Driving DirectionsFrom Warsaw, take Highway 65 south 7.10 miles, then Day Road west (Day Road curves immediately to the south, then west again), go 1.90 miles to Granny's Acres Conservation Area.
HighlightsThis area offers good squirrel, turkey, and deer hunting, nearly ten miles of signed hiking trails and a diversity of flowering trees and plants as well as a variety of birds and other nature viewing opportunities.
About This AreaThis 351-acre area offers good squirrel, turkey and deer hunting in season, and its hardwood forest will be graced with dogwood, gum bumelia, and serviceberry blossoms and returning songbirds.This formerly inaccessible area has a history of frequent wildfires before the Department acquired it in the 1960s. Those fires destroyed the area's timber potential but created a diverse plant community, including trees with cavities that provide habitat for birds and small wildlife.Today, managers are using prescribed fire and other techniques to restore the area's dolomite glades (a rocky, desertlike type of habitat), maintain the limestone oak/hickory woodland plant community and restore the riparian forest along Whig Creek. These management practices maintain the area's diverse wildlife habitat and support good populations of turkey, deer and squirrel.In 2008, the Department acquired an additional 31-acre tract, and it added a small, three-car parking lot in 2009. Thanks to these improvements, visitors can now park at the area and hike in for hunting and nature viewing.Spring turkey hunting is always challenging and can be very rewarding at Grannys Acres--if you're willing to hike. A network of mapped and signed trails allows the visitor to range widely over the area. The trails are not for the faint of heart, however. Granny's Acres is a very rocky area with steep hills with some long climbs along glades and through old-growth woodlands.Birders will appreciate seeing and hearing such species as summer tanager, blue-gray gnatcatcher, field sparrow, eastern towhee, red-eyed vireo, white-eyed vireo, eastern bluebird, yellow-bellied cuckoo, yellow-breasted chat, red-shouldered hawk and broad-winged hawk. Other fun-to-watch wildlife includes scorpions, box turtles, five-lined skinks and fence lizards.Come back later in the spring and summer to see lead plant, goat's rue, blazing star, purple coneflower, Missouri coneflower, rose verbena, asters and purple milkweed.The area is open to statewide regulations for deer and turkey hunting. A "No Shooting Zone" near the parking lot has been posted to protect the neighboring landowners.
