Hunting is popular in Tyrrell County.

The area is listed online as 309 square miles of land and 210 square miles of water.

This leaves plenty of room to hunt the various wildlife that roam through fields,ditches, and streams.

Great Shoal Outfitters is a local hunting guide service founded by Will Hollis and Jon Flemer.
“We mainly do waterfowl hunts. It is mostly a duck guide service that caters to long-time customers.  The business has been around since 2005,” said Hollis.

Hollis estimated that in the past few years he has worked with 50 to 60 clients a year.

“Most of our stuff is weekend packages. Or it is a Wednesday through a Sunday. Our weekends get booked a good ways out in advance for clients,” said Hollis.

Hollis mentioned clients come for cabin accommodation and special cooked meals.

“We get to shoot a lot of pintails. We don’t get to shoot like they do in Hatteras. But we still have our fair number,” said Hollis.

Great Shoal Outfitters offers hunting in four blinds just off the inner coastal waterway in the Alligator River and Little Alligator Creek.

Hollis and Flemer offer Chesapeake Bay Retrievers that are trained hunting dogs. Clients are encouraged to use their own hunting dogs, but only if they are trained.

Duck hunting has become so popular in Tyrrell County that Hollis has looked into the county have people pay a tax to register their duck blind.

“It has become common around for people to set up too close to each other and there is only so much area in the county. People pay a small tax to register their duck blind in Dare County,”

Hollis estimated that when he was a kid he duck hunted next to seven or eight blinds.

“Now is there is like seventeen blinds. That is a lot for such a small area. That is just a issue we have been facing,” said Hollis.

Contact information and price information for Great Shoal Outfitters can be found online at :https://www.facebook.com/pages/Great-Shoal-Outfitters/1514846455432982?sk=info&tab=overview