The Blue Earth City Council met Monday night and received a report from Blue Earth Police Officer Tharen Haugh regarding the city’s Deer Control Program.
There were a total of 18 permits issued in 2021, up from 11 in 2020; the season lasted 105 days and hunters reported a total of 265 hours of hunting, also up from 168 in 2020. There were 11 does harvested and no bucks or fawns, an increase of 2 does from 2020.
Haugh reports that “in the 2020 season, Leland Parkway and the area near the sewer plant had the highest deer totals. In the 2021 season, it became nearly the exact opposite. While there were still some deer harvested on Leland Parkway, the presence of deer in the Leland area has greatly dropped.”
Haugh adds that if the city chooses to hunt in 2022, he “will simply need to monitor areas a little more in the beginning of the year to determine how hunters can be adjusted. If areas like Leland Parkway continue to have low deer populations, adjustments to where we hunt or how many hunters might need to be made.”