Fairfield Seeks Volunteers for Deer Committee

The is reportedly looking for volunteers to sit on an oversight committee to manage deer hunting on town owned lands.

According to a report in the Fairfield Citizen, in 2009 the town passed an ordinance opening up town owned lands to deer hunting, after a among town officials and residents, but so far very few hunters have applied for permits. Part of the reason is that there haven’t been enough volunteers to establish a deer committee to manage and promote hunting, according to the report.

As reported on Patch, the Conservation Commission , but a lack of volunteers prevented it from being formed. At that time, some residents said they had stepped forward to volunteer for the committee, but never got a call back from the Town.

Prior to the ordinance being adopted, the Conservation Commission had established a subcommittee to analyze the pros and cons of opening up town lands to hunting. The subcommittee reportedly held numerous meetings where residents had heated debates over whether hunting should be allowed. Ultimately the sub-committee decided that on the health, safety and ecology in town, and that hunting should be allowed to reduce the size of the deer herd.

In the Fairfield Citizen report, Conservation Commission Chairman Stanton Lesser said it is going to be a “fair amount of work” for the committee to manage the town’s hunting program. The committee will decide which local open spaces would be open to deer hunting, and when, and would also be responsible for issuing permits, according to the report.

Anyone interested in serving on the committee should call the and leave their contact information.