Balloted hunting in NSW

Balloted hunts: Saturday 1 March - Saturday 3 May 2025

Some NSW State forests are more popular with R-Licensed hunters than others. Bookings in these popular forests can 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, DPIRD Hunting administers balloted hunting in some of these forests. The ballots provide a fair and equitable opportunity for all R-Licensed hunters to hunt on public land during the most popular time of year.

Eligible R-Licence holders are able enter the public land hunting ballots for:

• Maragle South State Forest
• Mannus State Forest (Seymours section)
• Mannus State Forest (bows only section)

Normal online bookings for these forests are not available during March or April. Only ballot winners are issued written permission to hunt these months, through the ballot program. Normal bookings are available until the ballot start date and after the end date.

2025 ballot draw results

The winners of each ballot have been drawn randomly through the Easypromos platform using the Eventbrite registration order numbers. An alternative (secondary) list of hunters has also been drawn who may be contacted should a balloted hunt be made available.

Check the results below to see if your Eventbrite registration number appears. DPIRD Hunting will notify all winners via email over the coming days.

Maragle South State Forest:

• Individual ballot draw results
• Youth ballot draw results

Mannus State Forest (Seymours section):

• Individual ballot draw results
• Youth ballot draw results

Mannus State Forest Ballot (Bows only section):

• Individual ballot draw results
• Youth ballot draw results

Written permissions available through the ballot

*Note: The number of permissions available is subject to the available hunting area at the time of balloted hunting and may change.

Eligibility

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

R-Licence holders must have completed their additional training before entering the public land hunting ballots (does not apply to R-Licence holders who have completed the new R-Licence Accreditation Course, either online or through a Hunter LEAP Trainer).

You must only apply ONCE for each ballot. You can either register as an individual or as part of a youth hunt. If you register for both in the same ballot, your registration will be cancelled without notice and you won’t be eligible for either draw in that ballot. You must read the information below to apply correctly for a youth ballot.

You can register for all 3 ballots as long as you only register once for each ballot.

Please ensure your details, including name and R-Licence number are correct. If you have entered details incorrectly, your registration may be deemed ineligible.

Registrations will be cancelled without notice if you are not eligible for the ballot.

Completing additional training

If you've completed the R-Licence Accreditation Course online or recently through a Hunter LEAP Trainer, please skip to the next section.

If you completed the R-Licence Accreditation Course a while ago, please check that you have completed your additional R-Licence training. The additional training must be completed before access is granted to book hunts online. If you still need to complete the additional training, simply watch the short public land hunting tutorial and complete the declaration before registering for the ballots.

It takes 10 minutes to watch the tutorial and tick the declaration box. Note, there is no confirmation screen. Once the declaration box is ticked, you have completed the additional training and will have access to the hunt booking system.

• Access online services to complete the training

About balloted hunts

• The number of written permissions to hunt issued to ballot winners is determined by the available hunting area for March and April and is subject to change.
• Each permission is for four days.
• Several ballot periods are reserved for youth hunts and permissions to hunt in that period will be issued to eligible minors and their eligible supervising hunter. If youth ballot winners are unable to attend, permissions to hunt may be transferred to hunters who have registered as individuals.

Youth hunts

Three periods are reserved for youth hunts in each of the ballots.

• Period 6: 21 March - 24 March (Easter long weekend)
• Period 12: 14 April - 17 April
• Period 13: 18 April - 21 April

Minor licence holders must hunt under the close personal supervision of a licensed person who is at least 18 years old.

Only R-Licence holders over 12 years and under 18 years (a minor) and their supervising adult hunter (over 18 years) are eligible for the youth ballots.

Note: the process to register for a youth ballot has changed. The minor applicant is no longer required to register separately.

How to register:

The adult applicant must complete the ballot registration, indicating they are registering for a youth ballot. Details of the minor applicant will be attached to the adult applicant.

The adult (primary) applicant must supply the minor applicant’s:

• Full name
• R-Licence number.

Both applicants must have the correct R-Licence categories for the type of hunting they wish to do, or if they enter the bow hunting only ballot.

Only the supervising hunter is required to carry a GPS device.

2025 balloted hunt periods

Terms & conditions

• By entering a ballot, licence holders agree to the collection and retention of personal information for the purpose of the ballot and for the department to apply for and issue written permission to hunt on their behalf.
• Licence holders must comply with the written permission conditions, all standard rules and regulations, the specific forest conditions that appear on their written permission, and the rules governing this ballot.
• Hunters will receive official notification via email if successfully drawn in the ballots.
• DPIRD Hunting staff are ineligible for the ballots.

More information

If you have any questions about the ballot, email hunting.ballot@dpird.nsw.gov.au.