Tega Cay still has too many deer causing trouble. Here’s what city will do next.
In Tega Cay where the deer population has been a problem for years, the city council has voted to spend as much as $44,000 next year to have sharpshooters cull another 80 animals.
The council voted 4-1 in November for spending more taxpayer money on deer management, according to city officials and a city council meeting broadcast on the city’s Youtube channel.
The killing of the deer will happen sometime before March 1, after South Carolina wildlife officials approve another permit for thinning the herd, according to Joey Blethen, Tega Cay deputy city manager.
Tega Cay is a mainly residential city of around 13,000 people in northern York County along the Lake Wylie shore near the Mecklenburg County border. In the past decade, city counts showed the deer population had reached over 1,000 animals and some residents complained about the problems affecting traffic collisions, pets, deer waste, and plants.
A mid-2025 herd count put the number of animals in the city at 432, according to statistics on the city’s website.
Tega Cay has already spent over $325,000 on deer
The city has already spent over $325,000 on deer management, city figures show.
In 2024 and 2025, 160 deer were shot on city property to lower the number of animals at a cost of around $60,000, figures provided to The Herald showed. The city also hired an outside company sterilize 200 deer in 2024 at a cost of over $268,677. In the sterilization, female deer were shot with a tranquilizer before being spayed and returned to where they were taken from.
During the budget process for 2026, the city council chose not to sterilize again, Blethen told The Herald.
The city voted to again use Lowcountry Wildlife Specialists to handle the culling.
This story was originally published December 4, 2025 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Tega Cay still has too many deer causing trouble. Here’s what city will do next.."
