City accepting proposals for deer culling

STEVENS POINT — The City of Stevens Point is accepting proposals from vendors to perform deer culling within the City of Stevens Point for the 2026 archery season. The culling of deer within the city limits must be performed using archery tackle (compound bow or crossbow) on city owned properties and private properties for which owner consent has been attained. Culling must also be performed from an elevated tree stand or tripod stand. Culling shall only occur on properties which have been specifically identified in writing and such documentation provided to the culler by the City of Stevens Point.
The culling program occurs from Sept. through Jan. and must be performed in compliance with the State of Wisconsin hunting regulations. Culling must occur during legal hunting hours, all deer must be tagged with the tags provided by the city, and hunting tackle must comply with state of Wisconsin statutes and regulations.
Exceptions to certain rules and regulations will apply, including but not limited to the city ordinance prohibiting the hunting and the discharge of bows and crossbows within the city limits. Such exceptions will be provided in writing to the culler. All deer that are culled are taken to a meat processor and donated to a local food pantry; no deer are permitted to be kept by the culling agents who are selected for this service.
Proposal pricing must comply with and include all costs associated with the following:
1. A valid Wisconsin archery hunting license (city will provide harvest permits/tags)

2. Vendor and additional hunting partners must pass a criminal background check and must possess a valid driver’s license. Anyone with a felony conviction is considered ineligible.
3. Receive the permitted hunting properties list from the Stevens Point Deer Management Committee
4. Hunt only on those permitted properties throughout the 2026 hunting season
5. Legally harvest up to 50 deer
6. Properly remove entrails from deer upon harvest, report deer harvest data through the Wisconsin deer harvest reporting system and maintain harvest records
7. Legally transport deer to People’s Meat Market for processing in a timely fashion to preserve meat
8. Submit harvest records, location of harvest, registration information and invoicing upon completion of program to the Deer Management Committee
9. Mandatory tracking of all deer is required for all attempted harvests.
Item #9 is acknowledgement that the selected culling agent must perform tracking and trailing operations for all deer that are attempted for harvest. This will require knocking on private property owners’ doors to gain legal permission to trail on private lands, contacting public agencies who own properties when blood trails cross their property and may require hiring a thermal drone when blood tracking becomes unavailable due to rain, poor trail etc. Every ethical attempt must be performed to retrieve wounded game.
The City of Stevens Point will accept proposals for this work at the office of the Parks, Recreation and Forestry Department located at 2442 Sims Avenue, Stevens Point, WI 54481, until 10 a.m. on Friday, March 27, 2026.
The city will evaluate proposals based on price, experience and any other factor city staff deem relevant. The city reserves the right to reject any and all proposals.
Questions related to your proposal can be directed to John Okonek by calling 715-630-0230 or Dan Kremer at 715-346-1536.