There appears to be strong support for reducing the number of deer in Oakmont, a borough survey of residents shows.
Councilwoman Deborah Ormay brought the issue forward months ago. She mentioned that residents approach her regularly to see “if there’s anything council can do about the deer,” she said.
In response to the widespread concern, council launched a public survey in June on the borough website regarding deer in the borough. Ormay said officials received 620 survey responses, 614 of which were from people living in Oakmont. She said Oakmont’s total population falls around 7,000.
“It’s clear the people want the borough to take action to control the deer population,” Ormay said
Of the responses, 79% of residents said they noticed an increase of deer in neighborhoods. On a scale from 1 to 10, around 66% of respondents ranked the issue’s severity between 6 and 10. In terms of driving, almost 58% ranked the severity between 6 and 10. More than 26% said they have had a vehicle accident involving a deer.
In terms of management, almost 55% of respondents support a community managed archery hunt, provided the meat is donated to a food pantry.
The council met with Luke Leonard, owner and operator of Suburban Whitetail Management in March to discuss possible management options. Suburban Whitetail offers two programs for deer management.
The first offers archery hunts between mid-September and the end of January coinciding with the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s archery season.
The second program Suburban Whitetail offers is a cull. The cull would take place after the regular hunting season from the end of January to the middle of April. Leonard said his hunters would be using suppressed rifles, night vision scopes and in some cases, the hunters could use bait to entice deer to come closer.
Oakmont resident John Murray said he’s a hunter and agrees that something needs to be managed with the deer.
He said between archery and culling, he would go with the culling since archery hunting can cause deer to panic charge after they’ve been shot. It could lead to the destruction of surrounding property.
“It’s easier to manage the deer (during a cull),” Murray said.
Oakmont resident Rob Donatucci said he and some neighbors agreed as a group to allow hunters to use their backyards as a hunting spot for deer management should the time come. He lives near Dark Hollow Woods, where deer frequent, he said.
“The biggest concern for me — I cut my grass,” Donatucci said. “Someday, I’m inevitably going to get Lyme disease because the amount of feces in our backyards is incredible.”
Almost 50% of survey respondents said they support non-lethal measures.
As for non-lethal measures, the chemicals used for sterilization are not approved by the Game Commission, which makes the process illegal. When a doe is sterilized, Leonard previously told council, it is no longer able to give birth but will still enter heat during mating season.
Bucks will still attempt to get the doe pregnant, but the doe will remain in heat as bucks continue to chase her. The doe will either die of starvation or exhaustion when this happens, Leonard said.
The next step for officials will be discussing options with Suburban Whitetail for more details about the service, Ormay said.