BAR HARBOR — A substantial increase in the incidence of Lyme disease, deer/car collisions and property damage is pushing residents here to consider deer hunting for the first time since the 1930s.
A task force, convened February 2013 to study the matter, said Lyme disease increased four-fold since 2006. Deer/car accidents are up roughly 2.5 times over the 1990s and early 2000s. That figure might be higher, due to unreported collisions.
Also up is the number of depredation permits over the past three years, an indicator of increasing property damage.
Task force chairman Robert Kelley recounted an occasion last fall, when a New Hampshire couple made a long-anticipated trip to Acadia National Park. They drove their new SUV through Bar Harbor when a deer ran onto the road. The couple was unharmed, but the collision totaled the $30,000 vehicle.
“Nearly 20 percent of car accidents involve deer,” said Kelley. “Just about every road on Mount Desert Island had deer accidents in the past 10 years. On Thompson’s Island this year, six deer have been killed so far.”
It’s unclear whether deer on MDI have reached biologically unsustainable levels. But for some people, their numbers—and issues—are past toleration.
Bar Harbor is one of four MDI towns. In the past decade, at least two other towns considered but rejected the idea of a deer hunt.
Bar Harbor shifted direction, as seen when the task force mailed a survey, asking if control options should be explored, to roughly 2,700 property-taxpayers. Of more than 1,300 returned, 743 said yes, 576 no.
Some “yes” respondents wrote they were concerned about Lyme disease and property damage. “No” comments cited “too many people and cars, not deer” and “waste of money.”
In the meantime, the task force “pulled every report and gauged every level of expertise,” said Kelley. “We held several public information meetings. There’s been this fear it will be bunch of yahoos with Elmer Fudd hats shooting guns at people’s lawns. That’s far from the truth. There’s been more work and study and thought put into this.”
In consultation with the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife, the task force examined hunting methods, including strategies—such as trap-and-relocate, contraception, sharp-shooter removal—ultimately deemed unfeasible or cost-prohibitive.
Instead, the task force proposes a two-stage program that continues to ban hunting in Acadia National Park and the town proper. That leaves town outskirts open to the proposal, centered on landowner participation.
Short-term reduction, two to four weeks in late December and/or January, would be conducted by archery or firearm by participating landowners and/or two designees, only on that land. Landowners would specify hunting method and oversee safe implementation. The town and IFW would register and vet participants. Harvest numbers would be unrestricted. The program would run once per year for two years, and potentially continue one to two additional years.
The goal is to reduce population to levels that minimize public concern.
“This is a very controlled process,” said Kelley.
A subsequent long-term strategy will maintain reduced population using state-regulated archery. A target density of 10-15 deer per square mile is considered effective for reducing ticks and should also reduce car/deer accidents and property damage, the task force says.
IFW Region C wildlife biologist Thomas Schaeffer said the proposal is similar to programs on three islands off MDI—the Cranberries, Frenchboro and Swan’s.
“Each consists of short- and long-term plans to reduce deer numbers and keep that population at a reduced level,” Schaeffer said. “In all cases, we used island landowners and designees.”
At one time, he recounted, Swan’s Island was reluctant to allow hunting. That changed one evening, when a carload of teens collided with a small herd of deer, rolling the car. The responding ambulance never got there; it hit a herd and crashed.
“That’s when people said, ‘That’s enough.'”
Lyme disease may be another balance-tipper, Schaeffer said: “I think that’s a game-changer.”