Former Deer Management Group member Tom Nelson addresses Jamestown City Council (April 10, 2023)

A former member of the Jamestown Deer Management Group is questioning what the City of Jamestown is doing in regards to the city’s deer population.

Former Council member and current County Legislator Tom Nelson questioned council members about what’s been done, what’s going to get done, and if a committee has been formed regarding deer in the city, “I know many times you get people coming to council meetings complaining they don’t have a solution. I think many of you know I put forward a solution in September of 2021 which was rejected by many members of this council. So, my question to you is, you didn’t like that plan, what is your plan?”

Council had voted down a proposal 2 to 7 at the September 2021 voting session that would have allowed 8 bow hunters to receive licenses with the two sites for hunting limited to Jones Memorial Park and the wooded area behind the Allen Park Ice Rink. This was the proposal suggested by Council member at large Jeff Russell to replace an initial proposal to allow 15 licensed hunters to take down up to 4 antler-less deer between November 1st and December 31st in five designated areas of Jamestown.

Mayor Eddie Sundquist said he still supports efforts to reduce the deer population in the city, “Typically, some kind of hunt.. that is the recommendation from the DEC (State Department of Environmental Conservation). Can’t do sterilization because it has to be tied to a university and program, and other methods are just way too expensive or not going to be allowed by the state. So, whatever you guys want to do, let me know. I remain steadfast in supporting reducing the deer population as a resident of Ward 6 who sees a lot of it, and now we’re hearing from Ward 5 and others.”

Councilmembers Randy Daversa, Andrew Faulkner, Russell, and Brent Sheldon had mentioned at the October 3, 2022 City Council work session that they had met with each other to discuss the issue, but no follow-up meetings were ever announced.

Council member at large Kim Ecklund said on Monday that whatever that work group moved forward with should be a multi-pronged approach, “When Andy Liuzzo was on council, he was adamant about a deer program and actually worked with the town of Ellicott to issue more permits. I never heard the result of that. We never got a ‘Did it work? Did it not work?’ But, living on the edge of the town, there are more deer. There’s a lot of reasons why there is more deer and you can ask many hunters. There’s less people hunting. There’s more posted property for people to not be able to hunt on.”

At the October 2022 meeting, Council member Marie Carrubba said the deer group should include not just city council members but an attorney, people in favor of a hunt, as well as people with other options for handling the deer population.

Jamestown City Council work session (October 3, 2022)

While a deer hunt will not take place in the city of Jamestown this year, the discussion of options to deal with deer overpopulation is back on the table.

Council member at large Randy Daversa said he had met with Council member at large Jeff Russell as well as Council members Andrew Faulkner and Brent Sheldon on the issue. He said they hope to have a formal meeting soon.

Russell said with deer hunting season starting October 1, it’s not feasible to do the hunt this year, “We’re not able to move that quickly with tags and get this together. So, we all knew that this was going to take place, to come up with a plan, if it’s approved, that it would be for next year’s season.”

Council member Marie Carrubba said in conversations with members of the community, there were recommendations on who should be included in the discussion group, “Corporation Counsel or another attorney about the liability to the city, having someone who is in favor of it (a hunt) from the community, someone who has other ideas as we had someone here last week who talked about other options. I think if we have a more inclusive group than just council members. And not just the hunters. I think last time we just had the bow hunting group.”

Daversa agreed his plan was to include various community members. Russell said there will be a notification for when the deer group meets next.

Council also discussed hours for trick-or-treating on Halloween with the consensus being to keep them at 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Council President Tony Dolce said there would not be a Halloween Fun Fest this year but that the Parks Department was looking at other options including a “trunk or treat.”

NY DEC Wildlife Biologist Sue Booth-Binczik gives a presentation on deer population and management during the May 7, 2018 meeting of the Jamestown City Council.

“No matter what decisions are made, it’s highly unlikely that everyone in the community will agree with them, but everyone should be able to agree that there was a valid process in reaching those decisions.”
– Sue Booth-Binczik, NYS DEC Wildlife Biologist

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council learned more about the causes of the area’s growing deer population and what can be done to try and reduce it during a presentation Monday night during a council work session.

Approximately 15 residents, along with city council members and other city officials, listened to the hour-long presentation by Sue Booth-Binczik, a wildlife biologist with the state Department of Environmental Conservation in Albany.

Booth-Binczik said there is no simple solution to reducing the number of deer in an urban area, adding that it’s important to first recognize and identify the specifics of the problem – such as property damage or car-vehicle accidents. She said from there, a community must identify an objective, and then identify and select options.

“Selecting which action a community is going to take is usually the most difficult, most time-consuming, and potentially controversial aspect of the process because people have widely differing opinions about deer and priorities about how deer should be treated. So this decision process can cause a lot of conflict and many communities just get bogged down with it,” Booth-Binczik said. “No matter what decisions are made, it’s highly unlikely that everyone in the community will agree with them, but everyone should be able to agree that there was a valid process in reaching those decisions and that those decisions are supported by the majority of the community.”

Among the management options to consider is to remove food sources for deer, as well as putting up fencing, using scare devices, and reducing speed limits to improve safety for motorists. There’s also the option of hunting, which can be done a number of ways including allowing bow hunting in the city during regular hunting season.

NY DEC Wildlife biologist Sue Booth-Binczik

“The basic way to encourage hunting and to facilitate population reduction through hunting is to give hunters property access in areas where the deer are. So from a city perspective, one way to increase access is to remove the ordinance [that bans hunting within city limits]. Another way might be, as a landowner, the city could open up city parks to hunting,” Booth-Binczik said, adding that individual property owners would also want to work together to permit hunting in some privately owned land within the city. “Hunting is always under the prevue of the landowners, who have control over their properties, so the city could also encourage residents, as property owners, to give hunters access to their lands.”

