Lenape Deer Hunt to Continue, Expand This Week

Due to the observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Jan. 16, the Union County Deer Management Program, which normally takes place on Mondays, will continue today.

The program, according to county officials, will, for the first time, tackle the problem of deer overpopulation in Lenape Park in Cranford. The county is hoping that hunters will remove about 125 deer from the county park.

On the first day of the hunt, which began Jan. 9, eight hunters removed 22 white-tailed deer from the county park. Beginning on Jan. 19, the county will also begin the Ash Brook Reservation Deer Management Program, which will continue through Feb. 11.

This year, seven members of the Oak Ridge Sportsmen’s Association have been authorized to participate in this program and have completed a marksmanship test. Those hunters, using shotguns at baited sites, will remove deer from various areas of the park, including the Golf Course.

Weather permitting, hunters may be in the Ash Brook Reservation every day except Sunday. In Lenape Park, hunting will occur on the five Mondays through Feb. 6. In the event of inclement weather on a Monday, the hunting activity may be moved to Wednesday that week. Hunters will be in the park from 5 a.m. until after dark, but in both parks, shooting may only occur during daylight hours.

This program at Ash Brook is intended to reduce the white-tailed deer population in the Ash Brook Reservation and Golf Course in an attempt to minimize overbrowsing of the forested parkland, reduce browse damage on the landscape plantings of surrounding homes, reduce the incidence of deer-related motor vehicle accidents and lessen the occurrence of Lyme disease, according to the county.

A wildlife management contractor hired by the Township of Scotch Plains removed 241 deer from the Ash Brook Reservation between 2006 and 2009. In 2010, licensed hunters from the Cranford Rod & Gun Club shot and killed eight deer, and in 2011 they "harvested" 22 deer.

Since 1995, marksmen in the county’s state-approved deer management program have reduced the population of white-tailed deer in the Watchung Reservation substantially. Last year, that effort was expanded to remove deer from portions of Passaic River Park in Summit.

Union County has received complaints about deer-related impacts from residents around Lenape Park for several years. The Cranford Environmental Commission, the Cranford Tree Advisory Board and the  have all expressed concern for damage to and loss of landscape vegetation and a fear of Lyme disease. Browsing for food by large numbers of deer has caused a loss of forest understory, especially in Lenape Park and Nomahegan Park, and threatens the survival of the plant and animal communities that are important to the ecology of these parks.

In 2009, the township of Cranford asked that the county investigate the extent of deer overpopulation in Lenape Park and take the appropriate steps to reduce the deer herd. Forest ecologists recommend a density of 20 deer per square mile in a healthy hardwood forest and as low as five per square mile in a forest that has been heavily damaged by browsing. Spotlight counts conducted by the county in April of 2010 and April of 2011 showed deer densities in excess of 300 per square mile. An analysis completed by the county several weeks ago shows that roads bordering Lenape and Nomahegan Parks had some of the highest numbers of deer-car collisions in the county over the past year.

Lenape Park covers 403 acres, or about 0.63 square mile, in the townships of Cranford, Springfield and Union, the borough of Kenilworth and the town of Westfield.

The hunters may keep any deer carcasses that they harvest. All other deer will be processed at a USDA-approved butcher. Venison will be distributed to the needy and homeless through the Community of New Jersey.

Anyone found hunting on any Union County park property outside the terms of this program will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Citizens observing any such illegal activity are urged to immediately contact the Union County Police at 908-654-9800.

The public should note that the parks will not be closed during the deer management program. However, park patrons are urged to stay on the paved paths and to keep pets restrained on a leash.