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Twelve thousand eight hundred quiet acres in Mingo County around a 29-acre lake, with primitive camping at designated sites.
More places like thisKnow before you go
- Primitive camping permitted at designated sites
- Wear blaze orange during autumn and winter seasons
What you can do here
Public hunting is the primary purpose of this 12,854-acre WMA in Mingo County, in the middle of the southern coalfields. Wear blaze orange during autumn and winter seasons. Species, dates and bag limits come from WVDNR regulations rather than from the area itself, and primitive camping at designated sites lets you stay on the ground between hunts.
The 29-acre lake at the center of the WMA is warm-water fishing, not trout country. A lake that size is easily covered from a small boat or from the bank in a day. License and regulations are WVDNR's; the area publishes no stocking list, so ask the district office what is in there before you rig up.
Camping here is permitted at designated sites, which is more structure than true dispersed camping and less than a developed campground, so expect to bring everything. The 29-acre lake gives the sites a focus, and 12,854 acres around them keep it quiet. If you are camping in autumn or winter, wear blaze orange when you leave camp.
Twenty-nine acres is a small, sheltered piece of water: an hour or two of easy paddling, and no current to work against. That size suits beginners and anyone who wants to fish from a kayak. The WMA publishes no ramp or launch detail, so check with WVDNR on how boats get in and whether motors are restricted.
No trail system is published for these 12,854 acres. WMAs are managed for game rather than for hiking, and walking is generally on roads, firebreaks and whatever access the terrain gives. That is fine if you want solitude and are comfortable navigating. During autumn and winter seasons, wear blaze orange and assume hunters are present.
Lake edge and 12,854 acres of quiet in Mingo County put this in southern coalfield country, not the high spruce that gets the state its birding reputation. The area keeps no bird list, so eBird and your own ears do the work. May is the peak month; if you come in fall, wear blaze orange.
Guides, gear and lodging near Laurel Lake Wildlife Management Area
Place-level placement for operators within range of this trailhead, put-in or crag.
List your business hereNearby in the Southern Coalfields
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West Virginia has roughly 1.5 million acres of public land and a handful of places that carry almost all of the attention. The consequence is that a great deal of very good ground sits nearly empty, usually for one of three reasons: nobody has heard of it, the road in is gated or rough, or it is undeveloped and has nothing to advertise. Those are the places below — of them across regions.