Other options include instituting a culling program, which involves various steps such as baiting, night time hunting, and even capture and killing the animals.

Booth-Binczik said once options are selected, the community can work to implement the actions, and then evaluate the effectiveness.  In order for the process to be effective, she said outreach and community engagement is important. She also encouraged the city to partner with its neighboring municipalities in coordinating a deer management plan in order to increase its effectiveness.

Booth-Binczik also explained the causes of deer population growth, saying it’s primarily due to a reduction in predators over the years, combined with reduced hunting and encroachment into urban areas, which provide additional safety and resources for the deer. As a result, Booth-Binczik said deer populations can double as quickly as every 2 years. She also said the vehicle-deer accidents is the number one cause of death of deer in New York State, with 70,000 accidents reported on an annual basis.

Booth-Binczik also said that due to the large number of deer in the state, it’s had an ecological impact on other animals and plant life because deer will destroy forest habitat that is needed for other wildlife to thrive. She said deer can also result in the loss of forests over an extended period of time because they don’t allow them to regenerate.

The residents on hand who spoke during the meeting said the deer have grown to become a larger problem during the past five years and urged to city to implement a management strategy.

Dana Williams, one of an estimated 15 residents who attended the May 7 DEC presentation on Deer Management, hosted by the Jamestown City Council.

“You see dozens of deer at certain times just walking between houses. The area up by English Street, it’s generally that area and around the Allen Park area, it’s overrun, and also up by Bush School,” said city resident Dana Williams, who recently wrote a letter to the editor in the Post-Journal that prompted the discussion. “It’s not healthy either. I just don’t want to wait until there’s somebody getting ill. Something’s going to happen like that and once that happens, then you’re going to have a lot of people saying we should’ve done something.”

City council president Marie Carrubba said the city will work on collecting additional information and looking into the matter and will update the community on how it will proceed in the coming weeks.

According to the DEC, currently in Western New York, there are five communities – including N. Tonawanda, Lackawana, and Amherst – that have a deer management hunting program in place.

For additional information on deer management, Booth-Binczik recommended the following websites:

• Cornell University Community Deer Management Resource
• DEC pages on deer overabundance and community deer management
  • DEC.NY.Gov/animals/104911.html
  • DEC.NY.Gov/animals/104961.html
• Impacts of deer on forests and wildlife

The DEC official will be on hand to present a report to the City Council on deer management.

The presentation comes at the request of Jamestown City Councilman Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large), who recently said something needs to be done to address the growing deer numbers in the city.  Liuzzo is pushing for limited bow hunting in certain areas of the city to help manage the deer population.  The proposal has received mixed reaction on social media, with some residents being in favor while others feeling the city should consider other options.

Monday’s meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is open to the public and will take place in the mayor’s conference room on the fourth floor of city hall.

Jamestown City Councilman Andrew Liuzzo (center) suggested the city look into allowing certified bow hunters harvest deer living within the city during the council’s April 23 work session.

JAMESTOWN – The Jamestown City Council could soon be taking a closer look at what some say is a growing problem of deer within the city limits.

During Monday Night’s Jamestown City Council work session, councilman Andrew Liuzzo (R-At Large) said he was made aware of the growing deer problem through a recent letter-to-the-editor in the Jamestown Post-Journal calling for a deer management plan in the city.

Liuzzo said he then went on Facebook to the “Jamestown, NY” group page to seek more feedback on the issue. He said through the post, found that there are a large number of residents concerned with the number of deer in the city, which damage property and landscaping and also pose a threat to motorists.

The councilman said the city should consider working with a small group of bow hunters to harvest deer within the city limits in order to control the population.

“We have skilled [bow] hunters in the area that could be certified. A certified hunter makes a shot that doesn’t injure the deer, but puts it down,” Liuzzo said. “It wouldn’t be open to any hunter, it would be a select group. It’s quiet and they’re doing it from a tree stand so if there is a miss, the arrow would go into the ground.”

A recent Facebook post by Liuzzo on the “Jamestown, NY” group page spurred a conversation among Facebook users who are members of the group about the pros and cons of harvesting deer within the city limits.

Liuzzo also said he’s talked with a representative from the state DEC who said he would be willing to come in and talk with the council about deer management.

City councilwoman Vanessa Weinert said she would first like to learn what all available options to dealing with and managing deer populations, prior to settling on the bow hunting solution.

Liuzzo said he would support holding a hearing on the issue to allow members of the community an opportunity to weigh in on the issue and offer their thoughts on how the issue should be dealt with.

“Your options are ten-foot fences if you want to protect your property, but those would require a variance because you’re only allowed to have up to a six-foot fence. You could take human hair from the beauty shop and spread it around. You can have repellents. But all those things are short-term because the deer are used to people and they’re not going to stay long,” Liuzzo said.

Liuzzo also noted that it is illegal in New York State to feed deer and wants to reminds residents that they shouldn’t be putting out food to attract deer.  It’s also currently illegal to hunt deer with bow or shotgun within the city limits, but the city could approve a measure requesting a deer management permit from the DEC and to allow hunting with certain restrictions included. A similar program has been initiated and underway in the village of Celoron for the past six years.

The city council agreed it was a public safety issue and as a result, said they would await further input from Public Safety director and police Chief Harry Snellings – who was absent from Monday’s meeting.