South Carolina's WMA Draw vs. Private Lowcountry Water: Marketing Both Sides of the Palmetto Duck Split
South Carolina runs the sharpest public-private split in southeastern duck hunting. On one side sits the SCDNR Category I lottery, a set of intensively managed state impoundments in the Lowcountry, the Santee delta, and a few inland sites that produce some of the best public duck hunting on the East Coast and are reachable only through an annual computer drawing. On the other side sits the private managed-impoundment world: old rice fields, flooded timber, and reservoir-edge water across the ACE Basin, the Santee country, and the coastal plantation belt, sold by the day or by the package to hunters who want a date they can count on. Almost every serious South Carolina duck hunter ends up choosing between the two, or using both.
The timing right now could not be sharper. The 2026 Category I application window closed on October 15, 2026. Thousands of applicants are waiting on an email from SCDNR telling them whether they drew one of the lottery's 94 hunt dates for the 2026-27 season, and the regular duck season opens November 21. Every hunter who does not draw has about a month to decide what the season looks like instead. For a private outfitter, that is the single highest-intent window in the South Carolina waterfowl calendar.
This post is written for the operators on the private side: plantation lodges, impoundment guides, Santee Cooper outfitters, and anyone selling South Carolina duck hunting to people who also apply for the draw. It maps how the SCDNR system actually works for 2026-27, the honest decision math between a draw, a lease, and a guided hunt, and the marketing that captures the results window now and builds the runway for the next application period. The core idea is simple. Every lottery applicant is a future client, so the outfitter who explains the public system accurately and respectfully wins more of them than the outfitter who pretends it does not exist.
How the SCDNR Waterfowl Lottery Works in 2026-27
South Carolina divides its public waterfowl areas into two categories. Under SCDNR's WMA regulations, Category I areas may be hunted only by special permit obtained through the annual lottery, while Category II areas are open on specified days and times during the duck seasons without a draw. The Category I list in the current regulations includes Bear Island, Beaverdam, Bonneau Ferry, Broad River, Clemson, portions of Coosawhatchie and Donnelley, Samworth, Sandy Beach, Santee Coastal Reserve, Santee Delta, and Wateree River Heritage Preserve. Bonneau Ferry, like Donnelley and Clemson in past seasons, is tied to youth and adult parties in SCDNR's site listings, and the agency folded Clemson and Donnelley into the general lottery in 2024-25 to increase public use.
The application mechanics are worth getting exactly right on your own site, because hunters search for them every year. SCDNR's public lottery page lists the waterfowl and youth waterfowl application window as September 1 through October 15, with applications filed through the Go Outdoors SC licensing portal. For the 2026-27 lottery, SCDNR's release set a non-refundable $20 fee for the Multi-site Waterfowl Lottery Hunt and $5 per youth applicant. Results go out by email after the drawing and also appear in each applicant's Go Outdoors SC profile. There are no transfers, and SCDNR preselects alternates through the same computer drawing, so a hunter who did not draw cannot buy or trade into someone else's slot.
The drawing itself runs on preference points. SCDNR awards a point for each consecutive year an applicant applies and is not drawn, and points revert to zero when the applicant is selected. Hunters may apply alone or as a party of two to four, and a party is drawn at the point level of its lowest-point member, which is the detail most hunters miss when they wonder why their group keeps losing. SCDNR's 2021-22 survey report describes the process plainly: the computer ranks applicants by points and a random number, places each one into the highest open choice on their list, and cycles until every site and date is full. The agency's lottery page currently estimates that waterfowl selections take roughly 2 to 3 points and youth waterfowl 1 to 2, with the caveat that the figures are no guarantee and depend on the sites and dates chosen.
This season also comes with one notable change. Cedar Island at Santee Coastal Reserve is closed for extensive dike renovation and is not offered in the 2026-27 lottery, which removes one of the coastal units from the rotation. SCDNR's 2026 release also let applicants opt in, at no added cost, to second-chance hunts offered by private landowners through partner programs. That detail matters for outfitters: the state itself now treats private water as the natural next step for a hunter who applied and missed. Confirm every one of these mechanics with SCDNR before you publish them, because the structure shifts from year to year.
