Jefferson Approves Urban Hunting Season for Deer

By Joel Frady

The Jefferson Board of Alderman unanimously approved a motion to create an urban hunting season in the

town to help curb the booming deer population. The season only applies to bow hunting, but will give hunters a new window to hunt deer as long as they get permission to hunt from the land owner.

The board approved the motion after Christopher D. Kreh, a wildlife biologist for the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, proposed the idea. He said that 10 other municipalities participated in the program during 2009, including Elkin and Middlesex, and that 45 deer were eliminated during Elkin’s first urban season. The 2009 urban bow season began on Saturday, Jan. 10, and runs until Saturday, Feb. 14, but Jefferson will not participate until the 2010 season as long as they register with the Wildlife Resources Commission by April 1.

The decision required two motions from the board: the first was to drop bow-and-arrows from the town’s weapons ordinance, so that hunters may use bows; the second motion was to file the appropriate paperwork with the Wildlife Resources Commission to participate in future bow urban seasons.

Members of Jefferson’s town government all said they thought it was a good idea.

“I think we need to do something to eliminate some of the deer population here in Jefferson someway,” said Jefferson Mayor Dana Tugman. “They’ve been a nuisance.”

Board member Mark Johnston said that “in Jefferson, we’re an old town. Everybody has apples trees, fruit trees or pear trees in their yard. So we had the food source for the deer – that’s why they showed up here.”

Johnston said he is not a hunter, but liked the idea because of the number of car accidents that are caused by deer in Jefferson.

“I live right in town and last year I buried three deer in my front yard that got run over,” said Johnston. He noted that he enjoys the deer that graze in his back yard each year, but that he would “just as soon somebody eat the meat as tearing up somebody’s car.”

Tugman and Johnston both felt it was a perfectly safe alternative to fight the deer population.

“All the deer hunters, all the guys I know who hunt with a bow, are the safest guys in the world,” said Johnston. “Basically, you’re bow hunting from a stand or a tree. It’s a down shot, so if you miss it’s in the ground. It’s a perfectly easy way to get by.”

Tugman said that he thinks “bow hunting will not be a danger to the public the way rifles or other weapons would be,” and that “bow hunters are a pretty special class of hunters. They’re very careful and probably respect the property more than some classes of hunters.

“Especially those that would be hunting during the colder part of the season up here,” continued Tugman. “You have to be a pretty tough fellow to put up with that.”

To find out more about the Urban Bow Season, click to www.ncwildlife.org. To find out more about the town of Jefferson, call (336) 846-9368.

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