Griffy Lake Nature Preserve Re-opens Following Two, Two-Day Deer Hunts

Bloomington, Ind.-Griffy Lake Nature Preserve on Nov. 21 returned to its normal hours of operation, from 5 a.m. until 11 p.m. daily, following two temporary, weekend-long closures to facilitate an annual deer hunt on the property.

Griffy Lake Nature Preserve was closed Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20 for deer hunting by selected applicants. Twenty-nine individual hunters harvested a total of 46 deer from Griffy Lake during the two hunting weekends.

The deer hunt was managed by White Buffalo, Inc. who recruited hunters and administered proficiency screenings to determine eligibility.

The goal of the ongoing deer hunts at Griffy Lake is to remove enough deer from the nature preserve to reduce browse pressure on understory plants and seedling trees to the point that the population of these understory plants and trees is able to recover within the preserve.

Parks and Recreation contracted with White Buffalo, Inc. in 2017 to conduct a sharpshoot deer cull at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve. The 2017 deer cull resulted in the removal of 62 deer.

Parks and Recreation received Community Hunting Access Program (CHAP) grant funding from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) to hire White Buffalo Inc. to coordinate a public hunt at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve in 2018. Due to a lack of qualified applicants, no hunt was held.

Parks and Recreation received additional CHAP grants to conduct deer hunts in 2019, 2020, and 2021 and once again contracted with White Buffalo, Inc. to recruit, screen, and manage hunters to participate. A total of 26 deer were removed from Griffy Lake in 2019; 40 deer were removed in 2020; and 47 deer were removed in 2021.

While the IDNR ended the CHAP program in 2021, Parks and Recreation determined that the continuation of a hunting program at Griffy Lake is the best option to provide deer management in the park.

For more information regarding deer management at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve, visit the Deer at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve website at https://bloomington.in.gov/boards/deertaskforce/griffy-lake.

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