Hunters in Stillwater concerned for deer population

STILLWATER, N.Y. (NEWS10) -There's a field in Stillwater with more than 900 acres for deer to graze, run, and live in. For Anthony Cocozzo, who's been hunting for five years, it's the perfect spot to hunt. But he saw one deer that didn't look quite right on New Year's Eve.

"I had a doe clearly sick. It didn't have much hair, step out." described Cocozzo. "So I took her out of respect for the deer and glad I did because there's no way that deer would've made it through the cold winter."

Cocozzo called his Mechanicville neighbor Larry Bramski over to take a look. He said the deer was not edible and called the DEC.

"'Dispose of it,' they said. 'On your own.' Y'know what I mean?" asked Bramski. "And that really ticked me off because it's a diseased deer. You don't want that laying out to the birds and the crows and the eagles to eat garbage like that. You understand?"

Both hunters asked the DEC to test the deer to find out what was wrong; Results that may hold the answer to a declining local population. "This year, we saw about half the amount of deer we've seen last year and it's been declining," said Cocozzo.

"Yeah. The deer population is way down this year and we're avid hunters. We're in here off and on through the whole season," added Bramski.

Last season, the DEC statewide stats showed a 3.6% decrease in antlered buck harvest and a 15.6% decrease in antlerless deer harvest from the season before.

The DEC sent NEWS10's Anthony Krolikowski the following statement in response:

"DEC was alerted to the deer by the hunter who shot the animal on Dec. 31. DEC picked up the deceased deer and brought it to the Delmar lab on Jan. 2 for testing. After microscopic examination, DEC determined the deer had demodectic mange caused by mites, which is not typically fatal. Demodectic mange poses no risk to hunters from contact or from consuming venison from the infected deer."