This map shows the deer counts in specific areas around town when the recent survey was completed.
Lots of deer are out there, banqueting on homeowners’ shrubs, gnawing down the forest understory — a minimum of 45 deer per square mile in Ridgefield, according to a long-awaited aerial count by the state.
“Compared to aerial deer surveys conducted in Connecticut during the past several years, the Ridgefield deer population was among the highest found in any survey,” state wildlife biologist Michael Gregonis said in a brief report on findings.
It’s more deer than most town officials would like to see.
“In years past, we’ve talked about 20 to 30 per square mile is a good goal,” First Selectman Rudy Marconi said.
The report the town received last week from Mr. Gregonis, a wildlife biologist with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, summarized the results of an aerial survey of Ridgefield done on Feb. 21.
A helicopter moving at 10 to 15 mph flew over at about 200 feet, crossing the town six times along “transects” — straight lines — that run northeast to southwest but mostly east to west, from Route 7 across town toward New York state.
The 45 deer per square mile is an average of the differing counts along the six transects, which range from a high of 124 deer per square mile along the northernmost crossing to 16 deer per square mile in the third transect, across central Ridgefield.
The number of deer out there in the woods is likely considerably higher than the number observed on the helicopter crossings, according to Mr. Gregonis.
“A total of 100 deer were observed along the six transects surveyed, which resulted in a minimum of 45 deer/mi2 (deer per square mile) for the area surveyed,” his report said. “Based on past research, multiplying the observed deer density by a factor of two may produce a more realistic estimate of deer density. The groups of deer encountered ranged from one to 12 animals.”
In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Gregonis said the Ridgefield numbers were considerably higher than what the state has been finding in periodic aerial surveys of larger areas.
“Generally in Fairfield County, we’re finding around 30 deer per square mile without any correction factor,” he said, referring to the assumption that the “observed” deer count should be doubled to give a more realistic idea of how many deer are out there.
The state has 12 deer management zones, and Fairfield County falls within the state’s Zone 11.
“We just did an aerial survey for Fairfield County, or Zone 11, this past year, and the average observed density was 26 per square mile,” he said.
Mr. Gregonis also cautioned that the Ridgefield survey — with one flight along each transect — wasn’t as accurate as counts based on more flights, such as the state does for its own surveys of the larger zones.
“We fly these transects four times to come up with as accurate an assessment as we can,” he said.
“That’s one of the drawbacks of doing a survey only once — you get one point in time, where what we’re doing on a zonal basis, we get four points in time.”
The aerial survey will cost Ridgefield $1,320, probably to be drawn from the selectmen’s “contingency account,” according to First Selectman Rudy Marconi.
Numbers for debate
Ridgefield officials wanted the survey in order to have some real and specific numbers after years of estimates and guesstimates being used in the recurring and at times emotional debate about the town’s deer hunting program.
The selectmen agreed to pay for the flyover survey some years ago, figuring a survey done by state scientists would at least inform the discussions with some reliable facts.
It wasn’t an easy thing to get done, however. The timing of the flyovers has to be right — there needs to be snow on the ground to see the deer, and it can’t be too windy for a helicopter. The state also has its own surveying it wants to get done.
“We’ve been waiting four years,” said Tom Belote, chairman of the Deer Management Committee, which oversees the town hunt on selected Conservation Commission open space lands.
More effective
Mr. Belote said he hopes to use the survey to make the hunt a more effective means of keeping down the deer population.
The state provided an overview, showing where deer were spotted in differing concentrations on the helicopter flights. Mr. Belote asked the town mapping department to superimpose on that a map an outline showing the town’s roads, to help with practical judgments about what open space lands ought to be hunted.
“Obviously, we want to focus on the areas where there are larger deer concentrations,” he said.
Final numbers aren’t in from this year’s town hunt.
“This year’s hunt ended Jan. 31. The hunters are turning in their logs now,” Mr. Belote said.
“The state, this year, unlike past years, isn’t releasing the number of private kills, kills made outside of the town hunt,” he said.
“They’re not going to have that information until the end of the summer.”
But he said partial results suggested the hunt went well.
“A significant number of deer have been taken,” he said.
“I think we’re well over 100, and if that represents one-third, then we’re right on target,” he said. “We want the town hunt and private hunting to remove 300 deer a year.”
At that rate, he said, the population should be going down over time.
North and south
In the aerial survey, the numbers of deer spotted varied widely, with the greatest concentrations found in the northernmost and southernmost transects the helicopter flew.
There were six flight transects done, crossing the town in roughly parallel lines running at a slight northwest-to-southeast angle. They were of varying length, due to the town’s irregular shape.
With the northernmost flight being transect one and the southernmost being transect six, the numbers were:
• Transect one, 2.02 miles: 25 deer spotted, for 124 deer per square mile.
• Transect two, 3.61 miles: 11 deer spotted, for 30 deer per square mile.
• Transect three, 4.49 miles: 7 deer spotted, for 16 deer per square mile.
• Transect four, 4.32 miles: 9 deer spotted, for 21 deer per square mile.
• Transect five, 4.16 miles: 16 deer spotted, for 38 deer per square mile.
• Transect six, 3.85 miles: 32 deer spotted, for 83 deer per square mile.
“We’re dense in specific areas,” said Mr. Belote.
He noted concentrations in the north, near the town golf course — where the greenskeeper reported a growing deer problem and requested more hunting this year. The other concentration is in the south, near the Weir Farm open space area and, along the New York line, Silver Spring Country Club’s golf course.
Doubts on doubling
Selectman Barbara Manners, long an unabashed opponent of the town deer hunt, was worried the flyovers’ finding that deer concentrations in Ridgefield are higher than in Fairfield County in general might lead to more hunting in town.
“I hope that this report isn’t used as a reason to expand the hunt any more than it is,” she said.
“I also don’t believe you can double the number automatically,” she said, referring to Mr. Gregonis’s recommendation that the observed deer density be multiplied “by a factor of two” to get a realistic number of deer in the woods.
“I don’t see that,” Ms. Manners said.
“It seems to me there was a lot of snow out there and not much place for the deer to hide. And how you can you automatically say you can double it? Where’s the scientific basis for that?”
But Ms. Manners was not pretending that her own position is based on science.
“I love the deer,” she said. “I love seeing them come over to my property. They’re beautiful animals and they’re not hurting anything.”