The Category I Roster: 13 Hunt Units and 94 Dates
The scarcity is easiest to see in SCDNR's 2026-27 hunt-date schedule. With Cedar Island out, the lottery runs 13 hunt units: Bear Island, Beaverdam, Broad River, Clemson Waterfowl Area, Coosawhatchie, Donnelley, Samworth, Sandy Beach, Santee Delta East, Santee Delta West, Santee Coastal Reserve's Murphy Island and The Cape, and Wateree River. Add up the dates and the whole Category I system offers 94 hunt dates for the season. Bear Island, Murphy Island, and The Cape carry nine dates each, beginning with opening weekend in late November. Most inland and delta units run seven Saturdays from December 12 through January 30, and Donnelley, Samworth, Sandy Beach, and Wateree run on midweek dates from mid-December through late January.
Against that supply, the demand is enormous. SCDNR's survey reports record nearly 5,000 applicants for the 2019-20 waterfowl lottery, with 1,073 selected, and more than 5,200 adult applicants for 2021-22, with 871 adults selected, roughly one in six. In 2024-25 the program offered 107 hunts to 1,104 selected individuals, and the agency's own program report called recent demand the largest application rate in the history of the lottery waterfowl hunts. That is why an outfitter should care: thousands of motivated, licensed duck hunters raise their hands every fall, and most will not hunt Category I water this season.
The hunts themselves are tightly structured. According to SCDNR's lottery page, shooting runs from one-half hour before sunrise to 11:00 a.m., hunters are limited to 25 shells, only one dog is allowed per party, and hunting from banks or dikes is not permitted. SCDNR describes Bear Island, Murphy Island, and The Cape as very strenuous, with the other sites requiring moderate exertion. Transportation and decoys are furnished at Bear Island, Broad River, Sandy Beach, and Coosawhatchie, transportation only at the Santee Coastal units, Santee Delta, and Samworth, and hunters bring their own decoys at the Santee sites, Samworth, and Wateree, where there are also no blinds or transportation and orientation is mandatory. Mobility-impaired blinds are not available at Bear Island, Murphy Island, Samworth, or Santee Delta.
The harvest data shows why hunters keep applying. SCDNR's 2024-25 Waterfowl Program Report puts the Category I average at 2.8 ducks per hunter, close to the long-term average of 3.1 under the six-duck bag. Santee Coastal Reserve was the standout, averaging 3.9 ducks per hunter across its units and 4.2 at Murphy Island, and it accounted for nearly all of the program's northern pintail harvest. Across all Category I properties the top species were green-winged teal at 26 percent of the bag, gadwall at 13 percent, blue-winged teal and northern shoveler at 11 percent each, and pintail at 7 percent. Wood ducks made up a large share of the bag at several inland and midweek sites. If you publish harvest figures, pull them from the current SCDNR report or the agency's harvest dashboard and state the season they came from.
What the 2026-27 Duck Season Looks Like
The season frame sets the marketing calendar for both sides of the split. SCDNR's 2026-27 regulations list the regular duck season as November 21 through November 28, 2026, and December 12, 2026 through January 31, 2027. The state youth day falls on Saturday, November 14, 2026, and the federal youth and veteran and active-duty military days fall on February 6 and February 13, 2027. The daily bag is 6 ducks, including no more than 4 mallards with no more than 2 hens, 3 pintails, 3 wood ducks, and 2 each of redheads, canvasbacks, and scaup. Scaup are 2 per day through December 22 and on the February special days, then drop to 1 per day from December 23 through January 31. Black and mottled duck limits differ east and south of I-95 versus west and north, so read the regulation for your county.
The pintail limit deserves a sentence of its own because a lot of older content still gets it wrong. The federal framework raised the daily pintail limit to 3 beginning with the 2025-26 season, and South Carolina's 2026-27 regulations carry that limit. For an outfitter on tidal Lowcountry water, where pintails are a signature bird and the Santee Coastal harvest shows how concentrated they can be, an accurate pintail line on your hunt pages is a small thing that signals you know the current rules. If your site still says one pintail, fix it before the opener.
The split season shapes demand in a way outfitters can plan around. The short November segment, built around Thanksgiving week, is when the coastal Category I units open and when many families and traveling hunters want a hunt. The long December-through-January segment is when most Category I dates fall and when private water typically sees its steadiest bookings. The February youth and veteran days are a separate product with a separate audience. Every date in this paragraph should appear on your website with the season year stated and a line telling readers to confirm with SCDNR, both because it is honest and because dated, specific pages are the kind AI search tools cite.
