Sleepy Creek is mostly made up of ridge and valley terrain from Third Hill Mountain and Sleepy Creek Mountain, which run parallel to one another. The terrain is rolling and not overly steep. There are over 100 acres of clearings maintained primarily for turkey brood habitat. Lodging is readily available at Martinsburg and Berkeley Springs. The superintendent's office is at the entrance of the WMA from the east on county Route 7/9; or call (304) 754-3855 for more information.

STONEWALL JACKSON & STONECOAL WMAs
Two other areas that I will group together because of the proximity of one to the other are the Stonewall Jackson and Stonecoal WMAs. These two WMAs are almost dead center in our state, and between them, there are 21,289 acres available to the enterprising bird hunter. I have hunted both of these areas extensively and up to the early 1990s, they afforded good to spectacular grouse hunting.

Unfortunately, like many of other areas, these WMAs have experienced some rather drastic grouse population declines over the past few years. However, there has been a smattering of reports coming in that both of these areas are now starting to come back around. The hunting areas that surround both of these impoundments are primarily a framework of small finger ridges coming off a primary ridge. While these locations are not overly high in elevation, some of these smaller satellite ridges are steep!

Much of this region consists of old fields with extensive pockets of autumn olive and multiflora rose bushes. Most of the roads are gated, so access to both of these areas is limited. You will have to hike in or as a few energetic souls do, use a boat to access one of the numerous fingers of either of the lakes.

The only drawback to this approach is there are a somewhat limited number of spots to disembark from a boat to the shore. And there's the likelihood you'll have to work your way uphill to get into the better pockets of cover. In addition, the logistics of dragging a boat along is often more than what many of us want to consider when we are headed out to grouse hunt for a couple of hours. Lodging, restaurants and groceries are readily available in Weston, off Interstate 79.

One of the great things about these two WMAs is that you could spend the better part of several days hunting the various prongs of these two sizeable hunting areas and never cover the same ground. In addition, the fishing is fantastic at both places at this time of the year.

Finally, another good potential public hunting area that avid grouse hunters may want to check out is the Allegheny WMA, which lies near Elk Garden.

SHORT MOUNTAIN WMA
Another area that has had a considerable amount of timber management focused on creating edge type areas is Short Mountain WMA, which is an 8,005-acre tract. This WMA lies between the towns of Kirby and Rio in Hampshire County. Grouse can be found here in pockets. As the cover of this WMA ages, the hunting should improve.

Short Mountain is much like Sleepy Creek, as it usually stays somewhat warmer and drier than areas just half an hour west of here. The country at Short Mountain has many oak-hickory hardwoods with a little Virginia pine mixed in for good measure. This area can be accessed by state Route 29, which runs north to south from Hanging Rock to Rio.

Something else that's an added bonus is that you are just a short drive from the bulk of the George Washington National Forest holdings, which lay mostly south and east of Wardensville. This is another 50,852 acres that has some grouse but in varied numbers. A few of my hunting contacts have started hunting some of the 8- to 12-year-old cuts and most reiterated that all that's needed is a decent brood season or two coming on the heels of a good mast season. There has been some intensive timber management on the Lee District of the George Washington, but as of present, most of the potential from these activities is five to 10 years down the road.