HPD to begin deer count on Oct. 16

The Helena Police Department said Tuesday it will begin its annual urban deer count Oct. 16. The department's urban wildlife officer will be in a marked truck, conducting a count of the urban deer by spotlighting them at night, police said in a Facebook post.

The count will run Oct. 16-18, and again Oct. 21-23.



The counting will begin each night around 9 p.m. and end around 1 or 2 a.

m. The officer will be traveling a set route alternating directions each night, police said. The 2023 survey reportedly found an average of 76 deer.

The 2022 HPD-conducted survey found an average of 101 deer each night of the count. The Helena City Commission in 2023 approved a socially tolerable limit of deer per square mile within the city of 25. That same year Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks approved Helena Police Department to cull 250 deer from within city limits.

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