The Hyde county mosquitoes have carried off most game animals, many vehicles, several houses, and a few churches.
Seriously, if you go before, say, mid-November or so, you can have a thousand skeeters on you moments after getting out of your truck. You can inhale 20 or so in a single breath. Ticks are a problem too. Some doctors say that Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever should be re-named North Carolina Spotted Fever. A buddy who got bit in Hyde has spent the last year getting back on his feet from it...
There are deer on the Gull Rock Gamelands, though few with much in the way of racks. There may be a some bear there, but for sizeable numbers you need to go to the other side of Hyde county. There are quite a few bears in the new addition to Gull Rock called the Long Shoal Tract. It is 6 or so miles north of Engelhard, right across #264 from the "airport". Those bears in there get big. Five hundred pounders are around, probably even bigger. Getting one without dogs will be very difficult even with a firearm much less a bow.
Turkeys have begun to turn up in Hyde county in recent years but I doubt there are many on public land. All the ones I know of are on the other side of Fairfield on private land. There is a sizeable feral hog population in that same area, but, again all on private land.
Rabbits can also be found on the other side of Hyde from Gull Rock in great numbers but on private land. That is where the big agrabiz farms are. It is not unheard of for large groups of rabbit hunters to kill 300 in a day, though between 100 and 200 would be more common.
Forget about quail on Hyde county public land, though there are, at times, good numbers on private land. Never seen a woodcock in Hyde but you never know, I guess.
The Hyde county waterfowling is justly praised. If you have to hunt public land make Gull Rock your second choice. First try to get picked in one of the Lake Mattamuskeet Refuge lotteries. They give you 5 cracks at being picked for the regular waterfowl season and 1 crack at the September resident goose season.
Off the Gull Rock Gamelands out in Pamlico Sound waterfowing was fantastic this past year. There is an impoundment there and they probably did OK there last season. Most everywhere in Hyde was fantastic for waterfowling this past year. Old timers in Hyde who remember the glory days of the 50s and 60s say that last year was as good as it ever was, which is really saying a lot.
There is at least one public waterfowling impoundment in that new addition to Gull Rock that I mentioned (Long Shoal) as across from the "airport." I can't say I'd recommend it.
Nobody asked about predators but bobcats, foxes, coyotes, etc. are everywhere.
If you come to Hyde county, eat at Martelles in Engelhard. Get the grilled pork chops.
Topic: Eastern North Carolina Gull Rock Gameland (Read 239 times)
