Oxford is taking aim at the problem of deer overpopulation with new management strategies. This winter, the city hired professional sharpshooters and updated its bow hunting program to reduce the deer population to a sustainable level.
Sustainability Coordinator Reena Murphy says the city has had a deer management program since 2009, but it made changes after hearing complaints from residents and getting a directive from city council to do something different to address the growing population.
“When there's an overpopulation of deer, it leads to overgrazing,” Murphy said. “The understory of our forests are affected. Little trees aren't able to grow into big trees because they keep getting eaten.”
The high population has other negative impacts too, like an increased risk of deer-vehicle collisions, deer-related diseases and property damage.
Murphy says a population study done in December found that there are 37.7 deer per square mile in Oxford. That's more than double the recommended number, according to research done by Miami University students for the city.
“We just had an unsustainable level of deer in Oxford,” Murphy said. “The goal of this program was to have a controlled, appropriate size deer population, and with that comes a healthy deer population, too.”
She says both the new professional population control program and updated bow hunting program have been “successful.”
The professional sharpshooters culled 117 deer, the maximum number allowed by the ODNR permit. Oxford contracted with White Buffalo Inc. to do the sharpshooting. The organization completed its work in early January.
Murphy says the venison helped feed people.
“We were able to divert all of the venison to either residents picking up the deer and processing it themselves, or giving it to food pantries,” Murphy said. “We were really proud to say that we were able to donate 4,558 pounds of ground venison to local food pantries.”
Hunters have harvested 15 deer so far through the bow hunting program. It runs through Feb. 1.
“We have gotten more deer this year harvested through our program than in the past five years,” Murphy said.
Murphy says Oxford improved the program by changing some of the requirements to participate. The city is now encouraging, rather than requiring, hunters to donate their first deer to a food pantry. And, it’s paying for the processing cost if they decide to.
Oxford is now reviewing the effectiveness of the new strategies to determine next steps. It will release a final report soon.
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