Georgia Public-Land Rabbit Hunting

Joby Mattox has been rabbit hunting in southeast Georgia since he was 10 years old. He is now 49. Here he is with a successful trip at Dixon Memorial WMA.

The years haven’t been kind to rabbit hunters in Georgia. In the 1960s, there were 117,000 of them and they could knock on most any farmhouse and get permission to hunt with a deal of sharing their harvest. They were good at what they did, too. They harvested about 1.7 million rabbits each season.

Then, unfortunately for the cottontail chasers, the white-tailed deer became king.

At that point, rabbit hunters running beagles were no longer welcome in most places where deer were being hunted. By the time the 2003-2004 rabbit season came around, Georgia had only 41,657 rabbit hunters, and they harvested only 325,757 rabbits.

If rabbit hunters didn’t think it could get any worse, they were badly mistaken. A wide array of pitfalls compounded the problems for rabbit hunters. The cost of feeding and maintaining a pack of beagles increased greatly. What was once prime rabbit habitat was bush-hogged and planted in food plots. And there was a decrease in interest from a younger generation that found deer hunting to be much less of a hassle.

Luckily for rabbit hunters, DNR doesn’t want the storied Georgia tradition of rabbit hunting to go away. It provides rabbit hunters with access to hundreds of thousands of acres they can hunt on WMAs all across the state. Many of the state’s WMAs are only open to deer hunting for a small number of days. Most of the WMAs stay open to hunters for most of the rabbit hunting season.

It is important to check the dates WMAs are open to rabbit hunting in the Hunting Regulations booklet before you go. Also check the booklet for bag limits as some bag limits differ on different WMAs.

Here’s a look at what wildlife biologists in each region consider to be the best WMAs for rabbit hunting:

Region 1: WRD Biologist Brent Womack recommends three state-owned WMAs in his region for rabbit hunting, but a rabid rabbit hunter in the same region offers two different choices, plus a WMA rabbit hunters should avoid.

“Joe Kurz WMA has an excellent rabbit population.” Brent says. “It’s located in the Piedmont region and is intensively managed for early succession habitat that benefits both quail and rabbits. Rabbit hunters should be aware that there is a limit of three rabbits per day per hunter there. That is that way so hunters can’t go in there and wipe them out early in the season.”

Joe Kurz WMA is 3,700 acres.

Another suggestion by Brent is the 25,707-acre Paulding Forest WMA in Paulding and Polk counties. A portion is state-owned, and a portion is leased from a family. It is intensively managed with frequent burning, which creates excellent rabbit habitat. Raccoon Creek runs through the WMA giving rabbit hunters the opportunity to take both cottontails and swamp rabbits.

His third suggestion is Crockford-Pigeon Mountain WMA. This 20,657-acre WMA is also state-owned and located in northwest Georgia in Walker County. It offers diverse habitats and gives hunters the opportunity to hunt rabbits in many locations on the large WMA.

Rabbit hunter Trey McHan, of Rocky Face, says the best rabbit hunting in the region is definitely on Berry College WMA in Rome.

“It has the briar thickets and swampy areas that lets you hunt cottontails and swamp rabbits,” he said. “You don’t have to go far at all to find a rabbit. There are also a lot of powerlines that are cleared underneath that attract rabbits. It does get some decent hunting pressure because it is so good.”

He also recommends the 2,043-acre Coosawattee WMA in Murray County. The annually leased property is full of rabbits, but there is a catch, he says.

“There is better rabbit habitat than you’ll find in most of the places around here, but it takes a lot of legwork to find it,” he says. “There’s a lot of briar patches and you can find bigger rabbits near the water on the property.

“It does get some hunting pressure. I’d say on a scale of one to 10, the pressure from rabbit hunters is about a seven.”

He said the WMA to avoid in the region is the 23,356-acre John’s Mountain WMA in Walker, Whitfield, Gordon and Floyd counties. Despite its large size, there just aren’t that many rabbits to be found.

“I’ve hunted John’s Mountain WMA a handful of times,” he said. “There are just not many rabbits. It is bad habitat for rabbits. The times I have hunted there, I’ve never seen another rabbit hunter.”

Region 2: Biologist Ron Watts says two WMAs in his district are a must for rabbit hunters. The 1,000-acre Hart County WMA near Hartwell, and the Vaughter Tract of the 2,500-acre Elbert County WMA. Both offer the habitat that produce good rabbit populations.

It should be noted that the Vaughter Tract Ponds are closed to fishing for restocking purposes and will reopen July 1, 2024. The area can be hunted without fear of encountering fishermen.

“Hart County WMA is seeing an active timber management project,” Ron said. “It is being planted in short leaf pine. It has briars and the undergrowth that make good rabbit habitat. It has a lot of early successional growth.

“The Vaughter Tract on the Elbert County WMA has powerlines with good habitat underneath and areas that are burned that have good understory that is in good condition. It gets a lot of rabbit hunters.”

Region 3: Biologist Lee Taylor recommends four WMAs for rabbit hunting in his district.

Primary is the 6,400-acre Clybel WMA in Mansfield, in Newton County.

“It is very popular with rabbit hunters,” he said. “It has a lot of old field habitat with briars that rabbits need to rear and survive,” Lee said.

