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The fourth year of the Mill Creek MetroParks deer reduction program begins Sunday with bow hunting in various parks, according to Rachel Sobnosky, MetroParks natural resources manager.
She said there will be a few adjustments made to the "controlled hunt" portion of the deer reductions, which are carried out through the Ohio Department of Natural Resources' hunting lottery system.
"The extended archery season at Hitchcock Woods and Huntington Woods will be shortened, running through December rather than extending through the end of January as it did last season. Additionally, the number of archery permits available at the MetroParks Farm has increased from one to two permits per permit period.
She stated that the adjustments were made "based on recommendations from the (ODNR) Division of Wildlife following a review of last season's harvest data and hunter feedback, with the goal of improving hunter success and overall satisfaction with the program."
Meanwhile, the part of the deer reduction program that is carried out by USDA-employed sharpshooters has been approved for this year. The number that can be killed will again be 50, Geoff Westerfield, assistant wildlife management supervisor for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, stated in an email. That is also the number approved and killed last year in the urban/suburban areas of Mill Creek Park in Boardman.
Westerfield stated that he approved a permit Thursday for 50 deer to be removed by sharpshooters between last Thursday and March 31, 2027. They can be antlerless or antlered deer, and there are no restrictions on the hours when the deer are shot, the MetroParks permit states. Drone use or thermal imagery devices are permitted to identify the deer, it notes.
Westerfield stated that in addition to two documents the MetroParks submitted to support the need for its deer reductions, he also took into account the drone survey the MetroParks conducted last February, as well as "historical documents related to the park district's deer
management, impacts from past deer management efforts, feedback from the USDA-Wildlife Services, while also taking into consideration what I saw on multiple site visits I made to the park since the beginning of this year."
He added that "Based on those site visits, I continue to feel (that) the deer management at Mill Creek Park continues to head in the right direction to help manage the ecosystem of the park, especially in the area from Lake Newport to U.S. Route 224, while also ensuring that deer continue to be present within the park."
He said, "Like any deer management program, it is about finding the right balance between damage mitigation, forest management and the deer population. As such, I will continue to encourage the park district to not only manage the deer herd, but also continue to evaluate options for forest management to supplement the deer management program."
The documents the MetroParks supplied to Westerfield to consider this year were a motion-activated trail-camera survey conducted July 21 through Aug. 4 to measure the density of the white-tailed deer in Mill Creek Park and an assessment of forest regeneration in Mill Creek Park, Huntington Woods and Hitchcock Woods conducted in June.
DEER DENSITY SURVEY
The deer-density survey was done in 15 camera locations "based on known areas of deer activity, ease of access for maintenance and to be evenly distributed throughout the 1,436-acre facility." Shelled corn was used as an attractant for the 14 days. Camera locations were rebaited three times per week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday of each week with 16 to 17 pounds of corn each time.
The photos produced were separated into four categories -- unique bucks, total bucks, total does and total fawns.
The cameras collected 5,337 photos of white-tailed deer: unique bucks -- 48; total buck pictures -- 1,418; total doe pictures -- 2,687; and total fawn pictures -- 1,232.
A computation form from the National Deer Association was used to estimate the total population, sex ratios and deer densities within the surveyed areas.
The results were:
Total estimated population -- 201 (53 bucks, 101 does, 47 fawns).
Deer density per square mile -- 90.
The survey results stated that the numbers "should be considered a minimum population density and should only be considered accurate at the time of survey. Deer movements and their utilization of any given property will change throughout the season and year to year depending upon available resources (food, water, shelter)."
If it is assumed that deer are evenly distributed across the landscape, based upon the density estimate of 90 deer per square mile, an adjusted estimate for the entirety of Mill Creek Park (1,626 acres or 2.54 square miles) would be 228.6 deer within park boundaries, the results state.
Last year, the MetroParks final count of deer killed through the deer reduction program was 146, which was 65 fewer than the 211 killed the previous year and fewer than the 204 that were killed the first year of the program. Of the 146 deer removed last year, 50 were killed by sharpshooters. The MetroParks removed 75 deer through sharpshooters the year before the 50 and 38 the first year.
The June forest regeneration report states that 22 survey plots created by the MetroParks in Mill Creek Park, Huntington Woods and Hitchcock Woods were evaluated.
The conclusions part of the report states that white-tailed deer continue to be "the primary opponent of forest regeneration in the three locations being studied.This is evidenced by the intensive browse pressure and overall lack of preferred browse species evidenced by this study and other anecdotal references. Other factors such as light availability, lack of disturbance, exotic pests, disease and competition from invasive species are also contributing factors that are impacting forest health."
The conclusion also states that in order to achieve the forest regeneration sought, white-tailed-deer population reduction and management should continue, as well as native species planting, invasive species management and "deer exclusion via fencing and/or tree tubes caging where appropriate."