PIEDMONT REGION
Cowan’s Ford Wildlife Refuge at 668 acres and McDowell Nature Preserve at 1,002 acres are located in Mecklenburg County adjacent to Mountain Island Lake and Lake Wylie. These refuge lands are owned by the Mecklenburg County Parks and Recreation Department.

Cowan’s Ford Wildlife Refuge is north of Charlotte and west of Huntersville, along Beatties Ford Road and Neck Road. McDowell Nature Preserve is south of Charlotte on York Road. Mountain Island State Forest is 1,050 acres in Gaston and Lincoln counties. The area has permit hunts, with especially good opportunities for youth hunts. Youth hunters must be between the ages of 12 and 15. Orientation is required with the orientation event taking an entire day.

Special rules apply to these refuge hunts: Hunters must be age 16 or older except for youth hunts; a safety orientation the Sunday before the hunt is mandatory; only shotguns with slugs are allowed during shotgun special hunts; only portable tree stands are allowed; scouting at Cowan’s Ford is restricted to the Sunday orientation day; DMAP tags are used so antlerless deer harvested do not count in the regular season bag limit; only one buck is allowed; and finally, hunters must check in and check out and register all deer killed. Facilities are closed to other uses during the hunts.

Caswell Game Land encompasses 16,704 acres in Caswell County. Traditionally a three-day-per-week game land, with hunting restricted to Monday, Wednesday and Saturday, the special hunt opportunities allow hunters who come from long distances to hunt the other days of the week. It is among the most popular deer-hunting public lands in the state.

Sandhills Game Land has 59,498 acres in 32 tracts in Hoke, Moore, Richmond and Scotland counties. It has plenty of longleaf pine forest. The area is bounded on the northeast by Aberdeen and on the southwest by Hamlet and Rockingham. There are mixed pine and hardwood stands, along with 9,000 acres of evergreen shrubs in the drainages. Food plots are planted and 2,000 acres are kept in early plant succession stages for food and cover. The area has some nice trophy deer, and vehicular access is excellent. All gun either-sex deer hunting is by permit only and hound hunting is popular on the game land.

Dupont State Forest is located in Henderson and Transylvania counties, with 10,256 acres of mountain terrain near Brevard and Hendersonville. Approximately 700 acres are intensively managed white pine plantations. Prescribed burns are used to promote wildlife, including deer.

Access is from several state roads along the border or through the property. There are several safety zones on the property. There are also several disabled access roads and there are special disabled sportsman hunts available. Hunters may obtain maps by calling the Dupont State Forest Office at (828) 877-6527. Other outdoor recreational land users use this game land, including horseback riders, bikers and hikers. Hunters are therefore asked to avoid high-use areas for these activities, such as trails and roads.

Belews Creek is an 800-acre game land located in Stokes County. It has upland pine and hardwoods and forms a peninsula extending into Belews Creek Lake. Restricted access is provided through the Belews Creek Steam Station for the orientation day and a hunt day one week later. No other hunting is allowed at Belews Creek. Warrior Creek Recreational Area is an 850-acre tract west of Wilkesboro in Wilkes County at W. Kerr Scott Dam and Reservoir. It has hardwoods, pines and open habitats and good road access and an orientation day and hunt day that are the only days the tract is open for deer hunting. The orientation is an all-day event.

DOING IT
That’s a fairly long list of public land with draw-hunt opportunities, but that’s partly a reflection of the fact that there’s likely a draw hunt near you. If you’ve been ignoring them, you might want to check out the possibilities. For many hunters, they provide extra days in the field without many of the traditional drawbacks of public-land hunting.

Find more about North Carolina fishing and hunting at: www.NCgameandfish.com