If you applied for the South Carolina waterfowl draw in September and got the email, congratulations: you're hunting one of the two best public marshes in the Lowcountry. If you didn't, bookmark this and apply next year, because these two are worth the points. This is what a first-timer needs to know about Bear Island and Donnelley, the two state-managed areas in the ACE Basin.
Where they are
Both are off Bennett's Point Road (SC 26), which leaves US 17 at Green Pond in Colleton County, about 40 miles south of Charleston. Donnelley's entrance is about four miles down the road on the left. Bear Island is at the far end, about a mile past the Ashepoo River bridge, roughly 12 to 13 miles from 17. The road is paved and then it isn't. Give yourself more time than the map says, especially in the dark.
Bear Island WMA
About 12,000 acres, owned and managed by SCDNR, with managed impoundments spread across 27 sites built on old rice fields between the Ashepoo and the South Edisto. It's the one you've seen the pictures of: long dikes, big open water, birds stacked up in February. The Cut Unit on the Edisto side was added with Ducks Unlimited's help in 1993. Bear Island is open to the public for birding and driving from roughly February through October, and closed during duck season except to lottery hunters. The office number is (843) 844-8957, and it's worth a call the week before your hunt to confirm check-in time and which unit you're assigned to.
For 2026–27, Bear Island runs lottery hunts on Saturdays from December 12 through January 30, plus November 21 and 28. It also hosts a youth-only lottery hunt.
Donnelley WMA
About 8,000 acres near Green Pond, named for Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley, who were early leaders of the ACE Basin protection effort. Donnelley is a mix of managed impoundments, old rice fields, and upland. Its lottery hunts run Tuesdays and Thursdays rather than Saturdays, which is either a curse or a gift depending on your job. Donnelley also has a Category II walk-in unit on Wednesday and Saturday mornings for anyone with a WMA permit, no draw required.
Donnelley's rules are stricter than most and they're enforced: sign in and sign out, no entry before 5 a.m., no trailered boats and no motors, and no hunting from the dikes. You're walking or dragging a pirogue. Pack accordingly.
What the morning looks like
You'll check in at the assigned time, usually well before legal light, get your site or blind assignment, and either walk or boat to it. Blinds are portable or built from native vegetation; there are no permanent boxes to fight over. Shooting is half an hour before sunrise, and most of these hunts end late morning (youth hunts end at 11). You're limited to 25 shells of federally approved non-toxic shot. Bring exactly what you need and nothing you can't carry through mud.
What you'll see: on a good day, teal, gadwall, wigeon, and shovelers working the impoundments, with pintail and ring-necks in the mix and a wood duck or two off the edges. On a bad day you'll still see more birds than most private clubs in the state. Weather up north is the variable; a cold snap the week before your hunt is what you're praying for.
Gear notes that actually matter
Waders you trust. The mud in a rice field is different from creek mud; it's deep and it grabs. A headlamp with a red setting so you're not blinding the guys at the next site. Dry bag for your phone. A thermos. A dog that will sit still, because Bear Island is not the place to find out yours won't. Everything else is preference.
What you wear to the landing and to breakfast after is your business, but that's the part we make. Our merino beanie is the one we pull on at 4:30 a.m. and the duck camo hoodie is what goes over the waders in the truck.
Respect the place
Bear Island and Donnelley exist because private landowners, DU, The Nature Conservancy, and the state decided in 1988 to keep the ACE Basin rural. Every draw hunt is a small return on that. Pack out your hulls. Don't drive on the dikes. Send SCDNR a thank-you if you're the type. And if you can, join the South Carolina Waterfowl Association or DU; their banquets in Walterboro and Charleston are where the money for this habitat comes from.
For how the draw itself works, see our guide to South Carolina public-land duck hunting. For why we named the brand after this water, see what the ACE Basin is.