The Category II Distinction Hunters Misunderstand
Hunters who miss the draw often look next at Category II, and they often misread what it offers. SCDNR's regulations open Category II areas only on specified days and times during the duck seasons. Some are Saturday mornings only, such as Beidler Impoundment, Dunaway, Enoree River, Santee Cooper WMA, and Tyger River. Some are Wednesday mornings only, such as Ditch Pond, Dungannon, Lake Cunningham, and the portion of Donnelley east of Donnelley Drive and Blocker Run Road. Some run Wednesday and Saturday mornings, including the Sampson Island Unit of Bear Island, Coosawhatchie, and Sumter National Forest. Others are open Monday through Saturday, with or without a morning-only restriction.
The practical result is that Category II is its own product, not a no-draw version of Category I. A Wednesday-morning-only property gives a working hunter roughly one weekday morning a week across the season, shared with everyone else who had the same idea, with no managed hunt structure and no guarantee of birds. Donnelley and Bear Island both have portions that are drawn and portions open on set days, which feeds the confusion.
For an outfitter, this is a content opportunity rather than a sales argument. SCDNR publishes the Category II schedule as a regulatory list. Almost nobody explains, in plain language, what that schedule means for a hunter's season. A clear explainer that lays out the day-and-time pattern, links to the SCDNR regulation, and tells readers to confirm the current schedule earns a place in the research process of exactly the hunters you want. It also lets you describe your own product honestly: flexible dates, a guide who has scouted the water, and a full morning in the blind on a day that fits the hunter's calendar.
The Closure Window: Why Missing the Draw Means Missing the Property
The operational fact that makes the South Carolina results window so powerful is the winter closure on key Category I properties. SCDNR's WMA special regulations close Bear Island to all public access from November 1 through February 8 except for scheduled hunts, and close Santee Delta to all public access over the same period except for special hunts and events. At Santee Coastal Reserve, the dikes around the waterfowl impoundments and the canoe trail are closed over that period except by prior arrangement, and at Samworth, activity between November 1 and February 8 is restricted to designated areas. These rules exist to keep the impoundments rested so they hold birds through the season, which is a large part of why the hunts are good.
For the hunter who did not draw, the closure means there is no walking the dikes, no scouting the impoundments, and no peripheral access to the very properties he applied for during the months that matter. His real options for premier managed-impoundment hunting this season are a Category II morning, an invitation to someone's private water, a lease, or a guided hunt. That is a much narrower set of choices than a hunter faces in states where an unsuccessful draw still leaves open public marsh nearby.
The day a hunter learns he did not draw is the day his planning restarts, often with private water at the top of the list. Outfitters do not need manufactured urgency. They need to be visible, accurate, and easy to book between results and the November 21 opener. Confirm the closure language for each property with SCDNR before quoting it, since special regulations are revised between seasons.
The Private Alternative: Santee Country and the Lowcountry Plantation Belt
The private side of the split concentrates in two broad geographies, and each one needs its own positioning. The first is the Santee country around Lakes Marion and Moultrie and the Santee River, where freshwater impoundments, flooded timber, swamp edges, and reservoir flats support a working duck economy that crosses over with year-round fishing. Our post on marketing a Santee Cooper duck guide on Lakes Marion and Moultrie covers that operator landscape in detail. Santee-area outfitters tend to draw hunters from the Midlands and the Piedmont, and the drive-time story is part of the pitch.
The second is the Lowcountry plantation belt, from the ACE Basin and the Edisto, Combahee, and Ashepoo river systems up through the Santee delta and the Georgetown rice country. Here the historic rice-field impoundments, engineered with dikes and trunks to control tidal water, are still managed for waterfowl on private land, and the product ranges from a guided morning to a multi-day lodge stay with meals and the social life that defines Southern sporting tradition. The ACE Basin managed-impoundment outfitter post goes deep on that geography. It is worth noticing that the Category I system's best coastal units, Bear Island, Santee Coastal Reserve, and Santee Delta, sit inside this same landscape, which is why a hunter weighing the draw and a hunter weighing a plantation hunt are so often the same person.
Between those two poles is a wide middle: day-hunt operators in the Midlands and Upstate, flooded-field setups, wood duck swamp hunts, and coastal sea-duck guiding along the Grand Strand and the Hammock Coast. Each of these serves a different hunter and a different budget, and each has a different relationship to the draw. A day-hunt outfitter is the obvious fallback for a local hunter who missed a Saturday at Broad River. A lodge is the natural answer for a traveling group that was never going to build points over several years. A sea-duck guide sells a different bird and a different season shape. Your content should place your product in this range honestly, so a hunter can see where you fit before he calls.
