Eden Prairie's deer management program is underway.
The program, which began in the late 1990s, looks to maintain the city's white-tail deer population at 20 to 25 deer per square mile of suitable habitat.
Matt Bourne is the city's parks and recreation serves manager and says it's common for residents to see 15 to 20 deer in neighborhoods which can be destructive to private property.
"And then also with Chronic Wasting Disease kind of getting closer to the metro area, that's another reason why we go out, and not try and eliminate deer but try to keep it at a healthy population," explains Bourne.
USDA wildlife professionals usually work from dusk and into the evening when deer are most active.
"It's usually less frequent when residents are out using our trail systems, our conservation areas. We've been with them for about seven years now, that we've used them," says Bourne. "We have control sites where they will take deer over baited sites. And then any deer that is removed is given to families in need. So food shelves or needy families."
Before the deer management program began, Eden Prairie had an average of 280 deer-versus-car collisions each year. That number has dropped to 30 per year since the implementation of the management program.