Anderson Creek

Recently a good friend and I were finally able to get together and chase some birds. As I have said in another article this was a long time coming.

  We decided to get together at Anderson Creek Hunting preserve which is located in Lillington, North Carolina.

 Anderson Creek is a former dairy farm. When you pull up to the preserve you can see the evidence of this. The barns and silos are still in place. Some of the barns are in disrepair. To me it looks like they are being dismantled. 

  Around the old farmyard are a number of kennels that hold the dogs for the preserve. There are multiple breeds but the predominant breed that I could see was German Shorthaired Pointers. 

   The total size of the property is 1500 acres so there is plenty of room for you to hunt and not be on top of other parties. This was a nice feeling to not have to worry about interfering with another group of hunters.

   Not far from where you check in there is a tower in the middle of a large pasture. This is where they host the pheasant tower shoots. It looks like it would be a little challenging if that is your pursuit.

  The field that my friend and I were on was called the ten acre field by the man that runs the place. I told him that it looked bigger than ten acres and he confirmed that is. That is just the name they have for it. It was a mix of cut milo and corn. It had tall grass in it also. You can tell that a lot of time was spent getting this field in shape for the season.

 The terrain around the preserve is hilly. The field that we were on had a gentle roll to it. He started out on the high end of the field. As we moved through the field we were going down hill but it was a rolling type of walk so it wasn’t straight up and down. This type of terrain made it so you didn’t notice that you were going up hill after chasing birds down the field. It was actually a very nice field to be hunting on. 

  Now to the important stuff the birds. The preserve offers Bobwhite Quail, Pheasants and Chukar for your hunt. My friend and I went with a mix of Quail and Pheasant. 

  The pheasants performed really well. They held for the dogs and flew strong. The first one that went up was not hit that hard and made for an exciting pursuit when it hit the ground running, as pheasants do. The dog was able to get in front of it and stop it so that we could recover it. The rest of them all flew strong and were challenging targets. 

  The quail were a little spotty. We got seven of the ten that we put out. Of these there were three of these birds that flushed weak and the dog was able to catch them as they were getting off the ground.

The rest of them flew strong enough to escape the dogs and present us with some challenging shots. So the flight conditioning of the quail could be better but they did a passable job.

  The staff at the preserve that we dealt with were friendly and courteous. They took their time with you and didn’t just rush you through the formalities of signing releases and paying for the hunt. The bird planter had an understanding of the dogs and knew that letting them out for a quick session to burn off the edge that a long drive creates would aid in their handling and the way they handled the birds. I found this to be very helpful because my older dog can be handful when has been cooped up for a while. I appreciated the fact that I was able to do this and didn’t feel rushed to get things going.

 I think the initial appearance of the old farm definitely detracts from the appearance of the preserve. Cleaning this up would improve the first impression that you only get one chance to make. 

  All in all it was not a bad hunt. The birds did alright even with the three weak ones. The pheasants did really well. The staff was friendly and ensured you were set up for an enjoyable day. The grounds that I got to walk were in my opinion really good. I enjoyed the different types of cover and the rolling terrain. 

   So if you ever find yourself in the area of Lillington, N.C. I would say that giving Anderson Creek a call should be on the to do list for your visit.

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