Confronted with that situation, county officials are considering greater measures to control the deer population, including hunting on Sundays.

"We need to reduce the population, period," said Scott Mostrom, president of the Darnestown Civic Association.

Darnestown is virtually surrounded by deer hideouts, with the Potomac to the south and parkland to the east and west. As a result, community residents believe they have been hit hard.

A survey of Darnestown's 1,800 households found that 96 percent reported yard damage from grazing deer. Forty-six percent reported automobile collisions with deer. And 14 percent reported one or more persons within the household treated for Lyme disease.

But even if Darnestown is uniquely situated, the problem is countywide, said County Councilman Philip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg.

Andrews is the chairman of the council's Public Safety Committee, and a report to the panel illustrated the deer problem even in the urban areas of Montgomery.

A Department of Public Works and Transportation map shows deer carcasses found throughout the county, including Bethesda, Burtonsville and Rockville.

Deer-vehicle collisions were 1,433 in 1994 and 2,047 in 2003. Meanwhile, the deer harvest was 1,600 in 1993, and 4,174 in 2004, according to the report.

Agriculture, too, is suffering.

"The crop damage estimates are pretty devastating. I've talked with farmers who have said whole fields have been destroyed," said Councilman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown.

The report estimated economic losses to be $661,000, and at least 930 acres of farmland were taken out of production because of deer.

To manage the deer population, Mostrom's organization is offering eight possibilities, including managed hunts on public lands, opening parks to bowhunting and Sunday hunting.

"I think that it's reasonable to have one Sunday during the season for hunting," Andrews said.

Deer season runs in late fall and early winter. And Sunday hunting has been allowed for two years only in 12 counties -- Allegany, Calvert, Caroline, Cecil, Charles, Dorchester, Garrett, Kent, Queen Anne's, St. Mary's, Talbot and Washington.

Add one Sunday to the hunting season in Montgomery County and the number of deer harvested will be substantial, said Paul Peditto, director of the Wildlife and Heritage Service at the Department of Natural Resources.

Sunday hunting will require legislative approval, and some key lawmakers oppose it.

Sen. Sharon M. Grosfeld (D-Dist. 18) of Kensington said the majority of Montgomery County residents would prefer nonlethal methods of controlling the deer herd.

"I don't like it at all," she said.

But Sunday hunting is winning converts. Del. Jean B. Cryor (R-Dist. 15) of Potomac said she had opposed hunting on Sundays but could agree to a temporary Sunday hunt.

House Environmental Matters Chairwoman Maggie L. McIntosh (D-Dist. 42) of Baltimore said she was willing to consider the Montgomery measures to thin the herd.

"I've heard the evidence -- and the evidence is clear -- that the overpopulation of deer in the state is beyond a nuisance, it's a hazard," McIntosh said. "There is an issue of over-population and we have to deal with it."

An organization that will oppose Sunday hunting is Trail Riders of Today, or TROT. Longtime member Anne Bennof of Woodbine cited the danger to trail riders, birdwatchers and hikers if hunters get their Sunday hunt.

"You can guarantee the following year, they'll be asking for more Sundays, and a year after that more Sundays and the next thing you know, people will lose all their Sundays," Bennof said.

Peditto said no hunter has killed a nonhunter in 100 years of regulated hunting in Maryland.

Larry Zoeller of Darnestown -- the victim of $2,500 worth of deer-vehicle collisions -- said he had another concern from deer overpopulation. Deer have consumed so much vegetation that no food is left for songbirds and small mammals.

"We won't have any songbirds left in Maryland," he said.

Staff Writer Thomas Dennison contributed to this report.