Who's for Venison tonight?

[PghUSA]

Pittsburgh being full of hills and valleys has lots of culverts and hollows and ridgelines that although not too far "as the crow flys" from another street and neighborhood, it has lots of geographical square footage for wild animals to seek refuge (there was a lynx that escaped from the Pittsburgh Zoo and successfully lived on the city's east side for close to a decade because of the terrain changes every 10 blocks or so). Imagine for a moment having a few neighborhood streets and then plunging down 75 degrees for about 300 paces that is basically the 55 square miles of the city outside of downtown, those terrain shift areas are basically almost virgin forest with little or no development since the town was founded. Thus the reason for the explosion in the deer population in the city.

"City needs more deer departed, state says

Tuesday, April 05, 2005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

More hunting within Pittsburgh's city limits is needed to thin the city's growing deer herd, according to state Game Commission officials.

The deer herd has swelled over the past decade to somewhere in the thousands and growing, though hard numbers are difficult to come by, the commission said.

Deer can be seen in populated areas because they've learned to live among humans who generally leave them alone, according to the commission.

Last year, the city picked up 140 deer carcasses in most city neighborhoods, most of which were struck by cars. So far this year, 30 deer carcasses have been picked up.

Hunting is allowed with restrictions in the city and game officials said hunting has to be part of the population control solution."