Granite Shoals adjusts deer management program after early issues
Deer in Granite Shoals are a common sight—and hazard—for drivers. A current program that aims to reduce their numbers through archery hunting has been altered due to public safety concerns. Staff photo by Dakota Morrissiey
The city of Granite Shoals has imposed new restrictions on its relaunched deer management program, less than a month after it began, due to concerns from residents about public safety and unrecovered deer.
The Granite Shoals City Council approved the changes Oct. 14. The new rules limit harvesting to weekdays only and completely ban it when school is not in session and kids aren’t safely in the classroom. Monthly requalifications are also now required for harvesters, who must hit a 2-inch inner target with one shot and a 4-inch outer target with the other from a 20-yard elevated position with 100 percent accuracy. Those who fail can retest the following month.
The population management program is years in the making, with the city’s Wildlife Advisory Committee conducting state-mandated population surveys of the antlered animals and creating an archery-only hunting program that takes place at specific sites across Granite Shoals.
The stricter accuracy qualifications were prompted in part by problems tracking wounded deer. Wildlife Advisory Committee member Jeffrey Kersler said eight deer were initially reported lost, with five later recovered but spoiled due to heat. The other three were never found.
“Of the three that were not found, the gentleman involved in that was removed from the program,” Kersler said.
Originally, council members proposed requiring both shots land within the 2-inch target but scaled back after feedback from harvesters at the Tuesday council meeting.
“I’ve hunted for a long time, and a two-inch circle … is it possible? Yes. Two out of two? It’s pretty difficult,” one harvester said.
A second harvester added: “If the wind’s blowing, you’re wiggling, you’re moving around. Can it be done? Sure, one out of a thousand probably.”
Changes to harvesting times were also driven by safety concerns from residents, including veteran hunter Danny Alfrey, who said one harvesting location was dangerously close to a public road and posed a risk to children.
“It’s a liability to Granite Shoals,” Alfrey said at the meeting. “They are shooting directly at a public street where kids ride their bicycles. You’ve got school buses riding up and down there. There’s a lot of ‘what ifs’.”
The deer management program began Sept. 27, and 77 deer were harvested in the following two weeks, yielding approximately 3,700 pounds of meat. Of those 77 deer, 33 were processed specifically for donation.
Among the 96 registered harvesters, only 54 have completed the police-approved qualifications required to actually shoot.
Despite these early results, Granite Shoals Police Chief John Ortis emphasized it is still too soon to evaluate the program’s overall effectiveness.
“Given that the harvesting initiative has only been operational for three weeks, it is premature to determine its success,” he told DailyTrib.com. “After the season ends, we will have data to make an informed decision.”