Fern Fernandes stood silently in a stand of trees, watching, waiting.

Three hours into his quest, just off a country road west of Campbellville, a deer unwittingly wandered into sight and into his sights. Two shotgun blasts roared and the big buck went down.

A trophy rack of antlers and a winter's worth of venison for Fernandes.

And one less animal in a growing deer population that conservation groups in Halton Region are struggling to contain.

Fernandes' kill yesterday was among the first in this week's controlled deer hunt near Milton and Halton Hills. The hunt, which runs from just before sunrise to just after sunset and only until Friday, aims to cull hundreds of deer that are killing trees, damaging crops and causing accidents on the region's roads.

"There are just too many deer too close to urban areas," said Staff Sgt. Susan Delaney of Halton police. She said deer are responsible for several accidents with vehicles each year, including one last fall that killed a local motorist when it smashed through the windshield.

Transport officials say thousands of accidents, many of them fatal, are caused by deer each year across the province.

The Halton hunt is being monitored by the Ministry of Natural Resources, with an assist from police, Conservation Halton and area bylaw officers.

Ron Arnold, the lone ministry conservation officer for all of Peel and Halton regions, can use the help. He patrols the back roads of the hunt zones, making sure hunters have one of the 400 proper licences were awarded in a lottery earlier this fall.

He said there's no way to keep track of how many deer will be taken this week, but the shotgun hunt helps trim the numbers more quickly than the bow-and-arrow hunt, which ends in December.

"We're out here to make sure the hunt is safe and that it's being conducted in the best possible way to manage wildlife and protect the people within the communities nearby," Arnold said.

In the woods along the Fourth Line of Nassagaweya, northwest of Milton, 55-year-old Dan has traded his bow – which is banned this week – for a shotgun.

He was out at 6:30 a.m.. A little more than four hours later, he left empty-handed.

"I heard some shots, but I didn't see anybody get anything," he said. "I did see a nice buck this morning, but he saw me before I saw him.

"So he won this morning."

Fernandes, who ventured to Campbellville from his home in Caledon, had better luck.

He struck the deer's hind end with the first brass and lead slug from his shotgun. Another shot finished it off.

"There are so many deer at the moment, they devastate trees by eating the bark and jump out in front of cars," he said. "There was an accident on Sunday where a big buck ran into a car at Dixie Rd. and King St. Nobody was hurt, luckily, but there was a lot of damage to the car."

The 55-year-old computer analyst, who has been hunting deer for a quarter-century, said he enjoys the thrill of trying to outsmart what he calls "a very smart animal."

He and pal Inacio Rodrigues of Mississauga gutted the buck in the woods, leaving entrails for coyotes and other animals to feed on. "It's a circle of nature," he said.

He took the deer home to butcher into steaks, roasts and stew meat, which will feed his family and friends for a good part of the winter.

"We share everything we get," he said. "Nothing goes to waste."