Camouflage-clad hunters will descend upon Selma this weekend to take part in Morgan Academy’s annual deer hunt fundraiser.

The three-day event begins Friday and includes four hunts, breakfast, lunch, dinner and a hotel room. It costs $1000 per hunter.

Organizer Todd Stewart said it is the school’s biggest fundraiser of the year. Most of the hunters come from out of town to take advantage of the Black Belt’s rich deer population.

“We’ve gotten anywhere from 60 to 120 hunters,” Stewart said. “It’s during the rut. It’s probably the best time of the year for shooting a really nice deer.”

Private landowners donate their land during the hunt. Hunters are placed in tree stands and boxes overlooking planted food plots, game trails and hardwood bottoms.

An Alabama hunting license is required and can be purchased at check-in. Hunters can kill one buck per day. They can kill does if landowners and regulations permit.

Each hunter must bring a rifle or bow and ammo. They will also need a flashlight, large cooler, rain suit, waterproof boots and warm clothes. Meteorologists at the National Weather Service say a series of cold fronts will enter the state starting Tuesday and could result in single-digit temperatures on Thursday and Friday. Temperatures could dip into the teens by Wednesday morning.

Cold weather is just fine with Chuck Yeargan. He works as a guide for the event, and he also donates use of his land.

“That’ll make it awesome,” he said of the weather. “The colder weather gets the deer moving.”

Yeargan said he is expecting this to be one of the best hunts Morgan has ever hosted. People come from as far away as Canada to participate in the hunt, Yeargan said, because it is arguably the best place in the state to hunt.

“We went and scouted a place yesterday, and it’s just unreal,” Yeargan said. “We probably seen about 40 yesterday and weren’t there but a couple of hours. We were just scouting and riding four wheelers, and seeing deer everywhere. It’s outstanding.”

Proceeds from the event are used to make improvements around Morgan Academy. Stewart said the event was started about eight years ago to help pay for the construction of the gymnasium. Since then, proceeds from the event have paid for new computers, paving, upkeep of athletic fields and band equipment.

The event also helps out parents who have students at Morgan by keeping tuition low, Yeargan said.

“It does generate a lot of money,” he said. “It gets a lot of extra things done around the school that tuition would’ve had to take care of.”

Yeargan said there are usually 70 to 75 deer killed during the weekend.