01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, August 12, 2004

By Arthur Gregg Sulzberger
Journal Staff Writer

JAMESTOWN -- Over the objections of animal rights activists, the Jamestown Town Council has conditionally agreed to permit deer hunting in Beavertail State Park.

The council voted 4-0, with one member absent, to permit bow and arrow deer hunting as soon as Nov. 1 at the request of the Department of Environmental Management, which co-manages the park. The details of the ordinance will be established at a special council meeting on Monday.

"There is a deer problem in Jamestown," said Council Vice President David Long. "If we drag our feet on this, nothing will happen until next year."

The move comes after several months of lobbying against the move by animal rights groups.

"DEM and this Town Council has put the comfort and convenience of people above trying to work out solutions that let the wildlife live," said David S. Martin, president of the Humane Society of Jamestown.

Jamestown has one of the largest densities of deer in the state with 40 to 45 of the animals per square mile, well above the mainland average of 16 to 18 per square mile, said Michael Lapisky, acting chief of the DEM Division of Fish and Wildlife. Beavertail State Park has the highest density of deer on the island, said Lapisky.

The growing population of deer has proven a source of frustration to many residents upset about the high incidence of deer tick-borne Lyme disease, auto collisions with the animals and nuisances such as damaged gardens.

"It's time we got proactive and take action on harvesting deer," said Lapisky.

Though the details still need to be finalized by the council, the DEM proposal calls for a three month hunting season, from November until January, during which approved hunters could hunt seven days a week from dawn until dusk.

Hunters would need to purchase a hunting license, an archery permit and pass a proficiency test before receiving permission to hunt in the park.

"Archery is the safest sport in terms of hunting," said Lapisky. "Its very, very safe."

While bow and arrows may be a safer form of hunting for humans, opponents say it is far more painful for deer than hunting with guns.

"The problem with bow and arrow hunting is that the deer bleed to death. You rarely have a quick death so there's an element of cruelty involved," said Dennis Tabella, director of Defenders of Animals Inc., an animal rights group that opposes hunting on the island and has threatened to sue the town to prevent such a move.

Tabella pointed to use of oral contraceptives, hormone implantation and habitat modifications as effective in limiting growth in the deer population. "A combination of methods could be very successful."

Long expressed doubt about the cost and reliability of alternative methods of deer control. "Sterilization has been tested in very few communities and its very expensive," he said. Moreover, "It doesn't cull the already overpopulated population of deer."

As for the charges of cruelty: "A lot of people hunt with bow and arrows. They've been doing it for centuries," said Long, who added that he is not a hunter. "I'm not going to set moral judgements on this sport."

Though this will be the first time hunting of any type is permitted on public land in Jamestown, both archery hunting and a popular form of gun hunting called muzzleloading are already allowed on private property.