Hunting at the Savannah River Site

The mission of the Savannah River Site (SRS) Deer Control Activities is to conduct a harvest intended to lower the incidence of animal-vehicle collisions on the site and reduce the feral hog damage to valuable plant communities, timber plantations and ecological research sites. The harvest have been administered since 1981 by the Site management and operating contractor.

Since 1965 the Savannah River Site has provided optimal deer hunting opportunities for thousands of sportsmen. We have over 10,000 acres of land to use for the annual deer hunt. Harvesting of deer using the dog drive method has proven to be the most safe and effective manner to control the SRS deer population.

The hunts are open to the public. They start in October and last through December. If you wish to apply, please go to the application, print it out and mail it to us.

Our hunts are a dog-drive hunt that consists of a half day morning hunt. If selected, you would report to the Deer Hunt building at 6 a.m. You will bring your hunting license along with a permit from us. We will inspect all hunting gear and you would sign in. A safety briefing is conducted each morning before the hunt. The hunters are loaded into a vehicle and transported to their assigned hunt stand. The dog packs are sent out to their locations. The hunt begins. It lasts approximately three hours. Any deer or hog that is killed is tagged and brought to our check station where they are monitored for Cesium-137. They are gutted and placed into a refrigerated truck. At the end of the hunt, hunters are picked up and returned to the Deer Hunt building. The refrigerated truck is also brought to the building where the deer and hogs are released to the appropriate hunter.

At Savannah River Site, safety is our main priority. During the hunts, we have Safety Auditors that are placed throughout the hunting area. They are there to ensure the safety of our hunts. Washington Savannah River Company (WSRC) has a "Zero Tolerance" policy for unsafe hunters. Anyone not obeying the Rules of the Hunt will be immediately and permanently removed from the SRS hunts.

See the Hunting and Application Information page for hunt applications and more information.