Bellport Village held their bimonthly trustee board meeting on Monday, Sept. 28. All trustees were present as were the mayor Maureen Veitch and deputy mayor Nathan Rohrmeier.
The meeting began with the public hearing to discuss the adjustment and increase of the senior tax exemption level for the 2026-2027 fiscal year. The tax exemption, based on income for seniors, has not been raised since 2013.
There were no members of the public who chose to address the board and a resolution (No. 22) will be discussed at the Oct. 26 meeting whether to hold a second public hearing for the senior tax exemption.
Trustee Michael Young was tasked with introducing the presentation on handling the deer problems in the area that are widespread through eastern Long Island.
“I believe that we are positioned to now move forward to address the problem as well as some recommendations of the Department of Environmental Conservation. You might recall that Maureen, to her credit, had a presentation by Leslie Lupo on the DEC and the nature of the problem throughout eastern Long Island,” said Young.
Young expanded on the deer problem by citing information from The New Yorker magazine: the average tick carries approximately twelve diseases, a typical deer during the season will carry 500 to 1,000 ticks, and Martha’s Vineyard and eastern Long Island are the two epicenters of tick infestations.
“We are blessed in our village with a golf course because it gives us a beach head on which to push back,” said Young.
The golf course on South Country Road is flanked by woodlands, and course employees have typically spotted twenty deer across the fields. A specialist from Long Island Deer Solutions said that if 20 were spotted, then at least 40 were present.
Trustee Dan Polner had raised the question of a lowered deer population being replaced by migrating deer and Young said that his research showed this was not the case as the does typically stayed in the same geographic area of about a mile or mile and half.
While bucks function in the opposite and will search for does, the migration is a years-long process and the village not being fully surrounded by woodlands also help slow the migration process.
John Katzer, who helped co-found the group Long Island Deer Solutions 10 years ago and who is himself a hunter of 30 years’ experience, made a brief presentation to the board and the public.
With clients in the Hamptons, Nissequogue, and St. James area, Katzer said the company was well versed in the type of area Bellport Village is located.
“We’re the best at what we do and that’s why people have us do what we do,” said Katzer.
Long Island Deer Solutions typically set up tree stands in wooded areas, which Katzer said the golf course is ideal for, and execute the deer whose carcasses are collected, and 80 percent is usually donated to food banks.
Veitch said her biggest concern was “tragic and cruel” treatment to animals and proffered the scenario of a deer with an arrow in its body from an inaccurate shot set loose on Bellport.
Katzer said he understood that concern and his organization had marksmen take proficiency and accuracy tests and if anyone were to miss their mark and cause suffering, they would be terminated from the group.
“You’re telling me you never miss?” said Veitch.
“You can’t say you’re never going to miss. There are so many variables with bow hunting as well. It’s not like rifle hunting, where you could hit the smallest little twig,” said Katzer.
He specified that most hunters do not shoot more than 20 to 25 yards as the hunters are trained to wait until the deer get close and turn broadside. The aim is to shoot the lungs or the heart for an instant death. When executed properly, the bow typically shoots through the animal into the ground.
The organization’s goal is to cull the female deer (does) as the DEC provides “bonus” tags for the killing of does.
Characterizing the does as the most intelligent deer, Veitch replied it was the “pink tax” of the species.
Hunting takes place between 30 minutes to sunrise to 30 minutes after sunset. The organization’s estimate to sufficiently cull the deer population is at least three seasons.
A major contributing factor to the deer proliferation on Long Island is having no natural predators like they do in upstate New York, where there are coyotes and bears.
“The only predators they have here are cars and us hunters. Other than that, they’re roaming free,” said Katzer.
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