Assawoman reports light deer season

By Sam Harvey
Staff Reporter

Gano, an employee of the state Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC), Fish and Wildlife service, also noted a slightly smaller top buck this year, down about 20 pounds from the largest one taken at Assawoman last year. But it was still very healthy — Cathy Christensen’s 165-pound, eight-pointer, with a nearly 19-inch outside spread on the antlers, will likely continue to hold first place through the late season.

“This is the first time she ever killed a deer,” Gano said. “And she was out there less than an hour.” He admitted some of the guys had been a little riled over her beginner’s luck after they went to help Christensen haul her buck out of the woods and saw how big it was.

For his part, Gano suggested he was just proud to have played a part.

“I sent her out to the stand,” he noted. Gano described a vista on an open field, and the “nice little bottleneck” that probably funneled the big buck right into Christensen’s sights.

While he said there still aren’t all that many ladies out hunting, the ones who do participate are typically very enthusiastic. And he noted DNREC’s recent efforts to recruit, via the “Becoming an Outdoor Woman” series on subjects including fishing and hunting.

“It’s had some effect on getting people to come out — single parents, moms who’d like to see their children get involved in activities like that,” Gano said.

The state’s also launched a considerable study of deer population this year, he noted, trying to get a handle on both herd size and reproductive capabilities. The study involved nighttime, aerial infrared surveys — sample “blocks” observed for each zone — and DNREC expects results by the end of the month.

“There are so many deer in the woods right now – we’re trying very actively to keep the deer herd down, adding a lot of extra days to the season,” he said.

He emphasized there is still plenty of carrying capacity on the land — the problem, according to Gano, is the “social carrying capacity.”

“Obviously, they’re getting squeezed because development is taking place at such a rapid rate,” he said. “But the deer are becoming more and more adaptable, able to live on less and less acreage.

“The problem is that means more contact with the public,” he continued. “More deer on the roads, more deer eating crops.”

But not more hunters, Gano pointed out. Despite the area’s strong population growth, he said few of the people retiring to Sussex County seem to have much of an interest in the pastime.

“The retirees who are coming into this area — which is still a rural area — it seems like they want something more urban,” Gano suggested. “Which is human nature. People want things to be just the way it was."