North Carolina Changes Western Muzzleloader Deer Season to start BEFORE Modern Firearms
Commissioners at the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC) have adopted the new rules for the 2024-25 seasons effective Aug 1. The new rules, adopted during the Commission’s February business meeting and approved by the Rules Review Commission in April, include:
Shift the western blackpowder and gun seasons so that blackpowder season begins two Saturdays before Thanksgiving and runs two weeks until gun season, which will begin the Saturday after
Thanksgiving and run through January 1, and shift the timing of the 1-week and 1-day blackpowder antlerless seasons to begin the second Saturday of the season.
Justification: Most antlered buck harvest in the western deer seasons occurs before peak breeding which negatively affects breeding synchrony and thus fawn recruitment and hunter satisfaction. Shifting blackpowder and gun seasons later in the year will reduce vulnerability of yearling bucks during dispersal, reduce harvest of bucks prior to breeding, and provide more hunting opportunities during the rut. Shifting the 1-week and 1-day blackpowder antlerless deer seasons to Thanksgiving week will provide more antlerless hunting opportunities during the holiday.
15A NCAC 10B .0203 WHITE-TAILED DEER (Pg. 13-18)
Introduce 1-day antlerless gun season on private lands and increase antlerless blackpowder season from
1-day to 1-week on all lands in Cherokee, Clay, Jackson, Macon, and Swain counties.
Increase antlerless gun season from 1-day to 1-week on private lands and increase antlerless
blackpowder season from 1-week to 2-weeks on all lands in Buncombe and Henderson counties. This
change does not apply to the portions of Buncombe and Henderson counties where the harvest of
antlerless deer is currently allowed during the entire gun season.