ACSL Comments on PGC draft Urban Deer Management Plan

TO:              Pennsylvania Game Commission
FROM:        ACSL Game Committee
DATE:         5-12-06
SUBJECT:  Commentary on Urban Deer Management Plan

Urban deer, a unique problem that requires special management solutions.

The human-deer conflict in developed areas did not occur over night.  As is inherent in human nature, community leaders did not want to deal with the problem until it became a crisis. Hunting as a solution to thin or remove unwanted urban deer is a winning situation and does require PGC oversight, to create and administer the program on a community-by-community basis. All of the urban communities may have the same problem with too many deer, however, a one-size fits all solution may not work. The PGC can facilitate a positive and constructive partnership with hunters and urban communities. Many hunters look for local hunting grounds to put meat in the freezer, and community leaders try to provide a safe and friendly place for their residents to live.

Insurance companies also need to be brought to the table, as deer - vehicle collision damage claims affect their bottom line. In many communities, random deer - vehicle collision is presently the only way deer control is affected, at a tremendous cost to insurance companies and vehicle owners. The game commission must bring all parties together and find a way to fund the additional administrative cost, without hunters having to foot the bill.  Communities and insurance companies should share in the cost.

The PGC should draw up special hunting regulations and procedures for administrating and managing the urban deer program

The existing solutions of “red” tag areas and DMAP tags that are employed in rural Pennsylvania are not suitable to urban environments.  The urban deer management program should be administered independently from the rural programs. A new tag, with a more flexible program can be tailored to urban communities using a new designation, such as “yellow tag”, for urban applications.  A source to fund the program would be to sell these “yellow tags” at a reduced rate from regular anterless deer tags, to local communities enrolled in the program.  The tags can then be distributed free to PGC certified hunters.  The PGC could implement a standard proficiency test, along with a written test, administered to local hunters willing to help thin local deer herds. Hunters should pay the additional cost for the PGC certification.

Most hunters distrust large computer databases, with their personal information being available on line.  Computer networks can be, and have been, hacked for theft of personal identity information.  Similarly, a reason many hunters are apprehensive about the proposed “point of sale" system, is that it's a defacto firearm owner database.

PGC certified hunters can go to the Game Commission web site where the enrolled communities contact points would be listed.  The contact point could be a community’s police department, supervisor, or anyone that the community would designate to issue the free urban “yellow tags”.  PGC certified hunters can provide mandatory identification to the community contact, such as driver license info, phone number, hunting license, vehicle make and model, etc, using a standard paper form devised by the PGC. The local communities can issue a placard to be placed on the dashboard of vehicles used by hunters. The local police can then easily recognize vehicles used by certified hunters as a controlling factor to know a hunter is present. 

The PGC should expand hunting opportunities such as an archery season that runs with no close season from early September until the end of January, or let the anterless gun season run thru the regular deer season and into mid January, with no close season. This will allow PGC certified hunters to hunt the “yellow tag” areas, when no other hunting opportunities are available, to facilitate the harvest of excessive deer.

Legislation, such as HB 904 must be passed, giving the PGC discretionary power to implement Sunday hunting where feasible.  This would virtually double the available hunting time most hunters have around their employment schedules.  The ACSL supports HB 904, and can lobby for it as central to a viable deer management plan.

Non-hunting or alternative methods of deer removal.

The use of snipers is outside the original purpose of the PGC mandate, and no PGC funds should pay for any part of the administration of a sniper program. Any community that uses snipers should pay the PGC an administration fee for oversight of the program, along with a fee for every deer shot, just as hunters do for doe tags.

Trapping and relocation is obviously cost prohibitive.  However, it can be considered if advocates of trapping and relocation are willing to supply the manpower and pay the associated costs for it.

The Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League is adamantly opposed to the use of birth control/deer fertility control agents. This option should not even be considered.  Introducing chemicals with unknown long-term or short-term side effects should never be attempted.  Health hazards could be numerous, such as bucks never stopping the rut cycle, not to mention the hazard of contaminated meat being consumed by humans or other wildlife. Who will assume the moral responsibly and liability for the consequences of someone picking up a road killed deer or a hunter harvested deer, that is contaminated by a birth control agent, and feeding it to a pregnant woman or to children? It is better that the deer be shot by snipers, or hit by cars and the carcass left to rot.

Feeding deer

Good willed people feed deer for a variety reasons, creating unnatural concentrations of deer into very small areas where deer - human conflicts increase, and disease can readily spread. Outlawing the feeding of urban deer will be very unpopular with some but is essential game management strategy.

Education is pivotal to the success of an urban deer control plan, and should be generously employed.

The Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League welcomes the opportunity to help formulate an urban deer management strategy.  The ACSL is comprised of numerous sportsmen’s clubs, with a membership that represents thousands of hunters, centered in one of the major areas where this urban deer management plan would be implemented.  They will have first hand knowledge of the problems, and possible solutions in their own communities.

Again, the unique problems of urban deer management cannot be handled the same way as rural deer damage problems. This program should be separate from any other program, and should be developed with input from local wildlife officers, hunters, and the communities where this program would be operating, with the PGC as the mediating agent.  

The ACSL wants to thank the PGC for taking on this complicated deer management issue and looks forward to helping with the program.