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Essex County authorizes deer-management permit application after consultant reports 143 deer harvested in 2025
Summary
Wildlife consultant told commissioners the county harvested 143 deer this year and recommended afternoon hunts with specific targets at South Mountain and Hilltop reservations; the board authorized a permit application to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife amid debate about nonlethal alternatives and public safety concerns.
Essex County parks staff presented the 2025 deer-management results and sought authorization to submit a community‑based deer‑management permit to the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife.
Daniel Bernier, the county’s wildlife management consultant, told the board the 2025 program removed 85 deer at South Mountain Reservation and 58 at Hilltop Reservation for a total of 143 harvested. Bernier said venison from the program yielded about 3,952 (units cited in the record) that was donated to the Community Food Bank in New Jersey. He presented overwintering population-density estimates of roughly 35 deer per square mile at South Mountain and about 82 per square mile at Hilltop and said those densities exceed recommended forest‑health thresholds.
Bernier recommended targeted, afternoon hunting shifts to remove a specified number of deer (for example, 85 at South Mountain with 14 hunters across five afternoons, 70 at Hilltop across seven afternoons). He also said the county planned follow‑up infrared drone surveys in spring 2026 to estimate population change and to measure program effectiveness.
Commissioners pressed staff on alternatives. Commissioner Gill asked whether Eagle Rock Reservation remains under consideration; Bernier said Eagle Rock had been surveyed but hunting there was not efficient in recent years due to access and cost. Commissioner Seabold acknowledged moral discomfort with lethal methods but said the board must weigh cemetery and forest restoration needs against wildlife protection. Bernier and staff answered detailed technical questions about immunocontraception, telling the board that the method has proven costly and operationally difficult in non‑isolated sites and that peer programs (cited: Staten Island) had not delivered population control at scale without prohibitive expense.
Bernier also described public‑health concerns, saying staff and colleagues observed an increase in ticks in some reservations and noting personal health impacts tied to alpha‑gal syndrome.
After discussion, the board authorized staff to submit the permit application and proceed with the management program described in the application, subject to state approval and the Division of Fish and Wildlife’s process.
