Lebanon Hills Regional Park will continue to have an archery hunt in 2023. The registration process for these hunts will be managed by Dakota County.
Spring Lake Park Reserve will not have a hunt in 2023 because of the bison and steady deer population. We will re-evaluate the Spring Lake hunt in 2023.
If you have not registered to hunt since 2015, you will have to sign up for a new account — unless you have rented a facility or registered for any activities in the parks recently. You can sign up for an account anytime.
On Aug. 1, you'll be able to sign up for a deer hunt lottery on the Dakota County Parks website. See the directions to enter the archery hunt lottery.
Apply for the Lebanon Hills archery hunt.
Applications will be accepted until Aug. 31. There is an initial non-refundable $8 + tax application fee. If you are selected in the lottery there will be an additional $20 non-refundable and non-transferable fee for securing your permit.
To be eligible for hunting, you must complete an online application, and you must obtain a valid hunting license from the Minnesota DNR prior to the hunt. A link to the registration site will be provided on our deer hunt webpage prior to the application open date.
Preference point lottery system
For these hunts, there is still a preference point lottery system in place to help ensure that everyone has a chance to participate. Each year, you apply for a hunt, but are not selected, you will receive one point. These points will add up over time, increasing your chances of being selected the following year.
Each of the hunts has a separate point system. If you are selected to a hunt, your points will return to zero, which will decrease your chances to hunt the following year.
In order to take advantage of our preference point system and assure your earned points are used in your favor, make sure you use the same login information that you have used in previous years.
Since the park is in a Chronic Wasting Disease Management zone, you are able to harvest multiple does. In order to increase our doe harvest, you will again be awarded a half point for each buck and one point for each antlerless deer taken during the hunt. These points will be added to your preference points for the following year.
A registration station will be set up at the park during the hunt.
Hunting partners
Hunters are allowed to apply with one hunting partner. Each applicant must sign up for an account and apply for the lottery. If you chose to apply with a hunting partner, there will be a question during the application process asking for information about them. Each of you will have to supply us with your partner's name in order to apply together.
Up to two children under the age of 18 may hunt with each adult. Children do not need to have their own account and do not need to apply, but there will be a question asking for their names and dates of birth.
There will be 80 names drawn for the Lebanon Hills archery hunt. A waiting list will also be drawn. The lottery winners will be notified and will need to make a payment by the due date or their names will be dropped from the hunt roster and names from the waiting list will be added to the roster. Hunt participants must attend one of two mandatory hunter orientation meetings. The meetings will be held at Dakota Lodge in Thompson County Park (1200 Stassen Lane, West St. Paul) on Wednesday, Oct. 11 from 6-7:30 p.m. and on Tuesday, Oct. 17 from 10-11:30 a.m.