South Mountains Game Lands

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
So when they didn't go with westetn not that I don't Know the answer since I been hunting it for over 20 years

The dates were first changed in 2004 to align the entire game land with the western season but because part of SM is in northwestern counties, any season dates changes have to be made separately.

And sometimes the dates are not changed.

It would be easier to just to say in the regulations all of South Mountains is under western deer season dates.

But I guess thats too hard.
 

lasttombstone

Kinder, Gentler LTS
Before I get hooked into a reply that is out of my area I will hope that someone from the western part of the state will be able to get you straight. When in doubt, call the state wildlife offices and get the official word. I do believe that the Sunday hunting regulation hours is a statewide regulation on all lands. Good luck.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
The dates were first changed in 2004 to align the entire game land with the western season but because part of SM is in northwestern counties, any season dates changes have to be made separately.

And sometimes the dates are not changed.
It will follow wesyern season has has for many years. Anyway no more hijacking its very simple just follow gameland info you can't go wrong. If you don't have a reg book pick one up anywhere that sells license for free and carry with you I always do that when hunting out of state I find it easier read book than on line
 

Winchester 73'

Six Pointer
The first thing you need establish is what section of state your hunting then look at public and go to book and look up gameland information and south mtn is in WESTERN section so its archery till Monday morning then gun opens 22nd till Dec 11th with one die day on 27th

I finally figured it out. In my very first post I mentioned the south mountains. From there I saw the SMGLs were listed in the central deer zone. Then I saw the "does not include SMGL" at the top of the page....it just went downhill from there...lol
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
Before I get hooked into a reply that is out of my area I will hope that someone from the western part of the state will be able to get you straight. When in doubt, call the state wildlife offices and get the official word. I do believe that the Sunday hunting regulation hours is a statewide regulation on all lands. Good luck.
It is
 

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
It will follow wesyern season has has for many years. Anyway no more hijacking its very simple just follow gameland info you can't go wrong. If you don't have a reg book pick one up anywhere that sells license for free and carry with you I always do that when hunting out of state I find it easier read book than on line

If you look SMGL has its own season dates spelled out in the regulation digest.

You follow those dates, not the ones printed for the western deer season.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I finally figured it out. In my very first post I mentioned the south mountains. From there I saw the SMGLs were listed in the central deer zone. The saw the "does not include SMGL" at the top of the page....it just went downhill from there...lol
Good deal and good luck also if you you have weekdays off after thanksgiving week crowd thins quite but but people will ride the open roads all day long thru season but mostly not get far
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
If you look SMGL has its own season dates spelled out in the regulation digest.

You follow those dates, not the ones printed for the western deer season.
Yes their own dates which are the exact western dates. They not making it that complicated. But you are
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I finally figured it out. In my very first post I mentioned the south mountains. From there I saw the SMGLs were listed in the central deer zone. Then I saw the "does not include SMGL" at the top of the page....it just went downhill from there...lol
Also note if you hunt with muzzloader you have 2 weeks in early Oct for that those dates change every year and will always follow western blackpowder sesson they will be listed under same gameland info section. Every section of state has its own muzzloader stsrt. And if you archery hunt you still bow hunt when gun goes out till Jan 1st its buck only all that time.
 

Winchester 73'

Six Pointer
So basically I had to go to six or ten different LINKS to get all the regulations that apply.....kind of silly but......

I visited the NCWRC website a few years ago when I first moved here. The first thing I found was that I had to take a hunter's safety course since I had never had a license in NC before. I then closed the door and said forget it....not at 53 years old and hunted all my life. I then just hunted in SC with my dad and nephew for a few years. Since my brother-n-law passed and they lost the hunting rights, I decided to take a look at NC once more. With Covid, I noticed the on-line course and took it.

Then I went back to the NCWRC website and clicked on the "Hunting" tab again. Scrolled down to the Seasons and Limits tab...first noticing the "2021-22 Deer Season Dates" PDF. Clicked on that and saw the "different locations" dates. Then figured out where I would be hunting. From there I searched around and found the game land maps. With the map names different from the hunting ranges, I had to once again do some figuring...central, mountain, piedmont, coastal, north this and western that!

Went to the Mountain Region maps and found the south mountains....now I think I know where I want to go...I said to myself!

Then I had to find out where that placed on times and dates. That is when it got stupid jumping around trying to find information.

So I found the county in which that part of the lands was located and saw it would be Rutherford county. Then saw that county was in yellow and considered central deer zone. Ah yes, I thought......Dec 20th to Dec 3rd. Unfortunately by then, with all the jumping around....I missed other important information. I soon discovered that the game lands had additional regulations thus gun season was not the 20th, but the 22nd...how stupid! Then forgetting I was on a special regulation page...an addition to.....I saw only Nov 27th. My brain exploded while thinking only one day of hunting!!!! Then to top it all off, yet hidden in another link was the Sunday issues.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
So basically I had to go to six or ten different LINKS to get all the regulations that apply.....kind of silly but......

I visited the NCWRC website a few years ago when I first moved here. The first thing I found was that I had to take a hunter's safety course since I had never had a license in NC before. I then closed the door and said forget it....not at 53 years old and hunted all my life. I then just hunted in SC with my dad and nephew for a few years. Since my brother-n-law passed and they lost the hunting rights, I decided to take a look at NC once more. With Covid, I noticed the on-line course and took it.

