Correspondent photo / Sean Barron ... Paulina McCallum of Youngstown, left, and Beth Shutrump of Boardman take part in a peaceful protest Friday next to Mill Creek MetroParks’ Fellows Riverside Gardens in Youngstown to show their opposition to the resumption this fall of another deer hunt in certain areas of the park.

YOUNGSTOWN – Several numbers have been bandied about in recent years regarding annual deer hunts in certain sections of Mill Creek MetroParks, but for Chris Flak, they fail to add up.

“They first said there were 387 deer per square mile. Now it’s 14 to 14.9 per square mile. Why such a big difference?” Flak, who is part of the Save the Mill Creek Park Deer group, asked.

To make known her displeasure about another deer reduction hunt set to begin this fall, Flak joined close to 20 other group members for a peaceful gathering Friday afternoon in the 100 block of McKinley Avenue to protest what they say are skewed figures that invalidate the need for another annual deer hunt in parts of the park, which could last several months, in alignment with hunting season in Ohio.

Flak said the gathering’s timing and location were planned to correspond with a Friday fundraiser for the park in the nearby D.D. and Velma Davis Education & Visitor Center, and to make donors aware of what group members contend is the park board’s deception and dishonesty regarding the deer hunts.

For more than three years, though, Mill Creek MetroParks officials have said the program is necessary to control the deer population, in part because the animals have been destroying some of the park’s natural vegetation.

In February 2023, Nick Derico, then MetroParks natural resources manager, told The Vindicator that having an average of 387 white-tailed deer per square mile in the park system – including 355 per square mile in Mill Creek Park, represented “a very serious problem.”

Derico said at the time that the recommended density of white-tailed deer was 10 to 20 animals per square mile.

Key to ascertaining those figures were two nightly aerial, infrared surveys in January 2022 over much of the park system.

By contrast, an aerial survey Jan. 9 found 14 to 14.9 deer per square mile, making Flak and other Save the Deer members question why another hunt set to get underway in a few months is necessary.

The low figure, however, is not a reason to stop the resumption of the deer reduction program, which will be in its third year, Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, said this week.

So far, 415 deer have been killed – 204 animals in the reduction program’s first year and 211 last year.

The latest survey, which the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services program conducted, took place over the Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary, Hitchcock Woods, Collier Preserve, Huntington Woods and Mill Creek Park. Those areas comprise a combined 14 square miles.

Since many of the hunt areas are in Boardman, Save the Deer members have reached out to state Rep. Tex Fischer, R-Boardman, and state Sen. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, hoping they will give the three Boardman Township trustees the authority to stop the deer hunts in certain areas — especially those near residents’ yards, Flak explained.

“We believe homeowners have the right to say, ‘We don’t want hunting in our backyards,'” she said, adding, “We’re here for the long haul. We want to stop this terrible hunt in Mill Creek Park.”

Also questioning what members see as a huge discrepancy in the deer numbers was Abby Ivan of Boardman, who lives near the park. In addition, she wanted to know why steps hadn’t been taken at least five years ago to prevent what MetroParks board members continue to claim is a deer overpopulation problem.

In lieu of killing the animals, other, more humane options are available, such as a sterilization program, even though it likely would be expensive to launch, along with deer fencing in certain areas and installing deer-resistant plants as part of the vegetation that would act as a repellent to the animals, she said.

“It would be a much kinder, nicer thing to do,” Ivan said, adding that a similar sterilization effort in another part of Ohio proved successful.

Carol Miralia of Boardman, whose home is near Mill Creek Park’s Newport Wetlands, voiced concern about safety, saying that anyone near the hunting zones could be struck by a stray bullet from a high-powered rifle.

“I know they’re sharpshooters, but no one’s perfect,” Miralia said.