BOARDMAN — Mill Creek MetroParks confirmed Thursday that the sharpshooter portion of this year’s deer reduction program began Tuesday night in the area of Mill Creek Golf Course. Twenty-five deer were removed, MetroParks Natural Resources Manager Rachel Sobnosky said.

She said the 25 were taken between U.S. Route 224 and Shields Road.

The MetroParks received permission from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to remove up to 50 deer this year through Feb. 1.

One of the organizers of the Save the Deer of Mill Creek Park organization, Mickey Drabison, notified The Vindicator about 5 p.m. Tuesday that U.S. Department of Agriculture-employed sharpshooters were at that time removing deer in the area where they were carried out in earlier years — south of Youngstown in Mill Creek Park.

He said the roads into that area were blocked to the public, which has been reported as a method employed during such reductions to keep the public away.

On the same day that the sharpshooter deer reductions began, Sobnosky provided data on the number of deer that had been confirmed as killed on other MetroParks properties so far this year through bow hunting by individuals selected through the ODNR hunting lottery system.

The number was 23, though another four deer reductions were still being checked to see if they took place on MetroParks property, Sobnosky said.

The deer reductions carried out by hunters using the ODNR lottery system began Sept. 28, but the first two deer were taken the next day, Sept. 29, with one doe killed in Collier Preserve and one in Mill Creek Wildlife Preserve East, Sobnosky said. The total for the week was five deer. The following week, 13 confirmed deer reductions took place in various parks. In the third week, five confirmed deer reductions took place.