WILDLIFE
Duck hunting opportunities abound in Monroe.
bass and catfishing are enjoyed by countless anglers throughout the year.
Top fishing spots include the Ocmulgee River, Lake Juliette and High Falls Lake. However, farm ponds, smaller rivers and creeks also provide super fishing action.
Georgians enjoy one of the longest hunting seasons in the entire country. In fact, hunters can hunt during all or a portion of all four seasons.
For more than four decades, Monroe County has enjoyed the reputation of being one of the top deer hunting counties in the state. In fact, the state record nontypical buck was bagged near Bolingbroke.
Although increased hunting pressure and high deer populations have lessended the chances of bagging a Boone and Crockettclass whitetail, quality deer hunting is still the mainstay of the Monroe County hunting scene.
Turkey hunting is rapidly growing in popularity. In this day and time it is hard to believe that until the Wildlife Resources Division stocked turkeys in the county during the early 1970s, wild turkeys were nowhere to be found. Today, turkeys can be range throughout the entire county, including within the city limits of Forsyth.
While local waterfowl hunting will never be as good as it is on the Georgia Coast or on Lake Seminole, more than two dozen species of ducks and geese spend the fall and winter in the county. This provides waterfowlers with some surprisingly good duck and goose hunting.
Dove hunting is locally popular. Ironically, the vast majority of the dove hunting takes place early in September before migratory doves arrive. Consequently, later in the season, when flocks of doves raised north of Georgia arrive, most hunters are deer hunting.
In the not-too-distant past, quail and rabbit hunting were popular sports in Monroe County. However, both quail and rabbit populations have plummeted leaving squirrel hunting as the most popular small game hunting in the county. Ironically, although squirrels are common, few hunters pursue bushytails in this part of the state.
Finding a place to hunt is becoming increasing more difficult each year. Lands once leased for hunting have been transformed into housing developments and fees to lease land high. However, Monroe Countians will always have a place to hunt as long as we have the Rum Creek
WMA. The WMA is leased by the Georgia Wildlife Resources Division from the Georgia Power Company. Annually hunters can hunt turkeys, deer, small game, waterfowl, dove, and woodcock. In addition, specialty hunts such as parent / child turkey hunts, ladies and honorary license deer hunts provide all segments of the hunting population with some great hunting. Why, the WMA also has an archery only area where archers can hunt deer and turkeys without having to compete with firearm hunters.
While originally set aside primarily as a hunting / fishing destination, the Rum Creek WMA has become a premiere site for wildlife watching and photography. Bird watching is extremely popular here. More than 250
The county is blessed with an abundance of wildlife.
species of birds have been seen on the WMA. The list of birds seen on the area range from bald eagles and peregrine falcons to loons, Louisiana waterthrushes and Bachman’ s sparrows. The appearance of a rare bird like the Pacific loon always results in“ flocks” of birders showing up at the Rum Creek WMA with binoculars, spotting scopes and field guides in hand, the abundance and variety of bird life attracts birders throughout the year.
While still in its infancy, butterfly watching is rapidly gaining in popularity. The Rum Creek WMA and nearby Piedmont NWR both offer excellent butterfly watching opportunities. To quality of these two sites for butterflies was demonstrated when the North American Butterfly Association reported that in 2008 more species of butterflies were found during the spring count period on the Piedmont NWR / Rum Creek WMA than on count held during that count period in the entire country.
Indeed, Monroe County is a wildlife enthusiast’ s paradise. The only limit to the amount of fun have you can have pursuing your favorite wildlife-related pastime is how much spare time you have.
Terry Johnson is the retired program manager of the Georgia Nongame-Endangered Wildlife Program. He is currently executive director of TERN( The Nongame Wildlife Section’ s Friends Group) and conducts wildlife research and survey projects, presents programs and writes about wildlife. Email him at TJWoodDuck @ aol. com.
Welcome Home: The Forsyth-Monroe County Relocation Guide and Membership Directory 81