Port Stephens Council is expected to make a decision in the new year on whether to go ahead with a plan to cull deer at Raymond Terrace.
The prospect of a program of controlled shooting has caused angst among some residents, who say other measures to deal with the creatures have not been adequately tried.
An online petition on the website change.org calling for the council to abandon its proposal has more than 400 signatures.
A law change in 2019 took deer from the hunting game category and classified the animals as pests - meaning controlling them is a legal requirement.
The council says the deer have caused safety concerns with motorists and that an increasing population has lined up with a rising number of reports of near-misses and strikes by motorists.
There have been five vehicle collisions with deer in the area this year, according to the council, up from one-to-two annually for the previous decade.
But Seaham resident Gail Thompson said the deer were "iconic" to the area and the council should instead try more signage for motorists and fences to keep the animals from wandering onto the road.
"I have had, as have others I have spoken to, more near-misses with kangaroos in the area, than with deer," she said.
"If the council were to go in and kill the kangaroos, there would be an outrage, and rightly so, but why is it OK to go in and kill the deer?
"Previous culls such as the brumbies in the Snowy Mountains and the cat cull along the Stockton breakwall both have gone terribly - animals with traumatic injuries dying a slow, painful death or dying of starvation if their mothers are killed. The cull is proposed at night, pregnant deer, new mothers, babies could be killed or babies left to die a slow death without their mothers. They will be going in all directions, absolutely terrified."
Port Stephens Council strategy and environment section manager Brock Lamont said the council and Hunter Water were working with the RSPCA, NSW Police and NSW Local Land Services on the issue and have considered "a range of options".
He said the council had engaged with residents in the area and would continue to communicate with them in the new year.
"If the deer control program was to go ahead, it would require extensive planning and risk management including traffic management and a complete safety plan," Mr Lamont said.
"This would be managed by a qualified contractor in consultation with the NSW Police and council. Deer would be removed with meat donated to local zoos to feed animals."
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