The Fayetteville Village Board this week voted unanimously to authorize the mayor to sign a cooperative service agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the village to undertake another deer culling program in 2017. This would be the second consecutive year in which the village partnered with the USDA for the program.
The previous program, which utilized USDA approved-sharpshooters from January to March of this year, eliminated a total of 89 deer in the village over the course of six hunts. Most of the deer killed were female, a total of 72. The report states more than 2,600 pounds of venison were processed and donated to the Food Bank of CNY. “That amounts to about 7,896 meals,” said David Cassel, a member of the Fayetteville Deer Committee, at the village board’s May 9 meeting. “To me, that’s a win-win because it’s a great service for the needy.”
While reactions from the public on the sharpshooter bait-and-cull white-tailed deer management program in Fayetteville have been mixed, the USDA in May deemed the program a success and recommended the village repeat it to help fight deer-related damage and the spread of Lyme disease in the area.
The first round of deer culling cost the village about $16,000. The village’s 2016-17 budget sets aside $15,000 for deer management efforts.
