ENV-42-14-00005-A Deer Hunting in Suffolk County  

  • 12/31/14 N.Y. St. Reg. ENV-42-14-00005-A
    NEW YORK STATE REGISTER
    VOLUME XXXVI, ISSUE 52
    December 31, 2014
    RULE MAKING ACTIVITIES
    DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
    NOTICE OF ADOPTION
     
    I.D No. ENV-42-14-00005-A
    Filing No. 1038
    Filing Date. Dec. 15, 2014
    Effective Date. Dec. 31, 2014
    Deer Hunting in Suffolk County
    PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following action:
    Action taken:
    Amendment of sections 1.11 and 1.24 of Title 6 NYCRR.
    Statutory authority:
    Environmental Conservation Law, sections 11-0303, 11-0903, 11-0907 and 11-0911
    Subject:
    Deer hunting in Suffolk County.
    Purpose:
    Expand and simplify deer hunting seasons and regulations in Suffolk County.
    Text of final rule:
    Amend existing paragraph 6 NYCRR 1.11(a)(3) and adopt a new paragraph (4) to read as follows:
    (3) Westchester County[and Suffolk County].
    SeasonSeason Dates
    RegularOctober 1 through December 31
    (4) Suffolk County.
    SeasonSeason Dates
    RegularOctober 1 through January 31
    Repeal existing section 6 NYCRR 1.24 and adopt a new section 1.24 to read as follows:
    § 1.24 Special Firearms Deer Season in Suffolk County.
    (a) Season Dates: The first Sunday in January through January 31.
    (b) Hunting Hours: Sunrise to sunset.
    (c) Legal Implements: For the special firearms season, deer may be taken only by: shotgun, using a single ball or slug; or muzzleloading rifle or pistol, shooting a single projectile having a minimum bore of 0.44 inches. Shotgun barrels may be rifled, and telescopic sights may be used.
    (d) Valid Tags: Regular Season Deer tag, Deer Management Permit (DMP) and Bonus DMPs for Unit 1C, Bow/Mz either-sex tag, and Bow/Mz antlerless-only tag. Deer of either sex may be taken with Regular season tag.
    (e) Town Permits: No person shall hunt deer with a shotgun or muzzleloader during the special firearms season in Suffolk County unless such person possesses a special town hunting permit, provided, however, that a town may by local law waive the requirement for the special permit in accordance with the requirements of ECL 11-0903. The special permits shall be issued as follows:
    (1) Permits, furnished by the Department of Environmental Conservation, shall be issued by the town clerks or their designee for their respective towns only, and only until the quota for each town is exhausted. The annual quotas are as follows:
    Babylon200
    Brookhaven5,000
    East Hampton3,000
    Huntington500
    Islip200
    Riverhead3,000
    Shelter Island1,000
    Smithtown1,000
    Southampton2,500
    Southold1,000
    (2) In order to obtain a town permit, a hunter must complete the Application for a Town Permit and present it to the town clerk or their designee, along with a completed Landowner's Endorsement form and a valid hunting license, complete with big game carcass tags.
    (3) Town permits are issued only to holders of properly completed permit applications. Each permit authorizes the holder to hunt deer only in the town specified on it, and only on the property for which the permit holder has a properly completed and endorsed Landowner's Endorsement form. Permits are not transferable.
    (f) Landowner's Endorsement: The Landowner's Endorsement constitutes the landowner's or lessee's written consent for a person to hunt on his or her lands in accordance with the conditions of the special season. The Landowner's Endorsement form must be signed by a person who owns or leases ten or more acres of land in the town where application is to be made, certifying that such owner or lessee gives consent to the applicant to hunt deer on his premises in accordance with the conditions of the special season.
    (g) Town permit applications and Landowner’s Endorsement forms may be obtained from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Region 1 Bureau of Wildlife Office in Stony Brook, and may also be available from the Department’s website or other Department-approved outlets.
    (h) While hunting, an individual must carry his or her hunting license and big game tags, signed Landowner’s Endorsement form and valid Town Permit (except in towns where the permit requirement has been waived). Successful hunters must follow all deer reporting, tagging and check station procedures, as specified in ECL 11-0911 or as otherwise directed by the Department.
