Wildlife Commission seeks public opinion on Sunday hunting

Press release from the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission:

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is seeking participation in an online survey to gauge public opinion on opening 61 select game lands across the state for Sunday hunting.  The survey will be available through Friday, Aug. 31, 2018, and data collected will be used to evaluate options for Sunday hunting on game lands.

The game lands below are currently under consideration because they are either owned by the Commission or owned by a cooperator who enrolled their land into the Game Lands Program and is interested in obtaining public input about allowing Sunday hunting.

Coastal: Alligator River, Angola Bay, Bertie Co., Bullard and Branch Hunting Preserve, Cape Fear Wetlands, Carteret Co., Chowan, Columbus Co., Croatan, Dare, Gull Rock, Holly Shelter, J. Morgan Futch, Juniper Creek, Lantern Acres, Light Ground Pocosin, Lower Roanoke River Wetlands, Neuse River, New Lake, North River, N.W. River Marsh, Rhodes Pond, Roanoke Island Marsh, Robeson, Rocky Run, Stones Creek, Suggs Mill Pond, Texas Plantation, Van Swamp, White Oak River and Whitehall Plantation.

Piedmont: Brinkleyville, Embro, Linwood, Lower Fishing Creek, Nicholson Creek, Pee Dee River, R. Wayne Bailey-Caswell, Sandhills, Sandy Creek, Second Creek, Shocco Cree, Tar River, Tillery, Upper Roanoke River, Uwharrie and Vance.

Mountains: Buffalo Cove, Cold Mountain, Green River, Johns River, Nantahala, Needmore, Pisgah, Pond Mountain, Sandy Mush, South Mountains, Three Top Mountain, Thurmond Chatham, Toxaway and William H. Silver.

Since 1868, hunting on Sundays has been prohibited in N.C. by state law. However, in 2015, legislation was passed removing the absolute prohibition on hunting with firearms on Sunday. In July 2017, the North Carolina General Assembly granted public land managers, including the Wildlife Resources Commission, authority to implement new options for Sunday hunting on public lands.

For more information, including an interactive map of the game lands under consideration, answers to frequently asked questions and access to the survey, visit ncwildlife.org/Public-Opinion-Survey.

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4 thoughts on “Wildlife Commission seeks public opinion on Sunday hunting

  1. EVelyn Coltman

    Bad idea to implement Sunday hunting. Let the rest of us have one good day to be in the woods without having to run for cover and worry about our safety. We want to enjoy the quiet and peace of nature – not be privy to the destruction of wildlife. Hunting in general is a barbaric tool for managing wildlife. The majority of people do not hunt, so why is it that hunters and trappers are the primary ones who get to make decisions about what happens to the wildlife that belongs to all of us to enjoy? The entire set-up that allows hunters to pay for hunting puts an unfair advantage on Wildlife Commissions who have come to depend on this source of funding. This approach to wildlife management in which hunters pay for the privilege of hunting allows them to have too heavy a hand in decisions involving what happens to the wildlife that belongs to us all.

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