Wyckoff Counts 65 Deer Per Square Mile; Close-Set Homes Leave 'No Simple Solution,' Administrator Says

A nighttime thermal-drone survey counted 432 deer across Wyckoff's 6.65 square miles last winter — 65 deer per square mile, the fifth-highest of the 12 Northwest Bergen towns in the study and above the 59-per-square-mile average across the study area.^[1]

Asked by Wyckoff News whether the Township Committee plans to take up deer management, Township Administrator Matt Cavallo wrote on Oct. 5: "At this time, the Township Committee is not discussing plans for a deer cull or other deer management measures."^[2]

Cavallo said homes in many Wyckoff neighborhoods sit closer together than in Franklin Lakes, "sometimes less than 75 to 100 feet apart," which makes it hard to find safe, suitable places for a cull. He also pointed to state requirements, the need for permission to access properties, and costs that continue rather than come as a single expense.^[2]

He said deer-related accidents in Wyckoff are infrequent, but that residents are "understandably frustrated by deer gathering on their lawns and eating their gardens and shrubbery." While he understands that frustration, "there is no simple solution in a community where many homes are close together," he wrote.^[2]

About the study

Researchers at Raritan Valley Community College's Center for Environmental Studies flew the surveys from Dec. 22, 2025, to April 3, 2026, and dated their report May 17.^[1] The study grew out of a Northwest Bergen mayors' meeting in Allendale while Committeeman Rudy Boonstra was Wyckoff's mayor, and was paid for with a state shared-services grant at no cost to Wyckoff taxpayers, Cavallo said when he summarized it at the June 23 Township Committee meeting.^[3][4] Cavallo provided the full report to Wyckoff News on request; the report is posted here.^[2]

Here is how the 12 towns compared:^[1]

*Researchers surveyed 87% of Mahwah; every other town was surveyed in full.^[1]

What the researchers concluded

The counts are a low point for the year, according to the report. The survey window falls after fall and winter deaths from hunting, car strikes and weather, and before fawns are born in May, and the researchers estimate that densities from late May through September are likely at least 50% to 100% higher. The researchers also describe the counts as conservative: they excluded anything they could not positively identify and took steps to avoid counting the same herd twice.^[1]

The report uses about 10 deer per square mile as its benchmark for ecosystem health and public safety, drawing on published studies of deer's effects on forests, ecosystems and public safety. Across the survey area, densities averaged 5.9 times that level, and "none of the areas surveyed contained deer densities at ecologically sustainable levels," the researchers wrote.^[1]

The report says its data "suggests that intensification of deer management is needed throughout Bergen County to improve ecosystem integrity in the future." Where hunting is not possible, it recommends fencing at least 8 feet tall around native trees and shrubs.^[1]

What township rules already say

One township rule is aimed in part at keeping deer out of yards. Wyckoff has banned feeding wildlife since 2005,^[5] and the Board of Health tightened the ban in 2019 "to discourage coyotes, deer and bears from residential yards," according to the township's summary of that year.^[6] The ordinance covers private yards as well as parks and other township property, and defines "feed" as placing or scattering any edible material "with the intention of feeding, attracting or enticing wildlife." Exemptions include bird feeders with seed catchers at least six feet off the ground, confined animals such as those on farms, and baiting in legal hunting and fishing. A first offense carries a $100 fine; a second or later offense, up to $1,250.^[5]

A question on a neighbor's ballot

Franklin Lakes, where the survey counted 62 deer per square mile,^[1] has a deer question on the Nov. 3 ballot. It asks: "Should the Borough consider conducting a deer cull by bow and arrow annually for three years for the purpose of managing the deer population?" The question is advisory and does not bind the borough. Its official interpretive statement says the cull would use professional bow hunters, a method approved by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection.^[7] Cavallo cited Franklin Lakes in explaining why a cull would be harder in Wyckoff, where he said many homes sit closer together.^[2]

What's next

Area municipal administrators, who meet informally, discussed the study and deer management as recently as the week of Sept. 28, Cavallo wrote. Pascack Valley towns have also pushed for Bergen County to coordinate a regional approach, he said. The concern, he wrote, is that deer move across municipal boundaries, "making it difficult for an individual town to address the broader problem on its own."^[2]

Deer did not come up in the recordings of the five Township Committee meetings that followed Cavallo's June 23 summary — on July 21, Aug. 18, Sept. 1, Sept. 15 and Oct. 6 — according to a Wyckoff News review.

The committee's next meeting is Oct. 20 at 7 p.m.^[9] Its meetings include a 20-minute public comment period, five minutes per speaker, on "any governmental issue," with comment taken in person only.^[8]