Charlevoix approves $15,014 for deer cull
CHARLEVOIX — Within the next three months, Charlevoix city officials hope to execute a long-planned deer cull.
The cull was developed due to several complaints from residents about garden destruction and an increasing rate of deer-car traffic accidents within the city limits.
According to Charlevoix Police Chief Jill McDonnell, anywhere from between 20-40 deer will be killed in the cull, which will be conducted in partnership with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the USDA Wildlife services.
McDonnell said the hunting areas will be marked and neighbors in the area will be notified when the date is selected. Beforehand, the DNR and USDA will identify the most populated locations and bait the deer to “ensure they are coming to those locations on a regular basis.”
“It won’t be city–wide. It will be done in one localized area and we’ll notify the people that are adjacent to the site that the hunt is going to take place on,” said McDonnell.
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The killing of the animals will be done with firearms.
The length of the cull will be determined based on how many deer are going to be killed.
According to McDonnell, the DNR doesn’t allow the killing of deer just for the “sake of killing them,” so the deer will be processed, and the meat donated to local food pantries.
The DNR will reevaluate the deer population after the cull to determine if additional killing needs to be done to manage the population in the future, said McDonnell.
At the Charlevoix City Council meeting on Dec. 4, council members unanimously approved spending $15,014 to pay for the cull.
“There are probably a dozen addresses that put up 8-12 foot deer fencing around their property because the deer were decimating their landscape,” said McDonnell, who added that if a deer is suffering then officers will “put a deer down.”
“If one gets hit by a car and is laying on the side of the road we will do what we have to do to not let it suffer,” she said.
In terms of car accidents, McDonnell noted that “we probably have at least a dozen every year.”
In 2022, there were 26 deer-car accidents, while in 2012 there were only six.
Not everyone in the community is in favor of the cull.
“I had something written out quoting the Dalai Lama about living with other species and not killing them," said former city council member Shirley Gibson at the Dec. 4 meeting. "I mean, can you imagine being killed for simply living? Because the deer are eating somebody’s little bushes who lives on the northside of town?”
"I don’t blame city council for doing this because I know you’ve been harassed to do it," she added. "I don’t agree with it all. I don’t think it’s going to solve anything. My request would be that just one of you vote no on this. Just one of you speak for the deer.”
Council member Phil Parr said he felt the amount of money being spent on the cull was “a big number” and that there were alternative ways of preventing the growing deer population, such as approving bow hunting in the area.
— Contact reporter Annie Doyle at (231) 675-0099 or adoyle@charlevoixcourier
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Charlevoix approves $15,014 for deer cull