A second choice of his is the 7,400-acre Oconee WMA located in Greene, Hancock and Putnam counties.

“A lot of this WMA is owned by Georgia Power, and they do a good job of thinning and prescribed burning, which creates the early succession habitat that rabbits need.”

Another choice by Lee is the 12,700-acre Clarks Hill WMA located in McDuffie, Wilkes and Lincoln counties. This Corps of Engineers property is planted in mixed pine and hardwoods with portions burned in two-year rotations.

His final choice is the 8,100-acre Di-Lane WMA. It is intensively managed for bobwhite quail with seasonal disking and controlled burning. The early successional habitat that benefits quail is also conducive to good rabbit numbers.

Joby uses his dogs to hunt thick, briar-infested areas that are near food plots, wind rows and overgrown low, swampy areas where rabbits like to hide.

Region 4: Coming soon. Please check back.

Region 5: By no stretch of the imagination can Hurricane Michael, which slammed into south Georgia five years ago, be considered a blessing. The first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. since 1992, it had diminished to a Category 2 hurricane by the time it reached the Peach State, but 117 mph winds are 117 mph winds.

It hit at the peak of the agricultural season and did an estimated $2 billion in damage to crops in south Georgia.  It wreaked havoc on several WMAs. Two of the 74 people who died along Michael’s path were from Georgia.

As odd as it may seem, there was a silver lining of sorts from Hurricane Michael for those who rabbit hunt on some south Georgia WMAs. Much of the downed timber on those WMAs has been cleared and the tracts replanted. The young growth that has emerged has caused an explosion in rabbit populations, according to biologist Brent Howze.

“We have cleared several WMAs since Hurricane Michael with an emphasis on quail habitat, and that habit suits rabbits extremely well. A lot of early successional growth and thick cover,” he explained.

One of Brent’s must-try WMAs for rabbit hunters is the 1,600-acre Elmodel WMA located near Newton in Baker counties. He said there are plenty of open fields with a lot of thick cover nearby.

“It is traditionally great for rabbit hunting,” he said.

Another top choice is the 9,200-acre Silver Lake WMA located in southern Decatur County. Brent says it doesn’t have all the open spaces as Elmodel WMA, but there are pockets where the rabbit hunting is great. He says it sees a lot of rabbit hunters.

His third choice is the 6,300-acre Mayhaw WMA in Miller County.

“It’s really wet in places, but if you learn the area, there are a lot of rabbits”

Considering the upkeep cost of keeping a pack of beagles, it’s nice that Georgia has so much public-land opportunity to hunt rabbits when deer season is going on.

Region 6: Biologist Robert Horan says his region has two WMAs that are excellent for rabbit hunters.

“We have two relatively new WMAs that were clearcut and sold to the state,” he said. “They are being reforested, and when that happens, you get about six to eight years of rabbit hunting that is about as good as it gets. The rabbit hunting stays good until the newer trees get a canopy on them and start blocking the sunlight preventing the undergrowth that rabbits eat.”

Those two WMAs are the 8,555-acre Clayhole Swamp WMA in Glynn County and the 16,867-acre  Sansavilla WMA in Wayne County along the Altamaha River.

“Both WMAs are recent acquisitions,” he said. “They are being controlled burned. We are doing quite a bit of burning on both to kill the undergrowth. We’ve planted in longleaf and loblolly pine.

“Clayhole is flatwoods that are kind of islands in the swamp. Hunters can run cottontails on the small hills and swamp rabbits in the swamps.

“Sansavilla is much the same. The two WMAs border one another and are separated by only a highway.

“Rabbit hunting is off limits during scheduled deer hunts, but those are wrapped up by the end of October. There will be people rabbit hunting every day in January and February.

“There are no bag limit restrictions outside the state bag limit of 12 per person on either WMA.”

Joby Mattox, of Waycross, has been rabbit hunting in southeast Georgia since he was 10 years old. He is now 49. He has watched as rabbit hunters were pushed off their traditional hunting places by deer leases. He says WMAs are an acceptable solution, and there are two in Region 6 that are good ones.

His first choice is the huge, 36,100-acre Dixon Memorial WMA. It is operated by the Georgia Forestry Commission. Approximately half of the WMA consists of upland pine forest and the other half is cypress-gum wetlands and creek drainage. Hunters get a choice of cottontails or swamp rabbits, or both.

“It is such a good place,” Joby said. “It is very well maintained. They do a lot of controlled burning. They don’t spray anything. There is a lot of tender grasses that the rabbits love. There is no honeysuckle, but there are briars. They plant food plots in corn and mow them down. The rabbits love corn.”

Joby’s second choice is the 18,920-acre Little Satilla WMA located in Pierce County.

“It is close to the river, and it has rolling sand hills that drop to hardwood bottoms,” he said. “There are a lot of gopher holes and cottontails love gopher holes. There are a lot of open spaces so you can run rabbits and you get to see a lot of dog work.  There are a lot of rabbits on this WMA, but the downfall is that this WMA has more fox and coyote than Dixon Memorial and that affects the population.

“Satilla is open to small-game hunting unless big-game hunts are going on, and that’s not often.”

On both WMAs, Joby hunts thick, briar-infested areas that are near food plots, wind rows and overgrown low, swampy areas where rabbits like to hide.