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June 23, 2026

Mike Lanier of Winnabow said fishing on a falling tide is more productive because bait is pulled out of creeks and ditches.

Wilmington’s rivers

Four rivers are fishable around Wilmington, with the Cape Fear being the primary artery for travel and fishing activity. […]

Big, slab crappie bite as consistently during the fall on Lake Marion as they do during the spring spawn.

Deep-water crappie tools

Terry Madewell

Both Whitey Outlaw and Buster Rush rely on electronics to help them target crappie holding around cover in deep water. […]

in the fall, fish the creeks on Lake Tillery closest to where you found concentrations of bait and bass during the summer.

Summer scouting equals fall fish

Dan Kibler

Dylan Fulk said that bass fisherman can get a head start on great fall fishing during the summer. […]

Gunsmith Mark Sloan examines a powder measure, a tool that has largely been replaced by cylindrical powder pellets.

Modern tools of an old trade

Phillip Gentry

Black-powder hunters used to be burdened with carrying all types of gear into the field for the inevitable misfire and cleaning. […]

October deer tactics

Craig Holt

Deer hunters across North Carolina carry a variety of weapons into the woods in October. Archery season is the ticket in the northwestern corner of the state and throughout the Piedmont. […]

Roger Metz and his daughter, Jordan, got revenge on this Chester County buck with a flintlock muzzleloader in 2005 after it rammed his brother, Paul.

Among his many talents, Roger Metz is a great storyteller. He tells this story of a black-powder 2005 deer hunt in Chester County. It has a happy ending for everyone except the deer — and Metz’s brother, Paul. […]

A shot through the heart-lung area will be almost always fatal to a deer, but because a deer shot through his boiler room will not expire immediately, finding and following a blood trail is a hunter’s responsibility.

Be prepared to trail

Jeff Burleson

Every time a hunter leaves home to go after some venison, freezer, he or she should always expect that the hunt is going to be successful, and they had better be prepared to track their quarry under any conditions. […]

A well-blown grunt or bleat call is often enough to tweak a buck’s curiosity and lure him into range.

Hey deer, come over here

Jeff Burleson

If more deer knew the old English proverb, “Curiosity killed the cat”, a few more might survive each hunting season. […]

Have plenty of backups for wind

Jeff Burleson

If deer couldn’t smell, they would have been hunted to extinction thousands of years ago. They rely on a keen sense of smell to find food, communicate with other deer and avoid dangerous situations. […]

Diving gulls and other birds can disclose the location of feeding schools of trout that are pushing bait and shrimp to the surface.

For the birds

Jeff Burleson

Fall is a bad time to be a shrimp or a baitfish, but the bait buffet feeds more than just finned predators lurking below the surface. […]