FOOD SITES TIED TO DEER SCARCITY.(Local)

Byline: Kenneth C. Crowe II Staff writer

The arrival of Thanksgiving has turkey on most people's minds, but the game bird shouldn't be blamed entirely for the fewer number of deer stalked by hunters in Columbia County's eastern towns.

"It's a definite factor, but we don't think it's significant," Nate Dickinson, a deer specialist for the state Department of Environmental Conservation's Big Game Unit, said Wednesday.

"There are people who don't see as many deer so they have to blame something," Dickinson said. "Turkeys take the blame sometimes."

EnCon is predicting a banner year for deer hunters, according to Wayne Jones, a supervising …