Residents of the Mt. Bolus neighborhood off Martin Luther King. Jr. Boulevard asked the Town Council on Monday to consider bowhunting deer.

"This has become a real growing probem in our neighborhood,' said Jesse White, who said he collected 27 signatures in 10 days supporting a hunt.

The idea of shooting deer with bows and arrows in the town limits stunned some council members.

"I cannot support an urban archery program. No way, no how," said council member Sally Greene.

Council member Laurin Easthom said she also opposed bowhunting in the town, even though she has been in two car accidents with deer. In one, she said the animal would have crashed through her windshield if she had slammed on the brakes instead of easing her foot off the gas.

In a memo to Town Manager Roger Stancil, Police Chief Brian Curran and Lt. Kevin Gunter recommended the town take no action other than a public awareness campaign.

Urban archery

The state allows municpalities to hold an urban archery program to control deer. The 2010 season runs Jan. 9 through Feb. 13, but the town would have had to send the state a letter of intent by April 1.

Sixteen local governments have adopted the season, the closest in Pittsboro. In 2008, 83 deer were killed, the majority in Elkin, in the western part of the state.

But Curran and Gunter noted that all the communities with deer hunts are a lot smaller than Chapel Hill. In one, complaints came in about trespassing and hunting outside designated areas.

"Following up on these types of complaints could quickly deplete current police resources," their memo said.

Councilman Matt Czajkowski didn't buy the police argument.

"One out of 16 is more an anomaly than a trend," he said, adding that Mt. Bolus is a small area. "It seems the residents themselves can ensure these complaints don't arise."

"I just find the recommendation of the staff difficult to accept," he said.

Town streched thin

Other council members, while sympathetic to police concerns, also wanted to do something.

"The chief is well aware there is a problem," said council member Ed Harrison. "The town is pretty stretched as it is. It's a lightly policed town by some standards. I don't think we want police time spent on this."

But Mt. Bolus could be a pilot program for an urban deer management program, "whatever it is," Harrison said.

"It is not a minor problem," he said. "I'm getting complaints as soon as I talk about it all over town."

Greene said her concern was public safety. She acknowledged Duke University is conducting bowhunting, as well as gun hunting, to thin deer herds on parts of its forest just outside town. But as a council member, Greene said she has to weigh the safety of those inside her jurisdiction.

After Harrison said development in Durham is moving deer into his neighborhood off U.S. 15-501, council member Mark Kleinschmidt said the town might want to explore where deer are coming from and how.

"If the deer aren't thinned they're going to die in another way," he said. If deer are traveling along certain corridor, the town could even consider a physical barrier like the "Rabbit-Proof Fence," he said, a reference to the 2,000-mile long fence Australia built in the early 1900s to keep rabbits out of the western part of the country..

"I can't decide whether we should or not without knowing some of that other information: where are they coming from, how are they moving," he said.

Birth control

Curran's memo noted that questions have been raised about deer birth control. But he said contraceptives and sterilization measures are in the experimental stages and not approved for use in North Carolina.

After a brief discussion, Mayor Kevin Foy agreed the town needed more information. He asked Town Manager Roger Stancil to come back with recommendations at a future meeting.

In an interview, Foy said he shares some of Greene's and Easthom's safety concerns. He also wants to make sure whatever method the town might use is humane.

'It wouldn't be my first choice," he said of bowhunting. "But I understand there would be some benefit to the deer population as a whole."