It was democracy in action at the Ross Township Municipal Building, where a larger-than-average crowd gathered for an important council vote. The meeting included testimony from an expert witness, statistical analyses, high-tech teleconferencing and a parade of citizens.

Council members weren't debating budget cuts or zoning variances. This was another skirmish in a battle being waged across Pennsylvania's cities and suburbs over how to handle rapidly growing deer populations.

About 60 percent of the annual deer harvest is generally taken on the first day of the firearms deer season, which opens statewide tomorrow. Conditions look good for a substantial harvest, but the hunt will have virtually no impact on urban and suburban deer.

Allegheny County, the city of Pittsburgh and nearby municipalities are struggling with the deer problem. The few that are taking action work independently. Solutions are specific to each area's geography, habitat, population, deer density and political and cultural willingness to take action.

The most recent municipality to address its deer problem is Ross. At the Oct. 27 meeting, a measure to ban the intentional feeding of deer -- billed as a first step in a deer management plan -- was voted down.

Each white-tail deer eats about a ton of shoots, twigs, leaves from trees and shrubs, weeds, grasses and garden vegetables per year. Does reach sexual maturity in a year and almost all breed, often bearing twins -- sometimes triplets. Deer in Pennsylvania have no remaining natural predators, but more than 25,000 of them collide each year with motor vehicles, causing millions of dollars in damage as well as human injuries and some fatalities.

No one knows for sure how many deer are in the state. The Pennsylvania Game Commission, the government agency with sole authority over wildlife management, bases its assessments on habitat analyses, not head counts. Last year, hunters in Pennsylvania killed an estimated 323,070 antlered and antlerless deer.

In the Wildlife Management Unit that includes most of Allegheny County hunters took an estimated 19,700 deer in 2007, down from an estimated 22,300 in 2006. (Hard numbers aren't available because many hunters don't return harvest report cards.)

But in urban and suburban areas, where hunting is restricted for safety reasons, deer populations are growing unchecked.

"Each municipality has control over its public property, and landowners control private land, [but] the Game Commission has oversight over the deer," said Wildlife Conservation Officer Gary Fujak. "They can't just go in and kill off deer. If they want to reduce the deer population in their areas, they work with us to formulate a plan."

That can be politically difficult in areas like Ross where there's a serious deer problem, particularly behind Ross Park Mall near the Kinvara Civic Association and off Babcock Boulevard on Woodbridge Drive and Thompson Run Road.

At the contentious meeting, council agreed that deer density had grown out of control. But while some residents complained of devastated gardens and 125-pound traffic hazards, others questioned how a deer-feeding ban could be enforced or demanded that contraceptives be considered. In the end council was unable to implement a plan.

"That's not unusual," said Chris Rosenberry, the Game Commission's deer section supervisor. "People are passionate on both sides. It's a cultural thing in the urban areas where a lot of people didn't grow up with hunting around and don't see killing the animals as a viable management plan."

Former Pennsylvanian Jay F. Kirkpatrick, director of the Science and Conservation Center in Billings, Mont., considered himself "a typical Pennsylvania hunter" and has "no problem" with lethal means of deer control. But in areas with lots of people, he says, contraceptives should be considered. Mr. Kirkpatrick says the contraceptive darting of "discrete populations" of white-tail deer has a successful track record.

"It works. It's safe. It's effective. It's feasible," he said.

Mr. Kirkpatrick's Science and Conservation Center is a non-profit organization that used public money to develop the immunocontraceptive "porcine zona pellucida" vaccine, or PZP. The group didn't patent the product and provides PZP at cost to anyone who will take it.

The problem is, few are taking it. The federal government allows Mr. Kirkpatrick's center to use PZP to manage wildlife at several national parks and seashores. But the controversial vaccine doesn't have the approval of the Food and Drug Administration, and not a single state wildlife management agency has given approval for its use, claiming it remains unproven.

Mr. Fitzpatrick blames the prejudices of agencies that he says are "in the hunting business." Deer biologists say PZP is promising, but at this time is not a viable solution.

"It's the one people have heard most about, and has the most potential down the road of all the experimental drugs," Rosenberry said. "But in order to have the desired effect, you have to have a good percentage of the animals treated. The difficulty is getting each animal in a wild population identified so you know who you've treated ... and who hasn't been darted yet. And you have to go back year after year with booster shots. Each dose is inexpensive, that's true, but I can tell you from personal experience, darting deer is a time-consuming process. Human costs would be prohibitive."

Other immunocontraceptives show promise. GonaCon, a new single-shot hormone developed by scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is undergoing controlled field studies.

Another option, trapping and releasing the deer elsewhere, is expensive to implement and prone to high deer mortality rates.

At present, the only deer management tools approved by state wildlife agencies involve lethal means. The Pennsylvania Game Commission's first option is public hunting regulated with adjustments of seasons, legal sporting arms and bag limits specific to the needs of each Wildlife Management Unit.

Where public hunting is impractical, local governments can request the help of non-profit organized archery groups. Since 1997, Allegheny County has relied on Whitetail Management Associates of Greater Pittsburgh to thin deer herds in most county parks.

Andy Baechle, director of the county parks, said an overpopulation of deer is destroying habitat for all the parks' animals.

"I want people to see birds and small game and lots of animals when they go to our parks," he said. "It's important that people realize [deer] are out of balance and are killing the ecosystems. Naturalists, birdwatchers -- they need to know these deer are destroying habitat by overgrazing."

No public money is used in the pruning of Allegheny park deer. Whitetail Management archers do it for free. They have to qualify for the organized hunts, which are held during archery deer seasons and subject to Game Commission regulations, plus additional self-imposed restrictions that organizer Joe McCluskey says are designed to increase safety, reduce the chance of wounding deer and lessen contact with other park users. General hunting is banned in the parks; the hunts occur with the parks open to the public.

"We try not to close the parks for any single activity," said Mr. Baechle. "These are some of the best bow hunters in the area -- that's about as safe as it gets."

Since 1997, Whitetail Management archers have taken 1,433 deer from North Park -- 62 this year. In all, the group culled 349 deer from Allegheny parks in 2008. The group also has arrangements with O'Hara Township, Sewickley Heights, Allegheny Cemetery and private landowners in Ross and other areas. The deer are counted by the Game Commission and the venison is donated to local food banks.

Three highly populated Allegheny County municipalities -- Upper St. Clair, Mt. Lebanon and Fox Chapel -- received deer control permits from the Game Commission, permitting them to hire sharpshooters to cull deer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture provides shooters (they're not considered sport hunters) equipped with night-vision goggles, rifles with silencers and low-charge ammunition. The Game Commission logs those deer, too, and venison is supplied to local food banks.

The city of Pittsburgh has yet to come to grips with its deer problem. Last fall, City Council President Doug Shields publicly urged the Game Commission to "come to the council with some ideas [on deer control]. ... Those deer are the Game Commission's problem. I don't get into the management of deer or forests."

Since then, he's met with Game Commission officials and says he understands that deer control on city property is the city's responsibility.

"Absolutely," Mr. Shields said Tuesday. "Yes, it is the city's business. The deer herd is substantial in Allegheny County's urban areas. We have an exploding deer population. It's up to us to apply stewardship. I'm not opposed to responsible game management that would include [the organized hunts] that we have in Allegheny County. Animal rights activists might oppose that, but that's my position."

To date, however, no official action has been taken by the city to curb it's exploding deer population.