Pisgah National Forest

[Pete Patterson]

My wife and I are looking at relocating to the Burnsville,NC area.  It's surrounded by the Pisgah.  If anyone in the area can tell me whether much of it is "gamelands" (public hunting)or if there is other public hunting in that area...or anything else about the area regarding hunting opportunities, I'd be greatful.

[Dennis Allman]

All of Pisgah National Forest is in the game lands program and open to public hunting, following NC Wildlife Resource Commission (NCWRC) rules, regulation and seasons. In addition there are Wildlife Management Area (WMA) that are owned by NCWRC or leased and managed for public hunting: DuPont State Forest 10,256 acres, Sandy Mush 2,600 acres, Toxaway 11,650o acres. If you are willing to come east and/or south, off the mountain, there are others in Burke, Ashe, Wilkes counties, within one to 1 1/2 hr drive. Some are permit hunts, easy to draw for bowhunts and no pressure.

There are several archery clubs in the Asheville area, at least one traditional club. And Carolina Traditional Archers home range/base is at Maiden (about an hour away), monthly shoots or events. Check them out at:     thecta.org

Send me an email or PM for more information.

Dennis Allman

[Pete Patterson]

Thank you Dennis.  Very good to know!

[JohnV]

Hunting opportunities in the mountains of North Carolina can be very deceptive.  While there are a lot of state and federal lands that can be hunted, game populations tend to be very low in many areas (at least they were when I lived in NC from 1988-2001).  Dennis and others in NC can provide you with info regarding which areas have better opportunities

[The Night Stalker]

Some places around Asheville do not have the volume in deer numbers as the north west counties. Ashe and Allegheny have good deer density. Wilkes , surry and areas below the mountain had a bad deer kill last summer due to hemorganic disease. I would think their numbers are down but they should return.

[Dennis Allman]

True, a lot of the mountain area do not have the best hunting with numbers, and some areas are physical tough to get around in. There was a EHD die off in 6/7 counties, but there are still good area to hunt. Turkey numbers are great, plenty of birds about anywhere. NC set a new harvest record this past Spring, with well over 18,000 birds taken. Bear are doing very well, everywhere. I have one property, that has more turkey and bear than deer, at least it seems.

There is a lot of places to go and do for us retired folks, and for the most part, through the week we have it all to ourselves.

Forgot to mention that you would be about 30 minutes from Mike Treadway (Treadway Longbows) shop; very close to the Sandy Mush WMA.

Pretty good trout fishing, also. And you will love the winters. he he

Dennis

[Pete Patterson]

Actually, I view all this as good news.  As long as I have plenty of area to hunt, I'm happy.  Why mess up a good hunt by killing a deer!

I'm headed to Black Mountain Friday and then on up to Burnsville Saturday.  We'll enjoy looking around.

Thanks for the responses folks.

[huskyarcher]

Pisgah has some decent hunting opertunites. Like others have said, they can be hard to pin down, which makes for tough hunting. Pisgah does have great hiking and trout fishing though, oh yea and Last of the Mohecans was filmed there. IMHO you would be much better served to search for some private land. I live in Ashe btw, good to see a neighbor on here.