State Parks announces pheasant hunt lottery

The Niagara Frontier Region of New York State Parks has announced the annual permit lottery for the 2015 pheasant-hunting season will take place Monday, Oct. 5. This will include the drawing for both the youth hunt and the regular season hunt.

Youth hunt permits will be required for the two days expected to draw the heaviest hunting traffic: Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11. The youth hunt this year will allow for a second hunter on the permit. For the regular season hunt, permits will be required for the three days expected to draw the heaviest hunting traffic: Oct. 17, 24 and 31.

There will be two separate hunts each day. The first hunt will be from sunrise to 12:30 p.m. The second hunt will be from 12:30 p.m. to sunset.

Hunting throughout the pheasant season, from Oct. 17 to Dec. 31, is allowed at three state parks: Golden Hill, Joseph Davis and Wilson-Tuscarora. Permits, however, are required on Oct. 10, 11, 17, 24 and 31.

As in the past, stocking will be done by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. No hunting will be permitted on the following release days: Oct. 9, 16, 23 and 30. There is no fee for the permit, and hunters awarded permits will have the option of naming one additional hunter on their permit.

Hunters interested in entering the permit lottery should mail in a separate, standard-size 3-by-5-inch file card or postcard for each date and park they would like to hunt. Only one permit will be issued to each hunter per day. Cards may be put into one envelope for each respective park and mailed together to the appropriate address listed below:

The file card should include: applicant's name, address, telephone number, email address, hunting license back tag number, hunt date, a.m. hunt or p.m. hunt and desired park location. Entries will be computerized to avoid duplications. All lottery entries must be received by noon on Friday, Oct. 3. For more information or questions, call individual parks for more information.