Hendersonville tables idea of culling deer herds to control population

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) — Hendersonville’s Deer Monitoring and Control Committee has tabled the idea of possibly killing some of its deer, known as culling, to control its growing deer population.

A recent survey by the United States Department of Agriculture found Hendersonville’s deer population was two to four times the state average. The majority of residents who responded to a city survey last year supported culling the deer to help control the population.

According to minutes from a February Deer Monitoring and Control Committee meeting, a committee member told the group the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency “will not allow us to cull” like the majority of residents who took the survey wanted. The TWRA told News 2 in an email the agency advised the city they were allowed to cull as long as they followed the right process.

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Deer Monitoring and Control Committee chair, Jerald Barrett told News 2, right now the committee is focused on educating the public after conducting extensive research on other potential solutions, including control burns, sterilization, and relocating the deer. The committee is currently compiling educational components on deer-resistant plants which they would then pass onto the the public. They are also working with agencies including the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency and the USDA.

“I keep hearing, ‘We’re discussing, the city is discussing the issue, that the elected officials are discussing the issue, talking to the state, talking to federal agencies,’ and that’s a veiled answer,” former Hendersonville Alderman Scott Sprouse said.

Sprouse sponsored an ordinance that banned feeding deer in the city around 10 years ago, but Hendersonville has been discussing the issue for going on 20 years. He said in recent years, efforts to deal with the growing deer population has lost momentum.

If something isn’t done to address the problem soon, Sprouse worries the situation could become deadly.

“Once I was seeing photographs of very serious accidents that I was surprised people were able to walk away from, accidents that were caused by the deer, and my own practical experience, I was ready to move toward culling the deer, and that decision is not because I don’t appreciate the wildlife and enjoy the natural aspects of our community, it’s because I value human life,” Sprouse said.

Hendersonville isn’t the only city dealing with the issue. Gallatin resident, Terry Mimms could have anywhere from 15 to 25 deer in his backyard at any given time belonging to multiple herds.

After coming face-to-face with a 10-point buck in his garage, Mimms avoids taking his grandchildren outside to play, fearing the worst.

“Is it going to take someone in Gallatin or Hendersonville getting killed by one of these deer for someone to do something? Is that what it’s going to take?” Mimms said. “I know we’ve pushed them out of their area, I know we’ve reduced land; farmland, but we do have to find a balance. There are way more of them now than ever.”

Hendersonville’s Deer Monitoring and Control Committee plans to present an educational pamphlet they created on deer-resistant plants and other population control methods during the next Board of Mayor and Alderman meeting.

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The TWRA sent News 2 the following statement regarding the issue:

Over the course of the past year, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has provided the City of Hendersonville and the Deer Committee with technical assistance surrounding the deer overabundance issue.  Multiple staff across the Legal, Law enforcement, and Wildlife Divisions have provided information and advice on the laws, resource considerations, and possible mitigation strategies.  Our staff have spent time and resources attending meetings and providing input and answering questions.

The Agency is in agreement that deer are overabundant in Hendersonville.  The situation causes concern from a deer disease and habitat health standpoint, and we fully support the city’s aims of reduction of the deer population in the area.  The Agency is responsible for enacting and enforcing hunting regulations that ensure resource sustainability. Ideally, hunters could manage the population routinely within the existing laws for hunting seasons and bag limits.  However, because Hendersonville is a suburban city and not more rural setting, there is a challenge of having enough hunters and enough access to private property or open tracts of land for routine hunting of deer. Therefore, routine hunting will likely not be sufficient.

Other solutions that the Agency has supplied information about and may assist with include:

1. Potential Permits to allow targeted removal to control deer, also known as an organized culling or targeted eradication.

2. Potential Permits to allow for contraceptive techniques to slow the growth of the herd.

3. Additional education programs surrounding homeowners feeding wildlife, which attracts more deer.

4. Additional education and support for deer exclusion methods such as fencing or deterrents.

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