Redding Pilot
Redding private property owners open their land to controlled deer hunt
Town, alliance seek more owners to participate in program
Oct 1, 2007

by SUSAN WOLF
pilot@thereddingpilot.com

For Susan and Stuart Green, a large part of the reason for their decision to open their private land to deer hunting is to help prevent Lyme disease.

Ms. Green has recurrent Lyme disease with past Lyme arthritis, she said. “I’m a gardener, so I’m outside all of the time. The deer eat what I plant. They’ve made me sick, and everyone in our family has been in a car or driving a car hit by a deer.”

Ms. Green said it is not just Lyme disease that is an issue. Other bacteria are carried by the deer tick, she said, including ehrlichiosis. Her son had babesiosis, another deer tick-borne illness.

“If we can break their [deer ticks’] life cycle by controlling their hosts [the deer], maybe we can help keep people from getting sick,” Ms. Green said, “and we can then enjoy the outdoors again.”

She added that the town protects so much land “so people can hike, but every time we go outside, we are at risk.”

The town’s Conservation Commission points to the destruction done by the high deer population to woodlands, the high number of deer-vehicle accidents and the spread of Lyme disease as its reason for supporting a controlled deer hunt on town land. The committee believes its deer reduction plan will result in a significant reduction in deer tick populations that would be sufficient to prevent the spread of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.

The controlled hunt on town property is now under way. The town’s Forest Management Committee is also seeking private land for the town’s deer management program. According to the committee, 70% of Redding is private residential land, and only 5% is town-owned.

Access granted to private property “is extremely important to the success of the deer reduction program during the limited [hunting] season,” the committee said.

The Greens have more than 10 acres on Umpawaug Road, and have opened it up to one hunter during hunting season for at least five years, said Ms. Green. The hunter is registered and lives in town, and his tree stands are approved by Mr. Green for safety and location. The stands are used for both bow and firearms hunting, Ms. Green said. She added that her closest neighbors are notified about the hunt and there have been no objections.

Ms. Green remembers that when her house was being built on the site of a former house, the deer ate all of the old landscaping. At that time, she recalled counting 24 deer at the site. Ms. Green said at different times of the year, she still sees a dozen or so deer in the field, “so there are still plenty of deer.”

Last year, the hunter on her property took out six or seven deer, which he processes himself, she said. The hunter plans to look into the local Venison for the Hungry program, which provides deer meat to area shelters, food pantries and soup kitchens. The deer meat from the town hunt goes to this program.

There is no acreage requirement for hunting on private land. However, the town’s Forest Management Committee is looking for parcels that routinely host a number of deer and have suitable trees for siting an elevated tree stand in a secluded area. It asks anyone interested to call 948-2844.

Also encouraging private property owners to open their land to hunting is the Fairfield County Municipal Deer Management Alliance, of which Redding is a member.

Patricia Sesto, alliance chairman, said in a recent release that the deer population “cannot be brought down to acceptable levels in our Fairfield County towns unless private property owners participate by allowing hunting on their property.”

The alliance “urges private and public land owners to help control overabundant deer in our midst by engaging experienced hunters to evaluate their properties for possible deer culling.”

Details of the bow season and shorter firearms season are available in the 2007 Connecticut Hunting and Trapping Guide available on the Internet at http://www.ct.gov/dep/lib/dep/hunting_trapping/pdf_files/fg2007.pdf and at all town clerks’ offices.

Licensed, experienced hunters may be found in Redding through the deer warden (948-2844). By law hunters may not receive remuneration for their efforts. Guidelines for interviewing a hunter may be found on the alliance’s Web site, www.deeralliance.com.


© Copyright 2007 by Hersam Acorn Newspapers