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BOUNTIFUL -- Bountiful city leaders say they have a deer problem and are thinning the herd with the help of a sharpshooter. But some residents are not happy about deer being gunned down in their neighborhoods.
Bountiful city has teamed up with the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources to get permission from residents to shoot deer in their yards. It's all to control the population, but some think there are better ways to do it.
With children around, it just doesn't seem safe. What if there is an accident? All this over a deer doesn't seem right.
–Christy Reed
"The population is creating a lot of problems," said city councilman Tom Tolman.
Resident Elden Hollingsworth built a tall fence to keep the deer out of his garden and grapes, but the animals still find a way to get into his yard.
"You have to be real careful when you drive, because if there is one, there are usually four or five right behind it," he said. "Then I don't have any juice or jam to make."
Tolman says the deer are attracted to yards for the food many of them provide.
"We have homes and gardens, so Bambi came down and said, ‘wow, look at all this good food,'" he said.
Tolman says that's why the deer don't migrate back to the mountains -- they are reproducing and living in the foothills and aren't in any condition to be relocated to the wilderness.
"They are domesticated," he said.
But a group of Bountiful residents protested the city council's meeting Tuesday night, suggesting non-lethal methods should be used to decrease the deer population. They expressed strong disdain at the idea of a government sharpshooter with a suppressed .22 calibur rifle aiming to kill in their neighborhoods.
"With children around, it just doesn't seem safe," said resident Christy Reed. "What if there is an accident? All this over a deer doesn't seem right."
Officials with Bountiful city and DWR have been culling deer for the past two months or so, according to Tolman. In January they will decide if they need to continue.
Harvested deer will be donated to local food banks and shelters in cooperation with the Bountiful Community Food Pantry and the Utah Chapter of Farmers and Hunters Feeding the Homeless.
E-mail: abutterfield@ksl.com
