Sand Lake NWR pheasant hunting alert.

3car

Active member
12/3/2019

2019 PHEASANT HUNTING CONDITIONS UPDATE:

Hunters thinking about coming to Sand Lake NWR for pheasant hunting this year should be aware of the current conditions.

The Refuge is dealing with very high water. Many township roads around the Refuge are flooded, making some parts of the Refuge inaccessible. In addition, all of our interior Refuge roads are flooded in many areas. Ice on the Refuge should not be trusted as warm temperatures and unprecedented current for the James River has kept the Refuge ice very thin and unsafe. We anticipate these conditions to persist for the entire winter.

The high water has flooded most of the cattail habitat to the point that it will be too thin to provide the kind of winter cover that pheasants on Sand Lake NWR have been accustomed to. And it certainly will not be safe for hunters to walk through as ice will be especially unsafe in flooded vegetation.

Finally, there is currently 10-12" of Snow across the length of the Refuge, with some 3-5' drifts in places.
 
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