Suffolk County Deer Management

10/29/2026

Every doe you harvest should count.

SCDM rewards one thing: female deer. Bucks don’t reduce a herd. Does do.

Starting with the 2027 to 2028 season, SCDM NWCO Members, Management Hunters who hold a NYS Nuisance Wildlife Control Operator license, earn a $100 Doe Harvest Credit for every female deer harvested on designated SCDM properties, up to six female deer credits per season.

Parts of Long Island still carry far more deer than the land can support. Every doe taken in those areas removes her and the fawns she would have had next spring. That is where the herd gets reduced, and that is what we reward.

SCDM continues to set the standard in suburban deer management. Our Management Hunters are background checked, trained and proficiency tested, and every hunt is documented in The Deer Manager, SCDM’s own management system.

One hunter. One stand. On every property.

Membership is by invitation only. Proven hunters may request an invitation now at suffolkcountydeermanagement.com/invite

Invitations go out January 15, 2027.

10/26/2026

Not even 2 days after posting about our upstate politicians ignoring the cries of their constituents and local leaders, and not a week after appearing on the Express Sessions Deer and Tick Panel, I got a visit from the Suffolk County Department of Health Services wanting to search our building for hazardous materials and petroleum storage.

The business next door was not inspected. When I asked why, the inspector said they "didn't appear to be there."

Here's what isn't in question. Our towns are looking for answers to deer overpopulation. SCDM provides one, free to property owners, with results measured by the police and highway departments, and we keep all the data in our custom app.

Instead of supporting that, our state politicians are pushing to restrict hunter access, and a business that's part of the solution is being treated like it's doing something wrong.

10/24/2026

10/23/2026

SCDM is a NYS licensed and insured nuisance wildlife control business. Since 2013 we have managed deer on private property, with each owner’s written consent, free to the property owner. Our members hunt public land like every other licensed New York hunter, under the same conditions and under the same rules.

At the 10/22/26 Express Sessions Deer and Tick Panel, Assemblyman Schiavoni made false and ill informed statements about how SCDM runs its business. The panel was recorded, and I encourage everyone to watch it when it is posted.

He also said residents should get “first crack” at Community Preservation Fund land, supporting a residents only change. The CPF law his predecessor championed requires that land be managed for public use, with no residency requirement. DEC’s own proposed rules for its Suffolk managed land have none either. Restricting public land to residents doesn’t reduce deer. It reduces hunters. In my opinion, it’s about votes in his district, not deer management.

Being elected doesn’t make anyone an expert. At the panel I watched elected officials interrupt the invited experts with the same talking points I heard in 2013. Meanwhile, DEC’s own staff sent Albany clear recommendations to make deer removal more effective in their “Urban Deer Management Pilot Program” from June 2026, and yet our state politicians stalled.

Recreational hunting alone is not controlling our deer, and the neighbors who have supported us are paying for it. What works can be measured in Southampton Village’s Deer Management program: deer vs. vehicle collisions are down 62.5% (Village Police), dead deer on Village roads are down 60% (Highway Department), with 96% of deer recovered and zero incidents when managed by SCDM. That’s because our management hunters are required to harvest at least 5 deer a season to keep their membership.

It’s time Albany listens to the experts, passes DEC’s recommendations, and supports the nuisance wildlife businesses and management-conscious hunters, who are donating their time, equipment and skills to fix this mess.

Property owners: enrolling is free.

Suffolk County Deer Management fact sheet for property owners. Vetted, insured hunters. Your rules. Sign up in two minutes.

10/22/2026

Bad idea to “trick” property owners into letting you hunt by saying you’ll do something that you have no intention on doing.

This article may have chosen the wrong wording, but we see a lot of those games on Long Island. Deliver on your promise and keep access.

Struggling to get a "yes" when asking for permission to hunt? Try offering to only hunt does. It works amazingly well for Bruce Ingram.

10/16/2026

Is recreational hunting effective at reducing deer numbers?

Find out here:
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/out-of-control-how-the-east-end-can-get-a-grip-on-deer-tick-populations-tickets-2003264239266?aff=oddtdtcreator

10/16/2026

It's like 2013 all over again.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1D32m1dJyu/

See the areas where bow hunting has commenced in Riverhead. | Link in comments ⬇️

10/07/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/19fyx7Tfq2/?mibextid=wwXIfr

The Nantucket Conservation Foundation is launching a new Deer Donation Incentive Program for the 2026/2027 hunting season, offering hunters $150 for every whole deer donated to MassWildlife's Hunters Share the Harvest Program through the Nantucket Land Bank's Agricultural Processing Center. NCF is committing up to $30,000 to the effort, which supplies locally sourced venison to Island families through Nourish Nantucket and the Nantucket Food Pantry.

Food insecurity is a year round reality on Nantucket, where roughly one in five Islanders and nearly half of all schoolchildren experience food insecurity. The Deer Donation Incentive Program is built to help meet that need directly, turning a herd management necessity into a steady supply of local protein for families who need it.

"Nantucket's deer herd is far larger than the land can support, and that imbalance affects everything from tick-borne illness to the health of our forests," said Danielle O'Dell, NCF Director of Research. "This program gives hunters a strong incentive to help bring the herd back into balance, and turns that work into real food for the community."

"Caring for Nantucket's land and caring for its people go hand in hand," said Cormac Collier, NCF CEO and President. "This program is a good example of what that looks like in practice. It's a practical way for the Island to take care of its land and its neighbors together."

The program begins on October 5, 2026 when the Nantucket Land Bank's Agricultural Processing Center reopens. Interested hunters can learn more at the link in our bio.

09/28/2026

The Town Board's Wildlife Management Advisory Committee met today. Betsy Petroski and I attended. The chair, Tom Flight, announced that he will recommend that the Town Board hire an organization to shoot deer, probably with cross-bows and regular bows, in limited areas. The recommendation will be to use the $40,000 allocated for tick-control this year. If this limited intervention succeeds--if it reduces tick-borne illnesses, vegetation damage, and deer/auto collisions in the designated area--the Board will be in a position to proceed further.

Betsy observed a parallel with the Iran war. Once we begin, will we stop? I urged consideration of non-lethal birth control, but the group is decidedly pro-lethal. From the beginning, it has consisted largely of hunters.

Mr. Flight seemed to think this project will kill about 100 deer (on top of what hunters usually kill.),. He has abandoned hope for a town-wide deer survey, but he mentioned limited surveys. Betsy tried to get him to be clearer, but he said he bidding process prevented him from revealing too much.

Mr. Flight plans to make the presentation at the Oct. 6 Tuesday workshop in the Town Hall. It begins at 11 am. Please attend, in person or virtually, if you can. Consider speaking or writing to The Star of the Town Board. Again, I think it's very effective to simply speak from personal experiences--and from the heart. All the letters you have written already have been wonderful.

Emails for Town Board members:

[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]

For the animals,

Bill Crain

09/25/2026

A survey found the city's deer population has surpassed acceptable levels. DETAILS 👉 https://www.wsbradio.com/news/local/metro-atlanta-city-launching-program-reduce-unusually-high-deer-population/XDPDMWKYO5DC7BLUNHVSWZVRLE/?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook =1790336694