Public Hearing on Deer Management June 30

The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control's
Division of Fish and Wildlife will be holding a deer management public
hearing at 7 p.m., June 30 in DNREC's auditorium, Richardson and Robbins
building, 89 Kings Highway, Dover to amend the deer season under the
Wildlife and Non-Tidal Fishing Regulations. DNREC is amending the
regulations to promote the harvest of female deer.

The changes include increasing the general deer bag limit from two deer to
four deer, adding one day to the October muzzleloader season, adding
shotgun deer hunting days in October for antlerless deer and changing
tagging requirements for deer checked using the automated phone/internet
system.

"This will hopefully bring the deer population to manageable levels and
address the growing issues of ecosystem damage, crop damage, property
damage, vehicle collisions, and lyme disease transmission," says DNREC's
Deer Damage Assistance Program Manager, Ken Reynolds.

"I believe that deer overabundance is an ecological crisis. Deer browsing
of vegetation has been documented to cause decreased abundance and in some
cases local extinctions of amphibians, birds, mammals, rare plants, and
reptiles," says University of Delaware Assistant Professor of Wildlife
Ecology, Dr. Jake Bowman. "Reducing deer numbers will help conserve
Delaware's fragile biodiversity and promote overall ecosystem health."

The Department has contracted Dr. Jake Bowman to develop a comprehensive
deer management plan for the State.