Deer exclosures have been established in Wilber Park for two years to track the impacts of the deer population on the city of Oneonta.
Sandy Bright, who sits on the city’s deer management task force, said Wednesday, Aug. 27 that in August 2023, three deer exclosures were installed to show what plants could be growing under a sustainable deer population.
Its first official inventory was done the following July with botanist Donna Vogler.
Since then, Bright said she has been focusing on the plants affected by the deer. Deer prefer certain plants over others, but they sometimes eat deer-resistant plants because they are hungry are living in an unsustainable habitat.
She said the enchanter’s nightshade is a preferred deer food. Inside of one of the exclosures, 5 feet by 5 feet, she counted 13 nightshade, and outside, in four separate plots each of the same size as the exclosure on each of its sides, she found only three. The outside area was four times larger than the space inside.
One of the easiest things to examine, Bright added, are tree seedlings.
“Just about any tree seedling is fair game for a deer because it is all fresh young plant, and they can get nutrition out of it,” Bright said. “The tree seedlings inside the exclosure are of course protected, and they are growing well. Outside the exclosure, almost all of them show signs of deer browse.”
Bright said it is noticeable when a seedling has been repeatedly browsed because “young seedlings want to grow up and develop a root system” which they cannot do in that circumstance.
Instead, it will keep sending out branches. Bright said that if there is a small tree seedling that has branched out a lot, it is likely due to the deer.
Deer do not have upper incisors, so when they feed, they “grab and yank,” leaving ragged branch ends and torn foliage. This, Bright said, is how to tell when a plant is deer-browsed, versus eaten by different animals like squirrels or rabbits.
Two of the exclosures have a lot of green vegetation. A third exclosure at the park encloses a hemlock, Bright said. When originally choosing the location, there were many hemlocks choose from in the area, she added, but now, it is one of the only ones left that is alive after two years.
Additionally, a hunting program has been underway in Oneonta, to cut down the deer population.
“Fencing can keep them out of your yard,” Bright said. “As far as bringing the population to a sustainable level, really hunting or culling is going to be the final answer. Otherwise, we are just going to keep seeing our native plants disappearing.”
Susan Lettis, the city’s volunteer deer management plan coordinator, spoke to the Oneonta Common Council in February about the Deer Management Assistance Program.
The plan was adopted by the council two years after deer overpopulation drew concerns about vegetative impacts and other behaviors. In October 2024, the state Department of Environmental Conservation granted the city 60 antlerless deer tags to be used in the Deer Management Plan zone. Sixty tags were granted, 40 for city-owned property and 20 for privately-owned property.
In its first hunting season, the DMAP reported 13 harvests out of the 60 permits.
The DMAP is organized in three phases, the first of which ran from June 2023 to May 2024 and collected data about the impacts of deer on vegetation and monitored deer activity.
Phase 2 began about a year ago, and the city has the DMAP permit for three years. The city is entering its second hunting season.
“We hope to increase education RE not feeding deer,” Lettis said Wednesday. “We are pleased with the deer exclosures in the park and will continue to monitor those spaces for educational purposes as well.”
In the event that phase II is not fully successful, according to Daily Star archives, Phase 3 would involve the culling of some of the deer. Lettis said Phase 3 is “tailored to have a greater impact on the deer that are living in the city limits.”
When the task force was meeting more regularly, Bright said a sharp shooting program had been discussed to take place at night in “very controlled circumstances.”
Deer would be about 20 feet away, making it a quick death, she said.
“The hunters would have to pass a very stringent test,” Bright added.