The city will permit a fifth consecutive bow hunt of deer this fall and early winter.
The bow hunt season inside the city limits will run from Sept. 12 through Jan. 31.
To participate, hunters must complete an annual proficiency test and attend a class on the hunt’s rules and regulations. Hunters also must receive permission from private property owners to hunt of their property.
Proponents of the Cedar Rapids bow hunt – several Iowa cities including Coralville and Marion permit bow hunting of deer inside the city limits — say the hunt has reduced deer-vehicle crashes inside the city since its inception four years ago. That’s not to say vocal opponents of the hunt aren’t still out there.
At the conclusion of each of the previous four bow hunts, Fire Chief Steve Havlik, who oversees the bow hunt in Cedar Rapids, has reported that complaints about the hunt have been few and that there have been no injuries to people related to the shooting of arrows.
Bow hunters have killed 298, 333, 349 and, most recently, 314 deer in the four previous annual hunts.
In 2004, figures compiled by the city, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Transportation put the number of deer-vehicle collisions inside Cedar Rapids at 453. In 2008, the number was 250, the DNR reported.
For information on this year’s hunt, go to http://www.cedar-rapids.org/fire/urbandeerhunt.asp
Eye on the Island 