Deer hunt at Griffy Lake preserve to be 2 weekends this year instead of 3

Carol Kugler
·2 min read
A deer stands in the woods near Griffy Lake on Dec. 28, 2017, in Bloomington. The first deer hunt or cull at the city nature preserve was conducted in 2017. In November 2021, 47 deer were killed.
A deer stands in the woods near Griffy Lake on Dec. 28, 2017, in Bloomington. The first deer hunt or cull at the city nature preserve was conducted in 2017. In November 2021, 47 deer were killed.

For a fourth year, the city of Bloomington will conduct weekend deer hunts at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve in November. However, this year the hunts will be conducted on two weekends instead of three.

This year's hunts will take place Nov. 12-13 and Nov. 19-20, which is during the state's firearm deer season. The 1,200-acre nature preserve will be closed at 11 p.m. the Friday before the hunts begin and will reopen at 5 a.m. the Monday following the hunts, according to Steve Cotter, natural resources manager for the city's parks and recreation department. Signs will be posted to let the public know the nature preserve is closed.

One of the reasons the hunts were cut back to two weekends was a loss of funding from the state's Community Hunting Access Program (CHAP) that was designed to increase hunting opportunities for white-tailed deer while lowering conflicts between deer and people in more urban areas. The CHAP funding provided $25,000 in the past years, Cotter said. This year a little less than $23,000 from a city account that has funds earmarked for natural resources properties and programs will be used, Cotter said.

As in past years the hunts will be coordinated by White Buffalo Inc., a company based in Chester, Connecticut. The hunts are one of the ways the city has used to lower the population of white-tailed deer that browse the native plants and trees. Studies were conducted before the hunts that reported deer were a factor in the low numbers of native plants and trees thriving in the nature preserve.

Outcome of 2021 hunts:Hunters from Monroe, area counties harvest 47 deer in Griffy Lake Nature Preserve hunts

Personnel from the city parks department and Bruce Wilds Security will help in ensuring the nature preserve is secure before and during the hunts, Cotter said. People will be posted at the entrances, parking lots and trails leading into the preserve to ensure no one other than registered hunters are on the property. All hunters participating in the hunts must pass proficiency tests.

Having the final weekend of November (Nov. 25-26) open for public use instead of a deer hunt allows people who are celebrating Thanksgiving to access the nature preserve and also eliminates from the hunt the weekend that was most likely to have the worst weather, Cotter said.

While some people remain opposed to the deer hunts, Cotter said the four years of data show the hunts are making a difference. The data, analyzed by Eco Logic, shows improvement in the heights of native plants within the nature preserve, he said.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: 2 deer hunts planned at Griffy Lake Nature Preserve in Bloomington