A few questions for you North Carolina Folks

[Mr.Magoo]

Using dogs to hunt deer is more prevalent in the eastern part of the state (usually in swampy areas).  Whether you're on the "it's a tradition" or "it's terrible" side depends on your point of view.

I've been on a couple of hunts where dogs were used also and its been more get out of the house, chew the fat, look for lost dogs event.  But it was also with family who've lived in that area for a few hundred years so it's a bit different.

I don't see any access problems, but there's a lot of public land around me.  There's also a lot of public land around the state, you just have to find it or go to it.  The more friends you make and the more folks you talk to ... the more opportunities you'll have, just like anywhere.

As for being crowded?  There's a whole lot'a nothing between those crowded areas.  But you have to remember this is (and has been) a big farming state so all that land is owned by someone.  Make friends, ask nice, bring that farmer a gallon of ice cream and he'll probably let you hunt (especially with a bow).  Maybe even ask if you can do something for him!

If I had a thousand acres, I'd be pretty choosy about who I let hunt too.

[42WLA]

Originally posted by ber643:
I'm told there is some good hunting around Goldsboro and there are a lot of trad shooters up there. Try to get up with a Buzz Gillis (civillian worker on base) who is starting up a trad archery club. Nice guy. Keep trying to meet folks that share the interest and before you know it you'll have somewhere to go. If they don't hunt on the base there (?), there are other bases available to you. Thanks for your active service and don't give up - it takes time to meet the right people arond bases but is well worth it, and you must work at it.

Actually, Bernie. I'm the Vice President of the Shady J Archers. It the new Archery (all types)club we are forming on the base. Buzz nominated me. We've got 20 members at the moment but no range yet. Very little wooded land on base (no hunting) but I've found about 29 acres just outside the fence but on federal land that we are woking on getting for a 3-D course. We are in the networking phase right now. President and I shot at Cherry Point last weekend and got to know those folks and got to meet President of the Camp Legeune Club. We plan to join the Downeast Coalition.

Thanks for the offer and the other tips guys. I'll be exploring them.

[ber643]

That's great, Dave - good start. Matt E is a friend of Buzz's also. I'm on Buzz's mailing list - I forget if as a member or a "Person of Interest," LOL I've been up to GB and shot with Buzz, Matt and some other trad guys and am in the DownEast Coalition right now - Hubert Archers (we may loose our range next year though).

[JohnV]

I lived in Greensboro from 1988-2001.  I hunted in Stokes, Caswell, and Alleghany counties.  While the season was long and bag limits are liberal, the overall quality is somewhat lacking.  NC deer are picked over and very few survive their first season of antlers, except on very large leases or areas close to cities that are closed to gun hunting.  Dog hunting runs amok in the east central and coastal areas.  Don't expect deer to behave normally in areas with dog running.  My experience with public lands in the Piedmont area was that it was pretty crowded and I had problems with interference from other hunters.  Leasing is becoming more and more common for private lands.  While living in NC, I only hunted for freezer deer and traveled out of state to hunt bucks that were older than 1.5 years.  NC is growing rapidly.  Roads are congested and finding places to hunted becomes increasingly difficult in some areas.  I moved to Iowa in 2001 with the opportunities for better quality hunting and less crowded conditions being a significant factor.

[J-dog]

I live right on the coast here in Morehead, I have the Croatan forest to hunt, which is one of the two places considered a wilderness area in NC. People run dogs there and I still hunt it. Do not jump on the dog hunters till you have tried to walk through a NC swamp! you who have been there know what I mean. We do not have the pretty oak woods, I can see for 200 yards woods, NOPE we have the tickled to death I can see 20 yards woods. THICK! does not begin to describe it. It takes dogs to bring them out, and personally I can kill more deer still setting then you ever will using dogs(if I used a rifle), still setting is alot easier as far as killing goes. I have nothing against the dog runners for the most part as it is tradition but now a days you see the slobs who will dump their dogs in a spot so they may run across private land     that they do not have permission on, and they give the rest a bad name.

Key to public land is finding where it runs close to a farmers fields. deer will be there and you will be legal.

If I could pull the wife from the ocean I would haul my butt to AK or CO. The hunting here is good lots of small deer some nice bucks. I have fished the ocean all my life till it is a bore, unless the sea kicks up and trys to kill me. Think I would like to try open spot and stalk hunting elk or mule deer. But then the wife aint leaving Carteret county and her ocean. Think I would enjoy trout or salmon with a fly rod, here it is false albacore and spanish with a fly.

Oh yeah and Bears we do havethe bears, will try to get one this year with my recurve but am not shootin unless he is 400 lbs or better. Got corn in the fields near the public land I hunt so should be a good bear year, 600-650 is not totally uncommon for a blackie here.

Other than all that, it is a good quiet county/area to raise a family and if I never make AK or CO then it is cool.

Later

Jason

[BRITTMAN]

I live in centeral N.C. and just about everyone I know hunts or fish . If you are thinking of moving to N.C. for hunting / fishing the best place for a sportsman would be in Hyde or Washington county . It is in the eastern part of the state near the coast and it is full of big black bear ,medium size deer,turkeys ,and pleanty of fishing . For hunting on game lands check out Pongo Wildlife refuge and Pocosion game lands also Conmans guide services. Some of the bigest black bears in the US have been killed in thoese countys .

Mike Britt

[Mr.Magoo]

As an aside, talk to the old timers about deer in NC.  Not too many decades ago, no one hunted deer since there weren't any.