Jan 15, 2015 By Nick Lewandowski 3 min read

Mt. Lebanon deer may have received a stay of execution at the end of December, but the animals should hardly rest easy. Deer could still face trap-and-bolt euthanasia, or even a smaller scale archery program, should the Pennsylvania Game Commission grant Mt. Lebanon deer control permits in the coming weeks.

The municipality canceled its planned deer cull in late December when the Game Commission ran out of licenses. Per state law, hunters must have a license, or tag, for each deer they kill. Mt. Lebanon officials had hoped to cull deer in McNeilly, Robb Hollow and Bird parks, as well as on the municipal golf course.

Public works director Tom Kelley said the Game Commission is currently reviewing Mt. Lebanon’s deer management permit application, which not only mentions bow hunting, but also trap-and-bolt euthanasia and sterilization. Permit approval could allow archery to take place out of season in the parks, per the state’s Deer Management Assistance Program.

Mt. Lebanon Police Chief Coleman McDonough said the municipality had qualified five employees for bow hunting on public land and could qualify as many as seven more before the permit application is approved.

In the meantime, bow hunters with deer tags remaining would still be permitted to hunt on private property within the municipality, provided they have permission from the landowners. Archers are required by law to leave a 50 yard safety zone around homes, and 150 yard safety zones around schools and daycare centers. There is no monitoring program in place to ensure compliance with these regulations, however.

“Hunters are not required to notify anyone when or where they are going to hunt on private property,” solicitor Phil Weis said. “I think the only solution to this would be legislative.”

According to Chief McDonough, once the deer management program is approved, no formal action would be required on the commission’s part to proceed with culling.

Public information officer Susan Morgans said she had made phone calls to neighboring townships informing them of the deer cull. Residents abutting the parks and golf course had not received any special notification, however.

Commissioner Kelly Fraasch advocated for a special mailing to those households. “Some of those properties actually look out onto these parks,” she said.

Dave Brumfield felt a mailing would have little impact on residents’ awareness. He doubted a mailing would reach those residents who didn’t already know about the cull from online alerts or media reports.

“For those people, I think if they get a letter from us and if it’s not a tax bill, it goes right in the garbage,” he said.