Last updated 2026-09-24 · seasons from NCWRC · 2026–27 season year
There are 4 public units within 40 miles of Greensboro, North Carolina that hold ground where american woodcock is recorded — 19,366 acres of it. The most of it is in R. Wayne Bailey - Caswell Game Land, 28.3 miles out, with 16,010 recorded acres. The closest is Dan River Game Land at 23.4 miles. 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.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. Wayne Bailey - Caswell Game Land part of the unit | State game land | 28.3 | 16,010 | 16,010 | 100% stronghold |
| Dan River Game Land | State game land | 23.4 | 1,700 | 1,700 | 100% stronghold |
| Uwharrie National Forest part of the unit | National forest | 31.7 | 1,518 | 8,775 | 17% regular, 83% occasional |
| Uwharrie Game Land part of the unit | State game land | 33.8 | 138 | 297 | 47% regular, 53% 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.
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 |
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.