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Politics & Government

Report: Fewer White-Tailed Deer Killed in Morris Parks

Icy weather cited as a reason 27 percent fewer white tail deer were harvested last fall and winter.

Hunters killed 27 percent fewer white tailed deer during the 2010-2011 hunt in Morris County parks than they did the year prior.

A report issued  by the Morris County Park Commission said that 303 deer were killed in the hunt, compared to 416 in the 2009-2010 hunt.

Kelli Kovacevic, superintendent of wildlife resource management for the park commission, said  hunters reported harsh snow and ice conditions in the  fall hunting season as a factor in the lower  totals.

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She said it is too early to determine if the drop was more than incidental.

“It is too early to say that it is a trend,” she said.

The park commission has said that a healthy deer herd measures 15 to 16 deer per square mile. Estimates in the county’s Black River park in Chester Township and Lewis Morris park in Morris and Mendham Townships, indicated the number of deer ranged between 55.8 and 82.43 deer per square mile.

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On Wednesday and Thursday, the National Park service will host public sessions to explain and gather comments on plans to initiate a white tail deer management program in Jockey Hollow, a unit of the .

The park service said this effort “will help promote naturally regenerating hardwood forests with mixed classes of trees that reflect the historic and naturally diverse character of the park.”

Both sessions are at Washington's Headquarters Museum, 30 Washington Place, Morristown.

The sessions are 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, and 2 to 4  p.m. Thursday.

To allow for easier analysis of written comments, the NPS prefers that written comments be submitted electronically via the NPS website.

Comments also can be mailed to: Mr. Robert Masson, Biologist,  Morristown National Historical Park, 30 Washington Place, Morristown, NJ 07960.

A sample of the total of deer killed in Morris Parks in 2010-11:

  • Central Park of Morris County, Parsippany, Morris Plains, 26, down 10 percent;
  • Fosterfields Living Historical Farm, Morris Township, 5, down 75 percent;
  • Frelinghuysen Arboretum, Morris Township, 5, down 64 percent;
  • Jonathan’s Woods, Denville, 7, down 56 percent;
  • Lewis Morris County Park, Morris and Mendham townships; 43, down 44 percent;
  • Loantaka Brook Reservation, Madison, Chatham, Morris Township, Harding, 22, down 21 percent;
  • Mahlon Dickerson Reservation, Jefferson, 12, down 29 percent;
  • Schooley’s Mountain County Park, Washington Township, 16, down 47 percent

The park commission supervises 18,388 acres.

The annual deer management report says the  commission “recognizes that a controlled hunting program is currently the most efficient and effective way to minimize the severe threats posed to the biodiversity of native flora and fauna by an overabundant white-tailed deer population.”

The 2010-11 deer management program had a total of 19 areas open to some form of hunting, totaling 8,114 acres, or 44 percent of the park systems total acres. Four of the areas were for shotgun hunting only, 11 for bow hunting only, and four for both shotgun and bow hunting.

A total of 394 hunters were registered for the 2010-11 program. That represents a 16 percent increase from the 2009-10 program, for which 339 hunters were registered.

The park commission’s first controlled hunting program was held at the Black River County Park in Chester Township during the hunting season of 1991-92.

The park commission implemented a trial immunocontraception program at the Frelinghuysen Arboretum in August 1997 in cooperation with the Humane Society of the United States. This program continued until early 2000. An evaluation of the results of this program found contraception to be an ineffective and inefficient means to control high numbers of deer.

The county park deer management report can be found at here.

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