State Parks announces pheasant hunt lottery

The Niagara Region of New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced the annual permit lottery for the 2020 pheasant hunting season will take place Thursday, Oct. 1. 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 of the special youth hunting weekend – 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. No hunting is permitted during the open firearm season for deer. 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-inch-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:

Golden Hill State Park     Wilson Tuscarora State Park      Joseph Davis State Park 

Renee Campbell                David Giambra                                 Josh Bodie

9691 Lower Lake Road   3371 Lake Road                              1 Maintenance Ave.

Barker, NY 14012             Wilson, NY 14172                           Youngstown, NY 14174

716-795-3885                   716-751-6361                                 716-745-7273

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 Wednesday, Sept. 30. For more information, call the individual parks.