Griffy Lake Nature Preserve CLOSED on Weekends in November for CHAP Deer Hunts

Griffy Lake Nature Preserve will be closed to the public November 13 and 14, November 20 and 21, and November 27 and 28 during the Community Hunting Access Program (CHAP) deer hunts taking place those weekends.

The nature preserve will be closed to the public on these weekends, beginning at 11 p.m. on the Friday before the hunt through 5 a.m. the Monday after the hunt.

Only hunters who have applied, and who have been selected through a skill proficiency test, will participate in the deer hunt at Griffy Lake. Hunters were selected for this fall's hunt by White Buffalo, Inc., the contractor hired by the Department to administer the CHAP hunt. Griffy Lake Nature Preserve is not open to hunting outside the scheduled CHAP hunt weekends, or to any hunter who was not selected to participate.

The City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department was awarded a CHAP grant from the Indiana Department of Natural Resources to offset the cost of holding the deer hunts.

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.

Griffy Lake Nature Preserve is designated as a deer reduction zone (DRZ) by the Indiana Department of Natural Resources. Under DRZ regulations, each hunter is permitted to take up to one antlered and up to nine antlerless deer within the DRZ. Additional information about DMZs can be found online at www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/8534.htm

For more information about Griffy Lake Nature Preserve or the CHAP deer hunts, contact Steve Cotter, Bloomington Parks and Recreation Natural Resources Manager, at cotters@bloomington.in.gov or 812-349-3736.