JNRBRONC
Well-Known Member
Deer management, right? 
Cedar Rapids’ annual deer bow hunt starts in September
<hr> The city’s annual urban bow hunt of deer will begin on Saturday, Sept. 14 and run through Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014.
Hunters in last year’s hunt took 163 deer — the fewest since the program began in 2005, and less than half of the number taken in 2007, when bow hunters shot 349 deer on private property within the city limits.
Bow hunters shot 298 deer in 2005 in Cedar Rapids, 333 in 2006, 349 in 2007, 314 in 2008, 312 in 2009, 207 in 2010, 182 in 2011 and 163 in 2012.
Over that time, the city has seen a 57 percent decline in the number of deer killed on streets and highways in the city, Fire Chief Mark English has reported to the City Council.
Thirty two of the 163 deer shot in last year’s hunt were donated to local food programs to feed the hungry, the chief’s report states.
No injuries occurred in the hunt, the report adds.
Tim Thompson, wildlife biologist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Iowa City office, on Friday said urban areas in Iowa with special bow hunts are continuing with the hunts to maintain populations at manageable levels.
The city of Coralville, like Cedar Rapids, will conduct its bow hunt from Sept. 14 through Jan. 19, 2014.
Thompson has said in the past that most does deliver twins each year, and so the urban hunts focus on thinning the female deer numbers to best control deer numbers.
In Cedar Rapids, he noted that more hunters participated in the earlier years of the bow hunt, and now the better hunters are continuing in the effort to help the city achieve its goals.
Last year, 21 of 46 hunters who took a deer took at least five, which qualifies them for a permit to try to shoot a buck in the city in the upcoming hunt. Two hunters took seven deer last year, according to the fire chief’s report.
Thompson said the Cedar Rapids hunt is working because his agency is not getting complaints about an excessive number of vehicle-deer collisions in the city or about deer chewing up plants and trees around homes.
The management of deer on private property in the city, he suggested, is not unlike controlling mice in a person’s home. A homeowner doesn’t call City Hall to fix a mice problem, and in similar fashion, the bow hunt allows a private property owner with a deer problem to ask a bow hunter to help control it, he said.
“You don’t say, ‘Hey, this is a problem, city go fix it,’” Thompson said. “It’s back on the landowner. You have a tool. You can find a hunter to get the level of deer to level you can live with.
“It’s always a happy medium. ‘I don’t mind a couple of deer, but when I have 15 out there, and they’re eating everything in sight…’” he said.
Thompson said the DNR did not conduct a deer count in the Cedar Rapids area last winter because there was not adequate snow cover to see the deer from the air at the right time of the winter.
In Cedar Rapids, first-time participants in the bow hunt must complete a one-time, eight-hour safety course, and all hunters must pass a proficiency test and attend an orientation session.
Hunters who want to participate in the hunt can find information about it at the Fire Department’s website, www.cedar-rapids.org/fire.
http://thegazette.com/2013/07/19/cedar-rapids-annual-deer-bow-hunt-starts-in-september/
Cedar Rapids’ annual deer bow hunt starts in September
<hr> The city’s annual urban bow hunt of deer will begin on Saturday, Sept. 14 and run through Sunday, Jan. 19, 2014.
Hunters in last year’s hunt took 163 deer — the fewest since the program began in 2005, and less than half of the number taken in 2007, when bow hunters shot 349 deer on private property within the city limits.
Bow hunters shot 298 deer in 2005 in Cedar Rapids, 333 in 2006, 349 in 2007, 314 in 2008, 312 in 2009, 207 in 2010, 182 in 2011 and 163 in 2012.
Over that time, the city has seen a 57 percent decline in the number of deer killed on streets and highways in the city, Fire Chief Mark English has reported to the City Council.
Thirty two of the 163 deer shot in last year’s hunt were donated to local food programs to feed the hungry, the chief’s report states.
No injuries occurred in the hunt, the report adds.
Tim Thompson, wildlife biologist at the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Iowa City office, on Friday said urban areas in Iowa with special bow hunts are continuing with the hunts to maintain populations at manageable levels.
The city of Coralville, like Cedar Rapids, will conduct its bow hunt from Sept. 14 through Jan. 19, 2014.
Thompson has said in the past that most does deliver twins each year, and so the urban hunts focus on thinning the female deer numbers to best control deer numbers.
In Cedar Rapids, he noted that more hunters participated in the earlier years of the bow hunt, and now the better hunters are continuing in the effort to help the city achieve its goals.
Last year, 21 of 46 hunters who took a deer took at least five, which qualifies them for a permit to try to shoot a buck in the city in the upcoming hunt. Two hunters took seven deer last year, according to the fire chief’s report.
Thompson said the Cedar Rapids hunt is working because his agency is not getting complaints about an excessive number of vehicle-deer collisions in the city or about deer chewing up plants and trees around homes.
The management of deer on private property in the city, he suggested, is not unlike controlling mice in a person’s home. A homeowner doesn’t call City Hall to fix a mice problem, and in similar fashion, the bow hunt allows a private property owner with a deer problem to ask a bow hunter to help control it, he said.
“You don’t say, ‘Hey, this is a problem, city go fix it,’” Thompson said. “It’s back on the landowner. You have a tool. You can find a hunter to get the level of deer to level you can live with.
“It’s always a happy medium. ‘I don’t mind a couple of deer, but when I have 15 out there, and they’re eating everything in sight…’” he said.
Thompson said the DNR did not conduct a deer count in the Cedar Rapids area last winter because there was not adequate snow cover to see the deer from the air at the right time of the winter.
In Cedar Rapids, first-time participants in the bow hunt must complete a one-time, eight-hour safety course, and all hunters must pass a proficiency test and attend an orientation session.
Hunters who want to participate in the hunt can find information about it at the Fire Department’s website, www.cedar-rapids.org/fire.
http://thegazette.com/2013/07/19/cedar-rapids-annual-deer-bow-hunt-starts-in-september/