Volume 20 Number 3 - March 2013

FEATURES:

	2013 Spring Turkey Preview — Where to up your odds for hunting success Sooner or later, record harvests will stop, so North Carolina hunters should take advantage of a burgeoning turkey population while it lasts. No other type of hunting in North Carolina offers a challenge to match the pursuit of wild turkey gobblers in the spring. According to the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, 57,233 hunters spent 286,501 days in the woods during the ... Craig Holt

	Cozy up to a Uwharrie coyote — Tips for extending your hunting season by targeting these predators This Denton hunter has filled in the gap between hunting seasons and helped preserve his deer herd by targeting coyotes. Coyotes do more than howl. Along with their usual diet of small game — and anything edible that gets under their noses — these cagey predators can do some damage to a deer herd. Deer-density maps compiled by the N.C. Wildlife ... Walter Taylor

	Plinking Crappie — Get Lake Wylie slabs out from under docks These two anglers shoot jigs rather than bullets when plinking away at Lake Wylie crappie. Slowly motoring up to a marina in the South Fork River, Mike Parrot cut the controls and eased his trolling motor into the water. A past Crappie Masters national champion from Charlotte, Parrott leaves behind his “heavy artillery” when he’s fishing ... Phillip Gentry

	Pole Dance — Ease up on Topsail Beach’s shallow-water red drum for great fishing opportunities Skinny water in marshes behind North Topsail Beach holds plenty of red drum for patient, quiet anglers. So break out the poles and ease into range. Capt. Lee Parsons does most of his fishing along North Carolina’s coast from a large, center-console boat, but when he pulled up to the Turkey Creek boating access area near Holly Ridge in Onslow County, he backed a 21-foot, flat-bottomed skiff ... Mike Marsh

	Slab Have — Shearon Harris Lake moves to top of crappie-fishing reservoirs Shearon Harris Lake is making a bid to replace Jordan Lake as the No. 1 crappie lake, not only in the RDU area, but across the entire Tarheel State. Does North Carolina have a new top crappie venue? For years, Jordan Lake was known not only as the best lake in the Piedmont for crappie, but the best in the entire state. That is apparently no longer the case, as Jordan has been ... Craig Holt

	The other March Madness - Big crappie and good numbers are on the menu on Yadkin/Pee Dee reservoir Slow-trolling jigs is most-productive method for filling your cooler with Lake Tillery crappie. March Madness isn't confined to basketball courts. Another sports-related frenzy takes place this month on Lake Tillery, an inconspicuous 5,260-acre reservoir on the Yadkin/Pee Dee system that forms the border between Montgomery and Stanly counties ... Tony Garitta

	Wahoo Wars — North Carolina’s spring offshore fishing season begins The bluewater off North Carolina’s coast holds plenty of aggressive, electric-blue predators — plus some other offshore bonuses like blackfin tuna. The short chop finally gave way to a smooth ocean about a dozen miles out of Beaufort Inlet, becoming a small, rolling swell as Capt. Mike Webb’s Pelagic passed the Knuckle Buoy at the end of Cape Lookout shoals. With the water ... Jerry Dilsaver



	March is crappie time, and Lake Wylie, Shearon Harris Land and Lake Tillery are prime targets. Also, bluewater season kicks off with a crazy wahoo run. Photo By Phillip Gentry

COLUMNS:

Backlashes
Politicians, NRA miss target again
Craig Holt

Fish Like a Pro
March is tough to beat
Dustin Wilks

Greener Pastures
Plant a banana (lily)
Jeff Burleson

Head for the Mountains
Deep Creek is a jewel
Robert Satterwhite

High Tides and Tall Tails
Safety first is no joke
Jerry Dilsaver

Livewell
Norman spits out big cats
Tony Garitta

Lure Review
Bass Trap back in action
Don Shoopman

Marine Electronics
Super portable GPS
Allan Tarvid

The Shootist
The safety bullet
Gordon Hutchinson

To read everything from the March 2013 issue of North Carolina Sportsman Magazine, download the digital edition today.

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