Feb 22, 2016 By Harry Funk 3 min read

The project manager for Mt. Lebanon’s controlled archery hunt is impressed with the results.

“I think things went great,” Jody Maddock told commissioners by telephone during the Feb. 22 discussion session.

Maddock, who worked with wildlife management organization White Buffalo Inc., addressed the final report for the hunt, in which archers harvested 104 deer. Of those, 86 were does.

“Eighty-three percent female harvest is the highest that I’ve ever been associated with. Normally it’s about 75 percent,” Maddock said. “That, in itself, should have a very good impact next year.”

The municipality also has contracted with White Buffalo for a sharpshooting hunt, which is to occur prior to March 31, as part of the commission’s goal to reduce the number of accidents between vehicles and deer.

“I think White Buffalo was able to do a very nice job of setting up the program for the municipality,” Keith McGill, municipal manager, said about the bow-hunting effort. “I think one of the things that we learned is that it is possible to operate in a densely populated community such as ours in a safe and effective manner.”

Maddock had about two months to organize the hunt to begin Sept. 19, the start of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s deer archery season in the wildlife management unit that includes Mt. Lebanon. The process usually takes closer to a year, he said.

“We were lucky to find some very good leadership in that area that I could count on to carry the weight of the program,” Maddock told commissioners.

In preparation, White Buffalo screened more than 80 archers through application, interview and proficiency assessment, ultimately selecting nine for the program. They accounted for 84 of the deer harvested, with the other 20 by archers who were not directly involved with the program but agreed to provide information to the municipality. White Buffalo hunters donated 63 deer, adding up to about 2,500 pounds, to the charitable venison donation program Hunters Sharing the Harvest.

Hunting took place on municipal land in McNeilly and Robb Hollow parks, at the public works facility and at Mt. Lebanon Golf Course, along with 12 private properties also subjected to screening.

“What’s in place now is a very good group and a solid group of property owners,” Maddock said, “and whatever happens with the politics in the future, hunting should continue on those private properties and continue to have an impact.”

He recommended that the municipality pursue baiting deer for future hunts

“The good thing about baiting, what it allows, is for deer to be drawn into areas where they can be harvested, which is critical in Mt. Lebanon,” he said, with regard to the dense population locally.

The problem, though, is that it is not permitted in Allegheny County, even though it is in suburban Philadelphia.

“The bottom line is, it would take a change in the law out there,” Maddock said. “I do think it is worth pursuing. It seems to me that the baiting should be in the hands of the biologists to decided whether or not it’s a tool that can be used in that area, as it is in Delaware, Bucks, Chester and Montgomery counties.”