Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh say the city may need to add sharpshooters to its arsenal if it wants to keep the deer population in check. A new study finds that Pittsburgh’s limited archery program is unlikely to reduce the city’s population on its own.
The study comes from Pitt’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Professor Jeremy Weber, who led the research, said results from the city’s pilot program showed that archers are primarily containing the current population, rather than decreasing it to a more manageable size. He argues the city won’t see a decrease in deer-related vehicle accidents without further action.
“If you want the population to actually come down, [the city] can’t rely on vehicles and disease,” he said. “Our argument is simply, let’s have sharpshooters do that far more effectively and humanely.”
The city announced last month that its limited archery program captured 108 deer in Frick and Riverview parks from the end of September through January. Officials called it a “tremendous success” and announced plans to expand the hunt into Schenley, Emerald View and Highland parks this year.
But Weber and his graduate students found that at that pace, city archers will be merely “keeping up with the reproduction rate, more or less."
Weber pointed to the success of similar sharpshooter programs in nearby Mount Lebanon and Fox Chapel — both boroughs have deployed hunters at night to cull deer — as models to follow. Mount Lebanon hired a company to hunt deer while Fox Chapel has used its police officers.
A spokesperson for Mayor Ed Gainey pointed to the city’s five-page evaluation of the deer management pilot program, which also noted that bolder action may be needed to adequately cull the population. The office said a sharpshooter program is under consideration, but there is no timeline in place to implement such a strategy.
It’s hard to quantify exactly how many deer live in Pittsburgh, but Pitt’s research found that the number of deer carcasses collected by the city has increased by 411% in roughly the last 20 years. Weber said that increase reflects a clear growth in population.
“We're not getting more deer-vehicle collisions because there's more people driving,” he said, pointing to the region’s well-documented population loss. “There are more deer that are crossing the roads.”
In Frick Park, which covers roughly 1 square mile, researchers found that the deer population tripled from 2010 to 2023.
The study also calculated the cost of vehicle damage caused by an overgrown deer population. In 2023, vehicle incidents involving deer racked up $3.6 million in vehicle damage. Researchers note those costs are most burdensome for low-income drivers, who often lack comprehensive insurance coverage.
Researchers looked at other population-control methods, including surgical sterilization. The study noted that in other Northeastern municipalities that used the approach, populations did not see a notable decrease. In one instance, a population decline came from male deer migrating elsewhere.
Prior to the city’s archery program, officials had relied on tactics to mitigate deer impact, such as fencing around trees. But Weber argues that doing nothing to reduce the population is less humane than a well-planned deer cull.
“We’re having deer mortality in all scenarios,” Weber said. “What are the effects of that for the deer themselves and on our parks?”
In the meantime, the city says applications to participate in Pittsburgh’s archery program this fall are expected to open this month. Archers will be selected and assigned to one of five participating parks in June.
