Gun deer season just ended but one Waukesha County Park is opening up for bow hunting season.
"This is our second bow hunt at Nashotah Park," Julia Robson, Conservation Biologist said. "We had one last year and the main objective is for forest management, due to excessive levels of deer browse assessments at the forest here at the park."
Robson says the deer are browsing the native trees which could have lasting impacts.
"The oak trees or maple trees or ironwoods," Robson said. "Those browse levels are high. What they don't select to feed on are those invasive species we hear about. Buckthorn, honey suckle. While browsing on the good native species, the invasive species get a leg up on that. If deer are one of the main factors driving degradation or having negative impact on the woods and we're not addressing it, everything else we're doing could be voided long term.
Residents will also benefit from the high deer population being managed.
"They're fun to watch and they're pretty but there's so many of them and they eat everything," Barb Bruns of Delafield said. "I have to wrap my yews in the winter with burlap or they'll make it a big salad bar."
People like Barb Bruns also encounter them on the roads. There are deer crossing signs right outside of the park and most everyone has come across one while in their car.
"I had one run into my car last year," Bruns said. "No damage but I had a lot of fur stuck in my wheel."
"Vehicle, road mortality for deer and vehicle collisions is an issue statewide in Wisconsin," Robson said. "That's definitely a benefit from harvesting to help control population levels in an area."
Robson says it's too soon to tell if last year's bow harvest made any significant impacts on the degradation of wildlife at Nashotah Park. She says they were only notified of about six deer harvested last year. She urges every hunter who harvests a deer to report it online by filling out this brief survey.
The hunt takes place from Nov. 27 to Dec. 17. For more information, visit the Waukesha County Parks website.
