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Deer hunt set for Buford Dam
Safety, health cited as reasons
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Forsyth County News
Buford Dam may not seem like a typical hunting ground, but for two days next week that’s exactly what it will be.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to conduct a quota deer hunt Jan. 5 and 6 on 600 acres around the dam in an effort to improve public safety and the health of the deer population.

Darrell Stone, project landscape architect for the corps, said the state Department of Natural Resources will be on site during the event.

“They’ll be tagging [the deer] and then the hunters will take them with them,” he said. “They’ll probably be using them for deer meat.”

Stone said the event is the first for Buford Dam, though similar hunts have been held throughout the state.

He explained the hunt is designed to thin the deer population around the dam, which straddles the Forsyth-Gwinnett County line.

The 21 hunters chosen through a public lottery for the event registered online. According to a statement from the corps, the hunt will be limited to archery and no more than two deer each, one buck and one doe.

The Laurel Ridge trail and all parks along Buford Dam Road except West Bank Park will be closed during the hunt.

According to the statement, the decline in food resources during winter months stresses the deer population. It goes on to note, “By reducing the number of deer, the food resources in the Buford Dam area will better meet the deer population needs.”

The hunt could also lessen deer-vehicle collisions along well-traveled and heavily populated Buford Dam Road.

Forsyth County Sheriff’s Capt. Frank Huggins said such incidents are common countywide.

“Every deer-vehicle collision has the potential of being deadly,” he said.

According to DNR figures, there are about 50,000 deer-vehicle collisions annually in Georgia.

The site shows that “increased human population and rural development lend to increased deer sightings.”

Deer also move into new areas in search of food and water when their natural food sources are depleted.

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