Hunters In Southeast North Carolina Have New Game Land to Hunt

September 14, 2008

Juniper Creek Game Land is one of the new offerings for hunters in North Carolina to hunt in a day and age when land access seems to be getting harder and harder to get. The Nature Conservancy in partnership with North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission purchased this land from International Paper to preserve it from development and protect some unique habitat and nature;

Juniper Creek drains the Green Swamp as it flows into the Waccamaw River. Primarily surrounded by cypress-gum swamp and bottomland hardwood forest, Juniper Creek supports several smaller longleaf savanna natural areas that provide habitat for a variety of rare plants. This region also provides excellent habitat for animals, including the fox squirrel and the potential for the endangered red-cockaded woodpecker. The game land provides an important natural corridor between the Conservancy’s Green Swamp Preserve and the Waccamaw River.
The area includes blackwater forest species types such cypress-gum swamps, peatland Atlantic White Cedar forest and bottomland hardwoods. It also includes an older growth loblolly pine/hardwood forest with pines up to 4 feet in diameter.
Four longleaf wet savanna natural areas exist entirely within the Juniper Creek game lands. Those savannas contain populations of the Federally Endangered Cooley’s meadowrue, four additional plants listed as Federal Species of Concern (including savanna indigo-bush, found only to Brunswick and Columbus counties) and 12 species recognized as rare by the North Carolina Natural Heritage Program.
Rare species, including healthy populations of several rare fish and mussels, are found in Juniper Creek. The tract contains the healthiest population of Carolina pygmy sunfish, a threatened species in North Carolina, which is only found in the Lake Waccamaw drainage area.

Juniper Creek Gameland (#22) is located in Brunswick and Columbus Counties. North Carolina has a Game Lands (public hunting land) across the state available to properly licensed hunters. If you plan to hunt game lands be sure that your license includes Game Land privileges and carefully read the rules for the Game Land you plan to hunt. Some Game Lands have limited draw hunts, only open for hunting certain days of the week, seasons and bag limits different then the surrounding private lands. So if you can’t find a place to hunt or can’t afford a lease check out the Game Lands for your next trophy.

Story by Dan McLaughlin AKA Moose