Traverse City Record-Eagle

Outdoors

RELATED STORY

• County allows hunting on Power Island

September 13, 2011

Power Island hunting permits for sale

County begins selling $20 permits at 8 a.m. Monday

BY BRIAN McGILLIVARY bmcgillivary@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Bow hunters will get a shot at Power Island's 50 deer until Jan. 1, or until they've killed half the herd.

Grand Traverse County will allow 10 hunters at a time on the 220-acre island in West Grand Traverse Bay for a fee of $20 per hunt. Hunters will have one week to bag a deer before their permits expire. County officials prefer hunters take a doe to better control the island's deer population.

Bow season begins Oct. 1. On Sept. 19 at 8 a.m., the county will sell 10 permits at the county parks and recreation office in the Civic Center. Those permits will cover hunters for the first week of bow season.

The county will continue to sell 10 permits two weeks in advance of the designated hunting week every Monday morning until the season ends Jan. 1, 2012, unless hunters first kill 25 deer.

Power Island won't be closed to nonhunters during the hunting season, and its campground will remain open, said Kim Moore, parks and recreation spokeswoman.

County staff will monitor the hunt, and signs will be posted notifying visitors a hunt is ongoing, Moore said.

Overgrazing prompted county officials to kill three deer last year from what they believed was a herd of 20. Instead, about 50 deer are suspected to call Power Island home.

Permits are nontransferable and must be issued in person. Applicants need to bring a current hunting license and photo identification.

For more information, contact Marilyn Zielinski in the parks and recreation office at 922-4818.

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