DEEP Pledges Help With Deer

At Wednesday night's meeting of the , chair reported that DEEP responded positively to First Selectman Jeb Walker's request for the, "assistance of DEEP to develop a comprehensive plan to reduce the over-population," of deer in town. While hoping that help will include funding, Smithers said that is not yet clear.

The problem of overpopulation throughout lower Fairfield County was brought home Tuesday, when a deer wandered into a parking lot adjacent to the Marriott Hotel in downtown Stamford, as reported by the Stamford Advocate.

Prior to Wednesday evening's meeting Smithers said that currently in New Canaan the deer population is estimated at sixty-six per square mile, while the ideal number is twenty. She said that the committee, which was formed ten years ago, has "control, not extermination," as its goal and also said that everything done through the deer committee is, "carefully managed."

Smithers presented the most recent deer kill numbers in New Canaan to the committee as reported by and a consultant to the committee.

Since Oct. 2 seven deer have been killed in accidents involving vehicles, bringing the year-to-date total to twenty-five.

Deer killed by hunters using bow and arrow total fifty-two since Jan 1. Licensed hunters are permitted to hunt at the request of private property owners during the season, which is Jan. 1-31 and Sept. 15 - Dec. 31. 

Reached prior to the meeting, Kleinschmitt said that the public does not fully understand the impact of deer overpopulation. She said the problem is threefold: the most commonly feared, the spread of Lyme disease and other tick-borne illness; the loss of low-lying vegetation; the loss of indigenous birds who are unable to nest.

The early snow New Canaan experienced this October gives her cause for optimism, she said. She's "hoping this will be a better year; we had the early snow which reduced the acorn drop," which attracts deer.

She also said that it's important for other towns to managed the problem, explaining that New Canaan can only do so much if other towns don't act as well, given the deer's lack of respect for town borders. "A lot depends on where they're moving," she said.