    (i) Any holder of a special hunting permit who the Department has reason to believe has violated any provisions of the Environmental Conservation Law, or of regulations promulgated thereunder, while hunting pursuant to such permit, shall surrender the permit to the department, and upon conviction or settlement for such violation such permit may be revoked. Any permit application or permit obtained by fraud, or by a person not entitled to be issued it or who makes a false statement in applying for it, shall be void. No permit application or permit shall be replaced if it is lost, stolen or destroyed.
    Final rule as compared with last published rule:
    Nonsubstantive changes were made in section 1.24(c).
    Text of rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained from:
    Vicky Wagenbaugh, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4754, (518) 402-8883, email: vicky.wagenbaugh@dec.ny.gov
    Revised Regulatory Impact Statement, Revised Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Revised Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Revised Job Impact Statement
    The original Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement as published in the Notice of Proposed Rule Making, remains valid and does not need to be amended.
    Initial Review of Rule
    As a rule that does not require a RFA, RAFA or JIS, this rule will be initially reviewed in the calendar year 2019, which is no later than the 5th year after the year in which this rule is being adopted.
    Assessment of Public Comment
    This rule making was necessary to implement provisions of legislation enacted on August 11, 2014, that provides the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC or department) express authority to: allow deer hunting on Saturdays and Sundays during the special January firearms season in Suffolk County; allow taking of deer by longbow during January in Suffolk County; and provided that towns in Suffolk County may waive the issuance of the additional permit presently required. The department received approximately 300 public comments on the proposed rulemaking. Several writers mistakenly equated the proposed rulemaking with other deer management actions conducted within several municipalities on the east end of Long Island.
    A summary of the comments and the department’s response follows:
    Comment: Several writers expressed support for the proposed regulations, indicating that hunting is a viable management tool needed to reduce deer populations and reduce the negative impacts of deer on local habitats and motorists.
    Response: The department agrees. In addition to the benefits of contributing to deer population management, the proposed regulation changes will also simplify the administrative requirements for hunters, Town governments, and the department.
    Comment: DEC should encourage Towns to waive the permitting requirement so as to lessen the administrative workload. DEC should also work with the legislature to change the existing law to allow use of crossbows during the January deer season.
    Response: The department has and will continue to recommend that Suffolk County Towns utilize the newly authorized option to waive the town permit requirement during the January Firearms Deer Season. Crossbows were not addressed by the August 2014 legislation or this rulemaking, though the department supports use of crossbows in Suffolk County during all hunting seasons.
    Comment: Several comments supported the proposal and welcomed the additional opportunity to hunt.
    Response: The proposed rulemaking is consistent with recommendations in the NYS Deer Management Plan (www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/deerplan2012.pdf) to include weekend hunting during the January Firearms Deer Season and provide additional hunting opportunity to business owners and school-aged hunters.
    Comment: One writer expressed support for the rulemaking, suggesting that using hunters to remove excess deer is preferential to tax payer funded deer culls by contractors.
    Response: The department anticipates that this rulemaking will promote an incremental increase in deer harvest, as is desired throughout Suffolk County. However, the department also fully expects that organized culls will remain necessary in specific locales within Suffolk County to achieve greater, more intensive deer population reductions to alleviate crop damage on agricultural lands or deer impacts in communities.
    Comment: Many writers expressed opposition to deer hunting generally or bowhunting specifically and indicated their personal values against killing animals, beliefs that hunting is inhumane, or that human use of wildlife is inappropriate. Some opposed increasing the number of deer hunting permits to be issued (and therefore, the number of deer that may be killed) in Suffolk County. Frequently these writers suggested that only non-lethal techniques be considered for deer management.
    Response: We realize that some people do not approve of deer hunting. However, deer hunting is supported by a strong majority of Americans, is an essential element of deer population management, and is codified in the New York’s Environmental Conservation Law (ECL), as established by the New York State Legislature, which specifically authorizes hunting of animals as a legitimate use of our wildlife resources and means of population control. Moreover, the Legislature explicitly authorized the department in August 2014 to expand and simplify deer hunting seasons and regulations in Suffolk County to help control deer populations on eastern Long Island. This rulemaking implements provisions of that legislation, and the department is obligated to adopt regulations in accordance with the law as written. Non-lethal management options for deer, including chemical contraception and surgical sterilization, have not proven to be viable, stand-alone methods to effectively reduce free-ranging deer populations and deer-related impacts as is needed in Suffolk County.
