Conservation Department official tells committee deer population must be managed

The message from Missouri Department of Conservation officials Tuesday night was this -- when it comes to managing a city's swelling deer population, there is no magic solution.

Four such officials met for nearly two hours with Cape Girardeau's Deer Management Committee, discussing a litany of lethal and nonlethal methods. But whatever the seven-person advisory committee recommends, not everybody will be pleased, the officials said.

"There are going to be people on both sides of the fence," district supervisor Russell Duckworth said. "No matter what you do, there's going to be people who think you're doing it the wrong way."

While the department said it would not make an official recommendation to the committee, it did make one thing clear -- if nothing is done, the number of deer is going to continue to increase for the foreseeable future.

"We know the issue is not going away," Duckworth said. "If something is not done, I firmly believe the deer population will continue to grow."

The committee, meeting for the third time Tuesday, has been charged by the Cape Girardeau City Council with studying ways to manage the deer population that has some residents grousing about damaged landscapes and others worrying about an uptick of motor vehicle accidents involving deer.

The committee has been asked to form a recommendation to take back to the council after holding at least one public hearing. No date has been set for a hearing, with committee members saying they are still in an information gathering phase.

The most prominent idea being discussed is whether to allow urban deer hunting within the city's limits, using bow hunters to help thin the herd.

Duckworth told the committee that an urban setting provides the ideal habitat for deer, with its open areas and lack of predators.

"The predators on deer in the city limits of Cape are pretty much cars," he said. "If they can avoid cars, they've pretty much got it made."

An ecological habitat will sustain about 20 deer per square mile, Duckworth said, before that habitat will begin to degrade. Most people don't really have noticeable problems with deer or an increase in deer-related accidents until there are more than 40 deer per square mile, he said.

But he said he did not know how many deer live within the city's boundaries, which committee members said they would like to know.

"Is it a viable thing for us to say, ‘Can you give us quantitative data as far as deer density goes?'" member Dru Reeves said. "That's what I would want to know."

Duckworth said he would try to find an answer and get back to them.

Nonlethal solutions include fencing, repellents, deer-resistant plants and ordinances outlawing feeding of deer, Duckworth said.

Lethal solutions include urban bow hunting, hiring a sharpshooter and trapping and euthanizing deer, he said.

"To my knowledge, the nonlethal stuff is a short-term answer and does nothing to lower the density," Duckworth said.

Most members seem to agree that some sort of deer management needs to be done, with several feeling positively about using lethal means.

But one member, Beverly Weakley, said near the end of the meeting that she was considering resigning from the committee. Weakley has been an opponent of using lethal means to kill the deer.

"And I know where this committee is heading," she said.

But other members encouraged her to stay on, saying that her perspective is important to hear. She did not say publicly if she intended to remain on the committee.

The committee's next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

smoyers@semissourian.com

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Pertinent address:

40 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO