St. James, Bald Head Island pay to thin deer herds

A booming deer population often locks antlers with residential sprawl in counties like Brunswick.

Construction in previously undeveloped areas forces deer into smaller pockets of wildlife habitat. And expensive landscaping in upscale developments becomes part of the dinner menu for the animals, which also cause an increasing number of car-deer collisions.

Two communities that dealt with too many deer by culling are St. James and Bald Head Island.

St. James obtained a de­predation permit from the state in 2009 and organized a “herd management team” that hunted at night with firearms from portable elevated tree stands. A total of 130 deer were killed in undeveloped areas of St. James, at a cost of $165 per animal, said Town Clerk/Administrator Josann Campanello.

Deer venison is processed at a plant in Clarkton and distributed to local food pantries like the one in Southport, Campanello said. State biologists told town officials there were twice as many animals on the 400 acres they occupied in St. James than the land could support.

To obtain another permit from the state, St. James must first participate in an “urban archery season” Jan. 9 through Saturday. Only five animals have been taken with bow and arrow, Campanello said.

“Next fall we will look at whether we need to get a depredation permit or not,” she said.

On Bald Head Island, six herd culls were done between 2000 and 2008.

“It’s very much management of the herd. We don’t know what we’re going to do going forward because the rules have changed,” Village Manager Calvin Peck said.

Bald Head Island has a “very stable” deer population, Peck said. A typical cull, performed by a private company, which does the hunting with firearms at night and processes the meat, numbers between 75 and 150 animals per season.

“The herd got way out of control,” Peck said. “The problem is not deer eating people’s flowers. We have a maritime forest, and it’s a state preserve. Our concern was the deer were eating everything in there, and the deer weren’t healthy.”

Like in Boiling Spring Lakes, there are those in St. James and Bald Head Island opposed to hunting for any reason.

“Some folks don’t like it, and some folks would like to invite (hunters) to their backyard,” Campanello said.

Region desk: 343-2389

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