Deer hunting on Wildlife Management Areas remains very popular and productive in South Carolina, and hunters have great opportunities.
Charles Ruth, the biologist who oversees deer hunting for SCDNR, said hunters took 7-percent fewer deer on WMAs last season than in 2014, mirroring the overall statewide harvest blamed on poor weather conditions.
“We had entire WMAs, and portions of WMAs, closed at times during 2015 because of the floods,” he said. “Several WMAs were impacted, but Woodbury WMA in Marion County was mostly inaccessible because of flooding on the Big and Little Pee Dee Rivers. Marsh WMA was also heavily impacted as were WMAs around the Waccamaw River. We had to close roads on some of the coastal WMAs. Even when areas re-opened, some portions of the WMAs were difficult or impossible to access. This impacts harvest because areas were inaccessible to hunters.”
“Barring extreme weather circumstances, it looks like everything will be back up this season,” he said. “The silver lining is on WMAs, just as on private lands, I am very optimistic for the 2016 season being very good. A lot of deer that typically would have been harvested were not because of WMA access issue.”
Ruth said some of the top areas for 2016 include Woodbury and Marsh because of poor access last year.
“In the Central Piedmont Hunt Unit where the Sumter National Forest comprises a big portion of this WMA, excellent deer hunting exists,” Ruth said. “These are very good WMAs for deer hunting and are large enough to accommodate a lot of hunters.”
Ruth said excellent draw hunts are available on WMAs, and historically top areas include the Webb Center, Hamilton Ridge, Donnelley, Bear Island and Bonneau Ferry.
Ruth said some small, coastal WMAs offer excellent deer hunting: Botany Bay, Oak Lea and Cross Generating Station.
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