THE NEW YORK POST – The City of Pittsburgh will be randomly selecting 30 archers to go bow hunting in two city parks in an effort to control the deer population.
“In cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the City of Pittsburgh is preparing for a pilot program with archery-controlled hunts in Frick and Riverview Parks during the 2023-2024 deer archery season,” said a Sept. 3 release from the City of Pittsburgh.
Frick Park is 644 acres, while Riverview Park is 259 acres, said the Pittsburgh Parks website.
Anyone who wishes to hunt in one of the parks will enter a lottery system, said the city, and 30 people will be selected.
To be eligible, a person must live in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, have a clean criminal check and Pennsylvania Game Commission background check, and purchase an antlerless deer permit for Pittsburgh’s wildlife management unit area.
After being selected from a lottery and passing the background check, “the selected archers will be required to attend an accuracy test,” said the city.
“If the accuracy test is passed, each hunter will be assigned a Hunter ID number and a specific location within Frick or Riverview Park where they are permitted to hunt,” the city added.
In Pittsburgh, hunters must harvest a doe as their first kill. The doe will be donated to a food bank.
Hunters selected for the program will have a “zero-tolerance” policy — and will be immediately removed from the program if they are found to have violated any program guidelines, said the city.
Additionally, each hunter must shoot a doe (a female deer) as their first kill. The doe then will be donated to a food bank.
Archers who shoot more than two deer from their area of the park “will be given preference in subsequent seasons,” said the archery program rules and procedures form.
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