CLARK COUNTY, Ind. (WAVE) – Plans to remove up to 80 deer as part of a wildlife reduction effort at Origin Park in Clark County were paused at the end of February.
The pause came after Clarksville Town Council members and several community members said they had not been informed about the issue.
On Sunday, a couple who run a drone business decided to get an aerial view of the deer population themselves.
David and Savanna Barrett, owners of Hoosier South Drone Services, regularly perform herd analysis work in the private sector.
“We just felt like that information needs to be shared with everybody,” said David Barrett, a licensed drone pilot. “We saw a lot of people, the citizens of Clarksville were complaining, they didn’t know there was that many deer here, they didn’t feel like they had all the information.”
Clarksville Town Council members said they were particularly unaware of the planned culling.
Councilman Bob McEwen posted the permit held by Origin Park on his Facebook page on February 23.
The permit, approved on November 25 of last year, allows for the removal of up to 80 deer. The document states the park believes the deer are causing or could cause damage to the property.
“As many herd surveys as we do, I felt like 80 was really high,” David said. “If the amount of deer were here that needed to have a hunt, I would absolutely… just personally… [I’m] not an expert would say that’s a good idea. But 80 is a high number, very high.”
“We just felt like it was a great opportunity to volunteer our services to help inform the community by conducting an independent survey so everyone can see the bigger picture,” Savanna Barrett said.
The couple launched their drone to count the deer individually.
“We can pick out every deer that’s on the property, and we can literally drop pins on it and know that we counted exactly how many animals are on the property,” David explained.
David operates the drone as the pilot, while Savanna serves as the certified visual observer.
“We’ll use the thermals to locate the deer, and then we’ll switch to the high-res 4K camera to visually see whether it is a doe or a buck,” Savanna explained.
The technology also allows them to check on the animals’ health.
“I mean, that is important to us everywhere we fly,” David said. “We want to see if they’re malnourished, if they look sick, if they look healthy.”
As the park’s wildlife management plans remain uncertain, the couple said they have no stake in the outcome. They hope their work will help provide information for informed decision-making.
“Our main purpose is to bring the information to the public, so there is an independent study that is an unbiased study and just provide the facts of what we found to the general public and hopefully to council,” Savanna said.
In the analysis the pair shared with WAVE, they reported that all deer appeared healthy, showed normal herd behavior, and displayed no visible signs of significant over-browsing.
They asked that the total number of deer not be shared yet while they go through the process of presenting their findings to stakeholders.
Leave a Comment