MUSKEGON, MI – A controlled cull of deer by sharpshooters near Lake Michigan has been approved by the Muskegon City Commission following complaints by residents for more than a year.

In a unanimous vote, commissioners approved a plan for sharpshooters to kill up to 30 white-tailed deer at Kruse and Beachwood parks.

The vote followed comments from community members, many of them hunters, both in favor and against the culling, which will take place over the course of four or five nights, depending on its success, and will cost about $20,000.

Derek Olsen, an avid hiker, said that the experience of seeing “majestic deer” is a highlight of engaging with wildlife.

“It’s important to keep the natural resources we have protected,” he said.

Paul Sikkengo, who runs a group called DNR Watchdog, disagreed with the proposed methods of the cull, which involve setting out bait piles and having sharpshooters in stands, vehicles and on the ground. He suggested that administering a lottery for licensed hunters to hunt the deer would bring revenue in.

His wife, Sharon Sikkengo, also a hunter said that “it does my heart hoarse, thinking” that pregnant does would be targeted. She asked that a different time of year and method of culling be considered.

Others spoke in favor of the cull.

Jeff Hopkins, grounds superintendent at the Muskegon Country Club where dozens of deer have been on its grounds at times, said he has been working in the area for seven years.

“The number of deer that have increased over that time has been unbelievable,” he said, estimating deer-related damage costs his employers between $1,500 and $2,000 each year.

Mike McFall said that he lives “right in the heart of the deer problem,” and said that those who do not support the cull “do not live with the deer; they do not deal with them on a daily basis.” He added that he supported the fact that the meat from the cull will be donated to local shelters.

Over the last year, an estimated 50 to 100 white-tailed deer were repeatedly spotted around Muskegon’s Beachwood-Bluffton neighborhood. Residents have expressed concerns about damage to vegetation, as well as the spread of deer ticks and tick-borne illnesses.

Muskegon Public Works Director Leo Evans said the city surveyed more than 450 neighborhood residents in April and found that between 60 percent and 70 percent of locals supporting some action to thin the herd.

In October, Evans presented several options for herd management to the city, including opening a permitted hunting season and non-lethal methods. He said that culling would be the most effective option.

At the commission’s public work session on Monday, Commissioner Ken Johnson asked about the “compensatory rebound effect,” a phenomenon in which a sudden decrease in a species spawns a faster reproductive cycle. This is because a suddenly increased food supply can cause deer to have multiple births, such as twins or triplets, and to reproduce at younger ages.

Evans responded that a cull will not drive down the deer population forever, but can be an effective short-term response.

“it definitely is not a permanent solution in any sense. It is a temporary solution,” he said. “It’s just a question of is it a two-year solution or is it an eight- or 10-year solution?

“I don’t want to be doing a cull every three years,” he later added.

Additional work can be undertaken by residents to make the area less habitable for deer, such as not feeding them, he said.

Resident Marilyn Singleton Magnuson read a short statement at the work session against culling the deer population. She said she has hiked in Beachwood Park every morning for four years, “and it’s the one trail I enjoy hiking because I am guaranteed to see the deer.”

She added that, as an innkeeper, she often sends her guests to the area for an easier hike with beach views.

“They come back and they are enchanted by the deer because they don’t run away,” she said. “It will have an impact on my business” if the deer are culled.

“In the past, Muskegon’s had a difficult time identifying its assets and preserving them, and I believe this is one of them. These deer have been called a nuisance, but I refer to them as an asset.”

The culls will take place at the city’s Beachwood and Kruse parks. Sharpshooters will set up bait stations with no more than two gallons of bait, and target the deer from vehicles, ground blinds and elevated stands, according to the city’s agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The shooters will use night vision goggles and suppressed weapons, Evans said.

An initial observation setup will determine the best hours during which to target the animals. Kruse Park’s gates would be closed, and Beachwood Park’s bike path would be blocked off, to prevent people from wandering in, said Evans. Public works staff, and possibly police officers, would also be present to monitor the area.

“Safety is always their number one priority here,” Evans said during his presentation to the commission at Monday’s work session.

The total cost of the setup and culling trips, as approved by USDA, is $12,906. Additional costs will include staff time for employees from the city’s public works and police departments, and the transporting of animal carcasses to meat processing facilities.

Once killed, the deer heads will be sent to USDA for analysis and disease testing. The bodies will be sent to a meat processor and returned for donation to Muskegon-area charities. The processing costs will be paid for by Michigan Sportsmen Against Hunger, a nonprofit organization that facilitates meat processing and distribution by hunters to charities and homeless shelters.

The cull is allowed through a “damage and nuisance animal control” permit through the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Muskegon Police Chief Jeffrey Lewis, would also need to first issue an allowance for firearm use within the city.

The work must finish by March 31, according to the permit.

Deer culling has been a controversial annual practice in Ann Arbor for five years, where deer management had cost the city hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Working with a Connecticut-based contractor, sharpshooters there killed 386 deer and sterilized 78 others from 2016 to 2019 in city parks, nature areas, and certain properties owned by the University of Michigan. The program has been met with ongoing opposition from protesters, including a group called Friends of Ann Arbor Wildlife in Nature.

The next cull in that city is taking place this month, until Jan. 26, with a goal of killing 150 deer.

Wrapping up the commission meeting on Tuesday evening, Mayor Stephen Gawron acknowledged that Muskegon’s process would not be a permanent solution to the city’s run-in with urban deer.

“It’s an action, not an ultimate answer, we know that," he said.