Deer Population Management
Managed Deer Hunts
Parks Managed Hunt Dates
Park Police Sharpshooting Dates
Montgomery County Department of Parks, in order to reduce and maintain deer populations in accordance with the goals of the County’s deer management plan, conducts managed deer hunts in select parks during the Fall and Winter.
Programming is designed with public safety being paramount. Managed hunting programs are directed and supervised by the Department’s Wildlife staff and participants are required to follow strict safety and procedural guidelines. Safety buffers are established to meet and exceed State and County ordinance and hunting sites are selected to use terrain, distance, and habitat to enhance safe weapons discharge. Many sites are inspected and approved by the Montgomery County Department of Police.
Weapons discharge is directed into the ground and/or other suitable backdrops, and in many cases, hunting from an elevated position is required to ensure that hunters’ have a suitable backstop. A variety of harvest strategies have been employed using all weapons legal in the county. However, most programming requires participants to utilize rifled shotguns to harvest deer. On dates when managed hunting is occurring the park is closed to the public.
Managed hunts were implemented in the county in the Fall of 1996 and have occurred annually ever since. To date, the Department has conducted managed deer hunting programs in nine county parks with exceptional results. Currently, managed hunts are being conducted on eight county parks annually.
To learn more about the Montgomery Parks managed deer hunting programs, please click here to review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) regarding deer population management being conducted on County parkland. If you are interested in learning how to become involved as a participant in the lottery based managed deer hunting program, please click here for pre-screening information.
2009-2010 Park Closures Dates
Parks Managed Hunt Dates
Park Police Sharpshooting
Dates
Montgomery Parks Managed Deer Hunting Program
| October | |
|---|---|
30 - Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
|
| November | |
|---|---|
3 – Blockhouse Point Conservation Park |
14 – Woodstock Equestrian Park |
4 – North Germantown Greenway/Great Seneca Stream Valley Park |
17 – Blockhouse Point Conservation Park |
6 – Woodstock Equestrian Park / Dry Seneca Stream Valley Park |
18 – North Germantown Greenway/Great Seneca Stream Valley Park |
7 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
20 – Woodstock Equestrian Park / Dry Seneca Stream Valley Park |
9 – Rachel Carson Conservation Park |
21– Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
13 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park / Dry Seneca Stream Valley Park |
23 – Rachel Carson Conservation Park |
December |
|
|---|---|
4 – Woodstock Equestrian Park / Buck Lodge Forest Conservation Park |
17 – Little Bennett Regional Park |
5 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park / Little Seneca Stream Valley Park/Walt Good Flying Field |
18 – Little Bennett Regional Park / Woodstock Equestrian Park |
9 – Little Bennett Regional Park |
19 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
10 – Little Bennett Regional Park |
21 – Rachel Carson Conservation Park |
11 – Little Bennett Regional Park / Hoyles Mill Conservation Park / Little Seneca Stream Valley Park/Walt Good Flying Field |
22 – Blockhouse Point Conservation Park |
12 – Woodstock Equestrian Park / Buck Lodge Forest Conservation Park |
23 – North Germantown Greenway/Great Seneca Stream Valley Park |
16 – Little Bennett Regional Park |
|
| January | |
|---|---|
8 – Woodstock Equestrian Park & Buck Lodge Forest Conservation Park |
23 – Woodstock Equestrian Park |
9 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park & Little Seneca Stream Valley Park/Walt Good Flying Field |
29 – Woodstock Equestrian Park |
22 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
30 – Hoyles Mill Conservation Park |
Parks closed for Park Police-based sharpshooting
The following parks are closed 5:30pm through Sunrise, January 1 through March 31, 2010.
- Agricultural History Farm Park and attached segments of Rock Creek Stream Valley Park (Derwood)
- Black Hill Regional Park (Boyds)
- Layhill Local Park (Wheaton)
- North Branch Stream Valley Park, Units 2&3(Norbeck)
- Nortwest Branch Recreation Park(Aspen Hill)
- Northwest Branch Stream Valley Park, Unit 7 (Ashton)
- Rock Creek Regional Park (Rockville)
- Rock Creek Stream Valley Park, Unit 7 (Aspen Hill)
- Wheaton Regional Park (Wheaton)
- Woodlawn Special Park (Sandy Spring)
Park Police-based Sharpshooting
Montgomery County Department of Parks, in order to reduce and maintain deer populations in accordance with the goals of the County’s deer management plan, conducts Police-based sharpshooting in select parks during the period of January through March.
Deer population reductions are conducted from Sunset until Sunrise while the parks are closed to the public. Programming is designed with public safety being paramount. Police-based sharpshooting programs are directed and supervised by the Department’s Park Police Division and Wildlife staff. Park Police Officers participating in this program have received extensive training and certification and utilize the most advance equipment and techniques available. Weapons discharge is conducted in a safe manner with safe backdrops identified prior to firing.
Deer are removed safely, humanely, and discretely. All deer harvested during such programming are donated to the Capital Area Food Band for distribution to the regions charitable organizations.
Police-based sharpshooting was implemented in the county in the spring of 1999 and has occurred annually ever since. To date, the Department has conducted Police-based sharpshooting programs in ten county parks with exceptional results. Police-based sharpshooting is being conducted annually, and the Department continues to investigate expanding efforts to parklands in need of deer population reduction. Click here to review the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s) on this topic.
Date of last update: September 28, 2009
Montgomery County Department of Parks