MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) - The urban deer population in Shelby County has increased three-fold in the last five years and the county is at its capacity.
As the population increases, residential development in rural areas is also increasing. The deer have fewer places to live and this is resulting in dangerous run-ins with humans. Now, new increased bag limits will allow hunters to kill more doe during the season than ever before.
Andy Tweed, Wildlife Officer, says, “We have increased the bag limit to 3 per day for a whole season. You can only kill 3 bucks for the whole year, but you can take 3 doe per day for the whole season.”
Other states have bag limits a fraction of that, but for Shelby County, deer hunting is a real need.
“Last week I darted one in someone's house. It had gone through the picture window and ended up in the bathroom,” says Tweed.
Deer cause car accidents on busy Shelby County roads on a weekly basis. Tweed says hunting is the most ethical and humane way to control the deer population.
“We get calls all the time that there is one caught in a fence. It's stuck there for two weeks or it dies a slow death. If you hunt deer, you take it and you've got food for someone's family,” says Tweed.
Wildlife officers hope that by increasing the number of deer hunters can legally kill, they will help reduce dangerous run-ins with humans.
