It was a wild time at last night’s public hearing on a proposal to cull Rockland’s deer herd by allowing bow hunting in county parks. (See story here.) Voices were raised, snipes were met with sharp retorts, and that was just among speakers at the podium. There was plenty of cross-talk in the audience, which had Rockland County Legislature Chairwoman Harriet Cornell putting a halt to the talk and telling audience members to, basically, can it or leave.

There were some funny moments, too, like when State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Bureau of Wildlife biologist Kevin Clarke, there to monitor the hearing for DEC, decided to take to the microphone to, as he said, dispel some misconceptions. He pointed to the assertion by several speakers that removing deer won’t shrink the herd, but make it grow. He said, “If you have too many deer in an area and you remove deer, you will have fewer deer.” He added, seemingly for effect, “If you have 100 deer, if you remove 50 deer, you have 50 deer.” Even some anti-hunting types giggled at the lesson in simple math. Clarke made clear that the birth rate may oscillate if the herd is thinned, maybe having 15 fawn the next year instead of 10. He did stress that deer population maintenance isn’t a one-time deal. A herd needs its size maintained, or it will just grow to the size that earlier had been determined too big for the area.

YES, I am well aware DEC supports hunting. So here’s a good point or two from the other side. A speaker late in the evening said she lives near Kakiat Park and pointed out that Ramapo Central school district elementary schools use the park for science projects. That’s important to know. Several speakers also pointed out that Kakiat is surrounded by homes and criss-crossed with walking paths that flow into Harriman State Park (where all hunting is banned) so boundaries are confusing. Also important facts.

No vote was taken last night.

2006 FILE PHOTO: A young deer bypasses a pedestrian at Rockland Lake State Park. The proposed bow hunting legislation would only pertain to Rockland County parks.