Hunting, Fishing and the Beach? (Raleigh, Fayetteville: low crime, house prices, schools)

[adteacher]

My husband and I are looking for a North Carolina town to retire to. He won't go anywhere where the (whitetail) hunting and fishing aren't great, and I'd like to be less than an hour to a beach. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks!

[NE Stretch]

I am of the same mold apparently, as your husband. My wife & I just purchased 6 acres in Holly Ridge, NC. There is about 10,000 acres of Holly Ridge Game Shelter to hunt white tales, excellant inner coastal fishing, clamming, & shrimping, as well as off shore fishing. We spent two years looking in NC for retirement property. Many areas have great housing, but be aware of the lot restrictions in each area. Many are excessively restrictive. In the H.R. area we were able to find several building lots that were reasonable and had few restrictions. My property offers me deer hunting with access to the beach and intercoastal in 6 miles. Onslo & Pender county beaches are excellant, while Currituck, Pamlico, chowan, & Beaufort have the "brackish" non tidal water. We named it swamp water, those listings we tossed. It may be in your best interest to start looking south of camp Lejune to Wilmington.
If you are seeking larger lots, there were some great mutilple 10 ac & 27 ac lots off I-40 by Castle Hayne,NC. My advise, spend the time, see the areas yourself.
Lots of luck,
North East Stretch.

[dsobotta]

Originally Posted by adteacher

My husband and I are looking for a North Carolina town to retire to. He won't go anywhere where the (whitetail) hunting and fishing aren't great, and I'd like to be less than an hour to a beach. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks!

I'm not a deer hunter, but I enjoy venison and know that there are plenty of opportunities in Croatan National Forest. You can read about the hunting at this link.

I am a fisherman and can tell you the fishing is very good in Bogue Inlet.

Lots of people who enjoy the out of doors settle in the Swansboro-Cedar Point-Cape Carteret area.

We can be on the great beaches of Emerald Isle in ten minutes. Our home on the White Oak River lets us enjoy the wonderful small town life of the area and still be close to lots of modern services mostly without the hassle of traffic and other city problems.

I can drop my boat (http://coastalnc.org/boatonthelift - broken link) in the water and be in the Intracoastal in ten minutes. Another ten minutes and I'm out Bogue Inlet in the ocean.

Here is a map to show you the area services.

It's a great place to live.

[beachblondeobx]

I have to respectfully disagree with the first poster. Dare/Currituck county offers some great opportunities to hunt and fish. We have some terrific hunting opportunities just a few miles inland from island Dare County and Cape Hatteras? Well...that has the best surf fishing on the East Coast. Not just my opinion, check out Salt Water Sportsman magazine. Fishing takes place from late March to January. You can catch anything from monster sized drum in the spring and fall to stripers in the winter. Summer time brings spanish mackeral, flounder, spots and croaker. Trout fishing is from spring to fall. If you locate in an area such as Colington, you can fish right out your back yard (if you get a water/canal front lot). The crabbing is awesome back there as well. Bass tournaments used to be held in the brackish water north of the Currituck Bridge. Swamp water? It doesn't smell, holds fish, and looks terrific. Just check out the places that you think will work for you, then narrow it down.
We are also the closest you can get to the Gulf Stream from NC. This means much less gas to get to the big fish offshore. Low crime rate, beautiful beaches, friendly people, a lot of outdoor activities for grandchildren, what more could you want?

[anne72]

I live close to Burgaw, Rose Hill and Atkinson. Burgaw is getting busy and the house prices are really high. I don't really know to much about Rose Hill. Atkinson is a great little town with that southern charm that is hard to find today. Everyone is friendly and the little stores remind me of a time gone by. No its not for everyone, but if your looking for a really nice place for kids to grow up, getting to know and like your neighbors then its a place for you. As far as Pender schools I had two children attend them and they are now both at UNCW so Pender county schools did something right.

The thing I like most about Atkinson area is being so close to everything but still living in the country.

Burgaw 15 miles
Wilmington 23 miles
Wallace 25 miles
Elizabeth Town 25 miles
Jacksonville 50 miles
Fayetteville60 miles
Myrtle Beach 68 miles
Raleigh 83 miles

As far as someone saying that there is nothing to do here, Well I guess you have to live around here to know that there is a lot to do:

Cape Fear River
Black River
Beatty's Bridge scenic crossing on the Black River with river canoe tours
Wonderful Christmas Parade
Youth Center
Public Library
Monthly Antique Auction
Brand New Medical Center with a Dentist going in.
City water and Sewer going in this year
Low Crime
Family Pool and Game roomMoore's Creek Battlefield
Park
Walking, Hiking , Boating, Kayak, Fishing, Horse Riding, Four Wheeling, Hunting, Garden Club, All kinds of Social stuff each month.

Just because you drive through a small town and it doesn't look much don't make the mistake of thinking there is nothing going on.

[nipsip]

Originally Posted by adteacher

My husband and I are looking for a North Carolina town to retire to. He won't go anywhere where the (whitetail) hunting and fishing aren't great, and I'd like to be less than an hour to a beach. Does anybody have any suggestions? Thanks!

Well fishing is great in the sound and ocean. Limits are a problem on many fish. Hunting for deer and turkey are good, but the limit on turkeys is 2 per season and 4 for deer. Deer season is October 17-Jan 1 and turkey season lasts ~one month 4/8-5/10

Since you only hunt during season, and both deer and turkey season lasts only 3 1/2 months, you might want to consider what you are going to do the when the weather is nice the other 8+ months of the year. Living near the beach since you can enjoy the ocean or fish longer than you can hunt.

If you don't mind driving a few miles to hunt and want to live in a town that time forgot, try Manteo, NC.

[Dusty Rhodes]

For fishing, I head to the coast, mostly around Carteret county, excellent hook wetting in that area, but.....for the Deer hunting, I go into Alamance County/Orange County area. This is really nuts, but....this last hunting season, each deer hunter in the state had the opportunity to harvest (OK, shoot) 86 Whitetail Deer (No Mule Deer here) for the past 20+ years I fill my freezer, those who I have hunt with me also fill their freezer and collectively we have been feeding 5 or 6 Hispanic families over the winter. The biggest buck I shot this year was a large bodied 8 pointer in the 200 lb range, the largest Deer was a Doe that made the Buck look small. Get in touch if you're interested.