Two information meetings about the county’s Deer Management Archery Program are scheduled for Thursday, Aug. 13 at 7 p.m. at the Fairfax Government Center, 12000 Government Center Parkway, and Tuesday, Aug. 18, 7 p.m. at Mount Vernon District Station, 2511 Parkers Lane in Alexandria, Community Room.

The Fairfax County Deer Management Archery Program begins Saturday, Sept. 12, 2015 and runs through Saturday, Feb. 20, 2016 in parks throughout Fairfax County. The Fairfax County Police Department runs the program in collaboration with the Fairfax County Park Authority and the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.

The archery program began in 2010 and is part of an integrated Deer Management Program to reduce and stabilize the white-tailed deer population in Fairfax County in efforts to minimize safety and health hazards related to the overabundance of deer. Annually, there are thousands of deer-vehicle collisions, many cases of Lyme Disease and environmental damage attributed to deer.

The program was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2000 and is recognized as a safe and efficient method of deer population control by the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

Archery participants are required to meet state safety requirements and must pass qualifications to demonstrate skill and marksmanship, in addition to carrying program identification. All archers participating in the program must pass a criminal background check. They are approved to hunt at assigned sites Monday through Saturday during legal hunting hours, 30 minutes prior to sunrise until 30 minutes after sunset. Fluorescent orange and yellow signs are posted wherever managed hunting activity takes place. Archers must stay 100 feet from property lines and 50 feet from established park trails.