Balloted hunting in NSW

Balloted hunts: Monday 1 March 2021 - Monday 3 May 2021

Some NSW State forests are more popular with R-Licensed hunters than others. Bookings in these popular forests can sometimes be hard to secure, especially during the peak hunting period of March and April each year. To ensure hunter access and participation is managed sustainably and contributes positively to the NSW economy, the DPI Game Licensing Unit administers balloted hunting in some of these higher profile forests to provide fair and equitable opportunity to hunt for all R-Licensed hunters.

Despite devastating bush fires and COVID-19 restrictions that resulted in cancellation of some 2020 balloted hunts, we've been able to secure the Mannus State Forest Bow Hunting Ballot for 2021 and transfer the cancelled April 2020 hunts for Maragle South State Forest.

Mannus State Forest and Maragle South State Forest will be removed from the open booking system during the balloted months, March and April 2021. Normal bookings for R-Licensed hunters resume in early May.

Registrations for the Mannus State Forest Bow Hunting Only Ballot are open through EventBrite from 16 November 2020 until 11:59 pm Sunday 29 November 2020.

Visit the EventBrite ballot page to register for your chance to hunt.

The ballot will be drawn on Thursday 3 December 2020 at 2 pm. Winning registration numbers will be posted on our website and successful hunters contacted by email soon after the draw.

Only individuals who hold a current NSW Restricted Game Hunting Licence (including minor R-Licences) are eligible to register for balloted hunts.

About balloted hunts

Mannus State Forest - bow hunting only ballot

Bow hunting only - no other hunting methods permitted.
Balloted hunts are for March 2021.
Hunts during April 2021 will be allocated to winners of the 2020 ballot who were unable to attend the forest due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions.
Each ballot period is four (4) days during March and April 2021.
A maximum of two (2) hunters are permitted to hunt at any one time (except for during the youth period).
Nine (9) ballot periods and 18 written permissions are available for allocation.
One (1) ballot period is reserved for youth hunts.

Maragle South State Forest ballot

There will be no ballot for 2021 hunts in Maragle South State Forest.
Maragle South State Forest will be closed to general bookings during March and April.
Hunts during March 2021 will be allocated to winners of the 2020 ballot who were unable to attend the forest due to COVID-19 (coronavirus) restrictions.
Maragle South State Forest will be closed in April 2021, as Forestry Corporation of NSW (FCNSW) have advised they will be conducting Hazard Reduction Burning.

Mannus State Forest ballot

There will be no ballot for 2021 hunts in the main section of Mannus State Forest.
FCNSW have advised that Mannus State Forest will remain closed to the general public next year, as bush fire salvage operations continue.
All cancelled 2020 ballot hunts are postponed until further notice.

Requirements

In addition to a current R-Licence, ballot entrants must also have completed the additional training to allow a written permission to be issued if successful. The additional training has been simplified - R-Licence holders can simply watch the new public land hunting tutorial video and complete the declaration to meet this requirement.

Access online services to complete the training.

Normal booking rules apply. R-Licence holders may only have two concurrent Written Permissions at any time and hunters must ensure they have no outstanding harvest returns and no more than one hunt booked.

Youth hunts

Written permissions are reserved for a youth hunt in one ballot period for the Mannus State Forest Bow Hunting Only ballot:

Period 5: Wednesday 17 March - Saturday 20 March 2020

One Written Permission is allocated to an eligible youth holding a minor's R-Licence and the other is allocated to an adult holding a standard R-Licence. The minor hunter must always hunt in the company of the fully licensed adult hunter according to the conditions of their licence.

To register for a youth hunt, the primary applicant (adult) must register for the ballot, indicate they are registering as part of a group hunt and create a name for your group (e.g. the primary applicant’s (adult's) last name). The secondary applicant (minor) must then register using the same group name.

