NORTH MANKATO — After years of pleading from some residents, the North Mankato City Council Monday night unanimously approved a deer management plan, with council members hoping the city can set up some type of hunt to reduce the number of deer.
For years, resident Tom Hagen, who lives on the bluffs near Spring Lake Park, has come to meetings urging the city to adopt a plan to manage the number of deer, citing evidence of the whitetails ravaging brush and plants in the ravines and yards that he said would lead to more erosion and more deer/vehicle crashes.
Hagen’s calls went unanswered until a new city administrator and mayor came in. And council members who’ve heard from residents about the nuisance of too many deer joined in the push for a management plan.
The new ordinance doesn’t automatically trigger a deer hunt in the city, but sets up guidelines to have residents, the Department of Natural Resources and city staff monitor deer numbers and find ways to limit deer numbers.
But some council members said they want the city and DNR to quickly create a plan for reducing the number of deer.
Prior to the vote Hagen said the high deer population puts deer at risk from chronic wasting disease and increases the risk of tick diseases in humans.
Andrea Mutch said deer are increasingly numerous, unafraid of humans and doing more damage to yards.
Studies done by staff, with input from the DNR and residents, said “Deer have been the largest and most notably destructive species” in the city.
The study said residents have noted destruction of both cultivated and natural vegetation because of deer.
A handful of residents have asked the city of North Mankato to host a deer hunt, similar to Mankato’s annual deer-culling operation, since 2016.
Over the past several years, several homeowners in lower and upper North Mankato said they’ve spent too much time trying to discourage deer through fencing or other methods, or replacing hostas and other plants that deer have eaten.
Hagen has used a variety of fencing and other methods to deter deer on his more than six-acre property.
Under state law, the DNR works with cities or local governments to host special hunts and curb the area’s deer population. The DNR acts in an advisory role. It is the cities that decide whether to put on a hunt.