There's a change afoot at the NCWRC that will take away a Saturday out of our turkey season, 5 out of 7 years.
The change will open the season every year on April 10, instead of the second Saturday as is currently the case, and will close the fourth Saturday thereafter, at the request of some turkey hunters from southeastern NC.
Micheal Seamster, the head turkey biologist for NC, as well as David Bruton, NWTF regional biologist, both wrote articles about this in the December issue of Strutt and Putt, and pointed out the loss of Saturdays to hunt. I also spoke with Dr. David Cobb, head of the NCWRC, who confirmed it to me.
I'd encourage you NC hunters to join me in voicing opposition to the change, which will hurt everybody that has to work Mon.-Fri. as well as the kids that are in school. Speaking for myself, and my boys, we only get 5 days to hunt turkeys each year, and it'll tear me up to lose one for no good reason! I suspect that many others feel that same way, if they know about it.
The way the proposal is worded, I'm afraid most hunters will have no idea that they will be losing a Saturday every year (5 out of 7 anyway), and that the change will slide through while those hurt by it are unaware of the threat.
You can get all the info on the change, the upcoming public hearings, as well as voice your opinion online here (click on "Hunting, Fishing Proposals to Get Public Review") :
http://216.27.49.98/
Hal