Urban hunting and sharpshooting culling programs often are used in conjunction to help alleviate problems with deer overpopulation problems, and almost always the results are positive for the health of the deer and surrounding vegetation.

According to The Associated Press, National Park Service officials want to utilize sharpshooters to kill more than 2,800 deer at three Civil War battle fields. Officials say the deer are severely impacting the health and growth of the vegetation in the area.

The sites are Antietam and Monocacy parks in Maryland and the Manassas site in Virginia. As with almost all NPS sites, the parks are off-limits to hunters. Officials want to kill the deer during a four-year period and then possibly use chemical contraceptives as part of an ongoing program. The meat would be donated to food banks.

Other areas have used similar programs, including Jekyll Island Resort in Georgia, parks near Washington, D.C., and in North Carolina and New York.

Hunting is not an option currently being considered for the three Civil War sites. Some have wondered if this is due to a bias against hunters.

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