Mount Vernon launches municipal deer management program

The city of Mount Vernon has implemented a municipal deer management program. Beginning Sept. 2, bow hunters may submit an application for a city Deer Management Permit. If applicants meet all requirements, they will be issued an orange permit to bow hunt for deer on private land within City limits during the 2025-26 deer archery season, which runs from Sept. 27 to Feb. 1, 2026.

The Mount Vernon City Council passed an ordinance in August creating Chapter 149 in the city’s Codified Ordinances, which makes the deer management program possible. Deer hunting will continue to be unlawful on city property.

With this program, Mount Vernon joins a growing list of municipalities in Central Ohio that now allow deer hunting with legal archery equipment. White-tailed deer in the state have very few effective predators, with hunting the primary method used by wildlife managers to regulate deer populations. However, in urban areas, deer have found sanctuaries that have allowed their populations to increase to levels that can cause conflicts in those communities.

“All across Ohio, including locally, the Division of Wildlife has assisted in implementing successful deer hunting programs within municipalities, which has been directly correlated with a decrease in deer-vehicle accidents, landscape damage and citizen complaints,” said Austin Levering, Knox County Wildlife Officer for the Ohio Division of Wildlife. “It is also important to consider that white-tailed deer are a contributing factor to Lyme disease, and that removing deer from the landscape could have a positive local impact on mitigating transmission to humans.”

The city’s deer management permit application, together with the program’s rules and regulations and other information, can be found on the city’s website at www.mtvernonoh.gov/DocumentCenter/View/758/Deer-Management-Permit-Rules-and-Application-PDF. Applications can also be acquired in person in the Safety-Service Director’s office at Mount Vernon City Hall, Suite 206, 40 Public Square.

The permit fee is $20 for Knox County residents, $100 for out-of-county applicants. There are several important program rules and regulations to consider:

• To complete the application, applicants must have written permission from the property owner(s) on whose land applicants will be hunting, in addition to a state hunting license, and a driver’s license or state ID card. Applicants must be at least 18 years old.

• If applicants will be hunting on land owned by themselves, spouses or parents, they must provide proof of having taken a hunter education course. This is a city, not state, requirement.

• Hunters shall not take any shot within 30 yards of an inhabited dwelling, building or public roadway.

• Harvested deer must be both checked with the state and the city’s Safety-Service office within 48 hours.

• If a wounded deer leaves the property, the hunter must immediately contact the city’s Safety-Service office (a voicemail or email is sufficient). Hunters may retrieve the deer only with the other property owner’s permission. Owners may deny access, and the city will not remove deer that cannot be retrieved.

“Several city department heads and city council spent months working in consultation with the State to make this deer management program a reality,” said Mayor Matthew Starr. “Mount Vernon is now doing what many other communities in this region have found to be effective. We’re always focused on finding ways to make this city more livable, and I’m confident the inaugural season of this program will be a success.”