Mentor's Deer Hunting Season Ends, Culling To Continue For A Bit Longer

The deer hunting season ended Sunday in Ohio and 126 deer were killed by bow hunters in Mentor this season, said Mentor Parks and Recreation Director Bob Martin.

Additionally, the city of Mentor began the culling portion of its deer population management program this year.

Martin said that 183 deer have been culled by Mentor Police sharpshooters thus far, and the city has permission from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to cull 22 more.

Once a total of 205 deer have been culled, Mentor will finished for the year.

Police will continue their culling in Veterans Park and Black Brook Golf Course this week, Martin said.

Martin did not know exactly how much deer meat was donated to the Cleveland Food Bank because of the city's culling.

He knew the city donated more than 3,000 pounds of venison in its first three weeks; but he did not know how much has been donated since then.

Culling and bow hunting are just two parts of the city's plan to manage the deer population in Mentor.

The program has five parts: educate the public on the dangers of deer overpopulation; get an accurate count of of the deer population in Mentor and its distribution; start a traffic-safety program that focuses on avoiding crashes with deer; legalize regulated hunting; and use sharpshooters from Mentor Police Department to cull deer herds.

Mentor City Council voted to legalize bow hunting last year (by a 5-2 margin.)

Mentor City Manager Kenneth Filipiak previously said the deer management program will cost the city about $100,000 this year.

By using existing staff, the city of Mentor has tried to limit the program's cost, Filipiak said.

Filipiak has repeatedly said the program is a long-term commitment and, if the city stopped trying to manage the deer population, the deer's numbers would quickly rebound.