The first ever deer hunt at the state’s Blue Hills Reservation in Milton and Quincy resulted in a total of 64 deer taken by hunters, an encouraging start to a plan for addressing deer overpopulation at the Reservation. As part of a long term deer population management program designed to contend with negative impacts on the Reservation’s forest by high deer populations, the hunt was conducted by the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) with assistance from MassWildlife, the Environmental Police, and State Police. Hunting took place on 4.5 square miles of the 10-square mile property over 4 days in early December. Due to the densely populated area surrounding Blue Hills Reservation, public safety was a major concern and the controlled hunt was conservative and carefully designed with staffing at trail heads, signage, low hunter densities, and just four days of firearms hunting. There were no injuries or other public safety issues during the hunt, demonstrating that a controlled hunt could be safely conducted in a suburban/urban setting.
“Overall, given the conservative framework design for this first year of the hunt, the preliminary 2015 harvest results are very positive,” said David Stainbrook, MassWildlife Deer Project Leader. “The 64 deer taken represents a reduction of approximately 14 deer per square mile from the hunted areas of the reservation. A more significant figure is that 47 deer taken were females, which equates to at least 120 fewer deer in next spring’s population.” A 2013 deer abundance survey conducted by MassWildlife and DCR revealed an estimated average of 85 deer per square mile of forest in and around the Reservation, a figure significantly above the MassWildlife’s desired management range of 6-18 deer per square mile of forest. In accordance with the Blue Hills Deer Management Plan, DCR and MassWildlife will be reviewing this first hunt to assess any needs for potential changes or modifications to the deer reduction phase of the plan.
No comments:
Post a Comment