The Indianapolis Parks and Recreation Board unanimously approved a two-part plan to reduce the deer population.
The plan was proposed because deer are destroying vegetation at Eagle Creek.
At first, like at state parks, the hunts will not be open to the public.
"This would be a contract with professional wildlife management specialists that shall manage all aspects of the project in a tightly controlled and supervised program, with public safety at its highest priority," said Don Colvin, deputy parks director for the city.
Purdue University wildlife management team will oversee the hunts and will use sharpshooters with night-vision to hunt deer after the park is closed.
The board approved a separate plan for a disabled veterans group to hunt deer during the day.
The park will be closed to the public when daylight hunts take place, which will occur sometime in October or January.
Parks Board Chairman John Williams pushed for the hunts, saying Eagle Creek has already lost large amounts of trees to the emerald ash borer.
"If we do not control for the problem that we currently have, we may have other species of trees that are not going to be able to grow," Williams said.
After hunts, the deer will be processed off site and the meat taken home by hunters or donated to food banks.
Opinions of people who live near the park are split as to whether there were noticeable changes to Eagle Creek's vegetation appearance over the years. Some people have been critical of methods used to determine whether overpopulation is even an issue.
"There is no accurate, independent survey that has ever been done on the park to tell us how many deer there are," said Keith Starling, who spoke at the board's meeting.
Deer problems are not limited to Indianapolis.
Earlier this year, Bloomington approved a plan to hire sharpshooters to kill 100 deer at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve.
Supporters of the proposal say the deer population is reducing diversity in the preserve.
But the plan has been met with strong opposition by some residents who say shooting the deer is not the most humane option.
The city also created a deer task force in 2011 in response to residents' concerns about overpopulation.
Aside from managing the deer population, the group is tasked with educating the public through outreach programs to communicate its plans and receive feedback.
