December 30, 2011
By Sam Hudson
Good question earlier this week in the General Hunting Forum, related to a fee Wildlife Management Area.
Florida Sportsman Member rice asked fellow members about the hunting on Grove Park WMA, which requires a recreational use permit costing $475 a year.
As observers of the General Hunt Forum have come to expect, rice got a few honest answers—everything from “some nice bucks in there but not sure its worth the money to an outsider,” to “definitely some nice deer there” and “Grove Park is a bargain.”
See the thread here.
In the event you're wondering why your $26 WMA stamp isn't the only ticket needed to access Grove Park, here's a little back-story.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) manages almost 6 million acres of public hunting lands in Florida—but actually owns only 1.4 million. In the management vernacular, the FWC-owned lands are referred to as “lead areas,” while the remaining 4.4 million acres are “cooperative areas.”
Grove Park WMA, 16,437 acres of pine plantations and oak ridges in southeastern Alachua County, is one of these cooperative areas. The land and resources are owned by Plum Creek timber company. If you're an avid hunter, odds are you're familiar with Plum Creek holdings, even if not by name: The company (NYSE: PCL) is in fact the largest private landowner in the nation, with 6.8 million acres nationwide, and almost a half-million acres in north central Florida. Plum Creek owns a lot of land which is in private hunting leases in that part of the state—including the Gulf Hammock Hunting Club.
The FWC is a cooperating manager on Grove Park and other cooperative WMAs (Gulf Hammock and Relay WMAs are also Plum Creek lands). The FWC sets hunting dates and limits based on state wildlife goals and public utilization of the areas. For the 2011-12 season, for instance, General Gun dates on Grove Park are Nov. 12-Jan. 8; deer bag limit is 2 per day, 5-inch antler minimum. To read up on Grove Park WMA, click here.
For more about Plum Creek, click here.
