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Rawlins council authorizes continued urban deer management; committee to return with operational plan
Summary
After hearing a committee report and community input, the Rawlins City Council agreed to continue its urban deer population management program and directed the committee to provide a detailed plan on methods, costs and ordinance changes. Options discussed ranged from no action to full cull, with baiting, contracted callers and hunting inside city limits evaluated.
The Rawlins City Council on March 15 agreed to continue efforts to manage the city eer population and asked the urban deer committee to return with a detailed operational plan that outlines the preferred method, costs and ordinance changes.
Council convened a 6:00 p.m. work session in which committee members presented a review of alternatives spanning "no management" to a lethal, town-wide removal. Committee representatives said the program to date has relied on an annual lethal control under a Chapter 56 permit and noted both benefits and costs. "The no action alternative oes not avoid consequences," a committee representative said, warning of rising vehicle collisions, property damage and disease risks if the herd grows unchecked. The committee reported past practices that included processing venison for public distribution and donating hides to a reservation for education projects.
Members emphasized that every option carries trade-offs. The committee described lower-cost, lower-risk actions such as stronger enforcement of existing deer-feeding ordinances and expanded educational outreach as "no-brainers" regardless of the ultimate approach. They also detailed higher-cost and higher-liability alternatives: call contractors who remove deer under a 56 permit, allow limited hunting or change ordinances to permit specific forms of take within city limits, or pursue nonlethal measures such as sterilization (which the committee said carries logistical and effectiveness challenges).
Council members expressed anxiety about officer safety and liability when deer are dispersed across denser neighborhoods, and several said hiring a professional outfitter or contracting callers may be the most practical near-term solution. "I think professional, an outfitter...will get the job done," one council member said.
The council did not take a final policy vote; because the meeting was a workshop, members could not adopt ordinance changes. Instead, they voted to continue the program and directed staff and the committee to return with a more detailed plan: who would perform the work, how the Chapter 56 permit would be managed or reassigned, specific ordinance revisions (including revisiting feeding prohibitions), and cost estimates. The committee also committed to investigate options such as designated baiting sites and contract callers, and to identify where changes to the 2019 resolution that formed the program will be required.
Next steps: the committee will compile a written plan with recommended methods, anticipated costs, legal and safety considerations, and suggested ordinance language for council review at a later meeting.
