Questions were answered and misconceptions cleared during a meeting in Bethany Wednesday night on a proposal to allow deer hunting during bow season in Genessee County Park, said Parks Supervisor Paul Osborn.
The proposal, which must be approved by the County Legislature, is designed to help thin the deer population in the park, which has grown to nuisance levels as deer are destroying park vegetation and preventing new trees from getting established.
About 60 people attended the meeting.
A few people expressed concerns that were based on misconceptions, Osborn said, such as hunters being able to use guns (they can't) and the potential conflicts with non-hunting users of the park.
The hunters will be confined to 12 zones along the southern border of the park, according to the presentation given to the audience. While the hiking trails will be open, hunters are being told to stay clear of trails and be courteous of others using the park.
No trees will be removed or trimmed nor are hunters allowed to engage in clearing to create shooting lanes. The prohibition is good for conservation, but will limit the distance an arrow can travel, requiring hunters to get closer to their targets and take better shots.
"Our goal is to grow trees, not to cut them down just so we an hunt deer," Osborn said. "Our goal is to grow trees so people can enjoy them."
Hunters will be selected through a lottery Sept. 15, following a Sept. 11 deadline for applications, which open Aug. 17.
Two zones will be set aside for youth and disabled veterans, and young hunters and disabled veterans will be given priority over hunters from outside Genesee County.
In all, 48 hunters will be selected to receive permits for the four-week season, which runs from Oct. 19 through Nov. 15.
There is a mandatory informational class Oct. 3, which is where the permits will be distributed to the 48 winners upon payment of a $25 fee.
Each winning hunter will be granted permission to hunt in a single zone for a single week.
The first deer taken must be anterless. The second deer can be either a legal deer with antlers or anterless, and hunters are encouraged to take only anterless deer.
If the hunter takes two deer before the end of his or her week-long permit expires, the zone will be vacant for the remainder of that week.
Permits are non-transferable. While a hunter may be accompanied by one guest, the guest is not allowed to hunt at any time.
Hunting will be limited from sunrise to noon each day.
Hunters will be required to park in the designated parking lot and walk to their respective zones.
The plan is subject to modification until approved by the Legislature.
One modification, suggested by a person at yesterday's meeting, is that hunters entering the park be required to sign in and sign out when they leave.
Osborn said that idea was well received. It will help ensure hunters safely exit the park.
am i the only one who opposes
am i the only one who opposes this? whats next? deer hunting 101 by the college? obviously all efforts to reduce deer population have failed simply because with decreased population theres no money exchanged...there are other humane ways to decrease deer population but there is no money returned ...the big picture is man has failed to manage what God has created...so back off and let nature take its course
loggers destroy acres of
loggers destroy acres of vegetation...deer can only reach so high so thats no excuse to permit killing on prohibited land...the trees at work are still flourishing!....then to use the disabled card? Not many are a clean hit with a bow there will be blood trails. Cant think of a better way to bring in money?
To your first post Mary: We
To your first post Mary: We can't just throw our hands up and say "Let nature take it's course." Not at this point. Our ancestors exterminated the wolf from the region. Since then we have built towns, farms, tilled fields, roads (most of them with rather frequent houses). The wooded areas are pushed back, divided up into small chunks. Ecologically, the region very likely cannot support a wolf population large enough to control the deer population, even if it were a political possibility to re-introduce wolves. Outside of wolves there are no native natural predators in the region. Bear and coyote may take a few but only opportunistically and not in numbers large enough to control them. Without predators "Let nature take it's course" means letting deer numbers continue to grow uncontrolled, which means A LOT of deer vs. car accidents and increased pressure on vegetation.
To your second: Deer can only reach so high yes, but the danger is to everything they CAN reach. A forest should have understory plants, berry bushes, smaller plants and also younger trees which will replace the old when they die. A deer population unchecked quickly strips most of those smaller plants bare. Everything that isn't a deer that should feed on those smaller plants is harmed by the forest being overcapacity on deer.
Well Mary, Hunters contribute
Well Mary,
Hunters contribute approximately $690 million to New York State's economy through hunting related expenses such as license purchases, firearms, bows and arrows, ammo, hotel rooms and restaurants for example.
Hunters generate over $35 million in Federal excise taxes that go into State Game Management on lands open to the public such as the Genesee County Park.
Can you tell me what anti-hunters or people with good intentions contribute monetarily to public land? If your answer is my taxes, bow hunters pay taxes too.
Far more deer are struck by motor vehicles to run off into the woods and slowly die from their injuries; starvation included; than by a very few injured by an arrow.
There is hard evidence for this called insurance claims under Comprehensive.
The decimation of wolves is a
The decimation of wolves is a sorry legacy. It indeed upset the natural balance in many ecosystems in North America, and was fueled in part by Big Bad Wolf story telling mythology. Wolves have a place in nature and they should be respected in that role. The wholesale slaughter of wolves is not good resource management.
Mary - the tremendous
Mary - the tremendous revenues from this program will be $1,200. Given that hearings have been held, documentation is to be printed, and other activities will be required to implement the plan (if approved), this was not put together as a money-making program.
As for "let god take care of it"...well, no devine being has yet to prevent the situation from happening, so what makes anybody think that one will turn the situation around?