Southold deer hunting lottery Friday

Southold Town has scheduled its annual lottery for bow-and-arrow hunting permits for deer hunting on town properties.

Each year, the town issues 75 permits to hunters licensed by the state Department of Environmental Conservation. The lottery will be held at 10 a.m. Friday at town hall.

Applications must be filed before that date.

Hunting is permitted on land that has been preserved in the town’s open space program. The proliferation of deer has led to the spread of Lyme disease, the destruction of vegetation as well as car accidents, some fatal, from the animals running across roads, Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said.

Last year, 250 deer were killed by hunters in the program, Russell said.

The town is also offering a general hunting safety class from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at the town’s human resources center on Pacific Street in Mattituck.

Last year, the town rented a refrigerated box truck for venison donated by hunters for the needy. It was distributed by East End relief organizations, Russell said.

Hunting on the North Fork is “old as agriculture itself,” he said, and farmers rely on it to keep deer from ruining their crops.

“We still have shotgun hunting,” Russell said. “It’s still a part of the landscape out here.”