PHOTO: SHUTTERSTOCK

Pittsburgh officials trying to control the deer population in city parks should add contracted sharpshooters to its bow-hunting deer management program to accelerate efforts to reduce the herds.

That’s the findings of a new study by researchers in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs that has been sent to City Council for consideration.

“We recommend that the City adopt managed recreational archery hunting in its wooded parks indefinitely, complemented by contracted sharpshooting as needed. This quickly yields net benefits for City residents,” according to the report headed by Pitt Professor Jeremy Weber, who researches the policy and economics of environmental and energy issues. 

The study also recommends “that the City collect basic information about the deer carcasses it collects, which would provide an empirical basis for sustaining or shifting deer policy in coming years.” From 2004 to 2023 the number of deer carcasses collected by the City increased by 411%, according to the study.

Because of an exploding deer population in city parks that has caused increased vehicle collisions, damage and loss of vegetation around neighboring homes and spread of disease, the city launched a pilot bow-hunting program in Frick and Riverview parks last year. The hunting season stretched from Sept. 30 to Jan. 27. During that time, 30 recreational archers — who had to pass a special accuracy test and follow strict safety procedures — killed 108 deer; no public safety incidents were reported related to the hunting. 

City officials deemed the program a “tremendous success” and are preparing to expand bow hunting to Schenley, Highland and Emerald View parks this fall.

However, to see large reductions in deer-related damages, an archery program alone would have to remove many more deer per square mile than in the program piloted in the Fall of 2023, according to the Pitt report that included research by many of Weber’s students.

Supplementing archery hunting with sharpshooters is the option that “most improves equity by reducing the concentrated costs of deer vehicle collisions and the damage to parks that future generations of park visitors will bear.” The study suggests that sharpshooters would need to be used one or two years to accomplish these goals.

In 2023 alone, deer-vehicle incidents within the City created $3.6 million in vehicle damage, according to the study. Removing one deer avoids at least $3,100 in vehicle damage. Moreover, “the cost is likely most burdensome for lower-income drivers without comprehensive insurance coverage.”

A typical adult deer can eat 4 to 8 pounds of vegetation a day. Because they prefer to feed on native plants and trees and avoid invasive ones, this allows invasive species to take over forest ecosystems, according to the report.

Several municipalities and national parks in the Pennsylvania have used sharpshooters to help control their deer populations. Unlike recreational archers, sharpshooters are paid to remove many deer with firearms over a short period. The hunting occurs at night when deer are more active and the parks are closed. 

Mt. Lebanon and Fox Chapel, for example, have employed sharpshooting of various forms; Mt. Lebanon has contracted with a third-party and Fox Chapel uses its police officers, according to the report. At Valley Forge National Park outside of Philadelphia, the National Park Service contracts with the USDA Animal Plant health and Inspection Service-Wildlife Services for population reduction including sharpshooting. Gettysburg National Military Park also has used sharpshooters to control its deer herd since 1996.

Mt. Lebanon’s deer management program includes archery hunting in the Fall and sharpshooting in late Winter, according to the study. In the six years since the program’s inception, sharpshooting has removed 1.75 times more deer than archery hunting, the report says.

“Depending on the effectiveness of initial sharpshooting and subsequent archery hunting, it is possible that sharpshooting need only occur occasionally to considerably limit damage from deer,” the report said.