    Comment: Other writers opposed the expanded hunting opportunity, stating that it will prevent hikers and residents from enjoying the woods, will increase deer-vehicle collisions, and will jeopardize safety particularly of children and pets. Several writers suggested variations of weekend hunting, such as allowing deer hunting on every other weekend in January or on Saturdays but not Sundays.
    Response: The proposed rule does not prevent the public from accessing and using private lands throughout Suffolk County for recreation at any time of year. Likewise, extensive opportunities exist for non-hunting recreationists to use public lands in Suffolk County throughout the year. A list of public access locations in Suffolk County is available at www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7809.html. To best facilitate use of department managed lands in Suffolk County by a variety of user-groups, minimize user conflicts, and control environmental impacts of some activities, the department does restrict some activities (e.g., horseback riding and bicycling) to specific properties and limit access for various activities during specific times of year. During the January firearms deer season, non-hunting recreationists may not use department owned lands that are open to firearms deer hunting. However, several department managed properties are not open for firearms deer hunting (i.e., Calverton Woods, Edgewood, Kings Park Unique Area, Ridge Conservation area, Southampton Cooperative hunting areas, and East Hampton Cooperative hunting areas), and the public may continue to use these properties for hiking, bicycling, photography, cross-country skiing and other purposes during the fall and winter. Regulations for use of department managed lands in Suffolk County are available at www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/40419.html. It should be noted also that outdoor recreation of all kinds occurs throughout deer hunting seasons on millions of acres of public and private land in upstate New York. For these reasons, the department does not see the need to restrict deer hunting on weekends in January. Further, to do so would be counter to the recent legislation which authorized deer hunting on weekends.
    The department does not expect any increase in deer vehicle collisions due to the additional opportunity for bowhunters and inclusion of weekends to the January Firearms Season. Deer vehicle collisions tend to peak during October and November during the deer breeding season. A secondary peak often occurs in May and June due to natural dispersal of yearling deer. Finally, with over 60 years of Sportsman Education for new hunters, New York hunters have an excellent safety record. Statistically, hunting is a very safe recreational pursuit with fewer injuries per 100 participants than most team sports, and hunting-related accidents involving non-hunters are exceptionally rare.
    Comment: Several writers opposed the increase in town permit quotas and suggested this will result in an unprecedented deer harvest.
    Response: NYS Environmental Conservation Law requires hunters participating during the January Firearms Deer Season to obtain a town permit and for the department to set a quota of permits for each town. The proposed rule added all Suffolk County towns to the list, as previously only five towns were listed, and increased the quotas available for each town. Past practice had been to restrict hunters from obtaining a town permit for more than one town until the latter portion of the January season. Increasing the town permit quota will make it feasible to issue multiple town permits from the beginning of the season, giving hunters more flexibility in where they can hunt throughout the season. The department does not anticipate appreciable increases in deer harvest because of the change in town permit availability, although an appreciable increase in deer harvest is desirable for Suffolk County. Relatedly, in Appendix 5 of the NYS Deer Management Plan (www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/deerplan2012.pdf), the department recommends eliminating the town permits as the requirement to obtain a town permit is cumbersome for hunters, municipalities and the department, and is inconsistent with hunting requirements elsewhere in New York.
    Comment: Several writers opposed the rulemaking proposal, suggesting that coyote hunting be eliminated in Suffolk County or predators, specifically wolves, be introduced to reduce deer numbers.
    Response: Coyote hunting is not currently lawful in Suffolk County, nor do coyotes exist in Suffolk County in any appreciable number. The Department does not consider the introduction of wolves to Suffolk County to be a viable management option, socially or ecologically.
    Comment: One writer expressed concern that the description of legal implements for the January firearms season could be incorrectly read to prohibit the use of longbows, which are otherwise allowed during the concurrent bowhunting season.
    Response: We changed the word “During” to “For” in subdivision 1.24 (c) of the regulation, to help clarify that only firearms may be used to take deer pursuant to the Special January season regulations, but longbows may be used at the same time pursuant to the regular bowhunting season that was extended to January 31. Additional clarification will be included in department communications about deer hunting seasons in Suffolk County.

Document Information

Effective Date:
12/31/2014
Publish Date:
12/31/2014