Wildlife biologist Hank Birdsall believes there are 159 deer in the small city of Rye and is recommending using volunteer archers to control the population.
Birdsall, who lives in Rye and has experience in deer management, conducted a deer study for the city and recently presented his results.
At both dawn and dusk between December 2015 and March 2016, Birdsall and volunteers collected data for his report by tracking white-tailed deer in and around the Rye Golf Club, the Marshlands Conservancy, the Jay Heritage Center, the Greenhaven section of the city, the Edith Read Sanctuary, the Rye Nature Center and Greenwood Union Cemetery.
A deer pellet count was also conducted between April 5 and April 11 of this year.
“Deer are ‘eco-engineers’; what they do really affects a forest,” Birdsall said, adding that high numbers of deer are a concern because of the effects they have on forest health. A healthy forest or wooded area would have an understory, smaller trees and shrubs that grow on the ground that other animals rely on. Young trees’ inability to grow and replace older trees due to deer eating them will drastically affect the parks and greenery of Rye and surrounding areas in 100 years, he said.
“Clearly, [doing] nothing is not an option,” Birdsall said.
Birdsall then offered three options for the city to take.
The first two options included using non-lethal immunocontraception with medicated darts every two to three years, which uses an animal’s immune system to prevent fertilizing offspring, and hiring sharpshooters with firearms from organizations such as USDA Wildlife and White Buffalo Inc. on an annual basis.
The third option, and Birdsall’s recommendation, is “Host-a-Hunter,” a network connecting skilled, local volunteer archers with property owners in Rye. The hired hunters would use compound bows from removable, elevated tree stands 150 feet from the nearest resident’s house—a state law—unless the resident allows bowhunting from a closer distance.
“We don’t just want good archers, we want the best of the best,” Birdsall said, adding that hunters will have to sign an injury waiver and residents could have a say on how hunters will behave on their private property.
Bowhunting season in Westchester begins on Oct. 1 and runs through Dec. 31. Under this scenario, effects of dead deer on the environment were also considered, as Birdsall suggested that 25 percent of local venison be donated to the Food Bank of Westchester to help cut down on Rye’s carbon footprint, with hunters keeping the rest as an incentive.
According to Rye Police Department data, there were 16 reported accidents involving cars and deer per year on average between 2008 and 2015; there have been eight collisions reported so far this year. Affected Rye drivers can pay more than $50,000 per year in damages, excluding medical costs, Birdsall said in his report.
He also noticed that more than one-third of deer-car collisions occurred on Boston Post Road, between Oakland Beach Avenue and Rye’s border with Mamaroneck. Almost all collisions happened when there was low visibility, between dusk and dawn, when deer are most active.
Republican Rye City Mayor Joe Sack said that he and village of Mamaroneck Mayor Norman Rosenblum, a Republican, have not spoken about Birdsall’s report. The two mayors tried to get Westchester County to help the two municipalities with a deer culling program, but the county declined.
“[Rosenblum] has been a great partner,” Sack said. “If Mamaroneck wants to use whatever information that Birdsall collected, they’re more than welcome to; it’s public information.”
