Griffy Lake Nature Preserve will be closed to the public during the last three weekends in November for the Community Hunting Access Program deer hunts.
The nature preserve will be closed each of those weekends starting at 11 p.m. Friday through 5 a.m. Monday.
“Only hunters who have applied, and who have been selected through a skill proficiency test, will participate in the deer hunt at Griffy Lake,” a Parks and Recreation department press release said. “Hunters were selected for this fall's hunt by White Buffalo, Inc., the contractor hired by the Department to administer the CHAP hunt.”
The department was a awarded a grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to offset the cost of the hunts. Hunts in to 2019 and 2020 removed 26 and 40 deer from the property, respectively.
“The hunts are intended to protect biodiversity at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve by removing enough deer to reduce browse pressure on seedling trees and native understory plants, allowing the populations of these plants to recover and reproduce,” the release said.
Griffy Lake Nature Preserve is designated a deer reduction zone by the Indiana DNR. Each hunter is permitted to take up to one antlered and up to nine antlerless deer. Hunters will be assigned specific zones within the nature preserve and must be in tree stands that are at least 12 feet off the ground.
