Township will bring back White Buffalo in winter
By Victoria Hurley-Schubert, Staff Writer
The deer population in Princeton Township is on the rise again and must be professionally controlled.
There are between 450 to 500 deer in the 16 square miles of the Princetons. “The state recommends 20 to 25 deer per square mile,” said Mark Johnson, animal control officer. “They estimate the deer being 40 to 45 per square mile,” or double the state recommendation.
After successful deer management that involved professionally culling the herd, bow hunting and monitoring road kill, there was an acceptable number of deer, 20 per square mile, in 2010. The plan had been in place since 2001.
“We decided to step back and see if we could have sport hunting control the deer population, which the state of New Jersey has told us we can do,” Dona Schneider, chair of the Wildlife Management Committee, said at Monday’s Township Committee meeting. “We tried it for a year and we have very unfortunate results.”
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The bow hunting alone only took out about half of the amount of deer that needed to be controlled. Hunters did not kill enough female deer to keep the population where it was, said Mr. Johnson. As a result the deer counts are on the rise again and so are the counts of road kill animals, with more than 70 collected so far this year.
There are 15 sport hunters permitted to hunt in the township parks, said Mr. Johnson.
Distance sampling or infrared counts are used to determine deer population; Princeton uses distance sampling, which involves counting the deer animal control can physically see in set areas and is done during overnight periods in the dead of winter. Distance sampling, done in January and February 2011, was used for the latest deer count. Snow ýPage=001 Column=002 OK,0000.00þ
counting, where a helicopter is used to fly over areas and counts are taken, has also been done in the past.
The borough does not have a deer problem, said Mr. Johnson. Borough residents may see transient animals that pass through at night to feed or move from one section of the township to another.
Since January, 73 dead deer have been picked up by animal control because of road kill or disease this year. From January to September in 2010, animal control picked up 35 road kill deer; there was no disease last year. This increase in numbers indicates the herd is growing in size, said Mr. Johnson.
Disease is killing off the herd this year, adding to the number of deer deaths. Epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) is a localized virus that spreads among deer though the bites of midge flies. Deer typically die within five to 10 days of infection. Infected deer initially lose their appetite and fear of people. Infected deer may act like they have rabies and are attracted to water sources.
The herd needs to be culled before the disease spreads to prevent the animals from suffering, said Ms. Schneider.
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Officials and the Wildlife Management Committee have recommended sport bow hunting next year and bringing back professional culling with sharpshooters from White Buffalo, a company that specializes in wildlife population control.
“The one-year experiment we tried was not successful,” said Committeeman Bernie Miller. “Once again we will have to use professional hunters to maintain the size of the herd.”
The controlled culling would take place in February, should the state approve the permit request that is being made by Princeton Township. Officials are looking to remove up to 250 deer from the population before fawning begins.
“If the state approves the permit we ýPage=013 Column=004 OK,0040.00þ
are requesting, it would allow us to do it in January, February or March,” said Mr. Johnson. “But, we would do it in February.”
Hunting in the form of professional sharpshooting would take place beginning a half-hour before dark and continue for two or three hours. The parks would be closed at these times and police would accompany the sharpshooters. Recreational bow hunters, who are permitted in the parks during daylight hours from September to February, must register with animal control before entering the parks.
The Wildlife Management Committee requested $63,000 in the 2012 budget to control deer population and to pay for the culling and butchering at the Township Committee meeting on Sept.19.
Deer killed as part of the cull will be donated to Norwestcap, a company that ýPage=013 Column=005 OK,0040.00þ
provides assistance, meals and clothing to needy families in Hunterdon and Warren counties. “No one here wanted it,” said Mr. Johnson. “We offered it to them, but they turned it down. We went up to Hunterdon and stayed there ever since.”
White Buffalo is an USDA butcher, which is a necessary expense to be able to donate the meat. The USDA certification is a requirement from the state for any donated meat from situations like this.