By Tony Robinson

State laws and rules pertaining to our wildlife resources are about as dynamic and subject to change as any rules within our state. These changes are of little consequences to the average person that does not interact with wildlife in some direct way.

Examples are if you do not fish, hunt, trap or are involved with activities related to them, then the laws may have no direct effect on you at all.

On the other hand, if you are even an occasional participant in the outdoor sports, then the rules that are regulated by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, could have a big impact on your outdoor pursuits. This is true even for those that simply love being outdoors and engage in activities like hiking, canoeing or mountain biking.

The agency charged with administering the states boating and wildlife resources programs is the Wildlife Resources Commission. Both the Governor and the General Assembly appoint the members of this commission. Of all the meetings the WRC has, possibly the two that are the most important is the one they have in the fall and the one in March. The fall meeting, which was just held, determines what proposed changes to the hunting, fishing and trapping laws will be taken to the public. The March meeting is the one in which the Commission decides which of those proposals will become law.

Two bear season changes are proposed for next years hunting season. Both proposals apply to eastern counties and both would extend the current season in certain areas. One proposal is to increase the December segment of the bear season in Hertford County from three days to two weeks using the same opening and closing dates as adjoining Gates and Bertie counties.

The other is to increase the bear season on an 8,000 acre portion of Chowan Swamp Game Land in Gates County from the first three days of the December season segment (the current open season) to the full 12 day bear season allowed in the rest of Gates County during the month of December. The rest of Chowan Swamp Game Land would retain the first three days of the December season segment as its December bear season.

As with the case of coyotes, North Carolina is not immune to the unlawful importation of wildlife species or the natural migration of species. In this case, the often-considered pesky armadillo has been detected in three western counties. As a result the agency is proposing to allow them to be hunted all year and trapped during the regular furbearer-trapping season.

With the second change in as many years, there is a proposal to open the squirrel season on the Monday on or nearest to October 15, as in previous years and close on the last day of February.

Several proposals that relate to the states game lands will be presented at a series of public hearings at the start of 2010. Two of these are designed to provide more access to disabled sportsmen. One is to provide the same access privileges to disabled sportsmen (as defined in G.S. 113-296) as the commission does to disabled access permit (DAP) holders.

Another would increase access for disabled sportsmen and DAP holders by allowing them to ride all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) on roads posted for vehicular travel, except those roads maintained by the Department of Transportation (DOT). Apply this increased access only to game lands designated as DAP game lands.

One proposal is to prohibit the use of dogs for hunting deer on Brinkleyville Game Land, Brunswick County Game Land and Embro Game Land.

Under another proposal, hunters on the Jordan Game Lands would see the either-sex deer season increase from the current moderate season to the maximum season.

Quail and woodcock hunters would have the opportunity of hunting by permit only on CURE areas within R. Wayne Bailey-Caswell and Sandhills game lands.

Hunters heading to the new Sandy Mush Game Lands in Buncombe County would find that dove hunting would be permit only during the first four days of the season and the area would have an Introductory either-sex deer season beginning next year.

Tony Robinson can be reached at decoydoc@charter.net