Piney Creeks Wildlife Management Area on the Land Conservation Assistance Network

Piney Creeks Wildlife Management Area
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last updated: April 2023

Contains 176,000 acres of rugged Ozark Mountain terrain. The area is predominantly forested in upland hardwoods and mixed shortleaf pine/hardwood forest types. Big Piney Creek and the North Fork of the Illinois Bayou flow generally north to south through the central and eastern part, respectively, and Little Piney Creek more or less traverses the western and southern boundaries of the area.

The Piney Creeks WMA provides fair to good hunting and trapping opportunities during most years for all resident forest game and furbearer species including white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, black bear, gray and fox squirrels and raccoons. The scarcity of alternative food sources and the dependence on fickle mast crops for winter food on the area often results in dramatic fluctuations in survival and reproductive rates of popular game birds and animals. Hunters can expect to encounter population cycles that are very obvious increases or decreases in the numbers of animals and birds observed from one year to the next. Cyclic fluctuations may be quite dramatic for such species as squirrels, wild turkey and raccoons.

Longpool Recreation Area is a developed camping, picnic and swimming area that is located on Big Piney Creek, 5 miles west of Hwy. 7 near the southern boundary of the area. Rotary Ann Recreation Area is located 4 miles south of Pelsor on Hwy. 7. and Haw Creek Falls Campground is located 2 miles south of Ft. Douglas on Hwy. 123. The U.S. Forest Service maintains all of the developed recreation areas. Primitive camping is allowed anywhere but on food plots and areas marked closed to camping.

Directions:
From I-40 at Russellville; turn north on Hwy. 7 and go 15 miles north and you will be at the southern boundary of the area when you pass the Ozark National Forest portal sign. Exit I-40 at Lamar; take Highway 64 west to Highway 123 and go 15 miles north to the National Forest/WMA boundary. Take Highway 7 south from Harrison about 50 miles to Pelsor, at Pelsor State Highway 16 is the northern boundary to the east and Highway 123 is northern boundary to the west until you reach the junction Newton County Rd 61.

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Piney Creeks Wildlife Management Area is not employed by or affiliated with the Land Conservation Assistance Network, and the Network does not certify or guarantee their services. The reader must perform their own due diligence and use their own judgment in the selection of any professional.