The following is a transcript of a report by investigative reporter Jim Parsons that first aired May 7, 2008, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m.

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The United States Department of Agriculture says there are way too many deer at Pittsburgh International Airport -- and yet, Team 4 has learned the number of authorized hunters at the airport has dropped by 30 percent since 2005.

Until a few years ago, the Allegheny County Airport Authority gave 40 of its employees exclusive rights to hunt deer on its 9,000 acres in and around Findlay Township.

Today, it's down to 28 employees -- many of them managers -- who are allowed to hunt in what some sportsmen call the best game preserve in the northeast.

On a tranquil evening inside the fence at the airport, beneath the early evening moon, in a field just a few hundred yards from the nearest runway, Team 4 counted 15 whitetail deer.

"A deer on a runway is a problem when it comes to aircraft operations and the safety of aircraft and landing and taking off," airport authority spokeswoman JoAnn Jenny said.

It doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to know the damage a deer could do to a jet. Consider what happened to US Airways Flight 1076 landing in Pittsburgh in June 2004.

A USDA report says the Boeing 737 struck an animal on the runway, severing a cable in the nose gear. The steering failed and the aircraft ran off the runway, and the 92 passengers arriving from Charlotte, N.C., learned from the flight crew that it wasn't something as large as a deer that caused this.

"They basically said that they hit a bird, and it hit the steering mechanism on the front wheel," passenger Chuck Berg said.

Just how many deer live on the airport's 9,000 acres is unknown, because according to a 2007 USDA document, the airport authority has never commissioned a deer density survey.

Even without the study, the USDA says current density far exceeds the recommended five-to-12 deer per square mile.

Hunters like William Kuriger, of Sewickley, have risked arrest by sneaking onto airport property to hunt deer. He and his father were charged last fall.

"It's prime land for deer to live on," said Tim Staub, executive director of the Greater Pittsburgh Gun Club in Bulger.

Team 4 visited with Staub at the end of February. He says some of his members would pay hundreds -- maybe even $1,000 each -- for the privilege of hunting on airport property, where the bucks are healthy and big.

"I mean, the prices are up there. So I mean, it's definitely a money-making thing," he said.

Staub suggests the airport hire an outfitter company to conduct a lottery for hunters willing to pay big bucks to get a shot at some big bucks.

Team 4 took his idea to Charles McCullough, a Republican member of the county council.

"I'm obviously interested, from two fronts," McCullough said. "Number one, is it a security issue? Number two, if we can address the security concerns, is it a revenue generator?"

Team 4 also took the idea to the airport authority.

"Has the airport authority thought about this as a revenue generator?" Parsons asked.

"Not at this time," time," Jenny said.

"Why not do that?" Parsons asked.

"That's not within our goals at this point," Jenny said.

Jenny says security concerns are among the reasons a public hunting lottery wouldn't work here.

"The airport property is private property, and it's restricted, just by the nature of the business that we're in," Jenny said.

But the property is not restricted if you know someone on the approved hunter list. The current wildlife management plan here gives 28 airport authority employees exclusive privileges to hunt and trap on the property.

On one day, Team 4 found a trapper walking the land west of the runways with a dead fox in the back of his truck.

The airport authority allows those 28 authorized employees to bring buddies along, and officials have no idea who those buddies are.

"We do not track the names of the guests," Jenny said.

The airport authority says it is implementing a new training program for its employees in good wildlife management practices.

The USDA's Craig Swope tells Team 4 that he believes the airport should have a professional wildlife biologist on site, as have many other major airports, including Philadelphia and Cleveland.

Those airports contract with the USDA for that service. Pittsburgh does not.

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