The Missouri Department of Conservation will schedule either three or four deer population counts within Cape Girardeau city limits after the conclusion of the firearms deer hunting season.
The firearms season ends on November 20. There will be about one month between each survey.
Russell Duckworth, the MDC’s Protection District Supervisor, says the deer counts will be conducted at night.
“First off, the deer are more active after dark.,” Duckworth said. “And secondly, they will be done of course in the city limits of Cape Girardeau. So that we’re not interfering with traffic, we will be doing these late at night or early in the morning."
Two teams of five or six individuals will travel along two predetermined routes in northern Cape Girardeau, according to Duckworth.
"And then you take the numbers that you gather through the night and there's actually a computer program that the things are entered into that will then give us deer concentration numbers,” Duckworth said.
Representatives from the city of Cape Girardeau and Southeast Missouri State University will assist in the deer count.
The population count will provide city officials with data that would be helpful in managing an urban deer hunting season.
Duckworth says they cannot set exact dates yet due to weather factors such as rain, fog and snow.