Complaints aired on city deer population

Citizens concerned about what appears to be a growing deer population within the city limits asked the Fairfield Public Safety and Transportation Committee Wednesday to address the problem.

Concerned citizens brought the matter to the committee, explaining the deer population within the city limits has gotten so large, it poses a serious risk to local motorists. In addition, the deer are causing property damage, particularly to flower beds, gardens and landscaping.

?A deer eats 5 to 10 pounds of foliage per day,? said Lavon Hostetler. ?That?s a lot of foliage.?

Fairfield Police Captain Dave Thomas said he has spoken with night shift officers about the problem, and they report the deer are in good company. Thomas said there is an ?abundance? of wildlife, in general, within the city limits at night. Officers now are seeing many raccoons and foxes, as well.

Thomas said the problem has been compounded this year by hot, dry weather. The deer are venturing farther into town looking for food because of the drought. Hostetler said in spite of Iowa Department of Natural Resources recommendations that residents abstain from feeding deer, people in Fairfield are ?still doing it.? Feeding the deer only draws more animals into town, she said.

Countless calls have been received by city, police and fire officials about damage caused by deer. In addition, the number of deer-vehicle accidents within the city limits has increased ? all telltale signs a deer problem exists, said Greg Harris, wildlife depredation biologist for the DNR.

How many deer is too many? Harris said if people are complaining, ?you?ve probably got too many.?

?I don?t like to use some man-made formula,? Harris said today in a phone interview ?Here?s how you know you have a deer problem - when your constituents start complaining. When the deer are eating all your flowers. When the number of deer-vehicle accidents pick up within the city limits. It?s whatever is impacting the public. That?s how you know you have a problem. That is a far better criteria to use.?

Another way to access the number of deer in an area is to take an airplane or helicopter over the city during winter and count the deer and deer tracks from the air.

Five years ago, officials at Jefferson County Park became concerned about a growing number of deer in and around the park. In January 2007, park ranger Shawn Morrissey flew over the park in a helicopter and counted approximately 86 deer within the 200-acre park. According to the DNR, a healthy maximum is 30 deer per square mile; 185 deer were counted in a two-square mile area that included the park.

Park officials worked with the DNR and the city council to establish a controlled hunt in the park. The first hunting season ran from Oct. 1, 2007 to Jan. 1, 2008. The hunt was effective in reducing the deer population in the park, and has continued annually since.

Morrissey said park officials keep tallies on the number of does taken from the park. The first season, the deer population in the park was reduced by 40 does. The following year, that number dropped to 20. The number of does thinned from the herd has averaged between five and ten per year since.

?Based on that and based on what we see when we are out and about in the park, I think we have reduced the number in the park to a healthier level,? Morrissey said.

Park officials have fielded some complaints about deer hunting in the park. Morrissey said many people ?misunderstand hunters and how hunting works.? People have expressed safety concerns, and Morrissey said he often must explain how the program works.

The only type of hunting allowed in the park is bow hunting. There are strict guidelines in place hunters must follow to ensure safety, and since hunting began in the park, there have been no problems.

?We have quite a few rules about where they can hunt, and the regular park users are the priority,? he said. ?Hunters have to stay off the trails and out of the bikers? and hikers? way.?

?Typically, on six out of seven days on many weeks, there is nobody out here hunting. It?s been light. That, in itself, allows us to avoid conflict,? Morrissey said. ?Plus, there are less safety concerns with archery hunting. Most hunting accidents are from a bullet that travels a long distance and hits somebody.

?For the most part, it?s been successful and problem free. We haven?t completely solved anybody?s deer problem, but it at least allowed the numbers to level off and maybe go down a little, at least on our property,? he said. ?There are a lot of hunts in the state, and I don?t know of any major incidences.?

To assuage public safety concerns when implementing a deer management program in Centerville, the Centerville City Council adopted stringent guidelines prior to its first in-town hunt last fall.

Centerville officials issue 100 permits. In addition to the city permit, bow hunters seeking to hunt within the Centerville city limits also must obtain an Iowa DNR deer hunting license and must pass a proficiency test. The proficiency test requires bow hunters to place eight out of 10 shots at an eight-inch target at 20 yards away. Additional rules require bow hunters only take safe and careful shots and maintain a minimum distance of 150 feet from any occupied buildings and from any property owned by the Centerville School District. The distance drops to 75 feet from any unoccupied buildings and from any street or trail, unless the property owner gives permission.

Fairfield City Councilwoman Connie Boyer told the committee just as Jefferson County Park and Centerville City officials were, she, too, has been in contact with Harris at the DNR and has learned there are three approaches the city could take in addressing the deer population in Fairfield.

?The first is to do nothing, which we are already doing,? Boyer said.

The second option is to plan a hunt independently. The third is to work with the DNR and do a ?full-scope? study on how bad the deer population is and how to address it. Officials at the Jefferson County Park worked with the DNR to establish its deer management hunting zone. The city of Centerville worked with the DNR on the aerial count; however, they opted to implement a hunt independently. As it was in both the park and in Centerville, the first step toward establishing a hunt in Fairfield would be to do the aerial count, Boyer said.

While getting an aerial count could be expensive, city administrator Kevin Flanagan and Boyer said investing in procedure this winter might be money well spent.

?[From the aerial count] we could really get a sense of where we?re at,? said Flanagan.

Some citizens suggested analyzing the primary residences of the deer and then organizing hunts in those areas only.

?Where are the hubs?? asked Fairfield resident Kerry Bell. ?If we could find out where the populations are, where they sleep at night, we could designate those areas [for hunting].?

Park superintendent Pam Craff said many deer are located in O.B. Nelson Park, Chautauqua Park and Waterworks Park. Restricting hunting to those areas might help ensure safety, as the parks are easily accessible and are closed during the winter months.

?They aren?t open in December so there aren?t a lot of people around,? she said.

Fire chief Scott Vaughan said even in spite of stringent regulations, he is fearful some hunters would not follow the rules and eventually, someone would be injured.

?When [a hunter] sees that eight point buck at 26 feet, I don?t think he is going to say, ?Darn, I can?t shoot that one,?? Vaughan said.

Councilwoman Susan Silvers said she also is nervous about the idea of hunting inside the city limits.

?I just have some concerns about families and children,? Silvers said.

?I don?t see a reason why there should be any problems with safety,? Hostetler said. ?All these other communities are doing it without problems.?

Ultimately, the committee decided to continue researching the problem, looking to other communities with deer management plans for guidance. Committee members also will check into having an aerial count done.

?We?ll continue to do more research and come back to it at another meeting,? Silvers said.

?I?m glad it?s your choice to make,? said Vaughan.