In the first season of the hotly controversial four-year culling program, federal sharpshooters have reduced the deer population at Valley Forge National Historical Park by about half, killing 600, park officials announced Monday.
Since November, the operation had yielded more than nine tons of meat for food banks across the state - including 3,000 pounds in Chester County.
The park is 2300 acres, or about 5.5 square miles. So my calculator tells me over 100 deer were removed per square mile!
Park officials had estimated that 1,277 deer were living on the revered Revolutionary War site before the culling began in November. The ultimate goal is to reduce the herd to well under 200.
There is still a way to go.
