Committee: Deer Sharpshooting Program Successful, Worthwhile

Nine years after the city began a sharpshooting program to control the deer population and reduce property damage, the initiative has cut the number of deer-car crashes and keep the herd population stable, a director said.

A committee agreed the program was worthwhile to continue after a resident questioned its success and cost-effectiveness.

Car-deer crashes have dropped from about 70 to 80 annually to about 46, Bill Kolstad, city director of parks, recreation and forestry, told the Human Resources and Public Safety Committee.

Aerial deer counts have estimated the population has been culled about 30 to 35 percent, from about 400 to 500 deer down to about 250 to 350 deer, Kolstad said.

"One of the primary objectives of the deer task force was to maintain the deer herd at an acceptable level," he said. "What's an acceptable level? What the community will tolerate."

He said the city concluded an acceptable level would be about 20 to 30 deer per square mile. 

Ald. Chris Blackburn, who sought some discussion at the behest of a constituent, said his review of the statistics showed "it's a mix" of results.

In some areas of the city, the number of deer-car crashes has gone down but not in others, he said.

Residents near Bishops Woods in the city's southeastern quadrant have called for more sharpshooting, complaining about damage to vegetation and landscaping, Ald. Lisa Mellone said.

Police Lt. Bruce Schell said the difficulty — as neighboring Elm Grove also has found, is finding a large enough tract of land from which to do the sharpshooting near Bishops Woods.

The program costs about $30,000 a year, including an annual $5,000 grant from the state Department of Natural Resources, which Kolstad said calls Brookfield one of the "model" deer abatement programs in the state.

He said it costs less to kill deer by sharpshooting — about $250 per deer, compared to live trapping and relocating, which costs about $400.

Ald. Dan Sutton said, "You get more bang for your buck — or more buck for your bang."

While residents were evenly divided on a preferred method a decade ago when the issue was debated, there have been no organized protests.

"I still get a few calls opposed to it altogether," Kolstad said. 

But most of the approximately 10 to 15 complaints he said he logs annually are from residents urging the city to "get rid of more, they're a nuisance."

The Elmbrook Humane Society handles all kinds of animal complaints and issues for Brookfield but does not handle deer. Kolstad and Schell said there haven't been safety problems or "injured deer running away."

Kolstad said safety was critical for those contracted to do the sharpshooting because if anything would go wrong with the program, "these things can go south on you pretty quickly."

Most communities in Waukesha County do not have deer abatement programs, he said. The villages of Chenequa and Elm Grove have limited programs, but other neighboring cities such as Waukesha and Pewaukee do not. Some Milwaukee County communities have deer abatement programs, he said.

The committee decided to recommend no changes to Brookfield's program, but its chairman, Ald. Scott Berg told Kolstad he should continue to evaluate whether to continue it during his department's annual budget review.