Outdoors: 'The masters of deer hunting'
There's a reason they call it "the Masters of deer hunting."
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Actually, there are two reasons.
For starters, it's tough to get permits for the Savannah River Site's legendary dog drives through thousands of whitetail-infested acres.
Secondly, for those lucky enough to win the permit lottery, the site consistently produces some of the region's finest bucks.
This year marks the 45th season the public hunts have been held at the 310-square-mile nuclear materials site, and biologists believe the herd remains healthy and balanced.
During those decades, they've also learned a lot about deer management.
Although hunters enjoy all the trophies and venison, the Wednesday and Saturday hunts held from October to December are not designed to provide recreation. Rather, the objective is population control that helps reduce deer-vehicle accidents.
D.T. Townsend, a spokesman for SRS contractor Savannah River Nuclear Solutions, said there are about 50 such accidents a year within the site, with 545 such crashes documented since 2001. Other wildlife such as turkeys, hogs and coyotes, have accounted for 699 vehicle strike
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