Council Doesn't Want Hunting in Oakdale Nature Preserve

Oakdale City Council members want to keep allowing a bow hunters’ organization to thin the city’s deer population, but they’d like to keep the hunts out of the , they said at a workshop meeting Tuesday, July 12.

Sharpshooters from the Metro Bowhunters Resource Base killed 22 deer in Oakdale last year, said Oakdale Public Works Director Brian Bachmeier.

The Oakdale Nature Preserve remained open to the public while hunts were taking place in the park.

“What I don’t like about it is we have the dedicated people who recreate in the park on a very regular basis,” said council member Stan Karwoski. “Just the thought of them feeling, just the uncertainty or uncomfortable-ness of comingling that; I don’t want hunting in our parks.”

Karwoski and council member Paul Reinke both said the issue isn’t safety.

“To my knowledge there’s been zero close calls, almost zero observations (of hunters by park users),” Reinke said. “While it feels strange to have this mix of activity in the park, I really have very small concern about the safety element of it.”

Rather, it’s the psychological impact of the hunting the council members said they were concerned about. Reinke said he had one resident tell him she was upset by seeing a dead deer being removed from the park during one of last year’s hunts.

Council members said they wanted to find alternative areas in which to hunt near the southwest corner of the park, where residents have complained about deer.

“We need to do something to protect the neighbors' property,” said Mayor Carmen Sarrack. “I’d feel the same way if all my stuff was destroyed; I’d be really mad.”

Council members also said they wanted to consider creating a city law that would prohibit feeding deer.

In August, city staff will bring back a proposal to the council to allow the Metro Bowhunters Resource Base members to hunt in areas other than the nature preserve, as well as a proposed city ordinance that would prohibit feeding deer, said City Administrator  Craig Waldron.
At that time, the public will get a chance to make comments on the proposal, he said.