New Look at Shotgun Season

Anticipated changes to New York State hunting regulations could prompt East Hampton officials to revise the lottery system for hunting permits on town lands during the shotgun-hunting season in January.

According to a report by Andy Gaites of the town’s Department of Land Acquisition and Management, who is a member of a deer management committee, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation has proposed expanding the bow-hunting season, which has run from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, through January. It would then overlap with the days on which big-game hunting with guns has been allowed, on weekdays only in January. The D.E.C. has also proposed adding to that hunting season by allowing weekend hunting during January as well.

Should the state’s changes be enacted, town officials would have to decide how to handle hunting on East Hampton lands.

Mr. Gaites said that the deer committee’s recommendation, in general, is to allow as much hunting as possible in order to reduce the deer population. The group will meet to discuss new D.E.C. regulations, said Councilman Fred Overton, its town board liaison, and develop specific recommendations to present to the board.

Mr. Gaites said that over the last year the town added 300 acres to the public lands open for bow hunting, after the state, which sets hunting guidelines, reduced the minimum setback for bow hunting from other properties from 500 to 150 feet. A total of 174 town-owned acres was added to the lands where gun hunting is allowed.

In addition, said Mr. Gaites, the committee is seeking other ways to expand opportunities for hunting. One is having the town issue permits to a specific number of hunters, allowing hunting on specific dates on targeted properties such as, perhaps, the two former town landfills. Discussions are ongoing with Steve Lynch, the town highway superintendent and the head of the Sanitation Department, about that idea, Mr. Gaites said.

The deer management committee has worked with a United States Department of Agriculture forestry expert to examine the health of East Hampton’s woodlands and the degree of damage by deer, said Mr. Gaites, and to learn about effective ways of monitoring that damage. Outreach efforts were made to discuss deer management options with private landowners, such as local homeowners’ associations, and owners of large lots, such as Camp Blue Bay in Springs, said Mr. Gaites, and communication has continued with the state, federal, and Long Island agencies that had planned a regional deer cull, including in East Hampton.

A lawsuit challenging that cull is under way, and there are no plans to reinstitute that plan for the coming winter.