Deer Culling Season Deemed a Success; Management Firm Plans Work Reduction

Matthew Hersh

Princeton Township completed the fourth year of its deer management program last Saturday, with a cull so successful that it brings the early completion of a project that has historically created consternation from those who opposed the program.

White Buffalo, the Connecticut-based deer management firm that conducts the Township's deer program, killed 276 deer during the 2003-2004 season – bringing the total to a level that allows the Township to conclude the program a year ahead of schedule.

Anthony DeNicola, president of the deer management contractor, attributed the swift completion of the Township's program to the sustained level of snow cover on the ground. He said the harsh winter forces the deer to use their stored resources leading them to look for food in various bait traps assembled in designated areas in the Township.

White Buffalo has killed 1,181 deer in a program that began in the winter of 2001.

The original five-year goal of the Township was to bring the deer population down to 350, or approximately 20 deer per square mile as described by the Township in its target density.

Mr. DeNicola also recognized the Township in its efforts to help facilitate the program. "The Township has allowed us to work at an intensive level, and has given us tremendous support," he said. He added that despite public, albeit minority, condemnations that have battered the Township Committee for years, the deer culling efforts largely went unimpeded, "which is rare."

There was recently one incident involving the arrest of an East Windsor woman for contaminating a deer bait station at the Mountain Lakes Reservation. The woman, Nancy Bowman, is president of the Mercer County Deer Alliance, which has brought suit against the Township in the past regarding its deer culling program.

Ms. Bowman, however, separated herself from the Alliance at the time of the arrest saying she acted on her own.

The success of the current season will allow White Buffalo to reduce its presence in the Township, Mr. DeNicola said.

"Now we will think about the maintenance phase," he said. "It's only a matter of time before the population goes back to where it was before."

"The whole goal [of the program] was to spend the money upfront and then put in a reduced effort at the end." Mr. DeNicola estimates that White Buffalo will reduce its program to approximately 50 percent of its current operating levels.

For the past two winters, the deer management contractor has employed both sharpshooters, captive-bolt guns, and drop nets as methods of capture-and-kill.

Hunters associated with the United Bowhunters of New Jersey also contributed to the success of the culling season. In September, the Township began to allow bow hunting as a method of deer management. In July 2003, the New Jersey Department of Fish and Wildlife denied the Township's request for a permit to conduct a third year of deer management if the plan did not include bow hunting as one of the methods employed in deer culling.