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Return to First Friday Briefing Georgia's Townsend Range Open to Hunters Georgia's Townsend Range is rated as one of the best training facilities for our nation's top fighter pilots, but recently the 5,200 acre range located in prime South Georgia bottom land added another accolade…..as a prime hunting location. The secluded bombing range operated by the Georgia Air National Guard and owned by the U.S. Marine Corps is barely noticeable from the state highway and accessible only by a single dirt road. However, it conceals property accentuated with tall pines, large oaks and teeming with wild boar, deer and other small game. Hunting on the Air National Guard range has not been allowed until this year and will only be hunted four times this season. Hunters who are participating in the restricted hunting season applied early once the notice appeared in local newspapers. Hunt applications had to be received by September 18th to be entered into the drawing. Selection was made by lottery with 111 lucky hunters chosen. On November 1st and 2nd, the range hosted the first Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA) hunt at which two disabled veterans, one from the first Gulf War and the second from Iraqi Freedom will be honored. Joining this special hunt will be Brig Gen Thomas L. Conant, Commander; HQ Marines at the Pentagon and Lt Col. Lew Deal, USMC (retired), Director of Outdoor Sports Program and Development for the Paralyzed Veterans of America. The two-day hunt will be the topic of an upcoming television show entitled "Hunting the Country" produced by Mossy Oak Brand Camo. Special arrangements have been made for the two disabled hunters, one in a wheelchair and the other with limited sight. The Townsend Range Hunting Program provides an excellent venue for all types of hunters-- archery, rifle and blackpowder, according to TSgt Brian K. Leverette, Range Maintenance NCOIC and the organizer of the Townsend Range hunts. The PVA hunt is sponsored by Marine Corps Air Station, Beaufort and hosted by the Georgia Air National Guard. "We have put in countless hours of our personal time preparing the range for hunters," says Leverette. "We have prepared and seeded numerous food plots to create deer movement and increase the availability of food for the deer; we have placed signs delineating all the areas, we have scouted promising terrain; and arranged for the proper disposal of animal carcasses once a hunter bags his game," continued Leverette. Each hunter is given a specific area to hunt and has that area for the entire two day hunt, only twenty areas are available on the range property. Usual limits for Townsend Range is a single deer or a single hog per day. According to Leverette, an archery hunter in one of the Range's early hunts bagged a 8-point deer during the range's opening day. 33 hunters participated in the two day archery hunt, five deer were taken and a 200 pound boar was bagged. Numerous sightings of large buck were reported; however, not many stepped within the relatively short range of a bow. The next scheduled hunt at the Range is following Veterans Day, November 12-13. All scheduled hunts for the 2004 season are filled to capacity. Slots for hunters who cancel out or do not show up to hunt will not be filled due to the safety course and legal paperwork that has already been accomplished for the lottery winners. For more information, contact TSgt Brian Leverette at DSN 860-3006/Commercial 912-963-3006. |
