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Wildlife commission holds public hearings on regulation changes
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Published: January 5, 2009
The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission will hold a public hearing for comments on proposed changes to 83 hunting, fishing and trapping regulations on Jan. 15 at 7 p.m. at Starmount High School in Boonville.
The Commission strongly encourages public participation in discussion of the proposed regulations. Public hearings allow the agency to inform the public and interested parties about proposed regulations that affect them and to receive their input. Public input is essential for the Commission's decision-making process and community participation in public hearings is an important component
After collecting and considering all public comments, the 19 Wildlife Commissioners will meet in March to decide whether or not to adopt the proposals. Approved proposals will take effect July 1, 2009.
There are several proposals that will be of interest to deer hunters.
The first is the removal of the daily bag limit for deer. Eliminating the daily bag limit will allow hunters to take more than the two-deer-a-day limit currently in effect without negatively impacting the state's deer herd. The proposal would not change the current season limit of six antlerless deer per hunter. Deer hunters harvesting deer in areas with the maximum either sex gun season or in municipalities participating in the Urban Archery Season will still be able to obtain bonus antlerless report cards to report harvest of two additional antlerless deer per card.
Another proposal of interest is the establishment of a uniform deer season with a structure matching the current Eastern Deer Season in the counties of Yancey, McDowell, and Rutherford and all counties east of them. This proposal would not affect deer bag limits. For antlered deer, the season limit would remain four in those counties currently in the Eastern season and two in those counties currently in the Central, Northwestern and Western seasons.
An additional proposed regulation affecting deer hunters will allow hunters on game lands to use archery equipment to harvest deer during the muzzleloading firearms season. Currently, archery hunters are allowed to harvest deer during the muzzleloading firearms season only on private lands. With access to game lands during the muzzleloading firearms season, this proposal will increase hunting opportunities for archery hunters.
A proposal to replace the Youth Only Wild Turkey Day, held the first Saturday in April, with a Friends and Family Afield Wild Turkey Day where hunters must be accompanied by at least one other person, is intended to expand the youth opportunities to other apprentice hunters and to promote hunter recruitment.
Two proposed regulations will provide additional public mountain trout fishing opportunities in Caldwell and McDowell counties by adding more than 4 miles of stream to the Commission's Delayed-Harvest Trout Waters.
A further proposed regulation affecting trout anglers is the classification of 13 miles of the Hiwassee River in Clay County as Wild Trout/Natural Bait Trout Waters, which are waters where the daily creel limit is four fish, the minimum length limit is 7 inches and anglers may fish with either artificial lures or natural baits with one single hook. If passed, this regulation will protect younger age classes of wild trout from over harvest.
Other proposed hunting, trapping and fishing rules changes include:
• Requiring hunters to attach physical tags to big game at the site of harvest – a proposal that has been requested by many hunters and will improve the Commission's ability to monitor harvest.
• Increasing the minimum length limit of crappie from 8 to 10 inches on the Roanoke River below Roanoke Rapids dam downstream to Albemarle Sound, including Cashie, Middle and Eastmost rivers – a proposal that should improve the quality of the fishery by allowing more fish to reach larger sizes.
• Adding Lake Wylie to the list of reservoirs where possession of grass carp is prohibited, except those taken by bow and arrow – a proposal that will allow limited harvest of grass carp, which are being stocked to control hydrilla.
• Classify 1.6 miles of Winkler Creek in the Town of Boone as Wild Trout Waters. This will provide additional mountain trout fishing opportunities in a stream that contains a reproducing population of brown trout.
• Classify 3.5 miles of Wilson Creek from Lost Cove Creek to Phillips Branch in Caldwell County as Delayed Harvest Trout Waters. This will provide additional mountain trout fishing opportunities for stocked trout under the very popular Delayed Harvest program.
To view full text of all the proposed regulations, visit the Commission's Web site, www.ncwildlife.org. Under the "Hot Topics" section, click on the 2009 Proposed Regulations & Public Hearing Schedule.
To submit comments electronically, click on the "Submit Comments Online" icon on the right side of the Commission's home page. Mail written comments to Public Comments, 1701 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, N.C. 27699-1701.
The Commission will conduct a total of 10 public hearings starting Jan. 5. A list of public hearings is below:
District 4
Mon, Jan. 5: 7 p.m., Bladen Community College, Dublin
District 5
Wed, Jan. 7, 7 p.m., Graham High School Auditorium, Graham
District 6
Thurs, Jan. 8, 7 p.m., South Stanly High School, Norwood
District 8
Tues, Jan. 13, 7 p.m., Morganton Municipal Auditorium, Morganton
District 9
Wed, Jan. 14, 7 p.m., Southwestern Community College, Sylva
District 7
Thurs, Jan. 15, 7 p.m., Starmount High School, Boonville
District 1
Tues, Jan. 20, 7 p.m., Swain Auditorium, Edenton
District 2
Wed, Jan. 21, 7 p.m., Craven County Courthouse, New Bern
District 3
Thurs, Jan. 22, 7 p.m., Nash Community College, Rocky Mount
Wed, Jan. 28, 7 p.m., N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Centennial Campus for Wildlife Education, Raleigh
* January 28, 2009 (Wednesday) hearing in Raleigh at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission's Centennial Campus Center for Wildlife Education pertains only to proposed regulation changes to depredation permits, nongame permits, and controlled shooting preserves.
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