Indiana Indiana's guidelines for dealing with deer reduction is much better thought out than Michigan's and I suggest you use the link provided to study how they approach deer/human conflict. Indiana is not in the business of collecting fees to kill deer but provide guidance to citizens on how to resolve these conflicts themselves. In other words personal responsibility not the state handling it for them and forcing other citizens that do not agree to pay for any action taken. The following are a couple of excerpts from Indiana's DNR guidelines that demonstrate a Non Cull approach. I suspect most if not all of the Ludington resident that signed the petition requesting the cull would not kill a deer themselves or make the efforts suggested by Indiana. Indiana follows Utah State University's guidelines regarding deer management.

 Landscaping, Gardening, Residential/Urban Areas
In residential and urban areas, where deer damage may occur to landscaping and gardens, fencing, harassment, and community hunting may be effective management techniques.

Urban deer management has limitations specific to local ordinances. Methods for Managing Human-Deer Conflicts provides more information about living with deer in an urban and residential setting.

The techniques below are best suited for small areas, roughly 2 acres or less.

Conventional Fencing
Electric Fencing
Harassment
Community Hunting
Repellents

  Landscaping, Gardening, Residential/Urban Areas
In residential and urban areas, where deer damage may occur to landscaping and gardens, fencing, harassment, and community hunting may be effective management techniques.

Urban deer management has limitations specific to local ordinances. Methods for Managing Human-Deer Conflicts provides more information about living with deer in an urban and residential setting.

The techniques below are best suited for small areas, roughly 2 acres or less.

Conventional Fencing
Electric Fencing
Harassment
Harassment can be an effective technique to deter deer when applied consistently over time. The type of harassment may need to change periodically to prevent deer from becoming acclimated, which renders the harassment ineffective.

Dogs

Dogs are effective deer deterrents in residential and urban areas when kept in a pen, on a chain, or contained by a fence in or near landscaping and gardens. Dogs should be placed in the area at least a month before damage is likely to occur.
Motion Sensing Deterrents
Automated motion sensing lights and sprinklers that turn on when an animal walks by may scare deer and encourage them to leave.
Place devices near landscaping and gardens that are likely to experience damage.
Effective harassment may require several devices in a single area.
It is best to have devices in place before damage occurs.
Community Hunting
Hunting is the most effective method to reduce a local deer population and subsequent deer damage.
State regulations allow hunting in urban and residential areas, subject to local ordinances.
Hunting efforts in a residential area may require community participation to adequately address damage issues experienced by all residents.
Neighbors can join together to hunt in their community while following regulations outlined in the Indiana Hunting & Trapping Guide.
Some residential areas may be included in designated Deer Reduction Zones that allow the take of additional deer to reduce human-deer conflicts.
Indiana DNR's Managed Hunting page can provide information about facilitating a community hunt.
Repellents

 Ohio Ohio's stance on culls is more difficult to comprehend, but while it is allowed it appears to be more limited in scope. For example in an area containing about a dozen (12) Metro Parks only only 131 deer were taken from seven parks. While Ludington's goal is to take 40 deer from an area comprised of a fraction of the acreage.

 Wisconsin My research indicates that Wisconsin does not consider the White-tail deer a nuisance as there is no mention of culls or any other form of abetment of deer mentioned on their DNR websites.  Use the link for Wisconsin and their PDF publication to review what Wisconsin considers nuisance animals.