By Chris Berens, D&DH Intern
One of the nation’s most successful urban bow-hunting programs will continue in its current form. On July 11 the city council of Duluth, Minn. rejected a proposed ordinance that would require hunters participating in the city’s annual bow hunt to harvest two antlerless deer before harvesting a buck, according a Duluth News Tribune article. Previously hunters have only had to kill one antlerless deer before being able to kill a buck.
The two councilors that brought the motion forward were the only two that voted for it out of the nine member council. Their reasoning for the ordinance included that there are still too many deer, even though over 3,000 have been taken in the past six years according to a CBS Minnesota.com article. The other reason they claimed, according to the Duluth News Tribune, was that the Arrowhead Bowhunters Alliance runs the deer hunt like a game.
The Arrowhead Bowhunters Alliance is a local Duluth organization that organizes the annual urban deer hunting for the city of Duluth. They are responsible for all of the participants of the deer hunt, which are chosen from a lottery of its members. Each participating deer hunter must pass an archery proficiency test to prove they are accurate with their equipment. The hunter must hit four out of five arrows in a 6.25 inch bull’s-eye placed on a target at a distance of 20 yards.
Members of the ABA said that they thought the urban archery deer hunt works just fine the way it is and doesn’t need any ordinance changes, the article said. As Deer & Deer Hunting’s Managing Editor Jacob Edson mentioned in a recent blog post, many earn-a-buck programs do work in the right situation, and overpopulated urban zones are often just that. Many states offer urban white-tailed deer hunting options for hunters using archery equipment. It is often the only viable, and least expensive, option for communities and their taxpayers. Plus, these hunts can be wonderful opportunities for urban dwelling bow-hunters to find nearby hunting access.