The city of Galena Deer Committee met Nov. 16 to authorize hunting on properties.
Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the committee:
1. Call the Meeting to order - The meeting was called to order at 6:30 p.m. with the following individuals in attendance: John Cox ( Chairperson), Carmen Ferguson and Kirk Foeking. Beth Baranski was absent
2. Approve Agenda - A motion to approve the agenda was made by Kirk and was seconded by Carmen. The motion was approved.
3. Approve meeting notes from September meeting - The chair advised the committee that the notes for the September meeting will be considered at the next meeting.
4. Possible discussion with property owners of land surrounding the City of Galena to consider approval by those property owners and the Department of Natural Resources of hunting those properties with assistance from local hunters with the goal of managing the deer population:
Hunters, Bob Buman, Doug Smith and Kyle Marsden, attended the meeting.
Tom and Connie Wienen and Jack Gherts, property owners, attended the meeting as well.
An excellent discussion occurred between the hunters, the property owners, committee members and citizens present.
All hunting, if approved, should be bow hunting.
Most areas around the City of Galena are already hunted during regular hunting seasons.
The only way hunting will help with deer population management in the City is for the hunting to occur inside the city limits.
All hunters should be tested to assure they have the skills to properly hunt within the City limits.
Very small numbers of hunters should be authorized to hunt within any particular area within the City limits.
The cost to the City of any such hunts within the City limits would be minimal as the hunters would bear all costs of permits and meat processing
The Council should consider authorizing hunting of any land owned by the City whether inside or outside the City limits.
There should be at least one helicopter count of deer inside the City limits to provide validation of the counts on the ground done by the Committee during the past year.
All hunters and property owner representatives present agreed on the recommendations made to the committee.
5. Comments from Citizens - There were no comments from citizens.
6. Discussion of Final Report to the City Council including changes,
corrections and additions to the draft previously submitted to the committee members - Committee members agreed that discussion of the language of the Final Report should be done only with all Committee members present. The Committee agreed to delay the discussion until the next meeting.
7. Discussion of goal of finalizing report for delivery to the City Council
by early December - All committee members present agreed that our goal ought to be to complete our work at our next meeting, if at all possible. Should the Final Draft of the report lead to issues of concern, there was agreement that we would meet one more time to resolve any remaining issues.
8. Adjournment - The meeting adjourned at 8:05 p.m.
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