Hunting News and Information

	USFWS wants to expand refuges and waterfowl hunting programs One of the most important requirements for having healthy numbers of ducks and geese each spring and fall is suitable waterfowl habitat – areas like the prairie pothole region of the upper Midwest and Canada where waterfowl find sufficient water, food and shelter to nest, obtain food and raise their young each spring. It’s always good news when the federal government steps in to help create and maintain more waterfowl habitat. This happened recently when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a landmark investment of nearly $30 million in the future of wetlands, waterfowl and public waterfowl hunting across the country through expanded refuges and hunting programs. MORE ...

	FLOATSTAND Add life-like motion to your spread with the FLOATSTAND, a floating platform designed to support your spinning wing decoy in a variety of water depths and hunting situations. The slightest bit of wind or current will move the platform, creating ripples that stir the rest of your decoys and entice birds to fly in. Each FLOATSTAND comes with four Flambeau Storm Front Mallard decoys - two drakes and two hens. MORE ...

	Final shot — Tips for late-season North Carolina ducks As deer season comes to a close on New Year’s Day, many hunters trade in their lead for steel-packed rounds to battle the wind, cold and the final visiting flocks of feathered opponents. The remaining days of North Carolina’s waterfowl season represent the best time of the year to gather a mixed bag of ducks from the late-season showdown. Duck hunters can expect a flurry of birds to occupy the state’s public waterways, with a cloud of new arrivals barging in when weather conditions permit. From the Roanoke River’s flooded bottomlands to the banks of the North River, late-season waterfowlers can find a mixed bag under a variety of conditions. MORE ...

	Show off your moves The main difference between a flock of real ducks and a fine spread of decoys is motion. Ducks rarely sit in one place for more than a second or two unless they are resting. Otherwise, ducks dabble, dive and swim from place to place. One of the best ways to mimic a natural flock is to add motion to the spread. MORE ...

	Late-season ducks have advanced degrees From the beginning to the close of North Carolina’s 60-day season, ducks become increasingly cautious of the common tricks and techniques practiced by most hunters. MORE ...

	Legacies live on! Across the country, hunting is not drawing a lot of collective interest from the nation’s youth, and North Carolina is one of the few states showing an interest in preserving and promoting the time-treasured pastime of hunting. MORE ...

	Swans by water — Tips for hunting tundra swans over waterfowl impoundments The tundra swan is the largest waterfowl species hunted in North Carolina. In bygone years, traditional hunts included decoying them on the water or sneaking up on them in a boat, but modern agriculture changed all that. Now, swans are primarily hunted in fields of winter wheat or soybean stubble. Nathan Garrett, who guides swan hunters, has taken hunting the big birds to a different level, as well as to a different playing field. Now 18, he won the title of World Champion Swan Caller in the youth category in 2010 and became one of the youngest competitors to qualify and compete in the World Duck Calling Championships in Stuttgart, Ark., in 2011. MORE ...

	You can hide from flying eyes When making a water decoy set for swans, any vegetation floating or sticking above the water should be removed. Swans don’t like landing where there is a chance of snagging or impaling their feet on objects. MORE ...

	North Carolina’s winter swan flock tops 75,000 A swan mount is what many hunters are after on what may be a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, so waterfowl hunters from all over the nation head for North Carolina’s coastal counties, where the majority of tundra swans spend the winter. The wintering flock can number more than 75,000 and may exceed twice that number. MORE ...

	Water spreads bring in bonus birds One of the biggest advantages of hunting tundra swans from a pit blind at a waterfowl impoundment is that ducks may be present. To take these bonus species, hunters should pack in duck decoys along with their swan-hunting decoys and gear. A swan hunt can be over in moments, with the bag limit of one per hunter by permit, but ducks may fly all day, giving hunters a longer day in the blind after what can be a long journey to the coastal counties where swans overwinter. MORE ...

	Bringing Back Mr. Bob — Tips on re-establishing quail Anyone who loves quail hunting — or longs for the days when bobwhites were widespread in North Carolina — is restricted mostly to preserve hunting, if they want a chance to pursue these fast-flying game birds. A few state game lands contain quail, but they’re exceptions. Most preserve hunters aren’t interested in the glory days of quail hunting, nor the land management necessary to have property that produces huntable numbers of quail. Instead, they pay to walk behind well-trained bird dogs and a professional handler to see points, flush quail and experience the rush that comes from a covey rise. MORE ...

	CURE project’s aim is to revive quail North Carolina’s effort to restore quail, the CURE (Cooperative Upland habitat Restoration and Enhancement) program, has attempted since 2001 to change large-scale landscape management practices in several areas to benefit small-game species, including songbirds, butterflies and several species of amphibians and reptiles. MORE ...