"Dear" Culling?? No proofreader?

I generally have negative things to say about our county government but this is a mater of public safety and protecting the park.i have run for Freehold as a county government citric. I live yards away from the South Mountain Reservation so this issue is important to me and my family. Deer and car accident are a safety issue. Deer and the associated Lyme Disease is a public health issue. Deer are eating so much low of lying vegetation in the county reservations that they harm the land and eroding the soil. We have no other practical way to control the population other than a controlled hunt which is what they do. The deer ultimately goes to the food bank and feeds to poor. Kudos for the county of Essex for getting this right.

sorry to hear the sites and sessions have been reduced.

So lets do like Germany. Kill them all and the problem will go away. Not the answer folks!!

Gregg - and your answer is???

Why are they excluding Eagle Rock Reservation this year? I live right next to it and I've seen more deer this year than ever before.

I dont have an answer but I would think that killing our bears, deer, coyotes and whatever else every year is not the "final solution". Yes, there are many deer in every state but having bear and deer hunts is not the only solution. We dont get rid of people when we have too many.

The Eagle Rock Conservancy was wishy-washy on supporting the sharpshooting program. So rather than fight that battle the County is focusing its efforts on the South Mountain and Hilltop Reservations, where they have active support for deer population reduction. And, the County will need to continue its program until surrounding towns start controlling their own deer herds (anyone who thinks deer live only in the County reservations hasn't been paying attention).

Deer are a prey species -- they do not control their own numbers. In a healthy ecosystem, predators keep prey populations in check. We don't have large predators like cougars or bears in West Essex, and recreational hunting is on the decline, so deer numbers have exploded. It's up to man to step in and right the balance so that ALL species can survive in our forests, not just deer.

@Essex Hiker I think you have said it quite clearly. With the herd so large 5-6 years ago before the hunt, the underbrush was so overeaten that the deer and smaller animals were beginning to starve. A further result was that the forest was changing in a declining direction. Since the deer in this area have no natural predator, man had to intervene. Several alternatives were considered but none were cost-effective or any more humane than the hunt. My fear is that by reducing the hunt, the population will expand again. Now that it is in control, the hunt needs to at least maintain that balance.

We have a family of 3 or 4 that roam up and down Hartshorn TERRACE and Robertson off of Eaglerock behind the high school. We tried deer repellents, noise and spraying them away with water. They look, laugh at you and basically give a look as if to say, "This is my garden."

What happened to survival of the fittest? let nature (yes, God) handle the overpopulation.....the weak will fall organically. hunters take out strong bucks and new mothers....not right, not fair and not in the "grand design"

People that do not hunt or spend time away from the computer do not understand. If you want nature to take care of it, it can happen let's bring some coyotes, cougars and trans plant some bears int this area! Then there really will be a problem! I grew in the reservation, going to camp there many moons ago. Spent time there in my teens. It's has changed a lot! There are rules about no bikes, and dogs are supposed to be on leashes! But people don't mind those rules.
Hunting is the most economical, humane, and quickest way to maintain a healthy heard of deer. Drugs and traps are expensive and take time, manpower and then what do you do with a sterile(if it works) deer in a trap?
Really people. This hunt helps people eat. It helps to reduce disease. Helps the forest to rebuild itself(with the help of humans, doing plantings). Seems to me to be a win, win,win situation.

If we all get rid of suburban homes, roads, and all the things we associate with modern life and re-introduce wolves and other predators to Essex County (Lenape Nation) the deer population would fall to the appropriate sustainable level. I don't see that see that as realistic. I think the book of Genesis make a valid the point that people have dominion over the animals so a Jew I find the reference to what the Germans did offensive. That being said I don't take great pleasure in killing these majestic animals but this is the best alternative to live in the modern world and co-exist with the natural world or at least in our little part know as Western Essex County.

Essex county is more urban than suburban now. Displaced city slickers who are shocked when they live near a reservation and see a deer in their yard.

I've got an idea, why don't we pave paradise and put up a parking lot?

"Displaced city slickers" generally eschew automobiles in favor of walking to their destinations, cringe at all the hideous parking lots, avoid new development luxury apartments and retail with their awful nail salons, unconscionable fur boutiques, and unimaginative, poor restaurants, and wrestle with the ugly and contemptible, never-ending sprawl, but, most especially, we are appalled by the shallow provincialism of those not-so-original inhabitants who continue to destroy the land they claim to love with the latter abominations not to mention (and, I will), more highways, more litter and dog excrement than could ever exist in a "slick" Gotham, and unsophisticated suspicions and bigotries regarding newcomers who are friendly, educated, enthusiastic, and hardworking, and who bring fresh life to their adopted towns.

Moreover, it may be too late to restore Northern NJ to its bucolic past, however, this urbanite couldn't be happier living in a suburb with forests, fields, and fresh water, instead of the landfill, carpark, and garbage receptacle of its current incarnation.
Unfortunately, this paradise, once Garden State, was paved over long, long ago.