"It is lawful to hunt throughout the State of West Virginia on federal land where hunting is permitted, in a state forest, on land owned or leased by the state for wildlife purposes." That line from the 2026–2027 West Virginia Hunting and Trapping Regulations Summary covers Sunday. Sleepy Creek Wildlife Management Area is owned by the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and managed for wildlife. That puts it squarely in that category.
So if you hike, run, fish or walk a dog on the mountain west of town, a quiet Sunday doesn't mean a hunter-free one. From the archery opener on September 26 through New Year's Eve, every day is a legal hunting day somewhere on Sleepy Creek. That's 97 days in a row. What changes from week to week is which seasons are layered on top of archery, and with them the equipment hunters carry and whether they're required to wear orange.
Ninety-seven days, layered
Most people think of hunting season as the two weeks around Thanksgiving. The WVDNR's 2026–2027 season table shows something different. Archery and crossbow deer season runs the whole stretch, from September 26 through December 31, and the louder seasons stack on top of it. Berkeley and Morgan counties, where Sleepy Creek sits, are both open to antlerless firearms hunting. The WVDNR's special-regulations table says WMAs without a specific exception follow the private-land rules for their county.
The first antlerless firearms weekend ran October 22 through 25. Here's what's still ahead in 2026:
| Dates in 2026 | What's open on top of archery | Days |
|---|---|---|
| Oct. 29 – Nov. 22 | Archery and crossbow only | 25 |
| Mon., Nov. 23 – Sun., Dec. 6 | Buck firearms and antlerless firearms | 14 |
| Dec. 7 – Dec. 9 | Archery and crossbow only | 3 |
| Thu., Dec. 10 – Sun., Dec. 13 | Antlerless firearms | 4 |
| Mon., Dec. 14 – Sun., Dec. 20 | Muzzleloader | 7 |
| Dec. 21 – Dec. 25 | Archery and crossbow only | 5 |
| Sat., Dec. 26 – Sun., Dec. 27 | Special youth, Class Q and Class XS deer season | 2 |
| Mon., Dec. 28 – Thu., Dec. 31 | Antlerless firearms | 4 |
None of this is new. WV MetroNews reported that Sunday hunting on public land started with the fall 2018 seasons, after private land was opened the year before. The table above shows what that means for a trail. Sunday, December 6 is the last day of gun season. Sunday, December 13 closes an antlerless weekend, and Sunday, December 20 is the final day of muzzleloader week.
What changes on Monday, November 23
The bow weeks and gun weeks feel different on the trail. During the bow-only stretches, the people you meet are archers, and the WVDNR blaze-orange rule doesn't apply to them. That rule is tied to firearms and muzzleloader seasons. It requires hunters in counties open to those seasons to wear at least 400 square inches of blaze orange on their outer garment. From the November 23 opener on, the hunters in the woods are required to be easy to see. The rule doesn't cover hikers, dog walkers or anglers. Nobody makes you match them.
The buck firearms opener falls on a Monday, so Thanksgiving, November 26, lands in the middle of the first gun week. Antlerless firearms hunting runs on the same dates, November 23 through December 6. Plenty of families who come home for the holiday plan a walk on the mountain between meals. Thanksgiving weekend on Sleepy Creek is gun-season weekend.
December doesn't wind down neatly either. A three-day archery-only gap leads into the antlerless weekend of December 10 through 13. Muzzleloader week follows right after, and a final antlerless stretch runs from December 28 to 31. In between, the special split season for youth, Class Q and Class XS hunters returns on December 26 and 27. It covers public lands in counties with a firearms deer season, and hunters may use a firearm, a muzzleloader, a bow or a crossbow. Everyone hunting during those two days must wear blaze orange. That leaves December 7 through 9 and December 21 through 25 as the only firearm-free windows left this year. Archery is still open on those days too.
Where the overlap lands on the mountain
Sleepy Creek is big enough that "the WMA" stands for a lot of different places. The WVDNR gives its size as about 23,000 acres across Berkeley and Morgan counties, with slightly different figures on different pages. The agency's Sleepy Creek overview describes it as a deer-hunting area about 10 miles from Hedgesville. Hikers and hunters share most of the same ground here:
- The Tuscarora Trail runs about 25 miles through the WMA. On weekends it's the area's long-distance spine.
