Deer, Deer, Everywhere

Too many people are arriving at their homes at night on the east end to find a deer munching on the flowers, trees, and shrubs on their property. Sometimes even with you there they continue to munch away. They have become so brazen they seem to have no intention of moving and sometimes stare you down.

Places like the trailer park where at Ditch Plains in Montauk off season some folks cannot get to work because their cars are surrounded by at least a dozen deer. They reportedly don’t  even flinch, nor are they afraid of the local dogs as they sniff each other like blood brothers. Many have to wait for the herd of deer to move on so they can get into their car.

A decade ago, Larry Penny, then an East Hampton Town Environmental official, was asked by this reporter about the growing deer population. Mr. Penny said the introduction of wild turkeys would help curtail the deer population. He said, “They will compete for the same food.” Fast forward 15 years and there are both more turkeys and more deer!

According to U.S. government stats Suffolk county has up to 36,000 deer and the number is increasing because of “successful wildlife management!”  So successful they are being spotted up-island everywhere.

Reportedly a recent study of Long Island Deer stated, “First they were sighted in more wooded North Shore communities such as Oyster Bay Cove, Cold Spring Harbor, Laurel Hollow and Locust Valley, but now they are spotted more western and southern inland in Nassau County towns such as Syosset, Muttontown, Westbury, Bethpage, Levittown and Massapequa.”

The NY State study goes on to say Suffolk County has an average density of 27-39 deer per square mile with denser populations in the eastern and northwestern parts of the county.

Now, some people love this. Perhaps the same folks who are welcoming coyotes and wolves back into the Long Island ecosystem. Most east end folks know something has to be done sooner than later.

There is the driving safety factor as well as the deer tick issue causing Lyme and other diseases. East end homeowners know even fencing in their yards does not prevent damage to their gardens by deer.

Every resident of East Hampton Town who has a valid New York State big game hunting license and a valid East Hampton Town hunting license can hunt deer during the hunting season. In Suffolk County the firearms hunting season starts on the first Sunday in January and ends on Jan. 31. The hunting hours are from sunrise to sunset. There are a host of other regulations about what one must wear, how many deer they can kill and what kind of weapon they can use.

Then there is the deer tick problem. The issue deer lovers seem to ignore. Dr. Erin McGinty, an expert on ticks who is affiliated with both Southampton Hospital and the Tick-Borne Disease Resource Center at Stony Brook University Hospital reportedly had this to say a while back, “Clearly, if we didn’t have as big of a deer problem, we wouldn’t have as big of a tick problem, and I think the same argument extends to all of the tick-related illnesses. I think we all can agree the exploding deer population makes it harder to avoid. It’s very hard to prevent people from getting bitten, and it’s usually the bite you don’t see that makes you sick because it goes untreated. This is a sneaky disease. Also, the more bites you get, the worse it gets. And yet, it’s just such a challenge to make any progress on this because for every person that does understand how dire it is, there’s somebody else saying, ‘God forbid you want to sterilize a deer or try to put insect repellent on them.’ ”

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to conclude as the deer population grows so does the potential of getting Lyme disease. Something eventually will have to be done, on a large scale. Until then be alert and read up on tick prevention.