The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has approved changes to the state’s hunting, fishing and trapping regulations for 2013-14. These new fishing and hunting regulations will take effect Aug. 1, 2013, with the exception of changes to the Spring Youth-Only Wild Turkey Season that will become effective April 1, 2013.
Following a process of reviewing public comments on the proposed changes, the Commission voted to adopt the regulation changes at its Nov. 8 meeting in Raleigh.
The proposals were approved as presented at the public hearings with several key exceptions.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is reminding hunters that only raw products are legal when using peanuts and peanut products for the supplemental feeding of black bears or when being placed in locations where the Commission has established a bear hunting season.
North Carolina law prohibits the placement of “processed food products” in any area where the Wildlife Resources Commission has set an open bear hunting season. However, hunters routinely supplement naturally available food with commercially available products, and the law allows hunters to release dogs in the vicinity of any food product that is not a “processed food product.”
Raw peanuts, shelled or in the shell, do not constitute a processed food product. See here for more information. To read more, see our press release.
Bennett Wynne, a fisheries biologist with the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, was named Fisheries Biologist of the Year by the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies at its 66thannual conference on Oct. 9, in Hot Springs, AR. Wynne received the honor for his outstanding work in both aquatic and habitat conservation and fisheries management. As the agency's Anadromous Fisheries Coordinator, Wynne coordinates the management of coastal migratory stocks of shad, herring, striped bass and Atlantic sturgeon. More on Wynne here.
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission has received the State Boating Access Program Excellence Award from a national organization devoted to the acquisition, development and administration of public recreational boating facilities.
The States Organization for Boating Access awarded the Wildlife Resources Commission with the honor during a conference in Alabama this fall. The Wildlife Commission maintains more than 200 free, public boating areas for close to 350,000 registered North Carolina vessels and a multitude of vessels trailered from other states.See our news item for more on this award and the accomplishments that led to it.
The Commission has closed on 1,025 acres on six separate tracts to be added to the Game Lands program. They are:
For more information on the Game Lands program, including an interactive map, see our public places page on ncwildlife.org.
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Readers of Wildlife in North Carolina magazine enjoy exceptional color photography and great articles on hunting, fishing, natural areas, conservation and wildlife in every issue. Subscribers also receive special spring and fall outdoor guides, with the latest hunting, fishing and outdoors information. One-year subscriptions are $12 and three-year subscriptions are $30, which makes it a bargain and great gift idea. Online subscriptions available here.
At one time endangered and on the brink of extinction, bald eagles and peregrine falcons today soar high in our Carolina blue skies thanks in part to the work of Wildlife Diversity Program biologists. These biologists conduct projects and programs on behalf of nongame and endangered wildlife — animals that are not hunted and fished. Their efforts on behalf of nongame and endangered wildlife are funded significantly through donations, such as the N.C. State Income Tax Check-off. Other ways you can donate to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission’s efforts to keep the Tarheel state wild for generations to come can be found here.
N.C. Wildlife Update
Upland Gazette
WRC Rulemaking