Turkey, ruffed grouse, and woodcock are present and may be hunted in season. Various woodpeckers, white-breasted nuthatches, black-capped chickadees, vesper sparrows, alder flycatchers, chestnut-sided warblers, red-tailed hawks, and sometimes bald eagles are some other bird species that may be observed.

Little Ascutney Wildlife Management Area (WMA) is comprised of 656 acres. It is located in the towns of Weathersfield and West Windsor and includes Little Ascutney Mountain and Pierson’s Peak. It is owned by the State of Vermont and managed by the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department. The Department also owns permanent hunting rights on an additional 209 acres. Abutting the WMA’s northeast corner, the 1,000+ acre West Windsor Town Forest extends northward to Ascutney State Park. These three connecting properties account for one of the largest continuously forested areas in the region.

The primary access to the property is from the Ascutney Basin Road where there is a developed access road and parking area. The WMA may also be accessed by parking on the shoulder of Little Ascutney Road along the southern boundary of the property.

The WMA is located within the Southern Piedmont biophysical region of Vermont. Elevations range from 600 feet. along the western edge to 1,709 feet on the top of Little Ascutney. Pierson Peak reaches a height of 1,648 feet.

Little Ascutney WMA contains a unique variety of wildlife habitats including vernal pools, beaver flowages, open fields with apple trees and hawthorn bushes, patches of alder and aspen, and an unusual forest type, oak-hickory-hophornbeam, which produces mast (the nuts of forest trees accumulating on the ground and used for food). Hemlock stands provide necessary deer wintering habitat. Open talus is found on the southwest slope, along with transitional hardwood talus woodland.

The very rare hay sedge (Carex foenea) and Back’s sedge (Carex backii) can be found on Little Ascutney. The west-facing cliffs of Little Ascutney Mountain are a historic nesting site for the federally endangered peregrine falcon. Because the site has not changed much since the last pair of falcons raised chicks there in 1902, it has very good potential as a future nesting site.

This area is also potential timber rattlesnake habitat.