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Community Corner

Archers to Set Up in Sully Parks

A public hearing on deer population management was held Monday at the Sully Government Center.

Trained archers will soon be setting up in Fairfax County parks and woodlands as part of a program to shoot and remove some of the burgeoning wild deer herds which threaten to denude the area’s green spaces. 

Of the 20 parks that were selected as archery hunting sites this year, four are located in the Chantilly area, said Vicky Monroe, the county’s wildlife biologist. The program, which is overseen by the county police department’s Animal Services Division, is now in its third year. 

“This is not a trophy hunt or a recreational hunt,” Monroe said at a Monday public hearing on the program at the Sully District Government Center. “This is a program to manage the deer population." 

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Conservative estimates put the county’s wild deer population at about 40,000, which is far more than the area’s green spaces can accommodate, Monroe said. The deer overpopulation strips grasses and trees from the green spaces and some deer have been known to graze on homeowners flowers beds and gardens.

In addition to being a public nuisance, the deer are a health hazard, spreading diseases, Monroe said, and a danger to motorists when they run across lanes of traffic – particularly in the post-Halloween breeding season. 

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The program has not been without its detractors, Monroe said, particularly homeowners who worry about stray shots and park-goers concerned about sharing the trails with armed hunters. 

The program puts safety first and no one, either hunters or residents, has been injured in its first three years, Monroe said. The archery groups are tightly regulated by the county and all archers must qualify as sharp-shooters on a firing range before they are allowed to hunt. 

All hunters will be in an elevated position, normally a tree stand, which means that a missed shot will usually wind up in the ground. Archers can’t shoot at moving targets and aren’t allowed to shoot at a deer if it is more than 20 yards away. All arrows are marked and tracked by the county. 

And, the county also monitors the number of non-recovered injured deer. Of the 452 deer shot and killed last year, another handful were wounded and got away, Monroe said. If that number dramatically increases this year, she said the county would consider tougher entry and qualification standards. The county anticipates that hunters will shoot about 1,000 deer this season. 

The archers are allowed to keep what they shoot. In the past two years, about 60 percent of venison was kept by the hunters with the rest donated to local churches, food banks, charities or Hunters for the Hungry, Monroe said. 

Safety is always a top priority for the hunters, said Dave Smith, of the Arrow I Archery Club, which has been assigned to the  off of Route 28. 

The archery program is one of three different methods employed by the county to control the deer population. A managed hunt program uses volunteer shotgun and muzzleloader hunters and the police sharpshooter program is done by county officers and SWAT team members, Monroe said. 

Select Fairfax County Park Authority Sites Assigned To Archery Program

Park Name

Size (acres)

Archery Group Size

 

670

20-30

 

Sully Woodlands Park

1,421

25-50

 

61

10-20

 

825

25-50

 

Source: Fairfax County

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