One caution applies to every private operator. Do not imply that a guided hunt is simply a better Category I hunt. It is a different product: a scouted blind, a guide, often a dog and a boat ride, flexible dates, and conditions set up for the client rather than for the access constraints of a public impoundment. Some hunters will always prefer the public hunt and the sense of earning a drawn date. Respect that.
The Honest Decision Math: Draw, Lease, or Guided Hunt
Every South Carolina duck hunter runs the same three-way calculation, and the outfitter who writes it down honestly owns the conversation. The draw costs little in money and a lot in time. The application fee is modest, the license and stamps are required for any duck hunt anyway, and SCDNR's own survey found that selected adult applicants averaged 3 points in 2021-22, which the agency described as a four-year wait between Category I opportunities. The current SCDNR estimate of 2 to 3 points is a little more forgiving, but party applications move at the pace of the lowest-point member, and popular sites and opening-weekend dates take longer. The draw is a credible long-game plan for a patient in-state hunter in good physical shape who can take whatever date he draws.
A lease is the opposite trade. It buys repeated access to the same water, but it carries an annual commitment, shared work on blinds and water, and the risk that a dry year or warm winter makes the water a poor investment. It suits the local hunter who wants many mornings, not the traveling hunter or the family that wants one great weekend.
A guided hunt sells certainty and service. The date is confirmed when the deposit clears, the blind is scouted, the spread is set, and the logistics are handled. It fits the out-of-state hunter planning a single South Carolina trip, the working professional with a fixed vacation window, the corporate group, the father taking a son for a first season, and the lottery applicant who missed this year and does not want to sit out until February. The price is real, but it buys something the draw cannot: a date on the calendar this season.
Many serious hunters combine the three, and saying so in your content is a mark of confidence rather than weakness. Apply every year to build points. Hunt Category II or a lease for the regular mornings. Book one or two guided days or a lodge weekend to anchor the season. An outfitter that publishes this hybrid plan and places its own product inside it honestly will book hunters a competitor arguing against the draw never meets. Skip other operators' prices and publish your own rates and inclusions clearly.
Marketing the Results Window Right Now
The plays below are what to run between now and the November 21 opener, while lottery results are landing in inboxes. They work best for outfitters who have already been collecting emails from lottery applicants, but even an operator starting today can capture part of the window.
Write the results-day email now. Address it to subscribers who told you they applied for the draw. Congratulate the ones who drew, and give the ones who did not a short, specific alternative: your open dates for November 21-28 and the December-January segment, what a hunt includes, your deposit and cancellation policy, and one link to book.
Watch for results and send promptly. SCDNR notifies applicants by email and posts results to Go Outdoors SC profiles. Hunters talk about results on forums and social media the day they arrive, so check daily and send the email within hours, not weeks.
Publish a dated season page. A single page with the 2026-27 South Carolina duck dates, bag limits including the 3-pintail limit, the youth and veteran days, and a confirm-with-SCDNR line gives hunters a reason to visit and gives AI search tools a specific, current answer to cite.
Open a standby list for prime dates. Opening week and the weekends around Christmas sell first. A visible standby option keeps the hunter who missed your full dates in your pipeline instead of a competitor's.
Update your Google Business Profile. Post your open dates, refresh photos from recent scouting, and answer the questions hunters ask most. Hunters who missed the draw often search "South Carolina duck hunting guide" on their phones the same evening.
Speak to the youth and veteran days. The February 6 and 13 special days are a separate audience. If you run youth or veteran hunts, give them their own page and their own email.
The tone matters as much as the timing. A pitch to someone who just lost a lottery feels opportunistic. A note from a knowledgeable local explaining what the season looks like now, with a real option attached, feels helpful, and hunters remember the difference.
Building the Runway for the Next Application Window
The bigger play is the eleven months between now and the next application period. If SCDNR keeps its current window, the 2027 lottery will again open around September 1 and close around October 15, but confirm the dates when the agency announces them. Everything an outfitter builds before then decides how much of next year's results window it captures.
