Bow hunting helps manage deer numbers

There are quite a few deer within Sheridan city limits, and the police department has received complaints recently that some of the animals are very aggressive.

Police Lt. Travis Koltiska, the public information officer, said the intent of the city in allowing bow hunting of the animals isn’t to eliminate all the deer in Sheridan but to manage their numbers.

He said a survey in 2011 indicated a minimum of over 400 deer in the city. Another survey a couple of years later showed hunting had reduced those numbers to around 150 to 200.

Koltiska said the deer that are aggressive are those that have lost their fear of humans. He said in one case, a deer stomped, and killed, a woman’s dog. He said the deer are not Bambi.

Koltiska said people should not feed deer, even in winter. He said people think they’re helping the deer, but in reality, they’re harming the animals. He said feeding the deer not only desensitizes them to humans but some of the “food” that people give the deer isn’t good for the animal’s system.

In fact, Koltiska said, there is a city ordinance against feeding wildlife, which includes not only deer but ducks, pigeons and wild birds other than use of a standard bird feeder for songbirds.