Just asking for reasonable deer management plan

I appreciate the lively discussion regarding Manti City’s proposed deer management plan at the recent public hearing. It is great to have the freedom to express ourselves without being harassed (too much) by those with opposing views or by the government, like we see in other places.

I take somewhat an exception with the Sanpete Messenger opinion piece that those in support of the city’s plan were not the majority. I tried to keep track of those who spoke by writing down their names and whether they were in support of the city’s plan or not. Seventeen citizens who spoke said the deer were a problem because there are too many of them that live in town and they need to be controlled. Fifteen citizens opposed killing the deer through a management plan and three liked the deer, but felt the proposed plan was reasonable.

I would like to make the point to the public and remind our deer hunting friends that the opportunity to hunt on our public lands is part of a Utah State “deer unit management plan,” managed by the Division of Wildlife Resources, in which tens of thousands of deer are killed each year.

Public input is received at public meetings each year and permit numbers are set to manage the deer so that they don’t overrun their habitat and available resources, and cause damage to those resources. The deer are managed and hunters are part of that management. For those of us who are having damage caused by the deer in town, all we are asking is that Manti City adopt a reasonable management plan (like hunters have) that will help control deer numbers in our city.

John Keeler, Manti