Urban deer hunting culling herds
A little more than a decade ago, Granville conducted an infrared flyover to gauge just how many deer had taken up residence in the village.
Turned out there were about 100 of the quadrupeds per square mile.
“We should have 18-20,” said Mollie Ann Prasher, the Village Council clerk.
That was around the time the village was crafting its urban deer-hunting initiative allowing residents to shoot deer with bows and arrows but not guns.
A number of cities and villages in central Ohio
and around the state have adopted comparable programs to help control the deer population, with an eye toward preventing auto accidents and property damage.
The programs appear to be having the desired result.
“I have reports from property owners who have had flowers and hostas and things growing that they haven’t had for years,” said Prasher, who administers the village’s urban deer hunts.
Controlling the numbers
The state doesn’t have a specific count of deer in Ohio. Gary Comer, wildlifemanagement supervisor for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources district that includes Licking, Franklin and other central Ohio counties, said the agency instead considers annual deer-hunting numbers as a gauge of the population.
Using that measure, the deer population was on the rise from the late 1970s through a peak around 2009. Hunting has helped bring the number down in recent years.
The next archery season for deer starts Sept. 30 and runs through Feb. 4.
State regulations limit the number and types of deer that can be taken by hunters. Those rules remain in effect in places such as Granville and Newark that offer urban deer hunting on specified properties and that also have restrictions on participants.
It’s a balancing act as officials work to reduce the number of deer collisions with vehicles and damage to landscaping and crops while also maintaining a healthy deer herd.
“What we’re trying to do is find a happy medium,” Comer said.
Licking County leads the state in archery hunting, with 1,541 deer taken by crossbow hunters and 1,005 by vertical bow hunters in 2016, according to ODNR.
Limiting crashes
The number of deervehicle collisions has been trending lower, according to the Ohio Department of Transportation. Ohio had 26,300-plus in 2007 and only 18,427 last year.
Most central Ohio counties saw comparable declines, including a drop from 494 in Franklin County in 2007 to 283 in 2016.
In Licking County, deervehicle collisions dropped from 306 to 209 in that span.
But the statistics on deer-related accidents can be misleading, said Newark Deputy Police Chief Erik McKee, who administers the city’s urban deer-hunting program, because drivers don’t always report collisions with animals.
Urban hunting
There’s a general feeling among Granville residents that the deer population has decreased since the village’s urban deer-hunt program began, Prasher said. There aren’t reports of herds of 40 to 50 of the animals, as there were a decade ago.
“We don’t receive the
complaints we used to receive about deer damage,” she said.
In Granville, 17 permits were issued during the first year that hunting was allowed. In 2013-14, there were 100, Prasher said.
About 80 deer are taken in an average year from parcels covering at least 4 acres.
“That could be four backyards,” Prasher said. “We are hunting right in downtown Granville.”
The anecdotal evidence is the same in Newark, where McKee hears from residents who are able to plant flowers again without worrying that the plants might become a deer’s lunch.
The city established its program in 2009, with hunting allowed in 2010. McKee receives about 150 applications each year from those who want to hunt in the city, and about 100 deer are taken each year.
Newark controls hunting on 400 acres it owns. Otherwise, McKee said, hunters work with landowners who have at least 3 contiguous acres and have opted into the program.
The city isn’t interested in trophy hunters; rather, the program is designed to reduce the deer population. McKee said hunters have to kill a doe in the city before they can take a buck. The strategy helps control the overall population: For every doe taken, that’s two or three fawns that won’t be born the next year.
An opposing view
There has been opposition to urban deer-hunting programs. The Humane Society of the United States is among groups calling for the use of comprehensive, nonlethal strategies before culling is even considered.
John Griffin, director of urban wildlife at the Humane Society, said some communities are trying deer contraceptives to reduce populations. Others are changing the types of plants used in landscaping to varieties that don’t attract the animals, or they are using repellants.
“These environments are incredibly attractive to deer,” Griffin said. “There’s an incredible amount of food and habitat available. That’s going to remain like that. That doesn’t go away. These animals belong here, they’re native, and we need to shift that perspective to (one that is) more tolerance-based.”
Comer said hunting is just one of the management tools used to control deer populations in Ohio.
As for those who oppose hunting or are worried about deer disappearing, McKee said that even if every hunter bagged as many animals as permitted in a year, the total would be a drop in the bucket compared with Ohio’s deer population.
“Everybody loves to see deer,” McKee said. “They’re beautiful. I get it. You’re still going to see deer.
“That is the reality, barring some sort of disease that really takes hold.”