves, mountain lions, black bears), deer populations will continue to expand unless the County actively reduces the herds.  We've set up an online petition for voting-age residents to tell Essex County …

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James Lawson

8:20 pm on Friday, September 14, 2012

The most affordable happens to be salt licks that have a large amount of birth control in them the only problems with these licks is that they also affect other animals that lick them. Some animals it works like it does with the deer, but it can be detrimental to other animals   more ›

Essex County News

Deer Hunt Begins at Hilltop Thursday

Here's what you need to know during county's three-week deer culling program.

Deer hunting is scheduled to begin at Hilltop and Eagle Rock reservations Thursday as part of Essex County’s fifth annual deer management program. County-approved volunteer hunters will be in the Hilltop, a 284-acre parcel that spans Cedar Grove, Verona, Caldwell and North Caldwell, and at the 408-acre Eagle Rock Reservation in West Orange, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, from Feb. 2 through Feb. 23 during daylight hours. Both reservations will be closed during the hunt. The Essex County Sheriff's Office has reported the following road closures during the period of the hunt on Tuesdays and Thursdays from midnight to 10 p.m. Near Hilltop Reservation, Fairview Avenue, from Myrtle Avenue to Durrell Street, will be closed. All roadways within Eagle…

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