- The Devil's Nose loop is a three-mile option that fits a short afternoon.
- Meadow Branch Trail is listed on Trailforks as a Sleepy Creek trail for hiking and trail running.
- Sleepy Creek Lake covers 205 acres, with two boat ramps, an accessible fishing pier and electric motors only. The WVDNR lists bass, bluegill, crappie and northern pike.
- Four campgrounds hold 75 primitive sites, and camping is allowed only at designated sites.
From Hedgesville, the WVDNR's eastern route in follows WV 9 to Back Creek Valley Road and then Sleepy Creek Road. From Berkeley Springs, it's U.S. 522 to Winchester Grade Road and Shanghai Road. If you're driving out on WV 9 at night, expect alternating lane closures at the WV 901 intersection. WV511's October 16 road report still listed the left-turn-lane and signal project as an active work zone.
Gates are the wild card in hunting season. In 2022, the Morgan Messenger quoted the WVDNR as saying some Sleepy Creek roads open during certain hunting seasons. Gated roads stay foot-traffic-only and some roads stay closed all year. Later that same fall, the paper reported that the White's Gap gate would be open for deer season while other gates stayed closed. Gate decisions can change within a single season, so a gravel road that was empty in October may have trucks on it in late November. The WVDNR District 2 office sets the current status. ATVs, motorbikes and snowmobiles are banned across WMAs except where signs specifically allow them.
Borrowing the hunter's color
The WVDNR doesn't set an orange rule for non-hunters. The Appalachian Trail Conservancy's hunting-season guidance is the clearest set of habits for anyone sharing a trail with hunters, and the Tuscarora Trail was built as an alternate route for the A.T. The ATC recommends:
- Wearing blaze-orange clothing yourself.
- Putting orange on your dog and keeping it leashed.
- Taking extra care at dawn and dusk, near road crossings and in valleys.
- Letting hunters know you're there.
The 97-day calendar is why these habits matter all season. During the firearm and muzzleloader dates, hunters are required to wear orange. In early November, from December 7 through 9 and from December 21 through 25, the hunters out there are archers, and the orange rule doesn't apply to them.
Two nearby trail systems where hunting isn't permitted
Some days you'll just want to skip the overlap. Two trail systems within a reasonable drive of Hedgesville don't allow public hunting, and each has its own details.
Cacapon Resort State Park in Berkeley Springs is covered by the West Virginia State Parks rules. Those rules prohibit hunting, trapping and harassing wildlife and require dogs to be leashed and restrained. The park is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. Its trail list includes the five-mile Ziler and Central trails, the two-mile Laurel Trail, the 1.5-mile Ridge Trail, the one-mile Piney Ridge Trail and the 0.75-mile Cabin Loop. More is planned. The park's activities page describes a $3.5 million bike-park expansion as "coming soon," along with a grant expected to add close to 35 miles of professionally built trails over three years.
The C&O Canal towpath at Williamsport, Maryland is across the Potomac at towpath mile 99.8. Parking and access are at Lockhouse 44, Cushwa Basin and park headquarters, and pedestrians can reach the towpath at Lockhouse 44. The National Park Service says the laws that created C&O Canal National Historical Park don't authorize hunting, so public hunting isn't allowed. The park does run its own deer management program. Trained firearms experts work under NPS direction, mostly at night between dusk and dawn, in late fall and winter. Law enforcement handles visitor safety during those operations, and the park announces them by press release. In 2023, deer management at C&O Canal and several neighboring parks ran from January 30 to April 30. For a daytime towpath walk during the Sleepy Creek gun weeks, that schedule mostly stays out of your way.
Hunting rules and season dates come from the WVDNR, the state parks system and the National Park Service. This post is general information, not legal advice, so check the current regulations with those agencies before you head out.
Our agents at Kesecker Realty, Inc. know Back Creek Valley and the roads out to Sleepy Creek. If you're thinking about land or a home near the WMA and want to talk through how it's used across the seasons, contact a local agent today.
