In Gainesville, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) passed rules Wednesday adding two new wildlife management areas to Florida’s public hunting system for the 2006-07 season. The two new areas are Wakulla and Lafayette Creek wildlife management areas, both in the Northwest Region.

Wakulla is 4,045 acres, situated in northern Wakulla County, adjacent to Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park. The landowner of the property is the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, Division of Forestry, and it is part of the Wakulla State Forest.

The Lafayette Creek area is in Walton County and is a 3,160-acre tract east of Eglin Air Force Base. The Northwest Florida Water Management

District is the landowner.

Beginning the 2006-07 hunting season, both areas will have open seasons for archery, small game and spring turkey. Camping will be allowed by permit from the landowner; vehicles may operate on named or numbered roads; and hunters may use bird dogs and retrievers during the small-game season. All-terrain vehicles will be prohibited on both areas.

The Wakulla area also will have a special archery/muzzleloading gun season, and fishing and frog gigging will be legal year-round.

The Lafayette Creek Wildlife Management Area will have additional hunting opportunities as well, including a muzzle-loading gun season, general gun season and the first family-hunt offered in the Northwest Region.

Fishing and other recreational activities also will be permitted in the daytime during non-hunting periods.

“We’re grateful to our partners like the Division of Forestry and water management districts for helping contribute properties to our public hunting lands,” said Nick Wiley, director of the FWC Division of Hunting and Game Management. “Florida has more than 5.5 million acres of public hunting lands, giving us one of the largest wildlife management area systems in the nation.”

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