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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HPD to begin deer count on Oct. 16
The Helena Police Department said Tuesday it will begin its annual urban deer count Oct. 16.