Hunting &
Waterfowl Season

Duck country

Each winter, hunters come to Hyde County for the water and the birds. Lake Mattamuskeet sits about eleven miles north of us — forty thousand acres of shallow water with the Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge around it and state game lands not far off. When the cold fronts push ducks and geese down the coast, this is where a lot of them settle. We're the only hotel in town, so most mornings in season our parking lot fills up with trucks and trailers before the sun is up, and the porch smells like coffee. For a lot of folks who hunt this country, the inn has become the place they come back to year after year.

How we host hunters

We know what your morning looks like, so we try to make the inn fit around it. A few things we do:

• Hot breakfast — grits, eggs, bacon, oatmeal, muffins — and if you need to be out before the kitchen opens, tell us the night before and we'll have coffee ready and set something aside.
• Flexible, personal check-in. Call ahead and a real person at the desk will get you your key. Late arrivals and pre-dawn departures are no trouble when we know they're coming.
• When a party books together, we put you in rooms near each other so you can sort gear and roll out as a group.
• Room to park trucks, trailers and boats — no squeezing into a city lot.
• We're dog-friendly, but ask us when you book so we can put you in the right room.
• When you come off the water, the kitchen runs pizza and wings until nine. A thin-crust pizza and a plate of wings after a cold morning goes a long way.

Before you come

Plan the hunt before you plan the drive. For when the birds are here and how the seasons split, see our notes on waterfowl seasons. For where to hunt — the refuge, Gull Rock and the public game lands around us — read game lands near Engelhard. And if you're rolling in with a crew and an early alarm, we wrote up the stay logistics in groups and early starts.

One thing we'll say on every page: seasons, bag limits, permits and access rules change every year. Swan is permit-only by lottery here, and you apply months ahead. Always confirm the current rules with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission — and with USFWS for the refuge — before you load the truck.

Rooms fill fast once the season opens. If you've got dates in mind, call the front desk at (252) 925-2001 or start at our booking page, and we'll hold a spot for your crew.