Contact: John Culclasure, Southeastern States Assistant Director
On February 1, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation (CSF) submitted a letter to the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission (Commission) supporting proposed regulations that would open Sunday hunting on public lands, allow the use of breech-charging muzzleloader products, and permit trappers to utilize remote trap checking systems.
Sunday Hunting on Public Lands
CSF has encouraged the Commission to open Sunday hunting on Game Lands since the passage of the Outdoor Heritage Enhanced Act of 2017 which transferred regulatory authority for Sunday hunting with a firearm on public lands from the legislature to the Commission. If approved, Sunday hunting would be allowed for the fall 2021 hunting seasons on 51 Game Lands, including four National Forests, comprising roughly 1.6 million additional acres.
CSF also provided verbal comments in support of the G17, G18 and G19 Sunday hunting rule proposals during the Commission’s virtual public hearing on January 21.
Muzzleloading Firearm Definition
CSF submitted a letter in support of the rule proposal that would allow hunters to use new breech-charging muzzleloader products during blackpowder seasons.
The letter stated, “These new products still require the projectile to be loaded through the muzzle, they still only accept one projectile at a time, and they have a similar effective range to muzzleloaders that are presently authorized for use. These new products also eliminate a potential cause of inconsistency in presently authorized muzzleloaders – user-caused variances in powder loads. Eliminating this variable would enhance the consistency and repeatability of muzzleloaders afield while simultaneously reducing risk of injury to the user caused by overloading or double-charging the propellant.”
Trapping
Additionally, CSF supported the proposed regulation that would allow trappers to use remote trapping checking systems to increase the efficiency of checking traps and reduce response times to activate traps.
Studies conducted at both the state and federal level have found that the number of hunters and trappers have been on a generally declining trend over the past several decades. To increase recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3) of hunters and trappers, which initiative do you think would have the greatest impact?
