Signs warn park visitors to steer clear of hunting areas. MIDDLETOWN – Joy Gamache was simply taking a walk through Tatum Park when she saw sign after sign stating “Deer Hunting: Area Closed”.
“I had tried to go for a walk in Tatum Park over the holiday; that is when I found that my favorite section of the park would be closed for most of the winter,” Gamache said last week.
“When I reached that section, I was very upset to see the section was closed – but even more upset to see the perimeter of what little section was left to enjoy had a yellow sign on almost every tree, just ruining any view or enjoyment that there was left,” continued Gamache, who lives in the New Monmouth section of Middletown.
Jan. 1marked the first day of bow hunting season in parts of Tatum Park that Gamache normally frequents.
“I look forward to cross country skiing on that particular section because the trails are wide and there are some more challenging hills,” Gamache said. “So I picked up a trail map on my way out and also a winter activity directory.
“The trail map that they provided had no marking of any area that was closed for hunting, nor did it mention any closure dates. In very small print on the last page of the brochure, it did read, ‘Portions of Tatum Park may be open for deer hunting all or some of the state-regulated hunting season. All hunting areas are posted.’ ”
She then looked in thewinter activity directory and the park system’s Green Heritage, winter 2007-08, and said that she did not find anymention of trail or park closing dates for the deer management program.
Tatum Park is classified as a category 1 park, where the areas where hunting is allowed are “largely undeveloped with limited or no current public use within the portions designated for hunting,” according to the Monmouth County Park System’sWeb site.
Gamache said she read the MCPS’s DeerManagement ProgramAnnual Report and was concerned about a segment that said “There were no on-site protests this season. Media coverage was light.”
“This really upsetme, because in the beginning when I first heard of this, I realized that the park systemwas trying to keep this really quiet,” Gamache said. “The people who did find out went to the meetings and voiced their concerns. The park system went ahead anyway. I think people felt defeated and disheartened. I know I did.”
The Monmouth County Park System’s Web site has a frequently asked questions (FAQ) section for people with concerns about hunting on park properties.
The reason given for the need to control the deer population is that the deer population is estimated to be increasing by 40 percent annually.
“Deer consume saplings, shrubs and ground cover, affecting birds and other animals that rely on vegetation,” the Web site explains, “Ultimately, deer, a single species, can have an effect on 700 to 800 native plants and animal species.”
Susan Walsh, public information officer for the park system, said that park personnel have been observing the effects deer have on park ecology for the past 10 years.
“It has created a ripple effect,”Walsh said. “By continuously eating these plants, they make it difficult for the plants to rebound so that other animals and birds may live off them as well.”
When pressed for actual damage done by deer that justifies allowing hunting in the parks, Walsh could only cite damage to vegetation.
She said park ecologists have noticed browse lines – the line where deer can reach to feed on the plants.
On a typical 6-foot plant, Walsh said, these lines occur at about 4 feet and interfere with the plant’s continued growth.
The Web site cites a 2005 study by the NewJerseyAudubon Society that concludes that overabundantwhite tail deer are one of five “alien disruptions” threatening the integrity of New Jersey’s natural ecosystems and requiring direct management intervention.
This will be the third year of the Deer Management Program, and it has been approved by the park systemfor a fourth year.
Last year 303 deer were killed as part of the program in the 11 park areas.
Parks where hunting has been allowed include Tatum and Thompson parks in Middletown, Big Brook Park, Shark River Park, and Turkey Swamp Park in Freehold Township.
This year that list will include 15 parks, including Huber Woods, Middletown, and the Ramanessin Section of Holmdel Park.
To receive a permit, a huntermust present a valid hunting license, hunting safety education card and proof of age.
The annual report states that the park system issued a total of 742 hunting access permits last year.
According to the DeerManagement Program Annual Report conducted by the MCPS, these changes happen over a period of time, and “the general public may not be aware of the ecological damage and is far less likely to express concern about it than about other deer-related problems.”
Walsh said that the grazing by the deer encourages “invasive” plants to grow throughout the area, overtaking the plants that the deer and other animals and birds depend on.
“These plants come from other countries and aren’t natural to the area,” Walsh said. “They take over the area and do not provide proper food and shelter for the animals.”
Gamache said that she is concerned about the 56 hunting incidents that were reported last year and the fact that only three hunting licenses were revoked.
One revocation was related to repeated incidents of failure to show an access permit or license.
Another was for possession of alcohol, and the third involved possessing a loaded, uncased gun in a safety zone and hunting from the ground.
Other incidents in the report include someone who stole a tree stand, failure to display vehicle identification tag, parking in a restricted area, failure tomark the tree stand with a permit number, and failure to remove a tree stand at the end of the season.
Of all of the incidents, the one that concerns Gamache the most is the alcohol-related one.
“The reality is, it only takes onemistake on the hunter’s behalf for someone to be seriously injured or killed, and it can happen in a flash, especially if alcohol is involved,” Gamache said. “This is a tremendous liability, and I wonder how ‘cost effective’ their deer management program will seem then?”
The term “cost effective” appears in the annual report, which explains various nonlethal options to control the deer population.
The report cites the Audubon Society study and states that “reproductive control agents have been demonstrated on individual animals, but an efficient, cost-effective means of delivering large-scale population control of deer is not yet available.”
Gamache and other opponents of hunting on public parklands support using birth control to prevent deer from reproducing.
According to the annual report, the park systemhas looked into thismethod but does not have clearance for its use
“There are currently no deer reproductive control products available to the county that do not require approval by the stateDivision of Fish andWildlife under the guidelines of the Community-Based Deer Management Program,” the report states. “The county park system is not eligible to apply for permits under this program; the host municipality would have to be the applicant.”
It further states that the use of reproductive control products requires approval from the Federal Food and Drug Administration and is limited to controlled experimental studies.
The parks have looked into using sterilization, contragestation and immunocontraceptives but have found problems with all three, the report states.
Sterilization would offer a one-time permanent approach to controlling the population, but it would involve capturing and sedating the deer, which could cause high stress in the animal, according toWalsh.
“We would have to capture every deer to administer this,” Walsh said. “Whenever this is done in other areas, about 50 percent of the animals captured die in the process.”
Contragestation involves administering the agents orally or by vaccination post-fertilization and would need to be done annually
Immunocontraceptives are given to male and female deer orally or by vaccination prior to fertilization to interfere with the natural process.
One suchmethod that has been explored is PZP (porcine zonae immunocontraception) butWalsh said it was never a feasible option.
“It has been completely taken off the market,”Walsh said. “It nevermade it past the experimental phase.We are continually talking about nonlethal options.”
Until other options become available, the park systemsees hunting as the best solution to controlling the deer population.
The hunting issue that people like Gamache have spoken up about will continue until a solution is found.
“Our concerns were not satisfied by the Monmouth County Park System, and every year it is getting worse and worse,” Gamache said. “It is unconscionable that there is hunting in our parks.”