# Lake Russell WMA



## athenstiger (May 11, 2007)

Anyone hunt the Lake Russell WMA in Banks County?


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## SWbowhunter (May 12, 2007)

It is mostly in Stephens and Habersham counties...not sure if any is in Banks. I do hunt it.  Has a lot of deer and turkey....and a lot of deer and turkey hunters :0


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## Ga-Bullet (May 12, 2007)

Hunt it quite abit Myself, Deer's been off last couple of years for us. Swbowhunter is right about the People. You'll never get lost Plenty of people to show you the way out of any where you go.


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## dirtroad (May 12, 2007)

Stock trout regularly also,lots of people everyday.Seems to be more turkey hunters than usual this year.


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## WSB (May 13, 2007)

I turkey hunt on it and it's been years since I deer hunted it, to many other hunters for me. Like dirtroad said they stock trout about every week, but it gets fished out pretty quick.


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## athenstiger (May 15, 2007)

*Bow only?*

Is this area archery only for much of the season like I heard?


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## WSB (May 15, 2007)

athenstiger said:


> Is this area archery only for much of the season like I heard?



You can hunt it all bow season, but then they have a couple gun hunts and a primitive weapon hunt during gun season. These hunts are sign-in.


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## SWbowhunter (May 16, 2007)

WSB said:


> You can hunt it all bow season, but then they have a couple gun hunts and a primitive weapon hunt during gun season. These hunts are sign-in.



You have to SIGN In to bow hunt and record harvest on your license and at the check station harvest report. 

On firearms hunts and primative weapons hunts it is CHECK IN requiring a permit to hunt and everything harvested is tagged at the check station and not recorded on your license harvest report.


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## SnowHunter (May 16, 2007)

What do yall think about Lake Russel WMA and the pressure for deer with the proposed changes to Wilson Shoals (2 total weeks of deer hunting). How bad do yall think it will effect Russel?
Nic


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## Nugefan (May 16, 2007)

Her1911 said:


> What do yall think about Lake Russel WMA and the pressure for deer with the proposed changes to Wilson Shoals (2 total weeks of deer hunting). How bad do yall think it will effect Russel?
> Nic



I think the real problem is no checks and balances for folks not signing out killed game .....

I think Russell will get the pressure from the regulars at Wilson Shoals .... 

just a little further up 365 from Wilson Shoals ...


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## WSB (May 16, 2007)

SWbowhunter said:


> You have to SIGN In to bow hunt and record harvest on your license and at the check station harvest report.
> 
> On firearms hunts and primative weapons hunts it is CHECK IN requiring a permit to hunt and everything harvested is tagged at the check station and not recorded on your license harvest report.



I don't know why I said sign-in, I know you have to check-in for firearms and primative hunts. Thanks for clearing it up for him.


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## Thunder Head (May 29, 2007)

Its in my backyard. I gave up trying to turkey hunt there. A couple of years ago i asked the check station guy, how many people had signed in for the december primitive weapons hunt. Dont remember the exact number. I remember the math i did. Averaged out to be lees than 50 acres per person!!!


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## AndrewHay (Sep 19, 2018)

Any updates for lake Russell dear hunting. Never hunted there before and looking for a place for rifle


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## netma1000 (Sep 22, 2018)

Rough on the feet, but a lot of fun finding where the deer hang out.  I prefer Black powder, but will try the Speciality gun hunt this year. Last year Black powder I was close, but not close enough for round ball.


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## AndrewHay (Sep 24, 2018)

It seemed like they only do specialty and youth hunts or at least that's what I saw on the WMA website


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## derekv (Oct 5, 2018)

AndrewHay said:


> It seemed like they only do specialty and youth hunts or at least that's what I saw on the WMA website



No. The archery season lasts till Oct. 11, then picks back up from the 15-20 of October. Primitive weapon only lasts Dec. 14-16 and Non-specialty Firearm season is from Nov. 21-24 (BUCK ONLY). So yeah there are a few regulations you have to look out for and you don't get the full hunting season, but there are others close by that offer Georgia's Regular Hunting Season Schedule.


