N.C. Wildlife News Brief - Nov. 9, 2012

 

Wildlife Commission Adopts Fishing, Wildlife Management Proposals

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.

 

Important Information  About Peanuts as Bait

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. 

 

Wildlife Commission Biologist Wins Award 

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.

 

Wildlife Receives National Boating Access Award

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. 

 

Commission Acquires Game Lands

The Commission has closed on 1,025 acres on six separate tracts to be added to the Game Lands program.
They are:

  • Roaring Creek Tract, 136 acres, Avery County
  • Pinch Gut II Tract, 700 acres, Brunswick County
  • Swain Tract, 83 acres, Brunswick County
  • Raby Farm Tract, 54 acres, Macon County
  • Carpenter Tract, 16 acres, Scotland County
  • Fisher Futrell Tract, 36 acres, Scotland County

For more information on the Game Lands program, including an interactive map, see our public places page on ncwildlife.org. 

Contact Us

Boat Registration
For vessel registration/renewal inquiries contact vessels@ncwildlife.org
Licenses
For general license and lifetime license inquiries contact licenses@ncwildlife.org
Other
For enforcement, hunting/boating saftey, boading access areas, fisheries or wildlife management questions, Web site and/or other question or comments email wrcomments@ncwildlife.org

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