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Knimrod
11-29-2005, 01:19 AM
Hoffmaster manager: More deer hunts needed
Monday, November 28, 2005
By Jeff Alexander
MUSKEGON CHRONICLE STAFF WRITER

The first deer hunt ever permitted at P.J. Hoffmaster State Park went "exceptionally well," but at least five more years of hunting will be necessary to thin the deer herd, the park manager said today.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources allowed deer hunting at Hoffmaster Saturday and Sunday to reduce the number of deer in the Norton Shores park. Another hunt is scheduled for Dec. 10-12.

The 43 hunters who showed up this weekend killed 25 antlerless deer, park manager Charles Ehrlich said. Ehrlich said he was pleased with the managed hunt, but said many future hunts will be needed to thin a transient deer herd of about 400 animals that is threatening the park's ecosystem by systemically eating much of the native vegetation.

"We fully expect to have to hunt for at least five years before we're going to see any substantial impact," Ehrlich said. "There's no short-term fix here. This is a problem that has been developing over the past 20 years and we're not going to fix it overnight."

Hoffmaster remained open to the public during the weekend hunt, and Ehrlich said there were no problems with hikers or cross-country skiers encountering hunters armed with shotguns. Nor were there any animal rights activists protesting the hunt.

Biologists who checked dead deer taken out of the park over the weekend said the young deer were unusually small.

"We really can't draw too many conclusions from the number of deer we saw come out, but the biologists noticed the younger deer, under five years of age, were substantially smaller than they should be at that age," Ehrlich said. "That is very indicative of poor nutrition."

Biologists have said the oversized herd is the result of decreased hunting pressure in the area over the past two decades, increased residential development -- which prompts deer to take refuge in the park -- and residents near Hoffmaster feeding the animals. Providing food for deer allows weaker deer to survive the winter and can increase the number of offspring.

The DNR will evaluate the Hoffmaster deer hunt after the second hunt in December, Ehrlich said.

One hundred hunters were randomly selected to participate in the hunt -- 50 for this past weekend and 50 for the December hunt. More than 1,200 hunters applied for permits to hunt at the park and take two antlerless deer each.

Ehrlich said DNR officials allowed 50 hunters in the park at a time because they felt that was a safe number. That figure may be raised for future hunts, he said.

Prior to the hunt, DNR officials said they hoped to reduce the number of deer that move in and out of the park by half, or about 200 animals. But Ehrlich said he would be happy if hunters killed 50 deer during this year's hunts.

"I think we're really on track," Ehrlich said.

Link to story (http://www.mlive.com/news/muchronicle/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1133196315151950.xml&coll=8)