Hunting in Rhode Island
Although most know Rhode Island (R.I.) as
the “Ocean State”, they’re soon to find out
that it’s a hunting state as well. Over 7%
of the state’s land allows for hunting and
fishing making Rhode Island a meeting place
for hunters when the season comes around.
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There are over 46,000 acres of public lands
set aside in R.I. for hunting season. The
game available in this region is waterfowl,
dove, pheasant, woodcock, gross, wild
turkey, and white-tailed deer. The most
popular of them all is the white tailed
deer.
In reports from The Department of
Environmental Management's Division of Fish
and Wildlife, over 2500 deer were taken out
of Rhode Island during the 2007-2008 hunting
season.
Prudence and Patience Island hunters took
down over 100 more deer then last year due to the need to reduce the herd. If
the number of deer in an area becomes overpopulated, the risk of habitat damage
is a certainty.
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It has also been proven that an
overpopulation of deer contributes to over
50% of all Lyme Disease problems in wooded
areas.
Block Island hunters reported only taking
about 30 deer out of the area. In an effort
to help control the risk of population,
special permits were issued for the hunting
of female deer, which is normally forbidden
in the area.
Rhode Island tries to take all
measures possible in controlling its wild
life population. Most automobile accidents
through the fall months are caused by deer
during the mating season. In efforts to
reduce incidents like that from happening,
special attention must be paid to the
monitoring of the local deer heard to insure
that the population is controlled before all
of the new deer are born in the winter
months. It is a widely known fact that deer
have a high reproductive system and proper
control must be implemented when you are
dealing with residential and woodland areas
that lie so closely together.
Scituate received the honor of having the
largest deer taken out of Rhode Island in
2007. The 8-point deer weighed in at over
225 pounds dressed and was taken down by a
muzzle hunter in the first few days of the
season.
The area around Coventry was the location of
the largest deer taken by shotgun. The deer
had a 10-point rack and weighed in at 215
pounds.
The Division of Fish and Wildlife were
pleased with the results this year and feel
that the quota needed for proper control was
met even though they didn’t have as many
hunters as they had hoped for out in the
woodlands.
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