Irvington Woods Park Deer Management Plan:

ALWAYS aiming down from tree stand.

Limited range—typically aiming less than 20 yards from 18-20 foot height.

• Effective forest regeneration: Proven strategy for fostering forest regrowth.
• Archery precision management: Utilizes archery for precise and low-impact deer removal.
• Timed within regular archery season: Management activities coincide with New York's archery season.
• Low-pressure, high harvest: Targeted approach yields high harvest rates with minimal disturbance.
• Adaptive, data-driven approach: Informed by scientific data and adaptable to changing conditions.
• Minimal disturbance: Conducted during weekday very early hours, away from hiker traffic.
• Reduces deer population around IWP: Yields added benefit of lowering surrounding deer populations.
• Leverages slow dispersal of does: Targets specific areas to control deer populations effectively.
• Proactive monitoring of deer movement: Identifies and addresses potential dispersal routes.

Rose Petal Theory: Implications for Deer Management

In contrast to conventional deer management approaches, this strategy is based on the social behavior of white-tailed deer and results in maximum effectiveness with minimal influx of deer from other areas.

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• Matrilineal social groups: Does form matrilineal groups led by the oldest female, establishing home ranges where offspring often remain for life.
• Philopatry and slow dispersal: Does tend to stay where they grew up due to familiarity with safe areas and stable food sources, resulting in slow dispersal and high philopatry (defined as animals that have a tendency to return to or remain near a particular site or area). This challenges traditional beliefs of rapid diffusion into new areas.
• Localized management: Highly targeted reduction of social groups offers an alternative to widespread hunting, maximizing impact area while minimizing management area and number of animals removed.
• Continuous removal: Ongoing removal from a localized area can eventually eliminate all does from one or more social groups.
• Long-term effects of removal: The removal of all deer in one rose-petal cluster may produce a long-term effect at a low rate of recruitment and dispersal.

Demonstrates how the Rose Petal Theory applies to the Irvington Woods Park (IWP), highlighting the regional impact on the recruitment and dispersal of deer in the area and how it will create a void within the IWP.

The red circles represent the matriarch doe's approximate home range (between 200 and 400 acres).

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Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service. (1992). The Rose Petal Theory: Implications for Localized Deer Management (Information Bulletin No. 59)

Applying the Rose Petal Theory to Irvington Woods Park Deer Management Plan: Incorporating Pete Kelley's Additional Insights

In addition to the Rose Petal Theory, the proposed management strategy will benefit from geographical barriers limiting movement of deer from nearby regions.

• Physical barriers:
• East: Saw Mill River Parkway and I-87
• North: I-287
• West: Hudson River
• South: Reservoir
• Matriarch doe home range: Estimated at 200-400 acres, varies by season.
• Adaptive, data-based program: Utilizes 24-hour camera monitoring for swift response to deer migration.

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The Synergy of Bow-Hunting and the Rose Petal Theory: Supporting Deer Management Goals

• Objective of deer management plan: Reduce current deer population in Irvington Woods Park from 57 to 11, or an approximate density of 30 deer per sq. mi., over the course of 5 years.
• Initial year target: Harvest an estimated 12-18 deer in the first year of the program.
• Program maintenance: Once deer density goals achieved, ongoing observation and maintenance necessary.
• Alignment with Teatown's observation: Teatown's observation of forest regeneration when deer density reached approximately 30 deer per sq. mi. supports the objective of maintaining a similar deer density in IWP. This aligns with the principles of the Rose Petal Theory, which suggests that highly targeted reduction of deer populations can effectively reduces deer pressure, allowing for ecological regeneration.

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Above Illustration: Graph of Teatown Lake Reservation deer density once deer management was implemented using Pete Kelley in 2013.

When Pete Kelley was hired to manage the deer populations at Teatown (2013)