So - what is the alternative? For those who believe there is an over-population problem a solution is needed. What is the alternative? I've never lived in a town in my life - and I've lived in four states, where it is common to walk out one's front door in the morning and have deer standing in the front yard...not while living in a town. Do we trap and relocate? Do we sterilize? I do believe we have an over-population - and every time I drive south from Walker on Lear I get nervous - it is commonplace to have deer dart across the road at dusk through that stretch.

Just because someone "thinks" there is an overpopulation problem, doesn't mean there is and doesn't mean something has to be done. Also, so what if you're nervous while driving. Just drive slower and be careful. My gosh. Are you seriously suggesting that killing deer is the solution to your being a little nervous? Personally, I see deer near my backyard all the time (i enjoy it), they eat my flowers every spring, I have been in a very minor car accident with a deer, and I do not believe we have a problem and I do not believe they need to be killed.

Just to clarify; Councilwoman Fenderbosch did the count for ODNR and she and her husband have been bow hunting advocates for years.She's hardly an objective or scientific population analyst.

We do indeed have an overpopulation problem with deer. Last spring at dusk, there were 9 deer in my side yard on their hind legs eating the buds on the maple trees. I'm not sure I favor bow hunting, but I do agree that residents should not feed the deer. The deer should be finding their own food sources and feeding them doesn't force that.

Walking back in the woods off of Electric you can see more deer than you would think possible for such a small patch of woods. I saw about 30 deer back there a couple of weeks ago. My dog goes crazy almost every morning because there are deer eating my neighbors landscaping and during the summer their gardens. I had a huge buck in my neighbor's backyard last winter, it bent my chain link fence trying to escape. This is just in my little neighborhood off of Electric. So I know there is a real problem with deer over population. So I support the bow hunting...but if someone can come up with a viable alternative I will support that over the hunting. I just don't want to hear all the naysayers putting the idea down without some sort of alternative.

There is an article on the Solon Patch today that they just completed their deer culling program through ODNR, "removing" 300 deer. Check out the comments on that site----> http://patch.com/A-rWyf

A sign in my yard would say "YES, HUNT HERE, PLEASE!". My yard and the wooded area behind us are stripped bare. 19 deer in my yard and that is not overpopulation? This winter they were leaner that I have ever seen them....they have depleted their food sources because there are too many of them. Something needs to be done.

The deer have a human problem in Avon Lake! We've taken their natural habitat away and they're left to try to evolve by changing their food sources to our flowers,fruits, vegetables and garbage. Since they do not have shrubs and forests to roam any longer, they roam our yards and streets. They are starving because of the limited and inferior food supply and dying unnatural deaths due to car accidents. We need to find a humane way to relocate many of them for their health and safety.

Has anyone walked thru Save the Woods area and seen the deer "exclosure" fence? There you can see what should be on the forest floor. But the whole area is stripped bare because of the deer - and you don't think we have a problem? Who has to be killed or almost killed in an accident for these boneheads to realize there is a HUGE problem? It's not just about eating our flowers - it's about the health of the herd. Those deer are sick. They are having 2 fawns per year instead of one. Our city is growing and their habitat is being destroyed. The real suffering is watching them starve to death. That is cruel!

You know what... I went outside the other day (oakwood drive in the 45's) and there was a bunch of deer **** on my front lawn. So not cool and so not what you expect in a neighborhood. Kill them, chase them, toss them in the lake and hope the swim to canada. Just get rid of them!

End rant.

Avon Lake has become a country club for the deer. There are just to many is this little town. All of the people that are against it have no clue to what is happening. I am sure all of you if not most of you have seen the piebald deer by the intersection of Moore rd and Walker. Why do you think that this deer is white? Natural selection? Ha!! Thinning the herd would not only help this great community but feed the thousands of homeless and less fortunate in the greater Cleveland area. Something needs to be done to help the the deer live healthy lives. Culling the herd isn't going to stop them from being in your backyard for you to enjoy. It's simply going to help keep this town safe when driving and keep the herd healthy.

The deer population will naturally regulate itself given enough time (and if people don't feed them). The Avon Lake speed limits are pretty low. If you are an alert driver (not on a cell phone) and not speeding your chances of hitting a deer decrease, or you hit them at such as low speed as to not do damage to your car. The deer are nearly always in the same four or five places, just expect you're going to see them around twilight, slow down and keep an eye out. I see them all the time and have never hit one. My husband hit one when he was going mayb 20mph and it just bounced off his car and kept walking. The city needs to focus it's time on bringing business to Avon Lake, planning for the fall in revenue after the GenOn plant closes, and working to basically make our town economically sound for the future. Forget the deer.

I don't feel safe for one minute in this town with all the deer running around! The other day the deer in my yard were looking at my children! If we cull the herd, they will repopulate. We need to eradicate every single one of the deer. We must destroy the remaining woods in the city so the deer have nowhere to hide once and for all! It might sound extreme now you'll all thank me when the community is finally safe!

You have got to be kidding me!!! You are scared of a deer because he looks at you???? You are upset because they eat flowers??? It is a sad society that we live in where flowers are valued over a living animal! Sick! I am sickened by the lack of compassion! I welcome and enjoy seeing the deer in my yard. What a deprived group of people who would enjoy seeing a deer, or any animal drown. Get over it! Move to Cleveland where it's all blacktop if you are so scared/annoyed by the wildlife! I have lived here my entire life and have seen this city grow to a ridiculous size. Maybe the builders and city planners should have planned a little better.
People texting while driving cause accidents too....are we to put an arrow through their heads too??? Slow down and pay attention!!!!!! This is not an acceptable solution nor an effective one. Our city is not unsafe because of the deer but more from the heartless, cowards that live in this city!

