By Josh Margolis
HAVRE, Mont. (NMB) – More than 40 attendees packed Havre City Hall on Monday evening to attend a town hall about the issue of deer overpopulation in town.
Resident Concerns
Dozens of people spoke out about the issues deer are causing in the community, with concerns ranging from eating up gardens and vegetation to posing a safety issue on the roads.
“In the wintertime, we’ve counted 35 deer down below the dike, down in the Bullhook area, they are constantly there. Whether it’s summer, winter, it doesn’t make a difference anymore,” said Hill County Sanitarian Clay Vincent during public comment. “Most of them last year that we saw dropped twins. Just because there is plenty of food and we’re not doing anything to them. They don’t need a food source. Everybody waters in town. They are eating every tree and everything we’ve got.”
Dale Shulund, who gardens in town, said he was concerned about mountain lions following deer into town, and said it may only be a matter of time before something bad happens.
Shulund said he has tried everything but has been unable to keep deer away from the Bullhook Blossoms Garden for sustained periods of time. He said they would like to try installing an electric fence, but that is not allowed due to city ordinance.
Several Fish, Wildlife and Parks Officials spoke at the meeting, including Wildlife Biologist Scott Hemmer.
Hemmer suggested some ways to temporarily try and keep deer away, such as coyote or mountain lion urine, cayenne pepper, or rotten egg smells. However, these become less effective over time and may have to be applied often.
Hemmer said at this point, it appears that many of the deer are born and raised in the Havre area. It is impossible to know how many deer live in Havre, as a survey has not been conducted. A survey is not necessary to approve a deer plan, but it can help with gaining a better understanding of the issue and measuring progress when a plan is implemented.
Others expressed concern about the potential of Chronic Wasting Disease being found in Havre deer. FWP officials stated that while there has yet to be a confirmed CWD case in Havre city limits, it has been found within about 10 miles of town. Anyone that notices a deer that is skinny, discolored, and salivating excessively can contact FWP to ask to get it tested for CWD. CWD has never been found in humans, so the disease transmitting to people is not a concern.
“You can never rule it out 100 percent, but there’s never been a human case,” said Hemmer.
Deer Plan
The role of FWP in this process is to advise and guide, as it is up to the town to work on controlling, removing, and restricting deer in city limits.
Hunting for deer in Montana municipalities is only allowed if there is a plan approved by the Fish and Wildlife Commission.
Any hunting of deer in town would have to be done in an open area and with landowner permission, according to FWP.
Hemmer said that there is no one size fits all approach, and it could take years from when a plan is implemented before Havre sees a noticeable decrease in deer.
Examples were provided at the meeting of urban deer management plans in other towns, including Fort Benton, White Sulphur Springs, and Glendive.
Fort Benton instituted an archery hunting policy in 2011 and deer removals in 2015. They issue 50 permits annually to remove deer.
Glendive allows archery hunting of deer within city limits. People must harvest an antlerless deer first before killing a deer with antlers. About 200 special licenses are issued annually, but general season licenses also are allowed for this hunt. It is estimated 10-30 deer are harvested per year.
“If you kill 25-35 deer, which a lot of these plans seem to be in that range, it helps, but honestly, that’s not going to get you down somewhere where you’re not having problems,” said Hemmer, who told the audience a silver bullet does not exist to manage deer. “You’re still going to have problems, though maybe less, and at least your population is not continuing to grow, hopefully. Depending on how many you’re killing.”
Another method of implementation could be to trap and euthanizing deer.
Region 6 Wildlife Manager Scott Thompson said that he believes a combination of methods may be the best way to attack the problem.
The meat of deer that are culled must be processed and donated.
“We can’t let that game go to waste. That meat has to be donated to some party. That can be up to the city whether it’s donated to the food bank or some other local group in need,” said Hemmer.
The city could end up paying a hefty price to process deer, but one member of the audience said that maybe they could find volunteers to process and donate the deer for them, which would save the county money.
FWP officials said they don’t believe there is anything in state laws that prevent this possibility.
Mayor Doug Kaercher says under previous Mayor Tim Solomon, a draft plan addressing deer was put together, and it closely resembles what is in place in Glendive. Kaercher said he called Monday’s meeting in order to here from people impacted by the deer problem on what could be the best way to mitigate the issue.
He said he appreciated the turnout to the meeting, which showed that there is interest in addressing this problem.
It is already illegal in Havre, by both Montana Statute and City Ordinance, to knowingly feed deer. However, people at the meeting said that many are either unaware of this rule or choose to ignore it.
Those at the meeting talked about the need to educate the public on this ordinance and the impacts of feeding deer, as it can make them more habituated to humans and keep them in the community.
Kaercher says he would like to see the urban deer management plan finalized and passed onto the Fish and Wildlife Commission by July 5th in order for it to be approved in October.
“Havre has limited resources. So how much of those resources do we expend on this issue, and what’s the tolerance of the community?” said Kaercher. “So we need to know what’s the community’s wishes? That’s really what I’m looking for. We have the plan, it’s been marked up a bit from (FWP). I think we’re getting close to being able to submit it to the Commission.”
Kaercher says with their budgeting process this year, they will work to try and put financial resources aside for the starting of implementing a plan. However, in the future, the issue could go out to the voters to decide if they want to be assessed for implementation.
One way this could be done is through a special tax district, an idea that was briefly mentioned at the meeting.
Once a plan is finished up by the city, it is expected to be discussed by the Council so the public can stay updated.