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## AndrewHay (Oct 5, 2018)

Where else close by has public hunting? Other then Wilson s wma


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## Hareshunting (Oct 5, 2018)

NF is all over the place if you are in North Ga. Get a map at the forestry department. Not being short but there is to much to mention.


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## derekv (Oct 7, 2018)

Yep. Actually Andrew...there are spots where the National Forest is adjacent to Lake Russell WMA. Once you get maps, you’ll clearly see. Then you can hunt he whole GA season.


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## AndrewHay (Oct 8, 2018)

Sorry guys. I'm new to hunting public land so this is a big learning curve for me. Thanks for the help.


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## derekv (Oct 8, 2018)

Andrew, no problem. Glad to help pass along information. I’m new at this as well, as this is my first year of hunting public land as well and archery. So the learning curve is huge. But as people have said to me, keep after it and adapt to the information the land is giving you.


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## NE GA Pappy (Oct 8, 2018)

Thunder Head said:


> Its in my backyard. I gave up trying to turkey hunt there. A couple of years ago i asked the check station guy, how many people had signed in for the december primitive weapons hunt. Dont remember the exact number. I remember the math i did. Averaged out to be lees than 50 acres per person!!!



at 17,300 acres, that would be in excess of 347 hunters.   I live right next door to the WMA.  I have never seen over 180 or so sign in.  It could be, but I have never seen that many.  

I only hunted it during the adult/child hunts with my sons.  I have sqwerl hunted it quite a bit, and fished it a lot.  Nancytown lake was a good spot years ago, but it has filled with silt quite a bit now.


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## derekv (Oct 8, 2018)

NE GA Pappy said:


> at 17,300 acres, that would be in excess of 347 hunters.   I live right next door to the WMA.  I have never seen over 180 or so sign in.  It could be, but I have never seen that many.
> 
> I only hunted it during the adult/child hunts with my sons.  I have sqwerl hunted it quite a bit, and fished it a lot.  Nancytown lake was a good spot years ago, but it has filled with silt quite a bit now.



I would have to agree. I haven’t seen any hunters on the side I hunt. I have seen a crap ton of squirrels though. Wow.


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## 35 Whelen (Oct 8, 2018)

derekv said:


> Yep. Actually Andrew...there are spots where the National Forest is adjacent to Lake Russell WMA. Once you get maps, you’ll clearly see. Then you can hunt he whole GA season.



Not quite all:

Firearms deer season on Chattahoochee National Forest (Outside of WMAs) Oct. 20 - Dec. 26, 2018


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## derekv (Oct 8, 2018)

35 Whelen said:


> Not quite all:
> 
> Firearms deer season on Chattahoochee National Forest (Outside of WMAs) Oct. 20 - Dec. 26, 2018



Right, sorry about that. Generalized too much. Sorry about the miss-information Andrew. Buck only as well except for certain dates and if your east or west of I-75.


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## Thunder Head (Oct 9, 2018)

Old thread'

I'm less than a mile from the check station right now. It was the December primitive weapons hunt. There was an orange vest in every other tree on the check station side. I think I used the old 15,000 or so acres. But I degress.

Don't waist your time at lake Russell. There are no deer less turkeys and a rattle snake under every rock.


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## AndrewHay (Oct 9, 2018)

Forgive me for a possible dumb question, but how do you go about actually hunting public land. Just drive up to the wood line and hike in? I have lots of questions if anyone wouldn't mind helping a guy out. Hunted family farm land for 10 years so new to all of this.


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## AndrewHay (Oct 9, 2018)

Thunder Head said:


> Old thread'
> 
> I'm less than a mile from the check station right now. It was the December primitive weapons hunt. There was an orange vest in every other tree on the check station side. I think I used the old 15,000 or so acres. But I degress.
> 
> Don't waist your time at lake Russell. There are no deer less turkeys and a rattle snake under every rock.


