North Carolina hunting and fishing laws

Except as specified in the digest, a person, regardless of age, may not purchase a hunting license in this state without producing one of these: a hunter education certificate of competency, a North Carolina hunting heritage apprentice permit, or a North Carolina hunting license issued prior to July 1, 2013. Youth under 16 lacking certification must be accompanied by a properly licensed adult.

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Youth under age 16 are exempt from the requirement of a hunting license if they hold a hunter safety certificate or are accompanied by a properly licensed adult, and they must obtain a License-Exempt Big Game Harvest Report Card at no cost when hunting deer, bear, or wild turkey.

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G.S. section 113-291.8 requires any person hunting game animals other than foxes, bobcats, raccoons, and opossum, or hunting upland game birds other than wild turkeys, or hunting feral swine, with the use of firearms, to wear a cap or hat on his head made of hunter orange material or an outer garment of hunter orange visible from all sides.

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Applies to: Deer

Any person hunting deer during a deer firearms season shall wear hunter orange visible from all sides, and this applies to archery on Sundays and on Youth Hunting Days for all ages and weapons. A landholder, his spouse, or children who are hunting on land held by the landholder are exempt. No blaze pink provision was found in the statute.

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Under G.S. section 103-2, Sunday firearms hunting is permitted on private land and on state-managed public lands, subject to these limits: hunting on Sunday between 9:30 A.M. and 12:30 P.M. is prohibited except on controlled hunting preserves, taking deer run or chased by dogs with a firearm on Sunday is prohibited, and Sunday hunting within 500 yards of a place of religious worship is prohibited.

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Applies to: Waterfowl

Hunting migratory birds on Sunday is generally prohibited unless authorized by the Commission.

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On game lands, Sunday firearms hunting was opened on a subset of roughly 51 of 92 game lands, while urban-adjacent game lands including Jordan, Butner-Falls and Green River remain closed. Archery on Sunday is not subject to the 9:30 to 12:30 window. Verify the current game land list in the digest each season.

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Game may be taken only between 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset with firearms and archery, except raccoons, opossums and feral swine, which may be hunted at night.

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Applies to: Deer

The placement of commercially available mineral supplements specifically and exclusively marketed for attracting or feeding deer is allowed anywhere in the state, except on game lands and CWD Management and Surveillance Areas. Processed food products as bait are prohibited statewide in areas with an established bear season. On game lands, baiting is prohibited.

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Applies to: Bear

Hunting bears over bait is illegal. You may not take a bear while it is eating unprocessed foods, or with the aid of salt, honey, sugar, syrups, candy, pastry, peanut butter, grease, animal parts or similar substances. Placing processed food products as bait is prohibited anywhere with a bear season, and no food of any kind may be placed on game lands.

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Applies to: Furbearers

Artificial lights may be used for taking feral swine and coyotes at night where legal, and for retrieving harvested big game. Coyote night hunting is permitted statewide except in Beaufort, Dare, Hyde, Tyrrell and Washington counties, which are in the red wolf recovery area. Raccoons, opossums and feral swine may be hunted at night.

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Applies to: Big game

Before moving the animal from the site of kill, where the animal fell, validate the appropriate animal block on your paper Big Game Harvest Report Card by punching or cutting the corresponding day and month. This is required for bear, deer and wild turkey.

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Applies to: Big game

Report before any of the following: the animal is skinned, dressed, or dismembered for consumption, the animal is left unattended, the animal is placed in the possession of another person, or 12 p.m. noon the day following the harvest. When the animal goes to a processor, taxidermist, Hunters for the Hungry, or another person, the authorization number must be attached to the carcass.

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To hunt, fish or trap on posted land of another person, you must carry written permission signed by the landowner, lessee or agent and dated within the last 12 months; some counties require permission on all private land. Land may be posted with signs or with vertical purple paint marks at least 8 inches long, 3-5 feet above the ground and no more than 100 yards apart.

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