That very first hunt was met by substantial outcry from certain elements of a public largely unaware of hunting’s role in controlling the destructively flourishing deer herds within Brown County SP, Indiana’s most visited park. But the DNR has made great strides regarding maintaining the number of deer on state properties, as well as the health of those herds in balance, and Brown County SP now holds a yearly reduction hunt that sparks little, if any, protest. Since that first effort at hosting one state park hunt, the DNR regularly hosts anywhere from 16 to 20 organized hunts at various parks across the state every fall.

Another important factor that adds to the increasing deer population within state parks is the encroaching sprawl of suburbia, as more and more subdivisions pop up across the landscape and their developers snatch up every possible inch of available land. With the decrease of undeveloped land, the deer populations in many areas have only a few options. One option is to retreat to nearby parks that offer protection, and habitat. Because of the increasing demand for building sites, it’s easy to understand how this can quickly create severe problems of deer overpopulation and destruction within the parks.

The researchers at the DNR have hard-hitting data to confirm the success of state park hunts over the last 15 years.

“We are doing wonderfully. We have had tremendous success, and a lot of our data indicates that we have had a significant recovery to an extent that the state botanists now have to reformulate how they monitor the damage class for each property. We used three particular indicator species, which we could evaluate each spring. Now the forest composition and structure has changed, for the good, to an extent that those particular species are no longer valuable as indicators,” said Mike Mycroft, resource management coordinator for Division of State Parks and Reservoirs.

According to Mycroft, the only negative side effect of the reduction hunts is that they tax the staff and officials. Setting up check areas, hosting orientation meetings, analyzing data and staffing the properties during the hunts can wear on employees. However, he adds that it is ecologically beneficial.

Without major predators to control deer numbers, it’s a very high probability that deer reduction hunts in Indiana are here to stay. One of the biggest challenges for the DNR is getting hunters to see the importance of these types of hunts.

“The reduction hunts are not meant to provide recreation, as much as they are there to help us (the DNR) achieve a management goal. We are not interested in having folks come in to trophy hunt, or come in and take their one deer and leave; we need cooperation and help with management.”

Despite the fact that many parks have produced trophy bucks throughout the last few years; hunters need to be aware that harvesting a deer, any deer, on a state-owned property is vital to the overall success of this program.

“We simply need to reduce the number of deer within the parks during a hunt. We are looking for volunteers (hunters) to come in, understand the goal of these types of hunts, and volunteer their time and their hunting skills to help us keep the deer population in balance,” Mycroft added.