Laptop Battery The state Division of Fish and Wildlife, which previously approved applications to allow both Bernards Township in Somerset County and Millburn in Essex County to host professional hunts, has denied approval for current applications.
year program to reduce the local deer herd, "we're working it out as time goes on, " said Mayor Patricia Flannery. heeled communities that hold yearly hunts to supplement the state's public hunting seasons, said Larry Herrighty, chief of wildlife management for the state Department of Environmental Protection. The township wants hunters to kill 100 to 120 deer annually, preferably more, in addition to those shot during the state seasons, Flannery said. After two outings this month, Deer Management Systems has brought the total up to 98.
Thinkpad The Bernards plan was put on hold earlier this month when the state agency informed the town that its application for a Community Based Deer Management Plan was not approved.
Chief among the reasons for the denial was that the town, in addition to allowing professional hunters in, does not allow sport hunters to hunt.
And though its application last year specifically stated that sport hunting was already allowed in town, the state learned in this year's round of approvals that Bernards actually has an ordinance that prohibits sport hunting.
"It was brought to our attention that there was an ordinance prohibiting sport hunters," said Susan Markda, a senior wildlife biologist at the state agency. "If they allow some hunting, even on just one township property, it would go a long way toward showing us they are partners of the deer management program."
Markda said Millburn's application was denied because it didn't prove sufficient landscape damage -- a requirement for approval by the state. The first year, 113 deer were killed; last year, hunters killed 127.
Although Millburn's program began two years ago, last year was the first in which Bernards was permitted to hire professional hunters to reduce a deer herd that's estimated at 2,800 in the 25-square-mile municipality.
And while last year's plan to cull 500 deer in Bernards failed due to the warm winter -- as deer had plenty to eat on the forest floor and many stayed away from the hunters' bait stations -- Township Committeeman William Holmes said town officials hoped to make some headway this year.
The current denial by the state will set the town back in controlling its growing deer population, Holmes said.
"I think we're hoping there's still an opportunity to revive our application. But, given this setback, our goal will not be achievable for this year," he said.
That's a good thing according to resident Jane Books, who heads up the grassroots group Bernards Citizens for Rational Deer Management.
Citing the cost of the program and failure to follow the community's wishes, Books suggests that the denial by the state should be followed by the disbanding of the town's deer study taskforce.
"The deer study taskforce should resign now," she said. "They have taken our town for an expensive ride down the wrong road to deer management."
By Eleanor Barrett
Star-Ledger - 11/24/2002
Topic: Wildlife
That came after difficulties in designating sites where hunting would be effective and could be done without opposition from residents, Fellin said. Communities must get permission from all residents who live with 450 feet of a designated hunting area, and some oppose hunting or worry about safety, she said. Unlike the other municipal hunts in Somerset County, Bernards successfully concluded its hunt with sportsmen, said William Darrow, chairman of the local deer management advisory committee.
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