IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — The Iowa City Council has added bow hunting to its plan for reducing the city’s rapidly rising deer population. The Iowa Natural Resources Commission for years approved city plans to contract sharpshooters to trim back the herd. But the city’s request for a new hunt by sharpshooters has twice been rejected. The Iowa City Press-Citizen reports that the commission is concerned that the city plans rely too heavily on sharpshooters and that bow hunting would be more effective.

The council members agreed Tuesday that the commission was unlikely to approve a plan that didn’t include bow hunting, so several dropped their previous opposition. Mayor Jim Throgmorton signed a plan that in addition to the bow hunts scheduled sharpshooters during the 2019-2020 winter and nonlethal activities that included fencing, driver awareness and an annual deer count.