Deer herd shrinking, but may bounce back
Experts oppose DEC's plan to boost population


By Dan Shapley
Poughkeepsie Journal



With the size of New York's deer herd down about 28 percent in three years, the Department of Environmental Conservation aims to help the herd grow.
Herd size is regulated by adjusting the number of does hunters can shoot. To increase the birth rate, the DEC gave out only 387,600 permits to shoot antlerless deer in 2005 — a decrease of 220,000. At one to three fawns per doe, those surviving deer should fuel a resurgence in the herd.
The DEC's strategy is being questioned by some in the Hudson Valley, where there's evidence deer harm forest ecology and farm profits — not to mention car fenders and suburban shrubs.
The DEC goal of increasing the size of the herd comes from citizen task forces made up of hunters, farmers and others with often competing ideas about the ideal herd size. Goals for this fall have not been set.