At the turn of the century, there were virtually no deer on Long Island; the native deer population had been eradicated through farming and unregulated hunting. But a couple decades later they were reintroduced, either because people thought deer enhanced the scenery, or for hunting purposes. But hunting hardly exists on Long Island any more. In the absence of any enemies, the deer populations have gotten out of control.

There are many possible solutions. Shelter Island, which has a problem similar to Fire Island's, deals with the issue primarily by encouraging hunters to shoot does. That is not an acceptable solution for Fire Island, because few people would want to have to listen to the carnage, not to mention dodging stray bullets or arrows. Still, killing part of the population is not as heartless as it sounds, as too many deer means some will starve to death.

As Newsday observed: "it's a puzzle that has defied easy solutions. A four-year contraception program on Fire Island has produced inconclusive results. Trapping deer is illegal in New York. Hired sharpshooters are prohibitively expensive, not to mention politically unimaginable. Deer have no natural predators on Long Island and no municipality is rushing to introduce wolves into its neighborhood. That leaves hunting, which, says biologist Mark Lowery of the state's Department of Environmental Conservation, remains the most humane and cost-effective way to control the population. About 1,500 deer were 'harvested' in Suffolk County in the last hunting season, but that's nowhere near enough to cull the herd, says Lowery. 'Our problem is hunter access,' says Lowery, explaining that hunting on Long Island is limited both by the population density and by people's distaste for the sport."

There has also been some discussion of taking the deer captive and transporting them to less populated habitats such as the Adirondacks. But there are many legal hurdles in the way.

The deer population will tend to rise according to how much food is available, so humans should not feed them. That is true even in winter. (Deer practice "hypophagia--something akin to hybernation, remaining ambulatory and eating minuscule amounts.)

Updated 11 May 2004