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YOUNGSTOWN -- Bow hunters harvested 38 deer in the Mill Creek MetroParks from Oct. 1 through Tuesday -- the first week of hunting as part of the park system's controversial deer reduction plan.
It is not known the exact park all of the deer were harvested in, but the MetroParks has identified seven parks where deer were harvested -- Hitchcock Woods and Huntington Woods in Boardman and the following parks in Canfield -- Vickers Nature Preserve, MetroParks Farm, Collier Preserve, Mill Creek Wildlife Sanctuary and Sawmill Creek Sanctuary.
Two other parks are on the list to be hunted -- Hawkins Marsh in North Benton and Springfield Forest in New Springfield, according to the 208-page deer management plan on the MetroParks website.
Nick Derico, MetroParks Natural Resources Manager, provided a list of the deer harvested -- five antlered deer, 28 females and five "button bucks." A button buck is one whose antlers have not yet protruded through the skin.
Derico said the numbers come from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources game "check-in" system, which "collects data at a countywide level and therefore lacks the ability to show which MetroParks property each deer was harvested from."
He said, however, that "what I do know at this time is that hunters have been successful at the following properties," and he listed the seven.
The deer management plan contains a chart showing that the hunts are being undertaken at nine parks covering 1,942 acres. The largest of those parks is Hitchcock Woods, which has 489 acres. It estimates that 16 to 32 deer deer will be harvested this year in Hitchcock Woods.
The hunts are planned by permit through the ODNR through a lottery drawing that are good for one week with eight separate one-week "windows" Oct. 1 through late November.
So far, only archery is being permitted, but firearm hunting "windows" will be added, MetroParks officials say. They will be two days in length with five "windows" being allowed, every other weekend through December and January.
Only archery hunts will be allowed in Hitchcock and Huntington Woods, both located south of U.S. Route 224 in Boardman. There will be 16 hunting "windows" in those two parks extending through January, according to the deer management plan.
The park system estimates that about 66 to 133 deer will be harvested through hunting this year. All facilities will remain open to the public during archery season, but parks where firearm hunts take place will be closed to the public during those times, the plan states. Hunters are not permitted to harvest any white deer, the plan states. All hunters are being provided with a list of hunting rules and regulations.
Separate from the hunts are an additional estimated 30 deer that will be harvested through a deer reduction phase called "targeted removal" that involves U.S. Department of Agriculture-paid sharpshooters, according to a permit the MetroParks obtained.
That type of removal will happen in more populated areas, including Mill Creek Park south of Midlothian Boulevard in Boardman. None of that type of deer removal has taken place yet, said Geoff Westerfield, assistant wildlife manager supervisor for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources Division of Wildlife.
The data Derico provided of deer already killed showed that 21 were harvested using cross bows. The other 17 were harvested with long bows.
Derico said Monday the 38 deer killed so far are part of the "controlled hunt" portion of the deer management program that began shortly after Nicole Alexander, a Mahoning County Common Pleas Court magistrate, refused to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the deer reduction program.
"To the best of our knowledge, there have been a total of 38 deer harvested ... as part of the controlled hunting portion of the deer management program. This number is consistent with the number of harvests reported to the Division of Wildlife, where hunters indicated during the game check process that the deer were harvested in Mahoning County as part of a controlled hunt," Derico stated in an email.
Aaron Young, MetroParks executive director, said Oct. 2 that archery hunts began in "various locations" in the MetroParks starting Oct. 1, as outlined in the MetroParks' deer management plan on the MetroParks website.
The preliminary injunction was part of legal action filed by four people who live close to the MetroParks. That lawsuit is pending before Alexander, who works for Judge Anthony Donofrio.
The plaintiffs appealed the preliminary injunction ruling to the 7th District Court of Appeals and asked that court to grant an immediate injunction pending appeal, but no hearings are scheduled in the case.
The plaintiffs also asked that the magistrate find that the park district used a flawed method of counting the number of deer in the park system and that the reductions will deprive them of the ability to use and enjoy their properties near MetroParks properties because of the presence of hunters and sharpshooters.