Deer have visited Bruce Rogers' home for the past 30 years, often stopping to eat the tops off his flowers.

Since he lives more than 15 blocks west of the foothills where deer would be expected to roam, that might be surprising.

And he doesn't really mind losing a few tulips.

But other residents are less than happy with urban deer that eat their landscaping, defecate on their lawns or run into or get hit by cars.

"We think the deer have a place, but there's a lot of range up there for them," said Charles Hubbert, who lives even farther down the hill.

The love-hate relationship puts city officials in a quandary. And the problem isn't limited to just southern Davis County but affects east-bench residences from Payson to Brigham City.

Bountiful, though, is among the first cities to try to determine what to do about urban deer problems. The city recently sent residents a survey asking if they think there are too many deer, if they favor thinning the herds and explaining available methods to reduce the numbers.

Since trapping and relocating deer is too costly and deer birth control is still being researched, the only viable options are hiring professional sharpshooters to kill the animals as was done 10 years ago or establishing a first-ever urban archery hunt.

The latter would involve archers trained by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) who would hunt in management zones during the regular deer seasons.

This isn't solely a dilemma in Bountiful, but is also widespread along the Wasatch Front.

"We get calls constantly about deer problems year round," said Amanda Bagley who works at the DWR's central region office in Springville. "It's increased a little bit over the years. We've always had problems."

Carol Sonntag has been living in Salt Lake City's Indian Hills area for 52 years and enjoys seeing deer, though she thinks increased urbanization has resulted in fewer of the animals. She took a class at Red Butte Garden to learn what flowers and shrubs deer don't like to eat. And she said the deer actually help keep her euonymuses' pruned.

"Dogs running loose are a lot worse than deer," she said.

Bountiful Ridge golf course pro Scott Olsen said golfers commonly see deer on the course and there are few conflicts, though the superintendent hates seeing the animals run across greens.

DWR northern region wildlife biologist Randy Wood said complaints in the Bountiful area are on the increase. The city and wildlife agency are trying to determine the tolerance level of urban residents to deer.

"It's going to be a hard process," Wood said. "We have to pull people together and come up with a plan."

Bountiful City Manager Tom Hardy said that last year 12 injured deer had to be put down and that the animals sometimes run into the sides of cars or jump in front of cars and are hit. He said there have been other instances of deer becoming tangled in barbed wire fences or being chased by dogs.

The animals can be seen on the major north-south roadways that follow the mountainside, but in the evenings, deer often move farther west, said Bountiful police Lt. Sol Oberg.

"And that's the worst time for them, as far as we're concerned, because visibility is an issue at night," he said.

A survey was distributed in Bountiful's most recent newsletter and officials are already receiving some input.

"So far, we've got a mixed reaction," Hardy said. "Some are saying it's about time you did something, while others like deer and don't want you to do anything."

The DWR's Phil Douglass said the deer have adapted to the urban setting. Instead of migrating and eating traditional foods, deer have grown accustomed to the suburbs, making them their homes. Now, wildlife technicians often remove two or three dead deer a day from roads in Bountiful.

What to do about it is a different problem.

People are dividing into camps. Some, like Hubbert, say the deer population has gotten out of control and "we should do something." Others, as Rogers, who doesn't mind seeing his tulips eaten, says "the deer have a right to be here."

mariav@sltrib.com wharton@sltrib.com