Tommy Hughes, a biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, said adventurous hunters have the opportunity to check out new additions to two existing game lands this year by purchasing over-the-counter muzzleloader season permits.
The McFayden Tract is a 250-acre addition to 1,430 existing acres of Whitehall Game Land, and the Faircloth Tract is a 193-acre addition to 10,838 existing acres of Suggs Mill Pond Game Land. Whitehall is not included in the game lands muzzleloader permit for Suggs Mill Pond and Brunswick game lands, so hunters who want to explore that game land must purchase a separate permit.
“We acquired the McFayden Tract with the help of the Coastal Land Trust through North American Waterfowl Conservation Act funds,” Hughes said. “The property has 30- to 50-year-old natural regeneration lowland hardwoods for about three quarters of a mile along the Cape Fear River. French Creek passes through the property, with beaver dams along the creek. It also has 30 to 40 acres of 30- to 50-year-old loblolly pines and about a half-mile of flood-control dike built in the 1940s that provides good access. It is located 5 miles downstream of the original Whitehall Tract, with access is from Cassius Smith Road.”
The McFayden Tract brings an in-holding into the Suggs Mill Pond fold. Located to the northeast of Little Singletary Lake, the tract has foot access from Gallberry Road.
“It has Carolina bay and sand ridge habitat, so the deer hunting should be as good as anywhere else on Suggs Mill Pond,” he said. “Hunters have to walk a long way beyond a closed gate to reach the new tract, so they should bring a deer cart.”
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