Des Moines Sun

The Pleasant Hill City Council recently approved a resolution to overhaul hunting in area parks as political leaders in recent years have seen too many infractions and they want to rein in hunters.

“The point of this policy isn't to reduce or minimize the program,” Parks and Recreation Manager Ryan Merritt told the city council at a recent meeting. “We just want to make sure that we have support to be able to manage it appropriately.”

Des Moines allows special-use hunting permits in some parks so the city can cull the deer population. The capital has limitations in place, including that hunters must use a bow and they can only harvest antlerless animals. Participants must have a valid Iowa hunting license, wildlife habitat stamp, Bow Hunter Safety Course Certification, Proficiency Test Certification and a 'special use permit' from the city of Des Moines.

The city of Pleasant Hill has worked in conjunction with the Polk County Deer Task Force since 2007 on similar efforts as deer populations surged. As the hunting program has evolved, though, there have been enough infractions lately that the town is looking to remove certain persons from program eligibility. Each municipality decides the final approval or rejection for each infraction.

The Parks and Recreation department recommended a three-tiered measurement of infractions to control issues related to the program. Pleasant Hill didn’t have such measures in place before the resolution was considered, and this would bring the city in line with other municipalities.

Pleasant Hill is also committed to keeping track of hunters to ban from the park, however they said they haven’t had any issues in their jurisdiction yet.