Vicksburg District's DeGray Lake to host youth deer hunt with COVID-19 safety measures

VICKSBURG, Miss. – The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Vicksburg District’s DeGray Lake will host its fourth annual youth deer hunt Oct. 3 and 4, and COVID-19 precautions will be in place.

The registration deadline is Sept. 5, and hunters must email Kolin Cogburn at kolin.p.cogburn@usace.army.mil for an application. For more information, contact Cogburn at 870-246-5501, extension 64015.

To be eligible for participation, hunters must be between the ages of six and 15 and accompanied by an assistant at least 21 years of age. Youth hunters may harvest a maximum of one buck and two does during the hunt.

USACE will implement COVID-19 prevention measures for the safety of all participants during the event. Interaction between participants and USACE personnel will take place outdoors at a campground or hunting locations. Participants and USACE employees will be required to wear masks when within 10 feet of one another, and participants will be provided with hand sanitizer. To minimize contact, hunters must provide their own equipment, ice chests and personal amenities, and utilize their own vehicles to travel from base to the hunting location.

Participants or USACE personnel exhibiting fever or any COVID-19 symptoms will not be allowed to participate. 

Hunters and their locations will be selected through a random drawing process. All hunters will be provided with a packet outlining the hunt’s rules and regulations, as well as a detailed map of their hunting area. Each hunting area will contain ground blinds and two-person ladder stands for hunters’ use.

The purpose of the hunt is to encourage young people to become more involved in outdoor recreation and habitat preservation. Last year, five young people participated in the event and harvested a total of four deer. 

The USACE Vicksburg District is engineering solutions to the nation’s toughest challenges. The Vicksburg District encompasses a 68,000-square-mile area across portions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana that holds seven major river basins and incorporates approximately 460 miles of mainline Mississippi River levees. The district is engaged in hundreds of projects and employs approximately 1,100 personnel.