Peters police bag 125 deer, donate more than three tons of venison
Peters Township’s expanded efforts to control the deer population have resulted in the donation of more than three tons of venison to local food banks.
Peters council approved a sharpshooter program at its final 2021 meeting to go along with the existing archery program for residents. The program enabled police Sgt. Jason Brunetti and Officer James Stevick to target specific areas to hunt deer. Peters residents also volunteered their own properties.
“The goal of that program at the time it was established was to stop an upward trend we were seeing in deer-related vehicle accidents,” Brunetti said while giving an update on their efforts at Monday’s council meeting.
Since February, Brunetti said they took 125 deer, many in the area of Washington Road, where 39 deer were harvested. They also targeted areas around East McMurray, Bebout, Venetia, Valleybrook and Waterdam roads.
They were able to harvest more than three tons of venison from the deer. Brunetti said they worked with Greenville-based Hunters Sharing the Harvest to process the meat and donate it to local food banks.
More than 4,000 pounds of venison went to the Greater Washington County Food Bank. Donations were also made to the Allenport Food Pantry and Donora Food Pantry.
With the officers’ wages, bait, and a $10,000 processing fee from Hunters Sharing the Harvest, the total cost of the program so far has been $21,602. However, Peters will be given a discount on the processing fee.
“In working with Hunters Sharing the Harvest, we developed a pretty good relationship with their executive director, Randy Ferguson, and he agreed to reimburse the township for 50% of the cost of processing,” Brunetti said.
Brunetti also explained that they continued with their regular police duties while sharpshooting, and would leave a hunt if necessary.
“We were available to answer or assist on calls during the course of the sharpshooting. For example, there were two rather substantial incidents including a road rage incident with shots being fired, and a second incident involving a domestic-related assault. We were able to stop our sharpshooting and immediately assist the patrol officers in handling those incidents,” Brunetti said.
Moving forward, Brunetti said they would like to set a higher goal, as the deer population remains high, and there was a lot of interest from residents offering their property to police for sharpshooting.
“We had more requests from residents to donate their property for use in the program than we could even get to throughout our time,” Brunetti said.
Also at Monday’s meeting, council unanimously voted to approve a grant application to replace the traffic signal at Route 19 and Crosswinds Drive.
It is the oldest signal in Peters Township, having been installed in 1995. With council’s vote on Monday, the township will seek a grant for the project, which could cost as much as $465,000. The township would be required to put up a 20% match.