Dan's Papers - August 15, 2008

We've all seen them - bright-eyed, downy dappled creatures skipping through fields. They are the Bambis, the not-quite reindeer, the almost-horses of the Hamptons wildlife scene. Deer are everywhere, but perhaps not for long.

The East Hampton Town Board is considering whether to allow hunting on some additional town-owned lands. The types of hunting considered for these designated areas will include bow and arrow as well shotgun, and big game is one of the main targets. Of course, on the East End, big game doesn't mean lions and tigers and bears - it refers to our caramel-colored friends. And while their disappearance may mean a decrease in nibbled-off flower buds, there will be an increase in gunshots wracking the pristine East Hampton air.

There is a large population of deer in the Hamptons, a problem that new hunting privileges will not necessarily remedy. The proposal involves the expansion of hunting to eight properties, totaling about 180 new acres of land, in Amagansett and the Northwest. And according to Larry Penny, the Director of the East Hampton Natural Resource Department, the proposal may not achieve one of its goals, which is thinning the herd. "I don't know if it's going to limit the number of deer," said Penny. "Deer fertility is based on the availability of food. If food preserves are low, [the females] generally have a single fawn."

Homeowners can help limit the deer's food supply by spraying their plants with some undesirable flavors. Fish oils and coyote urine are two options that many furious horticulturists are using on their expensive, eaten flowers. These disgusting substances, however, can only go so far. While their pungent smells and tastes are unfavorable, the deer will eat through them in order to survive.

According to Bill Crain, President of the East Hampton Group for Wildlife, hunting isn't the only option for thinning the herd. "We have a proposal for deer contraception," said Crain, "and we're trying to get the East Hampton town board to approve it." Erwin Liu, Crain explains, works at the University of California, Davis, known for its prestigious veterinary school, and has invented a contraceptive vaccine for deer. Once the doe is vaccinated, she will not reproduce for two to three years. "The vaccination has been used on deer in Fire Island and Gaithersburg, Maryland and has been successful," Crain said.

So what is more effective, hunting or contraception? "I think it's a terrible idea to expand hunting," Crain said, "There's really no evidence that it reduces deer population." If anything, it causes a spike in the deer community. Since a doe's reproductive cycle depends on the amount of food available to her, a decrease in deer due to hunting means less competition for food. With more food available, the deer will reproduce more offspring.

While deer contraception sounds like a far better option, it comes with a price. "The contraceptive proposal that we submitted would cost $69,000," said Crain. Despite the cost, the results would pay off. "Many residents want this to be tried out," Crain said. Penny is also curious about this contraceptive phenomenon. "I would like to see someday some kind of birth control for deer," he said.

Crain and Penny, while on different ends of the legislative spectrum, share more beliefs than one. "Animals have feelings," Penny said, a statement that Crain, who founded the East Hampton Group for Wildlife almost four years ago, agrees with. "Animals feel pain and they suffer," Crain said, "They warn each other and are very protective of their young. Deer make incredible mothers."

So why do people hunt? First of all, there are families on the East End that have hunted for generations - it's a culture. But this isn't your father's Hamptons. The East End of one or two generations ago could still be called "country." With an increase in homes and population density, the area has become a bucolic suburbia. A shotgun here makes about as much sense as a shotgun in Westchester.

Aside from culture, another argument for hunting put forth by hunters and residents is lying on the side of the road in the morning. Most drivers on the East End have either been in a deer-related car accident or known someone who has. But this too can be prevented by a new invention that has proven to be very effective. Strieter-Lite roadside reflectors create a wall of light across the road when cars and trucks approach the reflectors at night. Perceiving this illusion, which is only visible to deer, the animals are reluctant to cross the road, hence fewer deer-car collisions. Rather than relying on a media blitz to convince the public of the reflector's effectiveness, The East Hampton Group for Wildlife decided to take matters into their own hands and conduct a pilot study. The group - with the help of Ron Delsener and the East Hampton Fence Company, who donated money to purchase the reflectors used in the study - installed reflectors on 0.6 miles of Stephen Hands Path, directly east of Rt. 114, last January. Between January 17 and June 30, 2008, no deer-related collisions occurred on the test site, compared to nine collisions on the 2.8 miles of the rest of the road and the 250 deer collisions in the Town each year.

In addition to wandering or darting into streets and roads, the deer also frequent the East Hampton Airport's runways and tarmacs. This summer, a jet struck a deer during lift off, causing concern for airport officials. To decrease the number of deer at the airport, the town's Natural Resources Department has received seven exclusive "nuisance-hunt" tags for deer from the State Department of Natural Resources and the town is applying for more. These licenses allow hunting of deer on airport property. East Hampton Indoor Tennis has also received a nuisance permit to hunt deer on its property.

Obviously, with reflectors and contraception methods, there are painless ways to reduce the risk that deer pose to humans on the road, as opposed to hunting, which can be painful for both deer and humans. Or, as Crain put it, "People cannot take a walk in peace with shotguns firing away."