Hunting News and Information

	Shall we gather at the river? - Roanoke River drainage gobblers present plenty of opportunities and challenges to North Carolina hunters Perhaps nowhere in North Carolina have wild turkeys fared better than the state’s northeastern quadrant. For years, the counties along the Roanoke River drainage — Bertie, Halifax, Martin and Northampton — have been among leaders in turkey harvests. The region, including private and public land, features several advantages for the birds, not the least of which is relatively few human occupants. Also, many residents are farmers who cultivate large fields that grow agricultural crops and provide food for turkeys. Swampy habitats around fields also offer safe roosting and escape areas, but perhaps most important, landowners have protected the birds. MORE ...

	North Carolina hunters can improve their chances to take a tom turkey with a decoy As April arrives, North Carolina’s woods will once again fill at the crack of dawn with mysterious silhouettes enshrouded with leafy, covert attire. Success will follow for many, with tags filled on the opening day — even the opening hour — of spring turkey season. Yet many tom turkeys follow a different path, evading even the most-seasoned fanatic hunters. From a vast collection of cackles, purrs, clucks and yelps, wild gobblers must sift through the sweet talk to make it out alive. And the dozens of life-like decoys on the market make it even more challenging for a longbeard to make it to his next birthday. Hunters using decoys can quickly simplify their hunt drawing their quarry into range with little effort. Nevertheless, hunters must adopt a winning decoy strategy to get that trophy bird within range. MORE ...

	Plant a banana (lily) It’s never too early to think about ways to attract waterfowl for the 2013 fall season. In fact, March is the optimum time to establish a cost-effective waterfowl forage called the banana water lily — Nymphaea mexicana — especially on those permanently flooded **sites where traditional upland planting is not possible. This plant’s benefits to both waterfowl and landowner outweigh all other forage options as a low-cost, low-maintenance and a highly productive food source for waterfowl. MORE ...

	Banana water lily makes excellent fish habitat Fish habitat can always benefit from some sort of management technique, and the establishment of shallow cover is a good choice to make. The banana water lily is an ideal waterfowl food during the winter migration through the Carolinas for its variety of nutritive values in the vegetation and from the associative invertebrate community. But fish will benefit just as much, as if not more, than the wintering waterfowl. MORE ...

	Anson County buck tops Dixie Deer Classic Big-Buck Contest Jeremy McSwain was reluctant to publicize his harvest of an Anson County buck, but his wife, Jennifer, took the mount of the main-frame 12-point typical to the 33rd Dixie Deer Classic while her husband stayed home. By the conclusion of the Saturday, March 2, scoring session, it was clear her husband’s buck, shot Dec. 15, 2012, would top other entries at the Wake County Wildlife Club’s annual Big Buck Contest. McSwain arrived in Raleigh the next day when winners were announced. With a net score of 168 6/8 Boone-and-Crockett points, his buck was the only typical entry from North Carolina that eclipsed the 160-inch mark. It won awards for Best in Show and Best North Carolina Typical. MORE ...

	Greenville man takes home rifle, optics package as Bag-A-Buck grand-prize winner J.O. Teel of Greenville picked up his grand prize from North Carolina Sportsman’s Bag-A-Buck contest at the Dixie Deer Classic in Raleigh last Saturday, promising to waste little time in trying out all of his winnings. Teel received a Designated Marksman’s Rifle from Barnes Precision Machine in Apex and a complete optics package from Leupold consisting of a 3x9x50 Vari-X I scope, an RX-600i rangefinder and a pair of BX-2 Cascades binoculars. MORE ...

	The Warden The Warden from Sportsman’s Communications is a remote trap monitor that sends a satellite-based message to the owner via email and/or text that the trap has been sprung. The notification even includes the trap location and the time it was triggered. This small battery powered device is inexpensive to purchase, easy to install and saves time in monitoring. A magnetic sensor cable and mounting bracket are included. MORE ...

	Cozy up to a Uwharrie coyote — Tips for extending your hunting season by targeting these predators 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 Resources Commission show that North Carolina’s Piedmont, in particular the Uwharrie mountains, are loaded with whitetails, but these days, deer hunters have four-legged competition. They share the old, round-topped mountains with coyote packs that howl deep into the night. MORE ...

	Coyote hunting tips • Check the rules in your area. Be aware of any last minute changes. Obtain prior permission to hunt on the land. It is a good idea to consult your local wildlife officer before hunting. MORE ...

	Coyote calls are many, varied and useful It’s legal to use manual or electronic calls for coyotes. Both are effective, and it really comes down to an individual hunter’s preference. MORE ...

	2013 Spring Turkey Preview — Where to up your odds for hunting success 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 month-long spring season in 2011. The average hunter chased longbeards five days that season, and only 38 percent tagged a bird, giving them a daily success ratio of around 7 percent. Almost every hunter has to make around a half dozen realistic turkey sounds — using a mouth, slate, box or other kind of call — in order to fool a gobbler into believing a receptive hen is interested in him. MORE ...

	Less is more when talkin’ turkey Turkey hunter Marshall Collette said his approach to luring gobblers within gun or bow range has changed during the years. MORE ...