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Where to hunt american woodcock near Franklin, North Carolina
Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from NCWRC · 2026–27 season year
There are 5 public units within 40 miles of Franklin, North Carolina that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 109,070 acres of it. The most of it is in Nantahala National Forest, 1.6 miles out, with 106,168 recorded acres. The season runs December 10, 2026 to January 30, 2027 — 52 days afield, bag 3 per day, 9 in possession, read against the 2026–27 season year from NCWRC. Public-land boundaries here are PAD-US, which records who manages a parcel rather than where the line runs or whether a unit carries a local closure — check with NCWRC before you park.
Public land within 40 miles of Franklin
Distance is measured to the nearest edge of a unit rather than to its middle, in a straight line — this app carries no road network and will not print a drive time it cannot compute. A unit whose ground reaches inside the circle is listed for the acreage that is inside it, never for its statewide total.
Ordered by recorded acres — how much of each unit lies inside subbasins where american woodcock is recorded at regular strength or better — rather than by how big the unit is. The biggest block in a state is often not in the half of it the bird is in. PAD-US splits a forest into many parcels, so acreage is summed over the unit's name, and the share is measured against the unit's drawn boundary rather than a centroid: a national forest can be two polygons across half a peninsula.
NCWRC names no geographic restriction on this season, so no unit is
excluded for being outside one.
Season geography here is read off a
dates table rather than the rule itself, and a dates table carries no boundary.
| Unit | Class | Miles | Recorded acres | Acres in range | Where the records are |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nantahala National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 1.6 | 106,168 | 487,661 | 22% stronghold, 20% occasional, 58% no records |
| Toxaway Game Land | State game land | 24.1 | 2,842 | 2,842 | 100% stronghold |
| Cherokee National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 37.1 | 44 | 44 | 100% stronghold |
| Pisgah National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 22.1 | 9 | 122,000 | 100% present |
| Sumter National Forest | National forest | 21.9 | 7 | 7 | 99% stronghold, 1% occasional |
A unit marked part of the unit has ground outside the circle as well, and the acreage here is only what is inside it. PAD-US records who manages a parcel, not where its line runs on the ground and not whether it carries a local closure: context, not permission. Check the unit with NCWRC before you park.
Season and limits
NCWRC's dates for the 2026–27 season year, read from NCWRC. North Carolina lists this season as American woodcock.
| Segment | Opens | Closes | Days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statewide | December 10, 2026 | January 30, 2027 | 52 |
- Open today
- Shut — next opening December 10, 2026
- Bag limit
- 3 per day, 9 in possession
- Hunter orange
- not required for this speciesAnyone hunting bear, feral swine, rabbit, squirrel, grouse, pheasant or quail with a firearm must wear a cap or hat of hunter orange, or an outer garment of hunter orange visible from all sides.
- Shooting hours
- not carried
- Sundays
- North Carolina allows Sunday hunting on private land with some limits, and restricts it on many public game lands. The per-game-land rule is not carried in this app — check the game land before you go.
- Migratory bird: HIP certification is required in addition to the hunting licence.
- North Carolina sits near the southern end of the Atlantic flyway, so the season opens late — the birds arrive on hard cold fronts in December rather than living here in October.
- Not on NCWRC's hunter-orange list, which names grouse, pheasant and quail. The possession limit is three times the daily bag.
What to walk when you get there
Wet alder runs, damp aspen bottoms and shrub swamp — soft ground the bird can probe for worms. Woodcock cover is often two hundred yards of a creek bottom rather than a whole block of forest.
Hunt the low wet ground inside grouse country, and hunt it again after a cold front: this is a migratory bird and a covert that was empty on Tuesday can hold a flight on Friday. Birds sit tight and flush straight up through the alders.
Written for this app rather than read off an agency page — the cover a bird uses does not change at a state line. Everything above that is a date, a limit or an acreage names the source it came from.
Read next
- Where to hunt american woodcock in North Carolina — every unit, ranked
- American woodcock hunting in North Carolina — season, limits and range
- How to hunt american woodcock in North Carolina
- American woodcock — biology, range and how it is hunted
- North Carolina hunting regulations