The Loudoun County parks department is holding a Virginia lottery of a different kind this year — a chance to hunt deer. After spending four years studying the health of deer at Banshee Reeks Nature Preserve, the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries determined that overpopulation was harmful to the deer.

There are 150 to 200 deer on the 735-acre preserve, park manager Ron Circe said. At slightly more than 1 square mile in size, the preserve should have only 30 to 40 deer.

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