The Salem City Council made no decisions on how to reduce the deer population in the city, but after further discussion, Tuesday night appeared to no longer think allowing selected bow hunting was a good option.
City Manager Rex Barbee said Mt. Vernon had tried bowhunting for several years without much reduction in the herd.
Mayor Nic Farley fears consequences the city doesn’t want with bow hunting.
“You don’t shoot a deer and have it drop every time. And if it running off, we don’t have a huge amount of land that we can track these deer so the likelihood of having to go on other people’s property and all that goes along with that really concerns me too.”
Councilman Jim Koehler concurred with other council members city residents can help with the problem by not doing things to attract them to town.
“First of all, I’d like to see our citizens quit feeding them. A lot of the deer repellants that I’ve seen don’t work really well. But the one that does a little bit, you can’t even be outside your house, the smell is terrible.”
Police Chief Sean Reynolds says feeding the deer can be a city ordinance violation or violation of state law. However, he says the only way they find out about a problem is if a neighbor complains. Most issues in the past have been resolved by a visit from the animal control officer.
While no other action will be taken, for now, Barbee says he will look at signage to warn motorists where deer are most likely to cross the road.
