For the second year in a row, concern over potential spread of COVID-19 has prompted cancellation of the public deer hunt at the Department of Energy’s Savannah River Site in South Carolina.
“Due to COVID-19, the 2021 Deer Hunt has been cancelled,” according to a recent “deer control activities” notice posted on the Savannah River Site (SRS) website.
An SRS spokesperson confirmed Friday this is the second straight year the deer hunt has been cancelled due to COVID-19 precautions. The DOE site would normally select hunters via lottery for the deer control hunts in November and December.
The half-day morning hunts typically begin with safety meetings at the Deer Hunt Building. “All harvested animals are tagged and brought to our check station where they are monitored for Cesium-137,” according to the website. “SRS currently has a 22 millirem per year administrative dose limit to release game animals” such as deer and feral hogs.
The mission of the SRS hunt program “is to conduct a harvest intended to lower the incidence of animal-vehicle collisions on the site and reduce the feral hog damage to valuable plant communities, timber plantations, and ecological research sites,” according to the website.
“Since 1965, the Savannah River Site has provided optimal deer hunting opportunities for thousands of sportsmen,” according to the website. The site has over 150,000 acres of land that the annual deer hunts are conducted on.
The deer hunt has been cancelled at least once in pre-pandemic years. The event was called off at least once previously due to a government shutdown.