PRINCETON: Deer cull limits herd

Statistics show cut in deer road kill

By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
   Hunters killed 159 deer in Princeton during the annual culling that ended over the weekend, the town reported Monday.
   Animal control officer Mark Johnson said Monday that he was “satisfied” with the results of the hunt, which ran from the middle of February to Saturday at around 25 sites scattered throughout town. Prior to the hunt, Princeton had an estimated deer population of between 400 and 500.
   The total from the hunt reflected only deer that White Buffalo, a Connecticut-based deer management firm that Princeton Township contracted with last year, killed either through sharpshooting or a practice called “net and bolt,” Mr. Johnson said. Critics of deer hunts like the one the town does generally decry net and bolt as inhumane since the method — used in areas where firearms cannot be safely discharged — relies on catching unsuspecting deer who are then shot through the head with a metal bolt.
   As part of getting permission from the state Department of Environmental Protection to conduct the hunt, Princeton had to allow sportsmen from United Bowhunters of New Jersey to participate, as well. Their total was not immediately available, but is generally far less than White Buffalo’s.
   Mr. Johnson said all the deer meat is butchered and then donated to Norwescap, a Warren County-based social service agency. Among other things, Norwescap runs a food bank that supports 120 agencies serving needy families in Warren, Sussex and Hunterdon counties. Shannon Williams, assistant director at the food bank, said Monday that so far this year, her organization has received 3,900 pounds of venison from Princeton.
   Princeton began culling deer in 2000, a time when the herd population was out of control. Mr. Johnson, an advocate for the hunts, has pointed to signs that they have worked: fewer road kill and forest regeneration after years of deer overgrazing as two of them.
   He said 2000, when the hunts started, was the “worst ever” for deer road kill, a total of 348. The total is far less these days, anywhere from 60 to 80 in a year, he said.