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BOARDMAN -- Sharpshooters removed eight more deer from Mill Creek Park on Thursday evening , and it is the last time this season the state will employ them as part of Mill Creek MetroParks' deer-reduction plan.
Geoff Westerfield, assistant wildlife manager for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife, said permits were approved earlier this week for sharpshooters, employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, to remove 14 additional deer from the park area between Shields Road and U.S. 224, in Boardman.
The removal ran from 6 to 10 p.m. Thursday.
"It went fine. They got the antlerless deer pretty quick, but didn't see as many bucks as they had been seeing," Westerfield said. "They didn't get as many bucks as they had permits for, but they also saw a lot of antlerless deer that they passed on."
Westerfield issued the 14 permits on the condition that seven of them be used to collect antlered bucks. He said sharpshooters collected seven antlerless deer, but only one antlered buck.
Westerfield said Thursday night marked the final time sharpshooters will be used to reduce the deer population this season through March 31 in that part of the MetroParks.
The MetroParks' reduction program began Oct. 1, and including Thursday's hunt, sharpshooters and bow hunters have removed 149 deer from MetroParks property.
Westerfield said rifle season begins this weekend in MetroParks everywhere except for the properties along Hitchcock Road and near Huntington Woods in Boardman, where only archery hunting is permitted.
Westerfield said some protesters picketed at the East Golf Drive park entrance on Shields Road from 8 to 10 p.m. but that there were "no issues."
"They were very civil," he said. "I was out there 45 minutes or so, speaking to them, and there were no problems."
Mill Creek Police patrolled the park, and all entrances, trails, and roads were closed to the public during the removal.
dpompili@vindy.com