2021 balloted hunt periods

Period 1 Monday 1 March - Thursday 4 March	Period 2 Friday 5 March - Monday 8 March	Period 3 Tuesday 9 March - Friday 12 March	Period 4 Saturday 13 March - Tuesday 16 March
Period 5 (youth) Wednesday 17 March - Saturday 20 March	Period 6 Sunday 21 March - Wednesday 24 March	Period 7 Thursday 25 March - Sunday 28 March	Period 8 Monday 29 March - Thursday 1 April
Period 9 Friday 2 April - Monday 5 April	Period 10 Tuesday 6 April - Friday 9 April	Period 11 Saturday 10 April - Tuesday 13 April	Period 12 Wednesday 14 April - Saturday 17 April
Period 13 Sunday 18 April - Wednesday 21 April	Period 14 Thursday 22 April - Sunday 25 April	Period 15 Monday 26 April - Thursday 29 April	Period 16 Friday 30 April - Monday 3 May

Terms & conditions

By entering the 2021 ballot, licence holders agree to the collection and retention of personal information and for NSW DPI to apply for and issue written permission to hunt on their behalf.
Hunters must observe their written permission conditions, including all standard rules and regulations as well as the rules governing this ballot.
Hunters will receive official notification if successfully drawn in the ballots.

More information

If you have any questions about the ballot, contact our Wildlife Management Team on ballotedhunting@dpi.nsw.gov.au.

2020 ballot statistics

Maragle South State Forest ballot

No. of Written Permissions available	51
Total no. of ballot registrations	1,332
No. of eligible ballot registrations	1,059
Registration error rate	20.5%
No. of individual hunter registrations	1,051
No. of youth group ballot registrations	8
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	4.8%
16 ballot periods were available for allocation, with 3 ballot periods reserved for youth hunts Hunters who did not meet entry requirements such as completing online training and submitting harvest returns were removed from the ballot before the draw. Due to the suspension of public land hunting on 6 April 2020, balloted hunts for periods 10 to 16 were cancelled. These hunts have been reallocated to dates in 2021.

Mannus State Forest ballot

No. of Written Permissions available	64
Total no. of ballot registrations	951
No. of eligible ballot registrations	690
Registration error rate	27.4%
No. of individual hunter registrations	685
No. of youth group ballot registrations	5
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	9.3%
16 ballot periods were available for allocation, with 3 ballot periods reserved for youth hunts Hunters who did not meet entry requirements such as completing online training and submitting harvest returns were removed from the ballot before the draw. Balloted hunts for 2020 Mannus State Forest were unable to proceed as the forest was closed due to significant bush fire damage. These hunts have been re-allocated to dates in 2021.

Mannus State Forest - bow hunting only ballot

No. of Written Permissions available	32
Total no. of ballot registrations	352
No. of eligible ballot registrations	234
Registration error rate	33.5%
No. of individual hunter registrations	232
No. of youth group ballot registrations	2
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	13.7%
16 ballot periods were available for allocation, with 3 ballot periods reserved for youth hunts Hunters who did not meet entry requirements such as completing online training and submitting harvest returns were removed from the ballot before the draw. Due to the suspension of public land hunting on 6 April 2020, balloted hunts for periods 10 to 16 were cancelled. These hunts have been re-allocated to dates in 2021.

2019 ballot statistics

No. of Written Permissions available	115
Total no. of ballot registrations	1,463
No. of eligible ballot registrations	1,063
Registration error rate	27.3%
No. of individual hunter registrations	1,444
No. of youth group ballot registrations	19
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	10.8%
Hunters who did not meet entry requirements such as completing online training and submitting harvest returns were removed from the ballot before the draw.

2018 ballot statistics

No. of Written Permissions available	115
Total no. of ballot registrations	851
No. of eligible ballot registrations	734
Registration error rate	13.7%
No. of individual hunter registrations	829
No. of youth group ballot registrations	11
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	15.7%
There was a 28% error rate among hunters who were drawn in the ballot - these hunters did not meet the eligibility requirements relating to harvest returns and additional training. Successful hunters who did not meet these requirements were removed from the ballot and replaced by hunters drawn from the emergency list.

2017 ballot statistics

No. of Written Permissions available	115
Total no. of ballot registrations	714
No. of eligible ballot registrations	661
Registration error rate	8%
No. of individual hunter registrations	368
No. of youth group ballot registrations	173
Chance of drawing a Written Permission	22%
13 periods were comprised of one group with three individual hunters Nine periods were comprised of two groups with one individual hunter One period was comprised of solely individual hunters 53 Written Permissions were issued to individuals 62 Written Permissions were issued to groups In two of the three youth periods (5, 11 and 14) a group from the main ballot was also successful One youth group was successful in the main ballot, in addition to the three successful youth ballot groups.