DEC'S NEW DEER MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Well, if I had to summarize the DEC's "new" deer management plan that was unveiled at the New York State Conservation Council's meeting on September 19th, I guess I could sum it up in one word "PATHETIC."

Let me explain.  The presentation listed the following goals for the 5 year plan:

1) A Population goal.

2) A Hunting and Recreation goal.

3) Conflict and damage goal.

4) Education and Communication goal.

5) A Habitat goal.

6) An Operational goal.

Now, on merit, if you were the average educated citizen of New York State, you might be tempted to say, "okay, it seems like they are focused on the needs of NY conservation and we are heading in the right direction".  WRONG!

At the Spring meeting of the NYSCC Director Riexinger assured us (the Big Game Committee) that by this Fall meeting, an extensive deer management plan would be laid out to the council members.  The only real thing that is clear with this plan is that the DEC is content to sit back and do nothing!  They are going to "paper tiger" deer conservation to death, until they are all eligible for retirement incentive packages.

Anyone who was present at the meeting knows that I was the first to raise my hand and my voice.  See, my blood was boiling about this extension of the ruse that we have come to accept as deer conservation in this state.  For well over a year, we have been questioned (deer meetings of '09) and surveyed, nearly to death (Cornell HDRU, etc. etc.).  This plan, when looked at objectively, is a common sense look at what should have been in effect for the last 100 years!  The DEC is mired down in stall tactics fueled by fiscal neglect.  It is clearly the same old BS, but now we have less and less to work with!  Less money, less personnel, less leadership, and certainly less insightfulness.  

The DEC has failed to address the real problems that concern hunters.  They just don't comprehend that the main component of attracting more hunters to the tradition is "better deer hunting" and that means bigger racked, healthier deer.  They don't seem to comprehend that habitat plus age diversity equals better hunting and better hunting means more license sales.  Its just common sense.

While the DEC insists out of one side of their mouth that more education is needed; before antler restrictions can be expanded and out of the other side they proffer that antler restrictions should be voluntarily expanded on private lands.  The message becomes quite clear that the DEC speaks with forked tongue.  If they truly believed that more education was needed then why is it they don't tell the truth about antler restrictions?  In the past, you would hear the DEC biologists spout about how there was NO biological need for antler restrictions, but since world renowned wildlife biologist Dick Henry (one of their own brethren, formerly of the NYSDEC) put to print the true facts about antler restrictions and the role age diversity actually plays in the herd's cycles of life, well I haven't heard or read a peep out of them.  The fact of the matter is that as Mr. Henry has tied it all together through scientific fact, it becomes a clear matter of what is best for the resource (the deer) and NOT what is good for the uneducated hunter.  

So let's see if I can tie this altogether.  The hunting tradition is on a strong decline in this state.  The resource is not even close to maximum health.    Deer habitat in a substantial portion of the Southern Tier is severely lacking and the state sits back and reverts back to the same old stuff!  There is something terribly wrong in the state of New York.   

Antler restrictions will insure that a necessary aspect of a deer's life cycle will be healthier.  67% of the DEC surveyed populus wants antler restrictions because they know it is good for the deer and deer hunting.  Antler restrictions are not the cure all for what is wrong with our deer population, but they are one of many steps in the right direction.

What is crystal clear here is that the NYSDEC is deficient in their approach to modern deer management!  They neither have the direction nor the means to rectify the situation in time to salvage our tradition!  Perhaps with the election of a new governor in the coming months we can look forward to getting rid of the dead wood in the upper echelon of our dysfunctional conservation department!

PS - To the members of The NYSCC.  I think it would be a step in the right direction if Mr. Dick Henry was invited to speak to the council on the antler restriction issue.  He could certainly answer all the scientific/biological questions relative to herd health and the dynamics that will lead to better hunting.

------ Martin T. Mc Donnell