Croatan Hunting

[sbkittrell]

I know some of you guys hunt the Croatan. I've always wanted to hunt there. I've been a few times, just driving through, and I've done a little fishing, canoeing, and camping on Great Lake. The first time I went to Great Lake I canoed out and the wind picked up and blew me all the way to the South end of the lake. It was in December and I ended up making camp in one of the few dry spots on the lake. After I set up camp, that night I heard some voices and realized that I was camped really close to some guys that were hunting. I wasn't hunting so I kept to myself and I don't think they even knew I was there because of the thick undergrowth. They left the next day and I found out that I'd camped about 100 yards from their site. It was a really nice open dry campsite, no mud or swamp, (everywhere else I've been on Great Lake is so muddy and swampy it would be hard to camp there) and later on I was checking things out in the area and saw that once you got through the thick undergrowth at the edge of the lake, the woods opened up the some of the finest old growth hardwood I've ever seen in Eastern NC. It was all huge old oaks and it was so clear under the trees you could see at least a hundred yards or so. That was before Hurricane Bertha and Fran hit. I went back there a few years later and as far as I could tell ALL of those old trees were blown down. You couldn't even get through there. I don't know if it was a hurricane or tornado that blew through there or what, but I couldn't even find any of the old growth forest left at all. The campsite was till there, and it was maintained so somebody had been using it. I've camped out there a couple of times since.

Anyhow, I was wondering about coyote hunting in the Croatan. What are some good areas? Don't want any of your secret sweet spots, just some general tips and general locations.