Really only option for me. I can't drive for hours to go hunt. Busy guy with a busy life


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 9, 2018)

Thunder Head said:


> Old thread'
> 
> I'm less than a mile from the check station right now. It was the December primitive weapons hunt. There was an orange vest in every other tree on the check station side. I think I used the old 15,000 or so acres. But I degress.
> 
> Don't waist your time at lake Russell. There are no deer less turkeys and a rattle snake under every rock.


Bout 5 or 6 rattlers per hunter by my count. Deer all moved to wilson shoals


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## livinoutdoors (Oct 9, 2018)

AndrewHay said:


> Forgive me for a possible dumb question, but how do you go about actually hunting public land. Just drive up to the wood line and hike in? I have lots of questions if anyone wouldn't mind helping a guy out. Hunted family farm land for 10 years so new to all of this.


Scout for sign just like at the farm. Find and learn a few spots , then add a couple backup spots so if someone is parked where you intended to hunt you can go to your back up. Look up a post by c. Killmaster on here titled "begginers guide to public land" i think its a sticky in the hunting reports thread section.goooood luck!


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## NE GA Pappy (Oct 9, 2018)

AndrewHay said:


> Really only option for me. I can't drive for hours to go hunt. Busy guy with a busy life



what you need to do is sign in the day before the hunt, or even 2 days, if they will still allow it.  Then travel around to the banks county side of the WMA and travel some of those dirt roads back toward the lake.  Not many folks travel in from that side, and you will up your chances of not being surrounded by city folk behind every tree.  

Or you could always travel down Hwy 184 and park on the side of the road, or at the horse riding lot.  There is a dirt road that is gated and locked.  You can walk it about 2 miles back in to Currahee Mountain, or when you get to the bottom of the hill, take the left fork and travel back toward MF of Broad river.    I have hunted that area before during adult/child hunts and never seen another person.


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## tree cutter 08 (Oct 9, 2018)

You can look at the gon wma results for Hunter numbers. I think the thanksgiving hunt usually has 6 to 800 people.way to many for me.


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## 35 Whelen (Oct 9, 2018)

AndrewHay said:


> Forgive me for a possible dumb question, but how do you go about actually hunting public land. Just drive up to the wood line and hike in? I have lots of questions if anyone wouldn't mind helping a guy out. Hunted family farm land for 10 years so new to all of this.



Start here:
*Beginner’s Guide to Hunting Public Land*


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## AndrewHay (Oct 10, 2018)

Super useful thanks


35 Whelen said:


> Start here:
> *Beginner’s Guide to Hunting Public Land*


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## AndrewHay (Oct 10, 2018)

You guys have been a huge help! Guess at the end of the day I'm nervous about upsetting a fellow hunters by disrupting his hunting spot or breaking some kind of rules. But none the less I excited to get into bow hunting and hunting public land. Thanks again guys


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## HunterJoe24 (Oct 10, 2018)

AndrewHay said:


> You guys have been a huge help! Guess at the end of the day I'm nervous about upsetting a fellow hunters by disrupting his hunting spot or breaking some kind of rules. But none the less I excited to get into bow hunting and hunting public land. Thanks again guys



Don't go out of your way to ruin another hunters hunt as those are the worst people in the woods, and it happens. But if you accidentally bump into someone, don't fret it most public land hunters know there's a good chance of running into someone. Just quietly get out of his area, but make sure your orange is visisble


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## mallardsx2 (Oct 25, 2018)

I tried hunting it last season. I hunted several different places on it and found the deer populations there to be very sad. I cant beleive they even let you hunt it there are so few deer. I would never go back and I live 15 minutes from there.


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## Tdgamble (Oct 29, 2018)

Lake Russell WMA is easy to navigate and f you park at T Gates it is pretty easy to stay away from people. You can find maps online that are marked with food plots and have roads named. I bow-hunted it about 5 times this year and saw deer every time. The people that hunted with me saw deer regularly too. I harvested a doe early but didn't get the others in range. I would say continue to hunt it because there are certainly deer there. It's so large that you can find deer. Find someone that hunts it regularly and they can help you out.


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