(Versailles, IN) – Select Indiana State Park properties will temporarily close for controlled deer management hunts in the coming weeks.
Versailles State Park is among the properties that will close to the public the evening before the two-day hunts.
The first hunt will take place next Monday and Tuesday, November 18 and 19, with the second hunt December 2 and 3.
Versailles and the other state park properties will reopen the morning after each of the two-day hunts.
Other participating state park properties are Brown County, Chain O’Lakes, Charlestown, Clifty Falls, Fort Harrison, Harmonie, Lincoln, McCormick’s Creek, O’Bannon Woods, Ouabache, Pokagon, Potato Creek, Prophetstown, Shades, Shakamak, Spring Mill, Summit Lake, Tippecanoe River, Turkey Run, and Whitewater Memorial state parks; Raccoon and Trine state recreation areas; and Cave River Valley Natural Area, which is managed by Spring Mill State Park.
Indiana DNR biologists evaluate which state park properties require a deer management hunt each year based on habitat recovery and previous harvest rates at each park.
The state parks are home to numerous natural communities that serve as significant habitat.
DNR says the deer management hunts help control browsing by deer to a level that allows for sufficient habitat for native plants and other native animals.
Only individual licensed hunters who are selected from a draw may participate at any site.
A full report on the 2023 deer management hunts is at dnr.IN.gov/state-parks/files/sp-2023-deer-management-reduction-results.pdf. The 2024 report will be available in March 2025.
Information on 2025 state park deer management hunts, including online applications, will be available next summer at on.IN.gov/reservedhunt. The application deadline is usually in mid-August of the year in which the hunts are to take place.