Start with the explainer. A page titled something like "How the South Carolina Waterfowl Lottery Works" that walks through Category I and Category II, preference points and party rules, the application window and fees, the hunt structure, the closure periods, and the current season dates gives hunters something SCDNR does not provide in plain language. Link to every SCDNR source, date every number, and tell readers to confirm with the agency. Then add a short, honest section on when a guided hunt makes more sense, with a waitlist form. The structure of our outfitter FAQ page guide applies directly: answer the questions before they are asked, in the words hunters use.
Next, build property-name pages carefully. Hunters search for Bear Island, Santee Coastal Reserve, Santee Delta, Donnelley, and the other units by name while they decide how to rank their choices. An outfitter does not need to outrank SCDNR on navigational searches, and should never imply any affiliation with a state property. What it can do is publish accurate, useful context, such as what the coastal hunts demand physically, what species dominate the bag, and what the season dates look like, and offer a clear next step for the hunter whose name does not come up. Kentucky offers a parallel worth studying in our post on marketing a Ballard WMA blind-draw strategy and guide brand.
Then build the list. The most valuable form on a South Carolina duck outfitter's site next September will be a simple one: "Applying for the SCDNR lottery? Get our note when results come out." Capture the email, the sites the hunter is applying for, and party size. Promote it through August and September, when hunters are researching, and feed it into the results-day email you wrote this fall. Our post on the modern waitlist covers the mechanics of turning that list into bookings. Finally, review this season. Note which dates filled first, which emails got replies, and which pages drew traffic, and adjust before the next window opens.
How Outfitters Should Talk About the Public System
The most common positioning mistake in South Carolina private duck marketing is treating the Category I lottery as a competitor. Pages that dismiss public hunting, mock the odds, or frame a guided hunt as the cure for a failed draw alienate the hunters who value public access on principle, and that is a large share of the people who apply every year. SCDNR's survey found that fewer than 1 percent of respondents said they would not apply again, so these hunters are loyal to the system. Insult it and you insult them.
The respectful framing is also the accurate one. The Category I impoundments are a substantial public investment in managed wetland habitat, maintained by agency staff who rebuild dikes and water-control structures after storms and manage disturbance to hold birds through the winter. SCDNR's program report notes, for example, that Bear Island alone spans 4,844 acres with 45 miles of dike and 110 water-control structures. That public habitat and the private impoundments across the Lowcountry together support the wintering ducks every South Carolina outfitter depends on. Saying so on your site costs nothing and earns trust with the conservation-minded hunters who are often your best long-term clients.
The practical rule is to describe both paths as legitimate and to be clear about who each one serves. The draw is right for the patient, physically ready in-state hunter who wants to earn a public date. A guided hunt is right for the hunter who needs a confirmed date this season, a traveling group, a first-timer, or anyone who wants the logistics handled. When your content makes that distinction plainly, hunters trust your recommendation, and many of the ones who apply every year will also book with you in the years they do not draw. For the broader picture of how South Carolina's sporting operations show up online, see our full South Carolina state guide.
Work with Pine & Marsh
If you sell duck hunting in South Carolina and want to be the outfitter hunters find when the lottery results land, we can help you build it: the lottery explainer, the season page, the waitlist, the results-day email, and the search and AI visibility that put them in front of hunters at the right moment.
Book a discovery call or ask for a free marketing check, and we will show you where your site and Google Business Profile stand against the searches South Carolina duck hunters run between September and January.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the South Carolina waterfowl lottery application period?
SCDNR's public lottery page lists the waterfowl and youth waterfowl application window as September 1 through October 15, and the 2026 window closed October 15, 2026. Applications run through the Go Outdoors SC licensing system. Expect a similar window in 2027, but confirm the dates with SCDNR before you build a campaign around them.
How much does it cost to apply for the SCDNR waterfowl lottery?
For the 2026-27 lottery, SCDNR's release set a non-refundable $20 fee for the Multi-site Waterfowl Lottery Hunt and $5 per youth applicant for the youth hunt. The fee is not returned if you are not drawn. Selected hunters still need their license, WMA permit or the temporary WMA permit where eligible, HIP, and state and federal duck stamps.
How do preference points work in the South Carolina waterfowl draw?
Applicants earn a preference point for each consecutive year they apply and are not drawn, and points reset to zero when they are selected. Parties of two to four hunters are drawn at the point level of the member with the fewest points. SCDNR's lottery page currently estimates that waterfowl selections take roughly 2 to 3 points, with no guarantee.