The bunnies eat flowers too...let's shoot them too! Come on...I am shocked at some of the responses on here. If you are worried about your kids when the deer look at them, imagine how you will feel when a deer with an arrow stuck in it comes charging into your yard! The deer are harmless and more scared of you than you of them. When the injured deer come flying out into traffic after being struck with an arrow, tell me how safe you will be. Based on the mentality of some of the hunters I have heard talk, I don't feel real safe with them running around with bows and arrows! Go live down south and enjoy hunting all you want.

I have no problem with other methods to control the deer population...and I think the builders should foot the cost! I do have a problem with senseless and cruel killing.

I can not believe that anyone can say there is not a problem with the deer over population. They must not get around Avon Lake. I was in conversation with some residents last night. We were trying to come up another city anywhere, which is like this. On the way home last night, we sa deer after deer the whole way home. It is a problem everywhere around Avon Lake, not just Walker or Jaycox. Every main road is a problem. And, for residents like me that likes to plant veggies or like nice plantings, forget it!!! I even think the building department needs to change the fence permits, to allow 6-8 ft whatever is need to keep them out of our yards. If it was a human pulling our plants out or cutting them down over and over, what would be done? I do not believe that bow hunting is the way, but something needs to be done. It is nothing to take a walk and see upto and more than 30 deer. I know there is a neighbor that feeds then and have the sugar block right in their back yard. I did notice this year, the deer are very big and healthy, because of the little to no winter, I’m sure. Something needs to be done.

I don't think anyone can argue that there are a lot of deer in Avon Lake. The question is, do we kill them?? I have lived in almost every corner of the city over the course of my life. I have children that I drive all over town constantly. The only time I see numerous deer is when we walk down the path across from Armour Rd. One of the reasons we walk down there, is to see the deer!
I do not believe that the only solution is to kill them. It is inhumane and unnecessary, not to mention dangerous and expensive.

Many of the comments I'm reading about the deer problem ,or lack thereof, are obviously from residents who DON'T have deer in their yards! Is it more humane to thin the herd of allow the deer to starve to death?

After we solve this issue, I propose we move on to other woodland creatures. We can all agree there is an overpopulation of squirrels and birds in this town. They, too, can cause accidents and property damage. I even saw one looking at my children in a menacing way. Maybe BB guns? Darts?

A preferable choice? http://patch.com/A-sfFD

I am a 911 operator for the county. ALL of Lorain County. I can and do work all three shifts and I have worked here for almost 11 yrs. During the spring and fall, (andl many other times...sometimes there is no rhyme nor reason) I take many calls of deer getting hit, sometimes 3 or 4. That is just me. Multiply that times 3 more operators.Many times, due to budget cuts, which I am sure you all have read about, there are not alot of officers on the road, or they are tied up (yes, even in Avon Lake). Often, the police departments will ask the callers if the car is driveable and to report it to their insurance company. A human in trouble is going to get assistance from 911 over an injured deer EVERY time. It happens all the time.That deer may still be suffering or wounded JUST LIKE the ones you are so blatantly posting pictures of with arrows thru their bodies, and officers cannot go out to put them out of their misery. It just happens. It isn't anyones fault. But they suffer none the less. Is that fair??Once, I took a call of a deer who was hit on a bridge. Another car hit it as it was flopping. The poor caller watched in horror waiting for the police to come to finish it off and the deer continued to flail and went over the bridge into the river and most likely drowned.

(cont'd) , I would imagine. He watched it float away. I also took the call in Sheffield Village where 9 deer panicked and JUMPED to their deaths over the bridge on 254/ Gulf. Some were pregnant. That is real world people. People get hurt and killed from collisions. I myself, hit a deer on my way into work last year on Lear road. We cannot put an animals life above a humans, ever.I have taken calls of deer rolling up on windshields and nearly killing people. Those deer still lead a better life than any meat entree you have ever had before you at supper time, I guarantee it. Unless you are all vegetarians of course.
They are pretty. They are displaced. All hunters are not monsters and they do aim to kill humanely and efficiently.

Not to stray too far but are those who are against the hunting of deer in Avon Lake all vegetarians? I am not one but it is hypocritical to ignore the suffering of animals in our food chain and only look at deer just because they are "cuter". Also, don't use the argument of cows and pigs are raised for our consumption and deer are not because that does not make a difference. Of course, this is assuming the hunted deer are used for meat which they usually are.

we have lived in avon lake many years and have enjoyed the wild life a great deal !!!!! the problem is too many stores and people who do not care except for the almighty dollar and themselves. its always the easy way out ....destroy whats ever in our way!!!! WRONG...what will our children have when they grow up????letsput our heads together and think of a better way besides killing !!!! i am sure our troops in this god foresaken war would give anything to see all the deer... that i know !!! you who think other wise then trade places with them ..... this i know for sure

There is another problem with the large over population of deer in AL. LYME Disease! Deer are confirmed carriers of the ticks that cause Lyme and studies have shown a correlation between the concentration of deer and disease rates in humans. (They can be accessed via the internet, just google Lyme disease in OH. We have lived in AL for over 40 years in the same location.
The first 25 or 30 years we hardly ever saw a deer, but now they are much too common. There have been as many as 11 in my yard at one time. I agree they are pretty to look at but the price we have to pay is too great in my opinion. In addition to the threat of disease they do a huge amount of damage to landscaping. During last years mild winter they ate the bark off a 30 year old Lilac putting its survival in doubt.

Howard