Oh, deer

DALTON GARDENS — An ordinance that would allow bow hunting of deer in Dalton Gardens was tabled Thursday night by the City Council.

A workshop on the issue will be scheduled.

“I hope people don’t think we’re going to go out and slaughter deer,” said councilman Ray Craft before an audience of about 15 people at Dalton Gardens City Hall, and more tuning in online.

The deer population has long been a problem, but it has grown to the point where something must be done, Craft said. Deer are starving, being struck by vehicles, and getting caught in fences, and it’s not humane to let it continue, he added.

Councilman Robert Wuest said he was on board with the proposal.

He said that last year, he called the Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office to put down injured deer, as well as Fish and Game.

“No one wanted to do anything,” he said. “It’s just not right.”

Jamie Smith, a Dalton Gardens resident and former Dalton Gardens council member, said the idea of allowing deer hunting in city limits has been discussed in years past.

“I thought this was over,” she said in a phone interview with The Press.

Smith opposes it.

“There’s no justification to hunt in city limits,” she said.

Smith said this new plan to hunt deer in the city came as a surprise to most residents, who were against it.

“Everyone I talked to about this was quite startled,” she said.

Richard Epstein, offering comments via Zoom, agreed something must be done to control the deer population.

“Bow hunting is not the way to solve it,” he said.

He said it’s been considered before and rejected because it was unsafe.

The ordinance would allow archery hunting of deer “for proper game management” consistent with state regulations.

In part, it calls for:

• The city of Dalton Gardens would establish a list of property owners within the city limits who would permit hunting on their property.
• The city would establish a permit for those who would like to archery hunt in city limits, and would charge an administrative fee for the permit.
• Archery hunting shall not occur across or within any public right of way or within 50 feet of the nearest border of a right of way.
• A bow and arrow or crossbow must be discharged from an elevated stand and discharged downward toward the ground, or from a ground blind.
• No wildlife bait or feed may be utilized to attract deer.
• Archery hunters must use best efforts to promptly dispatch a deer on a permitted property with a safe and effective shot. If a wounded deer is not recovered on the hunter’s property, or property being used for hunting with prior written permission, then entry on to another’s property is permitted only with the prior permission of the landowner.

Smith said the ordinance was too vague and didn't cover key areas. It did not address what are the responsibilities of a landowner if a person or pet is injured by someone hunting a deer.

She also questioned what would happen when a deer was wounded and ran off with an arrow stuck in it. It might end up collapsing in a street, or struggling into a yard and dying, to be found by a child or a set on by a dog.

She also said she checked with an insurance company, who told her a single accident involving bow hunters killing deer could raise insurance premium for homeowners in Dalton Garden.

Smith served on a committee to review the deer situation in Dalton Gardens about eight years ago. Trapping and moving deer was tried, but it did not go well, with most, if not all, dying.

Fencing and repellent are two options to archery hunting of deer, she said, and a hard winter, which is predicted this year, usually reduces the deer population.

“There are other alternatives and education continues to be the best policy,” Smith said.

Wuest agreed that dealing with the large deer population was a difficult issue and Dalton Gardens is not alone. Fernan and Hayden are facing the same problem.

Some are upset because deer eat flowers and plants and damage gardens.

"Nobody wants them in their yards," Wuest said.

A workshop would give Dalton Gardens residents a chance to get involved and perhaps help find a solution.

“I am totally in favor of trying to remedy the situation,” Wuest said.