EPCAL deer hunt lottery Dec. 19 in Riverhead Town Hall

Riverhead Town officials will be holding a lottery Dec. 19 to award passes for participation in a 10-day deer hunt in Calverton.

The shotgun-only hunt will run from Jan. 9 to Jan. 21, but on weekdays only, as per state law, town officials said.

“We expanded this year,” said Riverhead Councilman George Gabrielsen, who has spearheaded efforts to bring hunting back to EPCAL to thin the deer herd there. “Last year, it was town residents only, this year it’s town residents and landowners.”

Some Riverhead business owners asked last year that they be allowed to participate in the next local deer hunt, he said.

Lottery winners will be chosen Dec. 19 in Town Hall, this is the same day they’ll be asked to fill out the necessary paperwork, and each winner will get a three-day ticket to hunt the woods of the town Enterprise Park at Calverton, Mr. Gabrielsen said.

A maximum of 24 hunters a day will take off into the woods, and all kills are asked to be brought to a nearby Department of Environmental Conservation check-in station.