Deer control

program

working

in New Ulm

Archery permits will be issued

By RON LARSEN

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- The city's current deer control program is going into its 11th year and by about any measure it appears to be working.

The New Ulm City Council approved a staff request to continue the program through 2002 during its meeting Tuesday night. So non-controversial is the program that it was included on the consent agenda which is used for approving with a single vote all items not expected to generate discussion.

"I think it's been a very successful way of controlling the deer," Council President Dan Beranek told the councilors.

Police Chief Howard Zins agrees.

"I can say that complaints on damaged gardens have dropped to almost zero," Zins said, "and we don't seem to see many car-deer accidents any more. It used to be just awful the number of accidents in town."

Deer numbers have been kept in check the past 10 years by a special archery season set by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and run by Zins and Hohensee.

The number of deer taken has ranged as high as 35 in 1994 and 1999 to as low as 22 in 1998. (In 1992, the program's first year, there were 12 permits issued and only one deer harvested.)

Last year 50 hunters spent 1,355 hours hunting and harvested 24 deer, including three bucks, 16 does and five fawns.

"We encourage hunters to shoot does because 90 percent of them will have twins, and a few will even have triplets so that's the best way of keeping deer numbers down," Zins said.

With the exception of 1992, 1994 and 1998, the DNR has issued permits to 50 hunters each year to take part in the deer harvest. However, Zins said it isn't a case of first-come, first-served.

Zins and Hohensee conduct an archery skills test of anyone desiring to hunt during the special season.

"We test them on targets to determine their proficiency, and then the top 50 shooters get permits from the DNR to hunt here," Zins said. "Other towns do that, too, but we're told we've got the best test of any of them."

Zins said the effectiveness of the test shows up in complaints about the hunting.

"Over the years those kinds of complaints have gone down to almost none," he said. "Even if someone has hunted here before, everybody gets tested every year because sometimes you find someone who has hunted but hasn't picked up a bow for a while."

The program is not without cost, but it's not a real large item.

Last year's program cost to the city was $3,364, up from $2,775 in 2000. That figure includes "the cost of 3-D targets which have to be replaced every so often and administrative costs like notifying the hunters and so on," Zins said.

Successful applicants will need three permits from the DNR, as well as paying a $5 fee to the city.

"I honestly don't know why the city charges them five dollars," Zins said. "It certainly doesn't amount to much."