Cody police inadvertently exceeded by one a Wyoming Game and Fish Department permit allowing the City of Cody to harvest 50 urban deer as a way to reduce the number of deer-related incidents in town.
The city council selected 50 as the target number for the permit.
In 12 outings Jan. 9-Feb. 9, police sharpshooters counted 50 dead deer.
“They thought they’d recovered them all,” said Cody Police Department records clerk Verna Thull.
The officers apparently weren’t aware that on Feb. 7, a day when 15 were counted, a 16th deer had been shot.
Thull said a passerby who found the deceased deer contacted Game and Fish on Feb. 12, upping the total deer count to 51.
In a media release, CPD Chief Chuck Baker listed deer takes by zone for a total of 50.
“One additional deer taken in Area 3 was initially not located,” he wrote. “Once the deer was located, it was reported to [G&F].”
According to Baker, the City of Cody’s program to reduce the local deer population cost $5,860, of which $1,424 was spent for equipment and $4,435 for officer overtime pay.
The Deer Reduction Team of two officers – one serving as safety lookout and the other operating a firearm – and a code enforcement officer spent a total of 122 hours during the operation, putting in a combined 73 hours as overtime and 49 hours as comp time.
Baker developed Cody’s first in-town deer management plan last fall at the city council’s direction and in line with procedures and conditions dictated by a Wyoming Game and Fish Department Chapter 56 Permit governing the lethal taking of wildlife.
The permit grants the Cody Police Department permission to kill antlerless deer by firearm to “relieve/prevent destruction to private property and protect human health/safety.” It allows officers to bait deer to a location of choice, use any caliber rifle or shotgun, harvest outside of legal shooting hours and use artificial light or night vision equipment among other leniencies.
In all, 46 does were donated to local residents who’d registered for the meat and would be responsible to field dress and process the game. The five other deer were deemed unfit for people to eat.
Deer carcasses were tagged and matching coupons were used for tracking and to assure deer taken are properly managed. Each harvested deer was tested for chronic wasting disease.
Of the samples tested, one tested positive.
“The recipient was notified and the deer was disposed of before it was eaten,” Baker said.
Alan Osterland, Game and Fish wildlife supervisor for the Cody region, was pleased with the operation.
“The police did an excellent job,” he said. “They were conscientious about safety.”
He said the process of donating meat to people was done quickly.
The Game and Fish permit prohibits harvesting before Nov. 1 to reduce chances of orphaning fawns. Osterland said by Nov. 1, the babies are weaned and “good to go.”
Regarding reports of motherless fawns due to the culling, Osterland said deer are herd animals.
“You might see four fawns together in one yard and their moms in another yard,” he said. “The CPD was conscientious about taking animals and not orphaning any fawns.”
When the Cody City Council voted
to implement an Urban Deer Reduction Plan, the action was approved for one year with intentions to re-evaluate the situation at year’s end.
The most recent Game and Fish deer count was taken on Dec. 15 by 10 people counting in 10 zones. Results showed 258 mule deer broken down as 37 bucks, 100 does and 62 fawns. Three white-tale deer were also spotted and another 245 deer (211 mule deer and 34 white-tailed) were counted in the Cooper Lane, Lower Sage Creek
and Upper Sage Creek areas adjacent to city limits.
Deer numbers in city limits have ranged from 307 to 261 since the count began in 2011 at the city’s request.
The 2017 count is expected sometime in November or December. When Baker receives the updated Game and Fish tally he will report on the program’s impact.
“The impact of the severe weather this year will certainly be a variable to take into consideration,” he said.
According to police, the department received 100 calls between January and July of 2016. The majority were reports of dead deer and most of them were presumed injured in collisions with vehicles.
The council will use the data to decide if fewer deer translate into fewer deer-related incidents. If it’s determined goals weren’t achieved, the council could decide whether to apply for a 2018 permit and, if so, determine how many deer to harvest.
Should the city consider additional harvesting, Richard Henderson, for one, is prepared to “fight tooth and nail” against the action.
“They killed more than they said they would because they killed pregnant ones,” he said. “So it’s not a good thing.”
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