Statewide NC Archives - Page 269 of 633

Trapping is a good way to control the number of wild hogs on a piece of property — and put bacon and hams in the freezer — and January is a prime month to trap hogs because of limited natural food sources.

Keep traps active for feral hogs

Trapping wild hogs an effective method for filling up the freezer with fresh pork, but trappers can often have trouble coaxing hogs into traps during the summer and fall when food resources are readily available. […]

Coyotes are adaptable enough and are in enough places that wiping them out by trapping or hunting won’t happen.

USDA trapper: coyotes cannot be eradicated

Craig Holt

The assistant director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Service said no state can eradicate coyotes. […]

Removing the skin from a squirrel is best done soon after it is killed and by two people. Cut through the skin — but not the muscle — all the way around the animal, and have two people pull in different directions against each other.

Top tips for cleaning squirrels

Jeff Burleson

Not only can squirrel hunting be exciting and challenging, the animal’s meat is one-of-a-kind and tastes nothing like chicken — it’s definitely not a white meat. […]

Members of North Carolina’s Twin Creeks Hunting Club have the habitat and resources to produce wall-hanger bucks like this one.

Wildlife Habitat Improvement Series: Twin Creeks Hunting Club

Jeff Burleson

Nestled between Big Fishing Creek and Little Fishing Creek in northeast North Carolina lies Twin Creeks Hunting Club. With more than 7,000 acres of swamps, timberland and a conglomeration of food plots under cultivation, Twin Creeks has the perfect mix of wilderness and prime wildlife habitat to produce a wide variety of game species. […]

Roy Sowers (left) killed this Chatham County coyote; every one of North Carolina’s 100 counties has a coyote population.

Coyote information station

Craig Holt

Coyotes appeared in North Carolina in the early 1980s after illegal relocations from out of state and releases for sport hunting with hounds. […]

A shooting vest, snake gaiters and shotgun shells are great Christmas gifts for the upland game hunter in South Carolina.

Sportsman’s stocking stuffers

John Gribb

If you are looking for a gift for a hunter in the family but really haven’t a clue, here are a few ideas. […]

Cheap shells are out of place on a late- season dove field, but does high brass automatically mean a better load?

The case for high brass

Phillip Gentry

For some reason, many hunters always shoot the cheapest loads available for dove. Most feel a heavier load or higher- quality shell will not help in a situation where numbers of shots count more than quality shots. […]

Hunters need to put in some time scouting for late-season doves and be ready to hunt them as soon as they are located.

Keep dove reports updated

Phillip Gentry

According to Billy Dukes, SCDNR’s small-game specialist, dove hunters who decide to take advantage of South Carolina’s late season should find plenty of birds, just like they have the past few years. […]

Not every duck knocked down falls into open water for easy retrieval. Make sure you mark down every duck that falls so you don’t lose any.

Mark that duck down

Pete Rogers

Retrieving ducks from beaver ponds or other small bodies of water can be a bit tricky. […]

Leslie Mills killed this huge buck on Clay Creek Hunting Club property in 2011.

Wildlife Habitat Improvement:

Jeff Burleson

Minutes from Charlotte and just south of the state line in Chesterfield County lies Clay Creek Hunting Club. Consisting mostly of planted pines, agriculture fields, oak ridges swamp and creek bottoms, Clay Creek has almost the perfect collection of habitat types to support a wide range of game species, but trophy whitetail bucks are the primary emphasis for this seasoned group of hunters, and they see the results of their work in a real way. […]