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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Leaders in Colorado Springs will meet in January with wildlife experts to tackle how to control the city’s urban deer herds.

There are about 20 deer for every square mile in Colorado Springs. That’s 10 times what experts consider a healthy level in the wild.

The denser deer populations lead to more car crashes. There were at least 160 in 2016. It also causes more deer deaths.

Officials say one option might be a controlled hunt to cull deer population. A bow hunt conducted under tight supervision might be a possibility.

Wildlife experts who oversee similar hunts at the Air Force Academy say they work at managing urban deer.

“Bow hunting can be used to reduce the deer population, the deer are still there, and people can still see them, but it keeps people more safe in their vehicles and reduces the hazard,” Cory Adler with Colorado Fish and Wildlife said.

If the city decides to allow bow hunting, hunters would have to pass an accuracy test and schedule their hunting time in advance.

Hunting in city parks would be off limits.