HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Hendersonville's deer population is showing signs of stabilization, according to new data from a USDA helicopter survey and city officials say an urban bow hunting program is helping keep herd numbers in check.
A workshop is scheduled for Saturday at Hendersonville City Hall for residents who want to learn more about deer management and hunting regulations. The event runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and includes the following presentations:
- 9 a.m. — Presentation from the Deer Committee
- 9:30 a.m. — Presentation from the USDA
- 10:15 a.m. — Presentation from the TWRA
- 11 a.m. — Panel discussion
Jerald Barrett, chairman of the Deer Control and Monitoring Committee, said the latest numbers show meaningful progress.
"It's a slight decrease, but the good news is, is there's not an increase. So what that means is, we've got a population that's not growing anymore, does are giving birth to two and three fawns a year. So, if there's no effective management program, then you can see a population continue to grow," Barrett said.
The USDA survey found deer populations in Hendersonville remain above the state average but have not increased.
"State average is running 20 to 25 deer per square mile. So we're still over it, but it's certainly significantly less than the 70 to 80 deer per square mile that we were," Barrett said.
Barrett credits much of the progress to increased awareness of legal urban hunting and a partnership between hunters and property owners called the Urban Bow Hunting Directory.
"Well, we expected to have some interest last year, but we ended up having 483 hunters to sign up for it. Obviously that's a tremendous number. We don't know yet exactly how that relationship with homeowners went. In fact, we just initiated a survey to go out to all the hunters that participated this past year," Barrett said.
Barrett said urban hunting can help residents share the same space with deer while keeping herds from taking over.
Have you spotted deer in your Hendersonville neighborhood, or are you planning to attend Saturday's workshop? We want to hear your story. Watch our full video report above and share your experience with reporter Kim Rafferty at kim.rafferty@NewsChannel5.com.
In this article, we used artificial intelligence to help us convert a video news report originally written by Kim Rafferty. When using this tool, both Kim and the NewsChannel 5 editorial team verified all the facts in the article to make sure it is fair and accurate before we published it. We care about your trust in us and where you get your news, and using this tool allows us to convert our news coverage into different formats so we can quickly reach you where you like to consume information. It also lets our journalists spend more time looking into your story ideas, listening to you and digging into the stories that matter.
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