Without a special hunt following the regular expanded archery season in early December, it is unlikely that Islesboro and nearby Seven Hundred Acre Island will be able to reduce the deer herd to 10 deer per square mile, a level considered necessary for Lyme and other tick-borne disease prevention. In late August 2011, Islesboro, faced with an alarming increase in Lyme disease, voted to appoint a committee charged with developing a plan to reduce the deer population.
Headed by Fred Thomas, the Deer Reduction Committee (DRC) has met twice a month beginning in October, working with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) officials and biologists. Because the State of Maine owns all deer in the state and traditionally extends hunting privileges to the maximum number of hunters possible, any community wishing to cull deer must make application to MDIFW for a special hunt. The DRC application submitted to MDIFW was approved, albeit conditionally, on March 29, and the plan for the hunt will go to island citizens for approval at the annual town meeting on May 12.
Islesboro’s planning process has drawn attention from other towns plagued with burgeoning tick populations. Ticks have thrived among Islesboro and Seven Hundred Acre Islands’ deer populations, which have declined somewhat from a high two years ago but still outnumber the year-round human population. In November, Gerry Lavigne, Deer and Moose Biologist at MDIFW from 1975-2005, now an independent consultant associated with the Sportsman’s Alliance, recommended to the DRC that Islesboro plan to cull 700 deer over a period of years, observing that an expanded archery season will not be sufficient to reduce the herd to a healthy level, and that, like it or not, shotguns would be required. Once the herd is culled, then maintaining the lower population could be maintained with a “gamekeeper approach” now used on Peak’s Island, using baiting and night hunting. Once the herd is reduced, he said, the population has less competition for available forage and the numbers of deer will rebound.
Another problem the island experiences besides disease and the deer-in-the-garden-nuisance factor, is the long-term impact the large herd has on the islands vegetation. Young hardwoods and even cedars can barely get started before they are eaten by deer, and barberry, which deer avoid and ticks take harbor in, invades large areas. The potential for a measurable long-term analysis of pre- and post-deer reduction island vegetation has attracted the attention of MDIFW’s biologists Keel Kemper and Kendall Marden. Working with Islesboro Island Trust’s Steve Miller and Aaron Magquier, they selected a few locations on-island to which the researchers can return periodically to photograph the vegetation and observe any changes.
The DRC developed its proposal for a special hunt with several limiting factors to take into account, and have treated the effort as a job to do on behalf of the town. State limits require the hunt to be done after the regular season, that is, in December, with no hunting allowed on Sunday. The DRC determined that only year-round and seasonal residents and their families would be allowed to participate, and that as much as possible, in order to encourage a maximum number of deer be taken, that there be no cost to them for butchering and tagging. A budget line for these costs will also be part of the vote on May 12.
Nature imposes its limits, too, and a relatively short window of time is open for the hunt, from the beginning to the end of December—only about three weeks. In January, the deer do not move around very much, and cold weather makes hunting difficult. Even in December, the deer, still wary from the previous hunting season, will not be that easy to find. With the potential for lost hunting time because of snowy weather, the DRC is asking for the inclusion of the week of hunting time between Christmas and New Years.
In order to determine the efficacy of the hunt, all tagging will be done on- island, and DRC recommends that, at tagging, the deer be measured and teeth extracted, enabling biologists to determine the age of deer. Analyzing the teeth gives a historical perspective on the herd’s size and condition.
Further, they determined that property owners have the absolute final say about hunting on their property. No culling can occur where property owners have not provided written permission. The DRC surveyed property owners using the towns tax maps to track responses. Property owners were asked if they would permit the special hunt on their land, and if they themselves planned to hunt, and what combination of weaponry they would permit, with the recommendation that they allow compound bows, crossbows, and 20 gauge shotguns with slugs or buckshot or greater. With about 4,451 acres open to some sort of hunting, a little over 53 percent of the island’s total acreage including town-owned property would be open for the special hunt, leaving quite a lot of acreage for the deer to retreat to. Just about all of Seven Hundred Acre island would be open for the special hunt. Of the open acreage, archery-only would be permitted by property owners on 774 acres, shotgun-only on 269, and a combination of archery and shotgun on 3,498 acres.
Concern about hunter and citizen safety has consistently come up at the town meetings and also at DRC’s meetings. Philo Hutcheson, who has taught hunter safety courses for many years for the Sporting Club and Adult Education programs, Andrew Coombs and Paul Hatch have all been qualified by MDIFW to lead a 90-minute hunter safety refresher course which all special hunt participants must take. Additionally, because, as Hutcheson observed, “No one has used firearms for hunting on Islesboro for several years,” hunters must participate in firing-range exercises and demonstrate proficiency in their choice of weapons. Hunters must also hold valid, current and appropriate licenses.
Chances are very good that Islesboro will have to conduct a special hunt for up to three years in order to diminish the population to the target size.
Sandy Oliver is a freelance writer living on Islesboro.