A Mahoning Township resident believes a Schuylkill County farmer is taking advantage of his status to kill an excessive number of deer in the Mahoning Valley.

Carol Ethridge, of Twin Crest Drive, told supervisors that farmers who grow food are deeply appreciated in the community, and should be able to use all legal means available to protect the investments in their crops.

However, she believes one farmer is excessive.

“Three neighbors expressed their concerns of lack of deer they have seen this season and so rather than speculate I submitted a Right to Know request to the Pa. Game Commission.”

Ethridge said that between Sept. 8-28, the farmer harvested 14 does, but added she hasn’t received any updated statistics from the Game Commission.

“Given the high number of deer harvested in the archery season, I reviewed the Pa. Farm Bureau regulations,” she said.

Ethridge said the farmer has property in both counties and therefore gets an unusual number of crop damage tags.

“Legally, he is permitted to use tags from his Schuylkill County operations in the Mahoning Valley even though he only cultivates enough land in Mahoning Township to qualify for a limited amount of tags here,” Ethridge said.

She said the farmer should comply with the Farm Bureau regulations by opening up his Mahoning Township property for public access for two years as applicable and to confine crop damage harvest in the Mahoning Valley to the number of crop harvest tags that he would qualify for if he would only farm the acreage he has here.

“I believe this would satisfy each and everyone’s satisfaction,” she said.

Additionally, Ethridge said she has copies of the Farm Bureau’s regulations, and added, “I also (told) them I believe this would satisfy everyone’s concerns about how many deer he is harvesting.

“My intent of my comments is not to bother local farmers at all; unfortunately, this situation is blown out of proportion,” Ethridge said. “My concerns about someone making excessive use of the system for personal reasons and providing nothing of value to the community due to his deer control operations in Mahoning Township.”

Board Chairman Robert Slaw recommended to Ethridge that she discuss the matter with state Rep. Doyle Heffley.

Earlier, another farmer Ryan Hoffman asked the board what can be done to stop an excess of deer from destroying his crops.

Hoffman, who has a farm on Strauss Valley Road, told supervisors at that time that he’s out chasing deer away at all hours.

A handful of residents said they were in attendance at that meeting because they heard there were going to be others in attendance at the meeting who have circulated a petition against them for shooting deer.

One of the residents from the group said they’re allowed to shoot the deer for crop damage, and added it’s legal.

However, township solicitor Tom Nanovic told the group that the township hadn’t received a petition.

Supervisors said they also hadn’t received any petition with regard to the matter.