Old River WMA

Best Time to Visit This Site For Summer Residents:

Mid May to mid June

Old River Wildlife Management Area's Horseshoe Lake, comprised of mixed pine-hardwood forest interspersed with cypress-lined oxbows, is one of the best examples of bottomland hardwood forest habitat in the western portion of the coastal counties.

The access road is drivable for its entire length of 2+ miles (medium to high clearance advised) but is susceptible to flooding, so exercise discretion. The Pearl River is a major migratory corridor and rarer species such as Yellow-bellied Flycatcher, Golden-winged and Cerulean Warblers and Lincoln’s Sparrow occur regularly. At a few points where there is access to the Pearl River; scan for kites and other raptors migrating overhead.

Breeding species include Yellow-crowned Night-Heron, Swallow-tailed Kite and Mississippi Kite, Chuck-will’s-widow, Acadian Flycatcher and all the southeastern warblers. If water levels fall in late summer, a few Wood Storks may join the resident waders in feeding on aquatic life trapped in the shrinking pools.  Rusty Blackbirds are regular in winter. This area is a state Wildlife Management Area (WMA) managed by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries & Parks

(MS WF&P). The primary purposes of WMAs are to provide areas for hunting and fishing. For your own safety, wear highly visible blaze orange hunting clothes during hunting seasons. A WMA User Permit is required to legally access this & other WMA sites. Resident and non-resident annual and daily permits are available. Information on obtaining WMA permits and Mississippi hunting seasons can be found by clicking on the WMA and Hunting icons to the right.

Dirt/ Pull Off

Website -Mozart Mark Dedeaux

Updated: 9/17/2013