According to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, there are an estimated 1.75 million white-tailed deer roaming around Mississippi.
In August 2010, Oxford Mayor Pat Patterson and the Board of Aldermen developed a deer management plan with the help of the city’s Emergency Management department.
The goal of the plan is to ensure public safety and reduce property damage caused by the overpopulation of white-tailed deer in Oxford by conducting controlled hunts.
Jeff McCutchen, major of operations at the Oxford Police Department and resident of Oxford since 2003, said the city’s development has caused its deer population to overflow into urban areas.
“The city has annexed and inside the annex, they’ve built and inside that, they’ve built,” McCutchen said. “For centuries, that’s been the deer’s land and their place of rest and now we’re kind of pushing them out. This makes them generate more movement, so it definitely raises a concern.”
According to the plan’s safety statement, hunting within Oxford city limits is a privilege granted by the mayor and Board of Aldermen.
The controlled hunts are authorized under an animal control permit issued by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, and chosen hunters are given the freedom to hunt in designated areas using only archery equipment.
The site includes an application for landowners willing to allow city-selected hunters to hunt on their property.
Though this program has been in action since 2010, accidents involving deer have continued to occur in the city with considerable frequency.
Mississippi was ranked sixth on State Farm’s list of states with the highest likelihoods of deer-related auto accidents in 2013. The chances for a deer-related auto accident in Mississippi were one out of 84. That chance fell to one in 88 in 2014, but Mississippi Highway Patrol still estimate more than 3,400 deer-related crashes occurred that year.
Kevin Powell from DeSoto Collision Center in Oxford said during deer season, half the auto-incidents they work on are from deer-related accidents.
Though the 2015-2016 deer season has passed, collisions are still occurring.
“We are actually still getting deer-related wrecks now,” Powell said. “We have three cars here at the moment from wrecks last week.”
In situations where an accident involving a deer occurs, the Oxford police have a right to do what they feel is best in the situation.
“If we go to a wreck and the deer is maimed, not dead but severely injured, we will put it down for humane sakes so it doesn’t suffer. We do get that a lot,” McCutchen said.
Charles Yow, Mississippi Auto Arms of Oxford employee, said he’s hunted often in his life and the biggest deer he ever saw was within city limits.
“It was across the street from Handy Andy’s on North Lamar,” said Yow. “It was a red light and this 12-point deer ran right into the middle of the road in between cars.”
McCutchen said drivers should scan the roads while driving and be cautious where there is one deer, there are likely more.
“Sometimes, there is nothing you can do,” McCutchen said. “My advice to prevent wrecks is slow down, put the phones down and be more observant of your surroundings.”
– Chelsea Scott
