NJ Audubon Advocates Deer Hunt

For the first time in its 108-year history, the New Jersey Audubon Society is taking a stand on hunting and will ask the state to reduce the population of white-tailed deer.

In a special report, the bird-watching group says white-tailed deer have become an ecological "stressor" for birds and other wildlife by eating away the understory vegetation. Hunting, the report says, is a viable option to bring the deer population down to a manageable number. The group is also considering opening some of its own preserves to hunters. The Audubon Society is calling on state wildlife authorities to revamp deer management strategies, and claims hunting policies are geared too much toward keeping enough deer around for sports hunters rather than seriously reducing the state's herd of nearly 200,000 white-tails. The report also concluded that deer management methods such as fencing and birth control have a very limited impact, and that the state's entire ecology is at stake. http://www.njaudubon.org/Conservation/Foresthealth.html

NJ.com 2005