About 1,200 Wildwood households received a survey in mid-June asking a question that has divided the City Council for years: should archery hunters be allowed on parcels smaller than three acres?

The survey, mailed the week of June 15 with responses due by mid-July, represents the city's latest attempt to resolve a deer management debate that has consumed council meetings, split votes down the middle, and pitted professional sharpshooters against volunteer bowhunters since at least 2022. The survey is advisory. If the council ultimately acts on the results, as many as 1,656 additional properties would become eligible for archery hunting.

How Wildwood Got Here

Wildwood's deer problem is not subtle. Surveys conducted between 2020 and 2025 across six study areas estimate roughly 1,756 deer roaming 30.48 square miles of the city, an average density of 57.6 per square mile, according to the city's April 2026 feasibility analysis. The Missouri Department of Conservation considers 15 to 20 deer per square mile sustainable.

In 2024, the city hired White Buffalo Inc., a nonprofit wildlife management organization, to send professional sharpshooters after the herd. Over two years, the program removed 661 deer at a total city cost of $470,061.94, including operational expenses beyond the base contract, according to City Administrator Thomas Lee. Deer-vehicle collisions dropped by 62 incidents in 2025, to 177 total. The city's feasibility analysis modeled that reduction as roughly $400,000 in avoided insurance claims, based on an average cost of $6,466 per incident.

Then, on December 8, 2025, the council voted 8-6 to renew White Buffalo's contract for a third year. It wasn't enough. The city charter requires nine votes to pass an ordinance. The program was paused.

Local bowhunters had spoken against the renewal. A group of them, including members of the Wildwood Conservation Alliance and Certified Bowhunters of St. Louis County, had offered to manage the herd for free. Resident Tom Mitchell presented a plan at a January 2026 work session targeting 330 deer that year and 280 in 2027. "If you want to accept that plan, we're ready," Mitchell told the council, according to West Newsmagazine's account of the session. "If not, get ready for a real battle."

A Council Divided

The council referred deer management to its Administration and Public Works Committee, which spent months evaluating whether bowhunters could be formally incorporated into city efforts. According to the city's April 2026 feasibility analysis, no Missouri municipality has established a precedent for contracting with bowhunters or coordinating their access to private land. The analysis also found that bowhunters typically target mature bucks rather than the does that drive population growth, and that no bowhunters currently report their harvests to the city.

Still, the analysis identified a middle path. Wildwood already allows archery hunting on parcels of three acres or more. Lowering that threshold to one acre would open 1,656 additional properties to hunting. The council could also allow "parcel aggregation," letting neighbors combine smaller lots to meet the minimum.

On May 11, the council voted to authorize a resident survey on the question. The vote was 7-7. Mayor Joe Garritano broke the tie in favor.

Council Member Katie Dodwell, Ward 4, wanted to go further. She pushed to reengage White Buffalo for the 2026-2027 season, calling the prior culling "tremendous success." Garritano ruled her motion out of order, keeping the focus on the survey.

Council Member Jim Kranz, Ward 7, argued from the other direction. He wanted a drone count of the deer population before any removal and warned that reducing acreage requirements could increase vehicle collisions by pushing deer onto roads.

At the June 8 work session, Council Member Matt Trottier, Ward 2, moved to strip the drone-survey question from the resident questionnaire, keeping it focused on hunting regulations. "This is for acreage to be hunted on, plain and simple," Trottier said. That motion passed.

What Residents Are Being Asked

The final survey, developed with University of Chicago professor Matthew Nanes at a cost of $4,120, asks whether archery hunting should be permitted on parcels as small as one acre and whether adjacent smaller parcels should be combinable to meet that threshold. The Missouri Department of Conservation reviewed the instrument before distribution.

At the May 5 committee meeting, resident Michael Sherman of Summit View Place Cove spoke about the survey, and Suburban Bowhunters members Luke Schumacher, James Schuenemeyer, and Lou Salamone appeared in support of expanded hunting access.

What's at Stake

Without continued removal of at least 350 deer per year, the city's feasibility analysis projects the population will rebound to pre-2024 levels within two to three years. The 529 deer donated to Share the Harvest food programs and 132 sent to the Saint Louis Zoo's Red Wolf Program during the culling years would not be replicated by bowhunting alone, the analysis suggests.

At the June 8 session, the council set a target of August 7 for Nanes to deliver his statistical report, with a presentation to the full council expected around August 10. No vote on an actual ordinance change has been scheduled.

The deer, meanwhile, keep breeding at roughly 20 percent per year.