As the clock ticks closer to the start of deer hunting season Village of Lansing officials are working fervently to finalize a deer population control program.  The deer control program dominated Monday's Trustees meeting, with key items including sending an official Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) application to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), finalizing an agreement with the owner of Murray Estates, and making sure the Village has insurance that covers the program.  "The program is being initiated because there has been no hunting on any of the Village properties for three or four years," explained Trustee John O'Neill.  "Consequently the deer herds have increased in number greatly.  Deer are beautiful, but unfortunately they bring along with them some problems that people need to consider."

If this year's program can be finalized in time it will serve as a test case for both the Village and the DEC to see whether a controlled bow hunt can be successfully managed.  While Village officials admit that the small-scale hunt they plan for this fall will not do much to reduce the deer population, they hope to continue and expand the program once they have a feel for how to make it work.  "This is not going to be a holocaust of deer," Trustee Frank Moore said.  "It's going to be a small number, and more in the nature of an experiment than anything else."