HELENA — One of the draws of living in Montana is our wildlife. From Carroll College to the Capitol, Helena is home to numerous wild animals.
“You don't realize how much wildlife is in town and how active it is until you get out at night when it's quiet and still,” said urban wildlife officer Sean McCarthy.
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The Helena police urban wildlife officers are wrapping up their annual urban deer count.
The city started conducting the deer count back in 2008 to manage Helena’s deer population better.
Officers go out at night, shining spotlights in yards and alleyways, along a predetermined route to count the animals
“The algorithm that we use determines the consistency or accuracy of what we're counting,” McCarthy said.
For the past 2 weeks, officers have been counting deer. It can be long nights, but this is the best way to get an idea of the population here in Helena. Next, the data collected will head off to Fish, Wildlife, and Parks.
“We run that through a modeling program that produces density estimates,” said Lindsey Parsons, a biologist for Fish, Wildlife, and Parks. “From those estimates, we approve a quota for them to remove during the winter trapping season.”
Parsons says an overpopulation would cause problems not just for the deer, but humans too.
Avoiding conflicts between the wild animals, humans, and pets is the ultimate goal.
Over the last five years, Fish, Wildlife, and Parks saw an increase in average deer per square mile by over twenty deer, with almost 500 deer joining the population within city limits.
The final numbers are still being tallied, but officers believe they will continue to see growth this year
McCarthy works to educate the public on deer to minimize conflicts in our neighborhoods.
He is also hoping to start a new program to haze the deer, or push them outside city limits, and where hunting is allowed.
“Utilizing something like a buffer zone, some sort of threat presence around the area as these deer are trying to migrate into town, may help actually reduce the population within the town as well,” McCarthy said.
The final report will be released in the coming months.
