A week after a permit to allow deer hunting at the municipal airport and golf course in Oxford was suspended, Mississippi officials are now calling for a task force to be created to deal with the urban whitetail deer population in the city.

The suggestion came Thursday and follows a controversial plan that would have allowed bow hunters to thin the herd during a special urban hunt this fall. The plan was scrapped by state officials, who are now recommending a long-term approach to urban herd management including the task force and more detailed documentation of incidents involving deer in Oxford.

Kristina Godwin of the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks said Oxford is the first Mississippi city to try to deal with a large urban deer population.