An urban bowhunting program to help remove deer from Mentor city areas has some officials in Ohio breathing a sigh of relief.

The Mentor City Council approved the program last autumn, setting stringent guidelines for hunters after looking at similar programs in other cities. With several weeks left in the season, which ends Feb. 3, hunters had killed more than 105 deer on private land.

“We’re quite a bit surprised by the number,” Bob Martin, Mentor’s director of parks, recreation and public facilities, told The Plain Dealer in this report. “For our purposes, it just continues to reinforce the fact that we have far too many deer for the natural environment to support.”

The city council’s requirements included hunters going through a permit process, a specific minimum amount of land, and hunting from elevated stands no less than eight feet off the ground.

So far, so good.

Check out the full report here from The Plain Dealer.