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News you can use
Deer graze by a fence on the 800 Block of Ninth Avenue earlier this year. Fish, Wildlife and Parks is taking online public comment about a deer managment plan approved by Havre City Council. The plan must be approved by the state Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission to go into effect. The commission has the item on its agenda for its meeting Oct. 20.
A plan to try to control the deer population in Havre is slated be voted on by the Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission at its Oct. 20 meeting, and people are invited to make public comments on the proposal online.
Fish, Wildlife and Parks has recommended the commission approve the plan, saying in a release about collecting public comment that the plan contains strategies that can effectively remove urban deer.
Several herd of deer starting coming into the city, with the population of the animals growing over the past few years.
The city held a town hall in May to discuss the issue, with FWP Region 6 Biologist Scott Hemmer presenting plans other communities have implemented to deal with deer populations in town.
Hemmer said the deer population has definitely gone up in the area since he's been here and between the property damage, human-wildlife conflict, collisions and deer fatalities, it is clearly causing problems.
He said based on his observations a lot of these deer are ones actually born in Havre, and this is not the result of some kind of migration from outside city limits.
Numerous reports over the winter, and continuing in the past few months, have come in about deer dying or being injured in the city.
July 5, city council approved the plan being discussed Oct. 20 by the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission. It includes allowing opening certain wide-open areas of the city to bow hunting of the deer and to use trapping with euthanasia throughout the rest of the city to cull the population, as well as providing more education about why feeding deer is not only illegal, but bad for both the deer and humans.
The FWP release said the number of deer removed each year by the city will be limited by the terms of the Permit to Destroy Game Animals Causing Damage issued to the city. All deer removed under the permit would be donated by the city to groups or individuals in need.
The release said the bowhunting may occur between Aug. 15 and Feb. 15 with any unused deer licenses valid for HD 600 or 690 and additional B-licenses issued annually for mule deer within the city limits. The hunts may include some properties adjacent to the city but outside the city limits.
The public comment period for the deer management plan discussion at the commission meeting opened Friday and is open for four weeks.
Public comments will be posted online and provided to commissioners at least two weeks prior to the October commission meeting, the release said.
The release said the commission has two alternatives:
The commission may choose to approve the City of Havre Urban Deer Management Action Plan.
Alternatively, the commission may choose not to approve the deer plan, and the city and FWP would continue to respond to deer complaints on an individual basis and urban deer density would remain high.
People can read more about the plan and submit comments online at https://fwp.mt.gov/aboutfwp/commission/october-2022-meeting .
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