November '11 WMA waterfowl hunt results

Bear Bay Pond at daybreak in 2008 - on Bear Island's East Unit

It can be tough for wishful waterfowlers to get psyched up when a moderate drought is in effect and the weather temperature has been at 80-degrees. Abundant water for ducks to use is always important, and some cold weather to bring the ducks down from up North is also a requirement. With those thoughts in mind a double whammy might have been in effect for the Thanksgiving season. Lots of regular wood duck holes are simply bone dry right now, which should limit their overall harvest somewhat. Consider that the Hickory Top WMA, a greentree reservoir in Rimini that is consistently one of the top public wood duck hunt areas is closed this year. On November 9 the SCDNR announced that water is not available to pump and flood Hickory Top this year as a consequence of the low lake levels in the Santee Cooper system. In Colleton County a bright spot for the DNR draw hunts was the East Unit at Bear Island WMA. Gadwall, blue-winged teal and green-winged teal were the in droves. Thirty-one hunters killed 142 ducks giving them an average of 4.6-ducks per gun! The West Unit of Bear Island saw decent action at 3.4-ducks per gun. Meanwhile in the Santee Delta (The Cape, Murphy Island, and Cedar Island) their were many American widgeon in the bag along with Northern Shovelers - in addition to gadwalls, GWT and BWT. Fifteen Northern Pintail were also harvested at The Cape hunt. The average for all three Santee hunt units was 5.1-ducks per gun. Duck hunting season resumes after the split in between seasons which includes a YOUTH hunt day on December 3. The second part of duck season runs from December 10 through January 29. Goose season kicks back in on December 3 and runs until Feb. 3.


To view past blog entries about the November waterfowl hunt report click here.