A new program using sharpshooters to control Arlington’s deer population is firing up in the new year.
The hunting operation, which will take place in the Four Mile Run area and in some wooded parks north of Langston Blvd, may cause some parks to close an hour or two early some evenings this February as professional sharpshooters armed with sound-suppressed rifles take their place in tree stands.
The Parks and Recreation Department is planning to conduct outreach over the next few months, letting people know the locations of the white-tailed deer cull. It’s one prong of a much-debated initiative to prevent deer overpopulation and protect the health of Arlington’s forests.
“Signage will be placed in parks ahead of operations and the parks will be closed, secured, and monitored by Arlington County police and park rangers during evening hours when professional sharpshooting takes place,” county spokesperson Jerry Solomon told ARLnow.
A virtual information session on the deer management program is taking place on Thursday, Jan. 15 from 7-8:30 p.m.
The county’s contract with Bridgewater, Va.-based Wildlife Resources, LLC requires all sharpshooters to have at least two years’ experience in similar operations “in sensitive urban/suburban environments.” Parks must first be secured by the contractor in coordination with the law enforcement, and hunters can only fire downward at predetermined locations approved by the county.
“Sharpshooters must make every reasonable effort to be humane, minimizing the pain and suffering of harvested deer,” the contract says. “Sharpshooters must consistently cause immediate insensibility and humane death using a single bullet.”
Only one sharpshooter can operate at a time, in one secured park per night. All tree stands and shell casings have to be removed by the end of the night, as do the dead deer.
“The deer must be transported and handled respectfully, in such a fashion that they remain viable for processing and potential human consumption,” the contract stipulates. “Deer must be covered while transported.”
Sharpshooters will hunt both bucks and does, “but a strong emphasis should be placed on the killing of antlerless deer.”
The contract is for $49,000 or $3,500 per day of operation, plus $900 for initial coordination. The operation must conclude no later than the end of March.
The decision to reduce Arlington’s deer population by hunting the creatures with guns sparked significant debate.
County data suggests that the concentration of deer in local parks far exceeds “healthy” levels, harming forest ecosystems through overbrowsing of certain plant species and eating tree seedlings before they can mature into saplings.
The Animal Welfare League of Arlington, however, frequently disputed the county’s deer population goals and pointed to data that found many respondents preferred a non-lethal method of limiting the herbivores’ numbers: surgical sterilization of female deer.
The County Board opted for guns over scalpels in a vote in November 2024, noting that some neighboring jurisdictions have safely carried out deer hunts for years, and that spaying deer en masse is a more expensive, experimental method that involves tranquilizing the animals in order to carry out a medical procedure.
In addition to hunting deer, the county has deployed small-scale fencing and repellents to protect vulnerable plant species.
“Findings revealed that high deer densities are harming forest health, leading to a plan centered around professional sharpshooting within a hybrid management approach to reduce deer numbers,” a project webpage says. “By using an adaptive, evidence-based approach, the Deer Management Program aims to balance deer populations with local ecosystems to protect forest health long-term.”
