TWO DOES GRAZE in Iron Mountain. (Theresa Proudfit/Daily News photo, file)

IRON MOUNTAIN — Although 82 deer were culled by archery hunters within city limits last year, Iron Mountain officials acknowledge the population remains troublesome.

City Manager Jordan Stanchina said Monday he’ll look into the cost of hiring sharpshooters to trim the herd further, citing a recently completed pilot program in Pittsburgh. Just like Iron Mountain, the Pennsylvania city has a managed archery hunt that hasn’t kept its herd from becoming a nuisance.

Stanchina told the city council it shows that the problem of urban deer is “happening everywhere.” The Pittsburgh program was conducted through the U.S. Department of Agriculture and involved targeted harvesting by sharpshooters at night.

It will be up to the council to decide if the cost of sharpshooters is acceptable, keeping in mind that a solo project in Iron Mountain might have limited impact if neighboring municipalities don’t participate, Stanchina said. “We’ll try to get a number,” he told the council.

Sharpshooters were first deployed in Iron Mountain about 20 years ago, but the city later turned to an archery hunt. The 82 deer harvested in 2024 was the most since the program began in 2012.

An Iron Mountain resident last fall raised worries cases of deer tick-borne Lyme disease are rising. The archery hunt, Stanchina acknowledged, does little to curb deer that make residential areas their sole habitat.

In other action Monday, the council:

— Learned that Friends of City Park paid to install a concrete parking strip and a concrete walkway to the entrance for the dog park. Within the next year, the city may spend up to up $175,000 in remaining American Rescue Plan Act funds to upgrade the park’s playground equipment.