With Deer Population Surging, Solon Officials Will Decide How Many to Kill

After months of debating how to manage Solon's surging deer population, Solon officials want to know how much it's going to cost to manage the herd.

But they won't know that until they come up with another number, one likely to anger some residents and anti-hunting activists: How many deer does Solon need to kill to begin reducing the population to more manageable levels?

And just as important, what methods – expensive sharpshooting or more economical crossbow hunting –  will the city use to get there? 

"We won't know costs until we know what we are going to do," said Public Works Commissioner Jim Stanek.

According to Solon's  – which council accepted Monday after the –  a suburban city like Solon should have about 10-15 deer per square mile, or about 200 to 300 deer. In 2010, Solon had 34 deer per square mile, or 694 deer. And that number is expected to increase before any culling can occur later this year.

Stanek told council he will meet with the soon to receive cost estimates on how much it would cost the department to manage the various parts of Solon's plan, including lethal methods like sharpshooting.

But the true cost won't be known until city council members decide how large of a deer herd the city can handle.

Stanek warned council members it will take years of culling to get the deer population low enough to maintain.

"It's going to take awhile to get there," he said. "We won't get there in a year."

Most of the cost of the plan would be attributed to sharpshooting, an expensive but effective option that can cost as much as $400 per deer. The city used this method before, and actually canceled the program because of cost pressures.

This time around, city officials hope to offset sharpshooting expenses by using a crossbow hunting program that will be free, since the city would recoup its costs with fees charged to hunters.

But that program makes many residents nervous, and already prompted Councilman Ed Kraus to vote against recommending the plan despite supporting the rest of it.