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Nine Montgomery County parks will be closed from sunset to sunrise through March 31 so that Park Police sharpshooters can thin the deer population.

The shooting of deer is intended to reduce the risks that the animals pose to motorists and property.

Four other parks will be closed on several days in January and February, from sunset to sunrise, for hunters to continue a series of managed hunts that began in the fall.

Closed every evening through March are the Agricultural History Farm Park in Derwood, Black Hill Regional Park in Boyds, North Branch of Rock Creek Stream Valley Units 2 and 3 in Derwood, Northwest Branch Recreation Park in Aspen Hill, Northwest Branch Stream Valley Unit 7 in Sandy Spring, Rock Creek Regional Park in Rockville, Rock Creek Stream Valley Park Unit 7 in Aspen Hill, Wheaton Regional Park in Wheaton and Woodlawn Special Park in Sandy Spring.

Hoyles Mill Conservation Park and attached segments of Little Seneca Stream Valley Park in Boyds will be closed Jan. 10, Jan. 30 and Feb. 7.

Woodstock Equestrian Park in Beallsville will be closed Jan. 9, Jan. 31 and Feb. 6.

Little Bennett Regional Park in Clarksburg will be closed Jan. 9.

Managed hunts in county parks are limited to qualified hunters. Hunters were selected by random drawing in October, but applications to get on the waiting list for next season can be obtained by going to the "Frequently Asked Questions" section of the parks Web site at www.ParksDeerManagement.org or by calling 301-949-4135.

The parks department began the hunts in 1996 at a handful of parks in an effort to control the county's burgeoning deer population.

A report from the county's Deer Management Work Group in 2007 showed that deer-car collisions declined around parks where deer have been hunted.

The hunts have drawn protests from animal lovers who oppose killing the deer and prefer contraception, which has been used to limit deer population at the fenced National Institutes of Standards and Technology campus in Gaithersburg.