Apply for these great public-land hunts
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission offers permit-only waterfowl hunting at many of its game lands in eastern North Carolina.
Hunters may apply for permits at wildlife cooperator agents for a $5 fee or go to www.ncwildlife.org to apply on-line or call 888-248-6834.
• Currituck Banks Game Land: This 127-acre game land contains four blinds adjacent to Currituck Sound. Two are off US 158 on the west side of the sound and two are on the east sound side off NC 12 in Currituck County. Application deadline ($5 per application) is Oct. 1. Each hunter may bring as many as two guests.
• Currituck Sound Late-Season Youth Hunt: This waterfowl hunt is for youths ages 12 to 15 and will be held at donated Currituck County waterfowl blinds. Application deadline is Dec. 1. Youth hunters must have completed a state-approved hunter-safety course and be accompanied by a licensed adult of 21 years of age who may not hunt. Hunt dates will be available Sept. 1 at www.ncwildlife.org or at cooperator agents.
• Goose Creek Game Land: In Beaufort and Pamlico counties, this game land boasts five waterfowl impoundments, including perhaps the best game-land impoundment in the state, Pamlico Point, an island in the Pamlico River divided into four impoundments. Thirty-two parties are allowed per day (maximum three hunters per party), making this one of the state’s top public-lands waterfowl hunts. The application deadline is Sept. 1. Goose Creek also will hold a late-season waterfowl hunt; the process is the same, but the deadline is Oct. 1.
• J. Morgan Futch Game Land: This 600-acre Tyrrell County game land contains 15 waterfowl impoundments and has been managed extensively by the Commission and Ducks Unlimited. Early-season hunting is limited to three
impoundments, and the application deadline is Sept. 1.
Dates for a late-season hunt will be announced Sept. 1, and the application deadline is Oct. 1.
• Lantern Acres: This game land in Washington and Tyrrell counties features early- and late-season waterfowl hunts. Four parties of up to three hunters each will be chosen. Apply by Sept. 1 (early season) or Oct. 1 (late season).
• North River Game Land: This game land covers 19,939 acres in Camden and Currituck counties with a small section off the Pasquotank River. Three waterfowl impoundments that will be for early- and late-season hunts. The early-season application deadline is Sept. 1, with the late-season deadline Oct. 1.
• Rhodes Pond: This tiny game land (461 acres) is a farm off NC 301 in Cumberland and Harnett counties about two miles northeast of the town of Godwin. An early-season hunt will allow five parties of up to three hunters in each party on the pond. Early-season application deadline is Sept. 1. The late-season hunt has an Oct. 1 application deadline.
• Roanoke Island Marshes: This 1,776-acre property in Dare County is south of Manteo on Roanoke Island between US 64/264 and NC 345. The late-season waterfowl hunt application deadline is Sept. 1. Hunt days are Tuesdays, Saturdays, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s and Martin Luther King days during the late season, except in a posted safety zone.
• Suggs Mill Pond: This 10,760-acre game land contains Suggs Mill Pond Lake, Little Singletary Lake, Jessups Mill Pond and several impoundments formerly belonging to a private landowner. Early-season hunts will be only at Suggs Mill Pond, with the hunts limited to a dozen hunters. Late-season hunts will be on all three lakes plus three impoundments, with 18 parties allowed per hunt. Late-season hunt dates will be available at cooperator agents or at www.ncwildlife.org.
• Whitehall Plantation: A 1,430-acre game land in Bladen County between NC 53 and NC 87 north of Elizabethtown is basically a swamp adjacent to the Cape Fear River. Early- and late-season permit hunts are available, with the early-season application deadline Sept. 1 and the late-season application deadline Oct. 1. son Five parties of up to three hunters in each party will be permitted.
• White Oak River: This game land is off the White Oak River north of Swansboro and contains three main tracts; Huggins, Morton and Quantenary. An early-season waterfowl hunt will be held at the White Oak River Impoundment for three parties of up to three in each party. Deadline to apply is Sept. 1. Two late-season hunts are offered for the White Oak River impoundment and Huggins Tract, respectively. Hunt dates will be available Sept. 1, with an application deadline of Oct. 1.
Editor’s note: This article is part of the Ducks on the dole feature in the September issue of North Carolina Sportsman. Digital editions can be downloaded right to your computer or smartphone.
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