Angelina County Commissioner’s Court approves game fencing project for county airport

LUFKIN, Texas (KTRE) - Angelina County Airport Manager Gary Letney was thrilled to hear that the Angelina County Commissioner’s Court approved their $1.1 million game-proof fencing project Tuesday. The project is funded by the federal government’s Airport Improvement Plan.

“We have a huge amount of deer. We don’t see them as much in the summer as we do in the winter, but when winter comes, they start camping out around the airport, and you know they’ll cross the runways a lot,” Letney said.

Letney said pilots are concerned a deer will run out in front of them when they are trying to land -- which can result in damage to the plane. He said at night, crossing animals are hard to see. That could create a safety hazard if the animal is caught under the wing. Commissioner Kermit Kennedy said because of this, county approval was a no-brainer.

“We are concerned about the wildlife crossing into the taxiways at the airport and danger to the airplanes taking off and landing, so this project once it’s completed should take care of that issue,” Kennedy said.

Letney said construction will begin October 11th.

“In the past there’s been a couple that got killed, but we haven’t had a deer incident in a long time but they get close, so it’s time to do something. Plus the foxes and racoons,” Letney said.

Due to the backlog of some fencing materials because of COVID-19, Letney says he expects the project to be completed by mid-March.

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