Dozens of Dublin residents packed city council chambers Aug. 25 to hear city officials and deer experts discuss the city's plan to use sharpshooters to control the local deer population this fall.
Dublin's deer management program comes as the city's local deer population, and complaints from residents about the animals, are on the rise, Lindsay Weisenauer, the city's director of communications and marketing, told The Dispatch. A recent index of Dublin's deer population counted 528 deer in the city, which covers nearly 25 square miles.
After a brief city presentation, Geoff Westerfiled, assistant wildlife management supervisor at the Ohio Division of Wildlife; Gabe Karns, a visiting assistant professor in Ohio State University's School of Environment
and Natural Resources; and Barbara Ray, Dublin's wildlife and nature education coordinator, answered questions.
Residents had a variety of questions, including asking which types of deer the sharpshooters will target and how the deer will be humanely killed.
The sharpshooters tend to target older, larger does, and they aim for the deer's head to kill them instantly, according to Westerfield.
Dublin plans to use professional sharpshooters from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to shoot and kill deer on mostly city land from Nov. 1 to March 31. The shooting will occur overnight, and the Dublin Police Department will make sure the areas are clear of people beforehand, according to the city's presentation on the program. The sharpshooters will not operate on individual private land.
The sharpshooters will take controlled, safe shots at the deer, Westerfield told the audience.
"It's generally not just driving around and just flinging bullets all around," he said.
The city and the USDA have not chosen exactly where the deer removal efforts will take place yet, but will notify residents via mailers, signs, the city's website, social media and local homeowners associations before they begin. Deer killed during the removals will be transported away from public view for field dressing and processing, city management analyst Mitchell Ament said.
Venison gathered from the deer will be donated to the Dublin Food Pantry.
Dublin will host another public education session on its deer management program on Oct. 8 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. in City Council chambers at Dublin City Hall, 5555 Perimeter Drive.
The Dublin program is very similar to the way Worthington conducted its deer management program, which used contracted marksmen from the USDA to conduct controlled deer removal in January and February in public spaces – including Olentangy Parklands and Walnut Grove Cemetery – as well as certain participating private properties, The Dispatch previously reported.
There was some resident opposition over safety issues and city transparency as well as a short-lived legal challenge, but Worthington harvested 100 white-tailed deer and led to the donation of more than 4,200 pounds of venison to the Worthington Resource Food Pantry. City officials plan to continue the culling over several yearsto get the deer population to a manageable level, The Dispatch reported.
Transportation and neighborhoods reporter Nathan Hart can be reached at NHart@dispatch.com, @NathanRHart on X and nathanhart.dispatch.com on Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dublin officials, deer experts speak to public on deer sharpshooting plan