Then I went back to the NCWRC website and clicked on the "Hunting" tab again. Scrolled down to the Seasons and Limits tab...first noticing the "2021-22 Deer Season Dates" PDF. Clicked on that and saw the "different locations" dates. Then figured out where I would be hunting. From there I searched around and found the game land maps. With the map names different from the hunting ranges, I had to once again do some figuring...central, mountain, piedmont, coastal, north this and western that!

Went to the Mountain Region maps and found the south mountains....now I think I know where I want to go...I said to myself!

Then I had to find out where that placed on times and dates. That is when it got stupid jumping around trying to find information.

So I found the county in which that part of the lands was located and saw it would be Rutherford county. Then saw that county was in yellow and considered central deer zone. Ah yes, I thought......Dec 20th to Dec 3rd. Unfortunately by then, with all the jumping around....I missed other important information. I soon discovered that the game lands had additional regulations thus gun season was not the 20th, but the 22nd...how stupid! Then forgetting I was on a special regulation page...an addition to.....I saw only Nov 27th. My brain exploded while thinking only one day of hunting!!!! Then to top it all off, yet hidden in another link was the Sunday issues.
Another reason to get a reg book they free and to me much easier to use but I'm not a computer fan so take it for what it is.
 

NCbowjunkie

Ten Pointer
South mountain is at my back door. Only live a few miles away. Used to hunt this before it became game land ( stonecutter land) back then you could ride 4 wheeler/ dirt bikes / 4x4 vehicles all over the place I always hunted way back on Sally Queen creek and seen lots of animals. Hog / deer/ bear and turkeys After the state bought it and closed the road above the church they said eventually they would build parking areas and open the road back. Not seen that happen now Iā€™m too old to climb the hills to get to my honey hole
 

Winchester 73'

Six Pointer
I think I found my spot for this year (according to google maps). Maybe not the best spot and a lot of walking, but off the main path before you get to the Fellowship Baptist Church. Maybe dive deep next year
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I think I found my spot for this year (according to google maps). Maybe not the best spot and a lot of walking, but off the main path before you get to the Fellowship Baptist Church. Maybe dive deep next year
Probably best time to find spots for next year are weeks after rifle goes out still plenty rut activity leaves all off easy to spot sign good time for a walk and squirrel hunt
 

YanceyGreenhorn

Still Not a Moderator
Bryan, I second @turkeyfoot ā€˜s notion about having a copy of the regs book. Easier for me to flip pages instead of click links and scroll and open up additional windows. I do keep a browser tab open to regs just in case I forget my hard copy . Glad you persevered. I was so whacked out navigating this stuff when I started a few years back. Didnā€™t help that I had someone ā€œexperiencedā€ giving me wrong info that I never questioned until over a year later. It worked out in a weird kinda way. Instead of being told it was ok to do stuff that was actually illegal, I was NOT doing stuff that was actually perfectly legal as stated in the regs lol. Granted, it made it harder on me. But I damn sure never got a ticket. Oh well, live and learn. Hope ya have some good hunts this season
 

Winchester 73'

Six Pointer
Bryan, I second @turkeyfoot ā€˜s notion about having a copy of the regs book. Easier for me to flip pages instead of click links and scroll and open up additional windows. I do keep a browser tab open to regs just in case I forget my hard copy . Glad you persevered. I was so whacked out navigating this stuff when I started a few years back. Didnā€™t help that I had someone ā€œexperiencedā€ giving me wrong info that I never questioned until over a year later. It worked out in a weird kinda way. Instead of being told it was ok to do stuff that was actually illegal, I was NOT doing stuff that was actually perfectly legal as stated in the regs lol. Granted, it made it harder on me. But I damn sure never got a ticket. Oh well, live and learn. Hope ya have some good hunts this season
Sound advice...as soon as I can get one.
 
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CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Don't shoot all the coyotes and bobcats guys.

Leave some for other people.
 
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T-Rock

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Coming from the Melton side on the "Old CC" road, and following the road to the left that's gated at the last parking area, you'll find more Bear sign than Deer sign but there are some Deer in there, and it'll take some work to pattern them. You just gotta walk a pretty good distance (2-3 miles).

But these are more of what we saw when we used to hike and scout that area:
View attachment 79186

Edited to add...

After you leave the parking area, after 3-5 minutes walking, it'll open up like the pic below. You see the ridge in the far distance? That's where the deer are. At least that's where we saw the most signs, rubs, scrapes, etc.

Screenshot_20211121-211215_Gallery.jpg
 

T-Rock

Twelve Pointer
Contributor
Not sure if anyone on this forum Bear hunts South Mountain but nearly every time we went scouting/hiking there, we always saw really fresh Bear tracks.
After making several scouting trips, a light bulb went off, and after a few beers, my wife and I thought it would be a good idea to set up some trail cams ~25 yards outside the den we found, and try and get some pics of mom and her cub.

Pretty cool area since mom and baby tracks were headed right to what we thought was their den. Lol

Only problem, when something started moving inside, heading out, this is the only picture I got (phone while backpeddling), however, my estranged wife took several pics with her good camera which were in much better detail (she was ~60 yards behind me), and I was too busy "shatting my pants & making tracks trying to get the heck out of dodge šŸ˜
Screenshot_20211121-213225_Photos.jpg

Screenshot_20211121-213250_Photos.jpg
 
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