How long does it take to draw a Category I duck hunt in South Carolina?
SCDNR's 2021-22 Category I hunter survey found that selected adult applicants averaged 3 preference points, which the agency described as a four-year wait between Category I opportunities. The current SCDNR estimate is 2 to 3 points. Popular sites and dates take longer, and party applications move at the pace of the lowest-point member.
Which properties are in the 2026-27 South Carolina Category I waterfowl lottery?
The 2026-27 hunt dates list Bear Island, Beaverdam, Broad River, Clemson Waterfowl Area, Coosawhatchie, Donnelley, Samworth, Sandy Beach, Santee Delta East and West, Santee Coastal Reserve's Murphy Island and The Cape, and Wateree River. Cedar Island at Santee Coastal Reserve is closed for dike renovation and is not offered this season. Confirm the roster with SCDNR, since it changes between seasons.
What are South Carolina's 2026-27 duck season dates and limits?
SCDNR's 2026-27 regulations list the regular duck season as November 21-28, 2026 and December 12, 2026 through January 31, 2027, with a state youth day November 14 and federal youth and veteran days February 6 and 13, 2027. The daily bag is 6 ducks, including no more than 4 mallards (2 hens), 3 pintails, 3 wood ducks, and 2 each of redheads, canvasbacks, and scaup, with scaup dropping to 1 from December 23. Confirm with SCDNR before you hunt or publish.
What is the difference between Category I and Category II waterfowl areas?
Category I areas are hunted only by special permit drawn in the annual lottery. Category II areas are open without a draw, but only on specified days and times, such as Wednesday mornings or Saturday mornings at particular properties. They are different products, and Category II is not a consolation version of a Category I hunt.
Can I scout a Category I property if I did not draw?
Generally not during the core season. SCDNR's WMA special regulations close Bear Island and Santee Delta to all public access from November 1 through February 8 except scheduled hunts, close the impoundment dikes at Santee Coastal Reserve over the same period, and restrict activity at Samworth to designated areas. Check each property's current regulations before planning a visit.
Should a private duck outfitter mention the SCDNR lottery on its website?
Yes. The hunters researching the draw are the same hunters who book private water, and an outfitter that explains the lottery accurately earns trust and search visibility on queries SCDNR does not answer in plain language. Present the draw as a legitimate option for the right hunter and position your hunt as the right answer for a different situation.
What should an outfitter do when SCDNR lottery results go out?
Have a results-day email ready for subscribers who told you they applied, with your open dates, what a hunt includes, and how to book. Keep the tone respectful: congratulate those who drew, and offer those who did not a clear alternative for the season that opens November 21. Results go to applicants by email and appear in their Go Outdoors SC profiles, so watch for them and send promptly.
Sources
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Waterfowl Lottery Hunts (sites, report times, hunt rules, Cedar Island closure) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/waterfowllottery.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2026-27 Waterfowl Lottery Hunt Dates (PDF) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/2627WaterfowlHuntDates.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Public Lottery Hunts (application window, preference point estimates) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/lottery/index.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Lottery Hunt License Requirements and Preference Procedures -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/drawlicenses.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2024-2025 Waterfowl Program Annual Report (PDF) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/WaterfowlProgramAnnualReport2024-2025.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2021-2022 Category I Waterfowl Hunter Survey Report (PDF) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/Category1WaterfowlHunterSurveyReport2021-2022.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2019-2020 Category 1 Waterfowl Hunter Survey Report (PDF) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/Category1WaterfowlHunterSurveyReport2019-2020.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- WMA Special Regulations (Bear Island, Santee Coastal Reserve, Santee Delta, Samworth closures) -- https://www.dnr.sc.gov/mlands/specregs.html -- accessed October 2026
SCDNR Hunting Regulations (eRegulations) -- General Migratory Bird Seasons, Shooting Hours and Bag Limits, 2026-2027 -- https://www.eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/general-migratory-bird-seasons-shooting-hours-bag-limits -- accessed October 2026
SCDNR Hunting Regulations (eRegulations) -- WMA Waterfowl on Management Areas (Category I and Category II) -- https://www.eregulations.com/southcarolina/hunting/wma-waterfowl-on-management-areas -- accessed October 2026
Carolina Sportsman (from SCDNR release) -- Apply now for 2026 SC waterfowl lottery hunts -- https://www.carolinasportsman.com/?p=210118 -- accessed October 2026
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