Athens allows some bow hunters on city-owned property to reduce deer population
By: Alison Patton
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ATHENS, Ohio (WOUB Public Media) — Kathy Berry moved into her Athens home on Elmwood Street in 1980 and started gardening.
She didn’t worry much about deer at the time.
“It was kind of unique to see a deer. Like I said, I even fed one an apple. I was like ‘Wow, how’d you get here?’” Berry said.
Now, she sees deer almost every day and has to restrict what she puts in her garden.
“Everything in here is deer resistant,” Berry said. “Except these two sunflowers, and they have completely devoured the sunflowers.”
She’s not the only Athens resident to notice an uptick in deer.
Arts, Parks and Recreation Director Katherine Ann Jordan said the deer aren’t overpopulating the city, but there are a lot of them.
To reduce the population, the city is allowing bow hunting only on 12 wooded properties, including some near Strouds Run and off Old Route 33.
Twenty-nine hunters have been selected to hunt over five sessions starting Sept. 28. The first three sessions are for doe only, and both sexes can be hunted in the last two.
“Harvesting as many does as possible, if your goal is to reduce the deer population and take the pressure off of the habitats,” Bob Scott Placier, a founding member of the Athens Conservancy, said.
Placier said the high population of deer is because they don’t have any natural predators in the area — like coyotes.
Having too many deer can contribute to an increase in deer-vehicle accidents and the spread of disease, like spotted fever or Lyme’s disease, Placier said.
Only hunters who applied and were selected through a lottery system were eligible to participate in the program. The city isn’t offering anymore permits at this time.