Urban Deer Hunting

I never took up deer hunting and I've regretted that for years. The reason for this is because when I was young Indiana didn't have a deer season. At that time we we told that deer would probably never return to Indiana in the numbers prior to 1900. Maybe they were right but I would like to point out just as a good reason not to believe conventional wisdom that both Indiana and Ohio have "urban deer" permits. Right, shoot them in your own backyard. It hasn't come to that yet but there are regions in both states where deer can be taken with bows in an urban environment. From Indiana's DNR,

" Urban Deer Zones: Urban deer zones provide an incentive for archery hunters, using only archery equipment, to remove additional deer by increasing the bag limit in certain areas. The zones are as follows: Chesterton – the portion of Porter County north of Interstate 94. Crown Point – the portion of Lake County within the corporate limits of Crown Point. Evansville – all of Vanderburgh County. Fort Wayne – the portion of Allen County within the bounds of Interstate 69 and Indiana 469. Gary – the portion of Lake County north of U.S. 30. Indianapolis – all of Marion County, Hendricks County east of Indiana 267; southeast portion of Boone County bounded by Indiana 267, Interstate 65, Indiana 32; and the por-tion of Hamilton County south of Indiana 32. Lafayette – the portion of Tippecanoe County north of Indiana 28. Michigan City – the portion of LaPorte County north of Interstate 94. Warsaw – the portion of Kosciusko County within the corporate limits of Warsaw.

The bag limit for the urban zones is four antlerless deer, or three antlerless and one antlered deer within an urban zone. This is in addition to all other bag limits. The season is Sept. 15 through Nov. 27 and Dec. 3 through Jan. 1, 2012.

The provision does not override any local ordinances restricting shooting of ?rearms and bows. Hunters must obtain permission from landowners to hunt on their property. An archery, extra archery, or bonus antler-less license is needed for each deer taken. (These licenses are included with resident youth consolidated hunt/trap licenses and comprehensive lifetime hunting licenses)".

From Ohio's DNR,

Urban Deer Units

These units include several of the larger metropolitan areas throughout Ohio. Maps with the boundaries of these areas are available from the Division of Wildlife or on the Web site. Please refer to Ohio Urban Deer Units publication.

Hunters may take up to 6 antlerless deer within the Urban Deer Units using either the Antlerless Deer Permit ($15) or Deer Permit ($24).

Antlerless deer taken within the Urban Deer Units are tallied independently and will not count towards your deer bag limits in Zones A, B, or C.

The Antlerless Deer Permits are valid in the Urban Units through February 5, 2012.

The designation of an Urban Deer Unit in no way supersedes existing firearms or archery regulations, or community prohibitions. It is the responsibility of the hunter to check with local authorities and obey all existing local ordinances and regulations. Hunters must obtain written permission before hunting on private land.

Look at the bag limits! In Indiana it's 4 and it's 6 in Ohio. No, I won't be taking up deer hunting but I find it positively remarkable that the states have to deal with deer almost as urban pests.