CONGRATULATIONS TO DROPTYNE!
FIRST TIME FTF!
Growing up around here as a child, we always associated the
Dugdemona River with one thing: crawfishing! When the waters rise
and overflow the surrounding low areas it's time to take out the
nets! Well, particular place is probably not prone to overflow, so
you won't need your nets, just your cache sense. The best way to
get to this is to take the handicapped ATV trail. It's a nice and
scenic walk through pine forests turning into hardwood closer to
the river. The trail is good and should only be muddy after heavy
rainfall. You're looking for a small, camouflaged "Lock&Lock"
container. The trail is interrupted by a oil/gas platform but the
trail picks up to the right of it (from the road).
This is one of the caches located in the
Jackson
Bienville Wildlife Management Area (WMA). Access is free, but
you must stop at the information board and fill out a permit upon
entering and exiting the territory. You can download a
MAP of the area including road, trail, and stream information
from the LA Wildlife and Fisheries or pick one up at the entry
point when you get your permit. Be sure to check for hunting season
dates to know when to wear your hunter's orange! Also, be sure to
bring plenty of water for hot weather as there are no facilities on
the territory.
A little about the Jackson Bienville Wildlife Management
Area:
...from the LA Wildlife and Fisheries website.
Jackson Bienville Wildlife Management Area is located in
Bienville, Jackson and Lincoln parishes 12 miles south of Ruston in
North Central Louisiana. Numerous access routes are available for
entering the area with the major access being U. S. Highway 167 and
Louisiana Highway 147. The major landowner maintains an extensive
system of gravel roads that is available for use by the public.
Limited ATV use is allowed on marked ATV trails and on the company
maintained gravel roads and woods roads. Camping areas are
privately operated and located along Louisiana Highway 147.
The terrain on Jackson Bienville WMA is primarily gently rolling
hills bordering Dugdemona River and five intermittent streams.
Approximately ten to twenty percent of the area can be considered
bottomland. Habitat is highly diverse due to the varying timber
harvest schedule, the interspersion of the hardwood areas, and over
40 miles of utilities rights-of-ways. Adding to the diversity is
the substantial acreage committed to providing nesting and feeding
habitat for numerous colonies of red-cockaded woodpeckers, a
federally endangered species.
Forest cover is predominantly pine, except in the bottomland
regions where water, willow, overcup, and cow oak, sweet and black
gum, beech, and various other species of hardwoods dominate.
Understory vegetation, which is dense, consists of a variety of
shrubs, vines, and annuals. Species comprising the understory area
are French mulberry, hackberry, dogwood, honeysuckle, grape,
muscadine, maple, sweetleaf, wax myrtle, blue beech, beggarweed,
and greenbriar.
Due to the diversified habitat on the area numerous resident and
migratory species of birds use the area. Wildlife viewing is a
major activity and easily enjoyed from the extensive road system
and intersecting rights-of-ways. White-tailed deer, eastern wild
turkeys, bobwhite quail, squirrels, and rabbits, are the major
species hunted on the area. Limited hunting opportunities for
woodcock, dove and waterfowl can also be found.
Noteably, as a result of varied habitat improvement programs,
the Jackson Bienville WMA has become one of main bobwhite quail and
eastern wild turkey management areas in the state, with noticeable
increases in those populations being seen.