It’s safer to drive in Fox Chapel thanks to almost three decades of deer management in the borough.

The management program, implemented in 1993, reduced the number of deer in the 8 square miles that make up the residential borough in Allegheny County and cut the number of deer-related crashes by about 80%.

The program is licensed by the state Game Commission.

Fox Chapel police Chief Michael Stevens said, since the program’s inception, he’s witnessed a continuing reduction in the number of deer-related vehicle collisions.

“We had about 100 deer-vehicle collisions in 1993,” Stevens said. “Those collisions are down in the 20s now, annually. That’s an indicator the program is working.”

Stevens said this year about 30 homeowners in the borough are participating in the organized archery hunting program, a decrease from past years when about 70 participants registered with the borough to solicit archery hunters on their property.

“We still get complaints about the deer eating the vegetation,” Stevens said. “The newer residents who move in here don’t call about deer damaging their property like in the past.”

The fall newsletter for Fox Chapel reported 180 deer were removed in the 2020-21 hunting season, an increase of 62 from the previous season. Vehicle accidents accounted for 22 deer deaths; 19 deer were taken by archery hunters and 139 by borough police sharpshooters.

While the law allows borough residents to permit any licensed hunter on their property, the borough assists residents seeking a hunter by providing a prequalified archer if there is an adequate safety zone on the property. Safety zones prohibit the discharge of a weapon within 150 yards of any occupied structure unless permission is obtained from the resident.

Archery season in Allegheny County began Sept. 18 and continues, with about a month off in December, through Jan. 29.

Third-generation Fox Chapel resident Charlene Campbell said she has participated in the archery program off and on for more than 25 years.

“I adore our wildlife, as anyone who knows me knows — but overpopulation is dangerous,” said Campbell, who resides on four acres next to 50 acres of private woods. “I think it’s a great program and a necessary program.”

Fox Chapel police officers and Allegheny County sheriffs have previously hunted on Campbell’s property.

“I certainly feel safe about the caliber of hunters,” said Campbell, adding she sees an “unbelievable” number of does on her property. “I have nothing but positive things to say about the program.”

Lauren Sufrin, 55, of Fox Chapel said she once hit a deer that almost destroyed her car.

“Deer are so massively overpopulated in Pennsylvania. They are destroying the ecosystem by eating everything in sight. There’s not enough natural predators to keep the population under control. Hunting and archery programs barely scratch the surface to start reducing the population. So, yes, I am pro-archery program.”

Sufrin, a Fox Chapel resident for 18 years, said her property remains relatively deer-free because it is surrounded by deer fencing.

“It’s a constant worry around here, and you see dead deer on the roads all of the time,” Sufrin said.

Bill Haberman, 63, of Sharpsburg started hunting around the Fox Chapel area when he was 12.

“I used to see 75 deer grazing on a hillside on Fox Chapel Road during a snowy day — now I see 10 deer on a good day,” Haberman said.

He said deer management programs help to reduce what he called an overpopulation of deer in the Alle-Kiski Valley.

“Route 28 is a killing field,” Haberman said of the deer carcasses he frequently sees alongside the highway.

Pennsylvania ranks third in number of vehicle accidents involving deer, according to statistics from the Insurance Information Institute.

“It’s been a successful program. As an officer, it’s not pleasant to shoot deer that have been hit by vehicles,” said Stevens, a 33-year veteran officer with Fox Chapel.

“The yards, the roadways are their home here,” he said, adding the program helps to protect the forest understory (the layer of vegetation in a wooded area) and protects gardens, in addition to reducing deer-vehicle collisions.

Stevens said there were protests from some residents in the inaugural year of the program.

According to data provided by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, a female deer can breed at about 7 months old and a healthy doe often produces two fawns annually. Current birth control practices are expensive and ineffective.

Typically, the removal of one adult doe during hunting season results in three fewer deer the following spring.

“When we first started the program, we were seeing herds of deer in Fox Chapel,” Stevens said. “You definitely see fewer deer now. I believe, with the program, it’s down to a level that the woods can sustain.”

Under state game commission deer management programs, landowners who allow use of their property without a fee are protected from lawsuits.

Haberman still bow-hunts in the Fox Chapel area and said he’s in favor of managing deer populations.

“I love deer. I know there has to be a balance between the humans and the deer,” Haberman said.

Indiana Township resident Nikki Hopeman lives on 30 acres near Dorseyville Road, bordering Fox Chapel. She first learned of deer management programs from Indiana Township police officers.

She allows two archery hunters to hunt her property each season, with the hopes of keeping the deer numbers in check.

Hopeman recently inspected metal fencing damaged and torn down by deer near her barn.

She said deer have eaten and destroyed fruit trees and bushes on her land.

“They decimate my annuals, and they seem to think hostas are a particular delicacy,” Hopeman said.

“We allow hunting on our property because we understand that hunting is a humane way to help control the local deer population,” Hopeman said. “The biggest issue we face with deer on our property is damage to property and plantings. We also worry about diseases transmissible by deer to both humans and livestock.”

Hopeman said she’s concerned about deer harboring ticks that can transmit Lyme and Johne’s diseases.

Fox Chapel resident Richard Arango, 68, an architect, said he sympathizes with neighbors who see their lawns damaged by deer.

Although Arango does not participate in the archery hunt program, he enjoys watching “herds” of deer pass by from his living room.

“I really do understand why people who put hours and dollars into landscaping to see it eaten could be annoyed,” said Arango, who resides on 3 acres. “I’ve had people here that consider them a kind of vermin, but they are avid gardeners and I’m one who prefers my landscapes more forresty and natural.”

Phase 2 program

After archery season, the second part of deer management runs from early February 2022 to the end of September 2022. Two Fox Chapel police officers, trained as sharpshooters, hunt female deer at night in select areas of the borough, with a break from April to August.

“It’s approved — a permitted program — through the Game Commission, and it’s done in a safe way,” Stevens said.

When asked about residents who are opposed to the hunting program, Stevens cited the damaging effects of deer overpopulating the borough.

“It would go back to the conditions we had in the 1990s where the deer were eating the understory of the borough and ruining the habitat and we had annual vehicle-deer collisions into the hundreds (annually),” Stevens said.

Last year, the borough donated 4,528 pounds of venison from the cull to Hunters Sharing the Harvest.

In Fox Chapel, deer meat is processed by T.A. Giger Deer and Wild Game Processing in Butler County. The meat is donated to Trinity Lutheran Church in Verona, where it is then distributed to 36 organizations.

Deer collected from road accidents are not used in the venison donation program.

Other legal archery deer management programs are operating in Peters Township, South Park, Bethel Park, Mt. Lebanon and Upper St. Clair.

Stevens asked Fox Chapel residents interested in opening their property for deer hunting to contact the borough office at 412-963-1100.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)