During that meeting, Lakeway City Council discussed recommendations from the Lakeway Wildlife Advisory Committee that sought for council to remove its moratorium on deer trapping effective Jan. 1 and apply for a placeholder permit from the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department for the "Trap, Transfer and Translocate," or TTT, program to relocate deer to ranches in West Texas.
The full recommendation also sought to authorize interim City Manager Julie Oakley and committee Chair Dennis Hogan to negotiate a contract with a trapper to commence trapping operations Feb. 1. The program would include help from law enforcement, according to city information.
Information from the TPWD states a TTT permit costs $750, and the TTT option is seen by proponents as a more humane version of an earlier program called "Trap, Transport and Process," or TTP, which resulted in ultimately killing caught deer.
The wildlife committee approved the action Dec. 12 in a 4-2 vote. Prior to the meeting, several Lakeway residents had already publicly voiced their hopes that council would postpone action, citing the fact that a recent deer population census showed no significant growth over the last year, and no formal survey seeking input had yet been sent out to Lakeway citizens.
During the Dec. 16 meeting, Hogan said the deer population in Lakeway is a very complicated topic.
Prior to the meeting, Lakeway residents stated they would like for the committee to send out a survey to Lakeway residents that was approved during an Aug. 19 City Council meeting as part of a deer management program.
"I want to tell you where we stand, because it helps set the platform for talking about this issue," Hogan said regarding the council-approved deer management program.
There are issues with management and public education that come into play with the city's program, and it centers largely on the health of the deer, he said, adding he has learned much from the committee he chairs and the experts brought in by the city to help guide the committee.
Hogan said he is not sure how he feels about the survey that has not yet been sent out to residents. He is also unsure what more his committee and city leaders would learn given all of the expert input already received coupled with a pair of committee open houses that sought resident input on the matter in November.
City Council Member Louis Mastrangelo said prior to the Dec. 16 meeting one reason the committee felt an urgency to recommend applying for the TTT permit is because the TPWD recently made the program available due to an anthrax outbreak in south and west Texas that decimated local white-tailed deer populations, and the department’s deadlines state permits must be submitted by Jan. 2.
Information from City Council’s Dec. 16 agenda includes results from a deer population census conducted by Kolbe Ranches & Wildlife LLC. The census was composed of three spotlight surveys conducted from Nov. 19-Dec. 3.
Notes from that survey conclude the white-tailed deer population density in Lakeway is estimated at one deer per 5.37 acres.
“From the literature and past research on native rural range habitat, a deer per **10-25** acres is recommended in the Edwards Plateau ecoregion of Texas,” the survey states, but also notes that no significant growth in the deer population has occurred from 2018 to 2019.
Regardless of the fact the deer population is not growing, Hogan said there are still problems to consider.
"The trend line doesn't show there are a lot more deer ... but it shows the does are getting a lot less food, and the fawns are getting eaten by prey—coyotes and so forth," He said.
Hogan also pointed out the fact the census showed the deer tend to have higher density numbers in certain parts of the city, which poses more problems for the health of the herd.
In opposition to Hogan's presentation laying out why he and the majority of the committee voted to introduce the TTT option, opponents of the committee recommendation maintain that because the deer herd showed no significant growth over the last year, there is no reason to cull the population, a sentiment that Council Member Gretchen Vance echoed to audience applause during the discussion Dec. 16.
Also of note, Council Member Laurie Higginbotham pointed out deer-related calls to police in Lakeway decreased from 159 to 112 from 2018-19.
The opinions of Lakeway residents who spoke during public comment were mixed with regard to how to handle the deer issue but showed little diversity of argument. Those opposed to the committee recommendation were in the majority and for the most part asserted they wanted to give input on a public survey prior to any action being taken, if any.
Those in favor of the committee recommendation cited a growing density of the deer population in ever-shrinking pockets of Lakeway as the city continues to develop and stated it would be cruel to do nothing about the wildlife.
After more than an hour of public comment, council took another 90 minutes for final discussion and voted to submit an application for the TTT permit before Jan. 2 in a 4-3 vote, with Vance, Mastrangelo and Higginbotham voting against.
Council then voted against issuing a citizen survey in a 4-3 vote, with Council Members Steve Smith, Sanjeev Kumar, Doug Howell and Mayor Sandy Cox voting "no."
Finally, council voted to put an indefinite moratorium on both the TTT and TTP programs until a cost assessment could be carried out. That passed in a 4-3 vote with Howell, Smith and Kumar voting "no."
