Archers, sharpshooters will hunt at some Ingham County parks
MERIDIAN TWP. — Archers and sharpshooters will set up shop in some Ingham County parks this fall.
County commissioners approved an agreement Tuesday that allows some hunters onto Lake Lansing Park-North in Haslett and Ingham County Farm in Okemos.
Meridian Township's deer management program — now in its seventh year — is meant to reduce over-grazing, car-deer crashes and the spread of chronic wasting disease in the township area. The township has partnered with the county in order to hunt in the two county-owned parks for at least six years.
Ingham County Parks Director Tim Morgan said the program started prior to the discovery of chronic wasting disease in Meridian Township deer.
“It’s more of a habitat protection vehicle, because we had over-browsing on these properties causing detriment to the flora,” Morgan said.
In 2015, the state’s first free-ranging deer to test positive for chronic wasting disease was found in Meridian Township. Since then, four other deer testing positive for the disease have been killed by sharpshooters in Meridian Township.
The Ingham County agreement approved Tuesday allows volunteer hunters with Meridian Township and sharpshooters contracted with the Michigan Department of Natural Resources onto the county-owned parks, Ingham County Farm on Dobie Road and Lake Lansing Park-North.
The agreement is largely for the archery deer season, Oct. 1 through Jan. 1, in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The parks will remain open throughout the deer management efforts.
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Meridian Township’s deer management program is an archery-only program that allows designated hunters to hunt on 30 properties within Meridian Township, two of which are county parks, according to LuAnn Maisner, Meridian Township’s director of parks and recreation.
The volunteer hunters are township residents or police officers who go through a background check, orientation and proficiency test before being assigned to tree stands.
“They have to check in with us when they go to their site, and they check in when they leave their site,” Maisner said. “Our parks and land preserves remain open because our hunters are placed far off the trails.”
Maisner said all harvested deer are brought first to DNR personnel for testing, and the township keeps in close contact with park managers about hunters’ whereabouts.
The program had about 75 hunters last year who killed a total of 67 deer.
“It really becomes more than just a government function; this is our entire community trying to solve our deer over-population problem,” she said.
In addition to volunteers from Meridian Township, the DNR has its own containment and surveillance program that includes culling at Meridian Township parks and at the county-owned Ingham County Farm and Lake Lansing Park-North.
The DNR contracts with USDA Wildlife Services sharpshooters to shoot deer in the area, largely in the evening hours and after dusk, as part of an effort at containment and surveillance of chronic wasting disease, according to Chad Stewart, deer management specialist for the DNR.
The sharpshooters resumed their efforts in July, Stewart said. The program will run until shortly before the start of archery season Oct. 1 and resume during the winter months.
“We still are doing management and surveillance," Stewart said. "But there are still deer for hunters come fall."
Last year, in Meridian Township, sharpshooters killed 252 deer and hunters took about 111, according to data submitted to commissioners. Another 198 deer in Meridian Township were listed as roadkill.
Deer harvested by Meridian Township volunteer hunters and the DNR sharpshooters are sometimes donated to local food pantries. The DNR also donates some venison to the zoo, Stewart said.
Deer that test positive for chronic wasting disease are incinerated.
Contact Beth LeBlanc at (517) 377-1167, eleblanc@gannett.com or on Twitter @LSJBethLeBlanc.
You can help spot chronic wasting disease
Residents who see deer that are extremely thin or behaving unusually should report them to the DNR Wildlife Disease Lab at 336-5030, call 911, or submit an online observation report at http://bit.ly/2v3JqaX.
Road-killed deer in the Meridian Township area can be reported to the DNR's CWD roadkill hotline at 614-9602.