# Anyone ever hunt Blackbeard Island?



## Peanut (Sep 20, 2005)

Have any of ya'll ever hunted Blackbeard Island off the GA Coast?  I was curious if it has a similar deer and hog population to the other GA Islands.


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## Murdock (Sep 20, 2005)

Ran into a guy that hunts there every year. He said it is covered up with deer and hogs just like the others only with very limited access and pressure. We may be going this year.


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## Jim Thompson (Sep 20, 2005)

Jayrod (member here) hunts there every year


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## Slayer (Sep 20, 2005)

I hunted the Island 13 years straight, haven't been back in about 4 years , most years I went to both hunts.....

if ya get a chance, check out the "Middle beach road"...  it is out the EAST trail........

its about 300 to 500 yards long....we hunt about 3/4 of the way from the East trail to the beach(think its 2nd or 3rd hill)...we hunt both sides of the road....head into woods approx 150 yards in each direction...find any of the small clearings in the "valleys" between the burms...

hope this helps


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## coon dawg (Sep 20, 2005)

*haven't hunted it,*

but worked out there the last 7 years.........listen to Slayer  ............and try the area just to the right of the dock, not far from the campground.


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## Peanut (Sep 22, 2005)

*Thanks*

Thanks for all of your responses.  I'll let ya'll know if our group goes down for the Oct hunt.


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## Murdock (Sep 22, 2005)

Peanut let me know if yall decide to go. What about the ferry. Are you guys bringing a boat or using the charter service? How much does that cost? Anyone know?


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## Peanut (Sep 22, 2005)

I've not checked into the cost of the ferry yet, but I think it will be around $50 - $60.  Everything that I've heard indicates that the ferry is better than taking your own boat.  We have boats, but I don't know the waters nor do I know anything about the tides.


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## AWirt (Sep 22, 2005)

We took a group to last year's December hunt for the first time...Had a blast.  We're actually having our meeting to discuss our return trip next weekend.  

I hunted the area that Slayer mentioned and was the only one in our group to put one on the ground (80lb doe...pretty big for there evidently).  Slayer, is the area north of there any good?   There appears to be multiple clearings from the satellite photos I have that might be good...unless they are swamp.  

Coon Dawg: Are the success rates on the Oct. hunt significantly better than the Dec. hunt?  We have started going on the Dec. hunt to avoid the skeeters but we might change if the hunting is a lot better early on.  Thanks...


Adam


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## Peanut (Sep 23, 2005)

Adam - Did the folks in your group see a lot of deer while you were on the December hunt last year?


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## MudDucker (Sep 24, 2005)

Used to go every year.  A little advise, yes that little deer is full grown, yes, it is better to wear repellent than to pull ticks off of places that you really don't want to get ticks and sand nats don't like bounce dryer sheets.  Have fun!


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## AWirt (Sep 25, 2005)

Hey Peanut,
Yeah, I think everyone saw deer.  We had 6 in our group last year and most could have taken a shot but some passed on the 30-40lb deer.  A couple of those guys saw decent sized deer for the island but couldn't take the shot because the deer didn't cooperate.

Are you thinking about going?  I think our group this year is going to be 8-10 head.

Adam


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## Peanut (Sep 26, 2005)

Some of my group is probably going to go down there Adam.  We are still trying to decide what to do.  We thought that this would be our year to go back to the Ossabaw bow hunt, but our group of 5 was met with double rejection notices.  We always see lots of deer and hogs at Ossabaw, making all the hard work to get the island worth it.  That's why I was curious if you see a good many animals on Blackbeard.  I love the camping and the scenary on the islands, but I also like to see some game!


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## Slayer (Sep 26, 2005)

most of the clearings you see from satelittes or areial photos are what they call "savannahs"........these are areas of tall grass(most of the time up to your belt)   during dry seasons they are dry and noisy and easy to cross...with any rain they can be full and have gators and snakes swimming in them,,,,, these savannahs normally have a "burm" on either side of them...with average rainfall for the year the deer usually adjust to the conditions and will "normally travel the tops of the burmss running parallel to the water....a lot of people like to find where these savannahs end and thats usually a flat spot that filters into the woods and is not usually as thick as other parts of the island.....search the top of the burms for good trails and look for trails leading off the burms into shallow portions of the savannahs...there will usually be plenty of trees  that will allow you to see both, savannah and the top of the burms....this is just one of my favorite ways to hunt blackbeard


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## prost69 (Oct 26, 2005)

My brother-inlaw and father-in-law just got back form there and they only harbest 38 deers in Oct, to much water, once the deer get hit they tent to run towards the swamp and the water level is so high that you can't track them, if you do the gators will track YOU, so be careful if you plan to go in DEC. other than that they say it was great, one shot an 8pt& doe both went into the swamp and plenty of hogs, they shot 1 huge one and also ran into the swamp. they fed the gators pretty good this month.   Good luck


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## Peanut (Oct 28, 2005)

*Misquito Heaven*

Our group hunted Blackbeard as well.  I've never witnessed that many misquitoes in my life.  Of our group of 4, we only saw one deer, but it made the ride home with us.  So, at least we didn't come home totally empty handed.

This was our first hunt on Blackbeard and we really felt lost.  There was so much water, we couldn't find a good place to hunt.


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## AWirt (Nov 8, 2005)

Wow, only 38 deer were taken?  I thought historically they harvested over 100 or so during the Oct. hunts.   I guess that should make the Dec. hunt good.  

Peanut:  That's what we were worried about with the Oct. hunt...mosquitos!  Hopefully they'll be a little thinner in Dec.  I hope you had a good time.  Congrats to your hunter that was successful.  Where did y'all hunt?


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## Peanut (Nov 14, 2005)

Adam - We actually hunted up near the Middle Beach Road on the first morning (the area you had told me about).  We saw lots of scrapes up that way, but there was so much water you couldn't get 40 yards off the road without running into a slough.  So, we ended up just setting up right by the road.  I shot a 3 point about two or three minutes after daylight on that first morning.  It was the only deer we saw.  We didn't walk back up there in the afternoon, but chose to go the wilderness area on the south side.  My brother and I walked a long ways down the far south trail, but didn't see much sign.  I sat up in a pretty place down there that afternoon.  At least it wasn't covered with water like on the north end of the island.  Since it hasn't rained in such a long time, I would imagine that north end will be a bit drier for the December hunt.   I wish you good luck in December.

I hate to say that we chickened-out after the first day due to the water and the skeeters.  We packed-up and headed to our hunting club and spent opening weekend enjoying ourselves instead of fighting bugs!


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## AWirt (Nov 16, 2005)

Thanks Peanut,
Got your email today...i appreciate it.  Sounds like your hunt would be hard to beat.  A few minutes in the stand and then a deer.  We were thinking about trying that area south of camp a little but didn't know for sure.  Congratulations.

Adam


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## Mac (Sep 8, 2006)

TTT
How did people do last Dec?

Was thinking about giving it a try this year.


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