In my travels throughout the county and across the state, I meet a lot of people. After living in one place as long as I have lived here in Wayne County, I’ve come to know a lot of people. One of the things I’ve noticed is how so many folks don’t realize that we have laws, rules and regulations covering wildlife.

Sure, people know that there is a season for hunting things like deer and rabbit, but they don’t even think that there might be regulations on other wildlife such as squirrels, birds and even snakes and bats.

At times, otherwise decent, law abiding people routinely break state and federal laws when it comes to wildlife. No, they are not bad people intent on a life of crime. They just don’t know that what they are doing is illegal.

Please allow me to offer some advice to help you or your neighbors to avoid a life of crime and possibly avoid some pretty stiff fines and even jail time.

Let’s start with a definition.  The word “Take” as defined by the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission is as follows:   “All operations during, immediately preparatory, and immediately subsequent to attempt, whether successful or not, to capture, kill, pursue, hunt, or otherwise harm or reduce to possession any fisheries resource or wildlife resource.”  

In other words, anything you do just before the hunt, trapping or fishing and just after as well as during is considered part of it. IE: If you are seen walking toward the pond with a can of worms and a fishing pole in your hand, then you are fishing. If you are unloading traps from your truck out in the field, then you are trapping. If you lay a rifle across the hood of your truck while getting out your back pack, you are hunting, just as if you have a beaver on your tailgate, a deer lying in the back of your truck or fish in the cooler.

Now, let’s look at some rules:

North Carolina Administrative Code, Subchapter 10B, section .0106 under General Regulations (d) (1) states: Wildlife taken without a permit while committing depredations to property may, during the open season on the species, be taken by the landholder by any lawful method. During the closed season, such depredating wildlife may be taken without a permit ONLY by the use of firearms.

That means that it’s not legal for the land holder to set a box or cage trap to catch squirrels, rabbits, raccoons or whatever out of the regular trapping season, UNLESS he acquires a depredation permit from either a Wildlife officer or a certified Wildlife Damage Control Agent first.

Here’s something else I bet you didn’t know. It’s a violation of state law to transport and release ANY animal without first obtaining in writing permission from the land owner at the release site. Furthermore, it is illegal to release any animal in the order Carnivora  and beavers with or without permission. Order Carnivora, would be your fox, bobcat, raccoon, otter or any critter that eats meat. The opossum is exempt from that rule because it's a marsupial.

It is illegal to keep wild animals as pets.

If you still want to trap that pesky squirrel and you obtain your Depredation permit, “Tag your traps!” All traps in North Carolina must be tagged with owners name and address on a permanent tag. And that is whether they are foot hold traps, store bought cage traps or even homemade box traps. 

You may be asking by now, “What is depredation?”

Glad you asked. Depredation is when wildlife is causing significant damage to property and/or a realistic threat to life or property.

Just a fox walking across the back yard don’t count.

If you have bird feeders being raided by squirrel or raccoon, well, that doesn’t count either.  If you choose to feed wildlife, you don’t get to choose which critters you want to feed.

Animals doing what they naturally do in nature is not considered depredation. For instance, there have been many calls about coyote eating deer fawns. That is what coyotes do. Deer are one of their natural foods and we can’t really change that. We cannot issue depredation permits to hunters because the deer are being eaten.

Hopefully this will answer any questions you may have on the issue.

These are some of the most common rules I’ve seen broken. I will be sure to share more with you in times to come, so keep checking in on us.

Thank you!

I receive calls quite often from people who have seen animals on their property asking if I can come and take them away. Well, the short answer is “No”. In order for me to be able to remove the animal, it must be causing damage or represent a true threat to human safety.

If you should happen to notice a fox walking across the back yard then the best advice I can give you is to get your camera and take a picture. Most people aren’t lucky enough to see these things and it could be a moment to remember.

Wild animals routinely pass through our yards, parking lots and driveways. They are just traveling through and represent no threat to us. Fox, raccoon, bobcat, and even deer and bear tend to wander about. It is not unusual to see these creatures as well as many others in the day light and it’s no cause for alarm. Do not approach them and let them walk and all will be fine. Afterwards you get to brag to others about what you were lucky enough to get a glimpse of.

As man’s encroachment into the wild areas continues to grow and more and more habitat is destroyed, we will see more and more of this kind of thing from displaced animals as they seek better refuge. Wandering animals isn’t the danger. Urban sprawl is.