Granite Shoals adds trapping to its deer management program
Wild deer in Granite Shoals. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
Granite Shoals City Council recently approved the addition of deer trapping to its existing deer management program. The program has traditionally only used trained volunteer “harvesters” to help control the city’s large wild deer population using archery equipment at designated sites throughout the city.
The new operation will be overseen by the Granite Shoals Police Department rather than the city’s Wildlife Advisory Committee and is expected to coincide with the upcoming deer harvest season. The archery season begins Oct. 3.
“This is an area that we cannot control the deer in with a harvest site,” Police Chief John Ortis said during a Tuesday, Sept. 22, meeting of the Granite Shoals City Council.
The proposed location raised concerns among residents about public safety due to heavy traffic and the area’s visibility to the public. Ortis reassured residents that they would not see the trapping process and said he would discontinue operations if he determined they posed a danger or raised concerns.
The trapping process will involve capturing deer in an enclosure or using other methods, then killing them, rather than the current harvesting system, which uses archery equipment at designated shooting sites. The meat from both methods will be processed and donated.
“If I feel that, one, it is a danger to society, and at the same time, morally, consciously and ethically, I don’t feel right, I’ll be the first one to stand up and say I’m not doing this anymore, and I will not endorse any of this,” Ortis said.
Under the newly-approved ordinance, the police department may conduct or oversee trapping at city-owned harvest sites. All trapped deer must be taken to the city’s designated processing facility.
Trapping will supplement the city’s existing archery-based program, which uses qualified volunteer harvesters at designated sites to manage the deer population. Operating under the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department’s Managed Land Deer Program, the regular harvest season begins on the first day of archery season and continues through February unless all allocated tags are filled sooner.
Harvested venison is donated to Ark of Highland Lakes. Volunteer harvesters may request to keep a deer after donating three, while residents can request a whole deer through the city’s website at their own processing expense.
The addition follows the city’s June updates to its deer management program, which tightened volunteer qualifications, increased police oversight and revised venison distribution rules.