Deer Population Management
Managed Deer Hunts | Park Police-based Sharpshooting
Managed Deer Hunts
Montgomery County Department of Parks, in order to reduce and maintain deer populations in accordance with the goals of the County’s deer management plan, conducts managed deer hunts in select parks during the Fall and Winter.
Programming is designed with public safety being paramount. Managed hunting programs are directed and supervised by the Department’s Wildlife staff and participants are required to follow strict safety and procedural guidelines. Safety buffers are established to meet and exceed State and County ordinance and hunting sites are selected to use terrain, distance, and habitat to enhance safe weapons discharge. Many sites are inspected and approved by the Montgomery County Department of Police.
Weapons discharge is directed into the ground and/or other suitable backdrops, and in many cases, hunting from an elevated position is required to ensure that hunters’ have a suitable backstop. A variety of harvest strategies have been employed using all weapons legal in the county. However, most programming requires participants to utilize rifled shotguns to harvest deer. On dates when managed hunting is occurring the park is closed to the public.
Managed hunts were implemented in the county in the Fall of 1996 and have occurred annually ever since. To date, the Department has conducted managed deer hunting programs in nine county parks with exceptional results. Currently, managed hunts are being conducted on eight county parks annually.
To learn more about the Montgomery Parks managed deer hunting programs, please click here to review Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) regarding deer population management being conducted on County parkland. If you are interested in learning how to become involved as a participant in the lottery based managed deer hunting program, please click here for pre-screening information.
2008– 2009 Park Closures for Managed Deer Hunts
NOTE: The following Parks are closed surise through sunset on the dates indicated due to Managed Deer Hunts
- Blockhouse Point Conservation Park (Darnestown)
Tuesday, November 18 and Tuesday, December 16, 2008 - Great Seneca Stream Valley Park, Unit 2 (Gaithersburg)
Wednesday, November 19; Wednesday, December 3 and Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - Hoyles Mill Conservation Park and attached segments of Little Seneca Stream Valley Park (Boyds)
Friday, October 24; Saturday, November 1; Friday, November 7; Saturday, November 15; Saturday, December 6; Friday, December 12, 2008 and Friday, January 2; Saturday, January 10; Friday, January 30 and Saturday, February 7 - Little Bennett Regional Park (Clarksburg)
Monday, December 8 through Friday, December 12, 2008 and Friday, January 9, 2009 - North Germantown Greenway Park, Blunt Rd. North to Brink Rd. (Clarksburg)
Wednesday, November 19; Wednesday, December 3 and Wednesday, December 17, 2008 - Rachel Carson Conservation Park (Brookeville)
Monday, November 17; Monday, December 15, 2008 and Monday, January 5, 2009 - Woodstock Equestrian Park (Beallsville)
Saturday, October 25; Saturday, November 8; Friday, November 14; Friday, December 5; Saturday, December 13, 2008 and Saturday, January 3; Friday, January 9; Saturday, January 31 and Friday, February 6, 2009
Managed Deer Hunts | Park Police-based Sharpshooting
Park Police-based Sharpshooting
Montgomery County Department of Parks, in order to reduce and maintain deer populations in accordance with the goals of the County’s deer management plan, conducts Police-based sharpshooting in select parks during the period of January through March.
Deer population reductions are conducted from Sunset until Sunrise while the parks are closed to the public. Programming is designed with public safety being paramount. Police-based sharpshooting programs are directed and supervised by the Department’s Park Police Division and Wildlife staff. Park Police Officers participating in this program have received extensive training and certification and utilize the most advance equipment and techniques available. Weapons discharge is conducted in a safe manner with safe backdrops identified prior to firing.
Deer are removed safely, humanely, and discretely. All deer harvested during such programming are donated to the Capital Area Food Band for distribution to the regions charitable organizations.
Police-based sharpshooting was implemented in the county in the spring of 1999 and has occurred annually ever since. To date, the Department has conducted Police-based sharpshooting programs in ten county parks with exceptional results. Police-based sharpshooting is being conducted annually, and the Department continues to investigate expanding efforts to parklands in need of deer population reduction.Click here to review Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) on this topic.
Last updated: September 30, 2008
