Deer Lottery applications available through Aug. 15

The S.C. Department of Natural Resources is now accepting applications for deer lottery hunts on public lands through 5 p.m. on Aug. 15. The Multi-site, Unrestricted Multi-site, Webb Gun and Webb Archery lotteries operate independently and maintain separate preference points.

The "unrestricted" multi-site lottery application will cover hunting opportunities on Bear Island, Donnelley and Bonneau Ferry WMA with no antler restrictions at these sites.

The other multi-site lottery application includes Belfast WMA, Botany Bay WMA, Hamilton Ridge WMA, Palachoucola WMA and Wateree River Heritage Preserve. Antler restrictions apply to these multi-site locations.

Because of COVID-19, the Webb gun lottery was not available in 2020. The Webb gun lottery will be available this year, and it is the hunter's responsibility to adhere to any necessary COVID-19 precautions in order to protect themselves, other hunters and DNR staff. If selected, you will be eating in the same room as other hunters and be lodging in the same room with other hunters not on your application. DNR reserves the right to assign rooms for lodging in order to minimize mixing of hunters. If you are not comfortable being housed with other hunters, you can select the non-draw option to just purchase a preference point for the year.

For more information, go to https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/drawhunts.html.