Urban bowhunters claim 400 deer in Polk County

The odds of crashing into a deer in central Iowa would increase without urban bowhunters.

That's one of the benefits of a 20-year-old program that allows bowhunting in designated spots within city limits, according to organizers.

During the latest season, hunters killed 400 deer — most of them does. The program targets females, since they're the ones that reproduce, causing overpopulation concerns that can plague urban areas.

“We don’t want to sound sexist or anything, but that’s biology,” said Brian Herrstrom, a Polk County Conservation park ranger and the urban bowhunting coordinator.

“We’re just going for the females, because they will produce a fawn or two or three every year.”

Since 1996, Polk County's urban bowhunting program has become the biggest, most successful of its kind in the state, according to officials with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. The number of hunters has increased, the area covered has expanded — it now includes parts of Dallas County — and the metro's deer population has shrunk.

The latest estimate, from 2014, showed 12 deer per square mile in Des Moines’ Water Works Park, compared with 53 in 1998.

According to organizers, overpopulation can lead to destruction of forest vegetation, including wildflowers and woody plants. The animals can also damage residential landscaping and crops.

Iowa is one of the leading states for deer-vehicle collisions. State Farm Insurance calculates that the chances of an Iowa motorist striking a deer over the next 12 months at 1 in 68, behind West Virginia and Montana. Polk County averaged 138 deer-auto accidents from 2007 to 2011.

“It’s staggering how many thousands of more deer there would potentially be without the urban hunt,” said Bill Bunger, wildlife biologist with the DNR.

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This season, hunters claimed 29 bucks and 324 antlerless deer across Des Moines metro cities. The DNR offers about one buck tag per 10 does killed.

Participating communities include Clive, Des Moines, Johnston, Pleasant Hill, Urbandale and West Des Moines. This year, 132 deer were taken in Des Moines. The total number of deer harvested reaches 400 when including Camp Dodge property, where a gun season is also permitted.

Hunting is allowed in designated deer management zones on public and private land. Popular spots include Easter Lake and Water Works parks in Des Moines and wooded areas near Saylorville Lake in Johnston.

Hunters are required to pass a special proficiency test to qualify for the program. Last year, 170 hunters took the test.

Participants say the urban hunt, which often keeps them closer to home, gives them the chance to harvest more deer than the traditional statewide hunting season.

The urban hunt starts earlier in the year, typically around mid-September, than the regular bowhunting season, which begins Oct. 1.

“I just love hunting, so any extra chance I can get out is good,” said Roger Jackson, who chairs the Polk County Deer Task Force and started participating in the late 1990s.

Jackson has claimed as many as nine deer in a single season of urban bowhunting, and more than 50 since he started.

“It’s definitely a different feel,” he said of hunting within city limits. “You’re hearing street traffic, and maybe the adjoining property that you’re on, someone is out mowing the yard.”

Trend data collected by the DNR for the central Iowa region show a 12 percent reduction in deer populations from 2007 to 2013, according to Andrew Norton, a deer biologist with the DNR.

Since 2013, numbers have leveled out.

“That coincides with what objectives have been,” Norton said. “The goal was to reduce populations, and in the past two (urban) hunting seasons, the goal has been to stabilize.”

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Polk County officials try to complete an aerial survey by helicopter every year when snow is on the ground, in order to gauge the program's progress. But they failed to do so in 2015 and 2016 because of poor weather conditions.

The target density for urban areas is 25 to 35 deer per square mile, Herrstrom said.

Data samples from the 2014 aerial survey showed an average of 39 deer per square mile throughout the Des Moines metro.

“We need to get a good count next year to confirm a lot of things and see where we’re at,” Herrstrom said.