Asheville, N.C. — The North Carolina Department of Transportation closed westbound Interstate 40 in Haywood County on Tuesday morning following a rock slide in Tennessee.

The interstate is expected to be closed for at least two weeks as crews clear the debris from the roadway and stabilize other rocks to prevent similar slides.

Westbound drivers need to take the following detour: Exit at westbound Interstate 240 (Exit 53B) in Asheville and head to Interstate 26 West (Exit 4A). Then, follow I-26 to Interstate 81 South (Exit 8A) in Tennessee and back to I-40.

Eastbound traffic isn’t affected by the rock slide.

A rock slide west of Asheville in late 2009 closed I-40 for about six months.

WRAL News

This mountainous section of the state is pron to rock slides and hopefully they can clear it quickly. This is important travel route for commerce as well as outdoor types looking to access Great Smokey Mountain National Park and other high interest locations. We’ll continue to follow this story as it develops

The annual winners of the Wildlife In NC Photo Competition have been announced and once again there are some really great photos. As one who loves photography, especially nature photography, I always look forward to seeing the winning photos. They inspire me and give me some great ideas on how to get some stunning shots my self when I’m out there with my camera.

Hunter shows off the only rabbit we took

Small game season is in full swing here in North Carolina and I jumped at the chance to join some friends as they chased bunnies yesterday near the Cape Fear River. While for many the lack of winter weather around here is a blessing for hunters it has been a curse. Yesterday was the last day of duck season and a pretty dismal season with the unseasonable warm winter we have been having. So I past on the duck hunting and headed out with some rabbit hunters and soon found out the warm weather was having a negative effect on them as well.

The hunting land was some overgrown cut overs that had some of the nicest crop of briars, blackberry bushes and holly I’ve ever seen. My face and arms today show the scars of me trying to push through that stuff to keep up with the dogs. The beagles ran some rabbits but if you weren’t right up on them it was so thick you’d hear the rabbit but never see him. We had a few nice chases and bagged one lone bunny before we called it quits around lunch time. The temperatures by then were close to 60′ and the dogs and us hunters were feeling the terrain and the warm weather.

I got back to the truck and checked my pedometer and saw that I’d covered a little over 6 miles that morning the dogs easily did 3 to 4 times that I’m sure. As I said before hunting success is not only measured in what you bag but the experience you shared.

I’d never hunted with these guys before but I really had a blast. They are a pretty dedicated group of rabbit hunters and hopefully before the season goes out maybe I’ll get out with them again. It would be nice if the weather would turn more seasonable and help things out.

beagles are a great dog to hunt rabbits with

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Game Page

Tundra Swans winter in the eastern part of North Carolina and one of the few places in the country where you can hunt them. One of the largest waterfowl you’ll ever see and a very beautiful bird. Hunting is an important management tool in managing these birds and by having a limited hunt for them allows a small number of them to be taken each year. To be able to hunt them you have to enter a lottery and draw a tag and unfortunately I wasn’t drawn this year.
NCWRC Tundra Swan Page
I did get the opportunity to take my camera and lay out in a muddy field ditch and photograph a hunt this year.

Young Swan lands in the decoy spread

Double Stack

Tundra Swans can be a challenge for the dogs because they are so large

Conman’s Guide Service is who I recommend to go with if you draw a tag and looking for a place to hunt.

On the hunt for squirrels

The group of hunters from NC Hunt & Fish

We all met up at BiscuitVille to get some breakfast before we headed out to Uwharrie National Forest.

The squirrel dogs (Curs) were anxious to get hunting so after a brief hike into the forest they were turned lose to find some squirrels. Watching the dogs work was really fascinating as they ran around looking for the scent of a squirrel once they found it they would tree it. Our job as hunters was to get to the dogs quickly so we could find the squirrels before they climbed into a den or a hole or jumped from tree to tree to give the dogs the slip.

Treed

The first squirrel was treed and it took us a few minutes to find it pressed against the trunk of a tree near the top. My second shot from my 22 found the mark and the squirrel dropped from the treetop. I don’t know who was more excited me or the Curs.

Squirrel Season in NC runs through Feb

Saturday was unseasonable warm with the temperatures climbing into the 70′s which seemed to me to be less than ideal conditions to be hunting in for a number of reasons. One the squirrel movement seemed to be a bit subdued and the conditions seemed less than ideal for the dogs to scent the squirrels out. Also the warm weather increased the traffic in the forest with lots of hikers but who could blame them on a day better suited for the end of April rather than January.

Taking a break

We hunted the morning and while we didn’t bag a lot of squirrels the hunt was a blast as we got to meet and reunite with friends we talk to more often than not in cyberspace.

We hunted with Curs that had GPS collars on them so the handler could keep track of them. While hunters are required to wear orange dogs are not however to prevent any confusion the dogs had orange vests. In many states its illegal to tamper with hunting dogs and their collars

I can’t tell ya how fun a hunt this was and I hope to be back out chasing squirrels with dogs soon. If you’ve never tried it find someone with squirrel dogs and give it a try.

On a photo safari of sorts this weekend to celebrate the end of 2011 and ring in the new when I encountered this wild turkey. I’d walked right up on him and he didn’t seem to concerned with me so for a brief few minutes there was this standoff between my wife and I and Tom. Of course having camera in hand I started shooting photos and that’s when I noticed he was a multi bearded bird. Photos clearly show two but there may have been 3 but who knows. How prevalent is multi bearded toms? I don’t know but I have rarely encountered any never mind photographing one. Good omen for the new year? Who knows….. lets hope.

Prior to October 1st of this year there was little regulations around the hunting of feral hogs in North Carolina because they were “managed” under the department of agriculture and not Wildlife. That all changed and many of the practices people were using to deal with these feral pests became illegal. Trapping and night hunting were the most effective way for many landowners to deal with this feral critter and the quick switch to Wildlife for regulating them outlawed those two options.

North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has worked hard on remedying these issues by earlier in December passing rules to allow for the trapping of hogs again and now this week authorizing a season for night hunting feral hogs.

Both of these methods require special permits that are available for free on NCWRC Website.

Letting a young buck walk this year hopefully will pay off in the future with a wall hanger

Actually the season for me is over even though we have till 02 January to hunt. While I never got to pull the trigger on an antlered buck this season the three antlerless deer I did get will provide my family and I many good meals till the season rolls around again. I spent a lot more time hunting this deer season then last and although the weather was a bit warm for my liking it wasn’t to bad.

We added some additional property to land we lease some will continue to lease next year and some will let go. The land I got into in the eastern zone of the state, Harnett County, looks the most promising. I got into that club late so there was little time to scout or get the lay of the land before the season rolled in on us. I did some scouting on the fly so to speak and while I didn’t see any monsters I saw the sign that tells me there are some nice ones in there. Once the season gets out I can walk some more of the property and begin making plans for next year.

Some land we leased in the central zone we had some negative encounters with neighbors who for years had just hunted this land for free. With us leasing it there was some hostile encounters and a near fight or two. I’m getting a bit old for those types of shenanigans so we’ll just let that lease go.

Deer season is measured in more than just tags filled; its days spent with friends moving stands, dragging deer, filling feeders, planting food plots, sitting around swapping lies. Hunting Camp is great time and a time we connect with one another. The pressures of the world may invade our minds and the camp from time to time but there is a bunch of guys who’ll do whatever you need or help ya any way they can like I’ll do for them. Deer Season might be over or about over but there is still small game to chase and waterfowl to hunt and before you know it Turkey Season will be here.

Lets Hunt

A Thanksgiving fishing trip off the coast of North Carolina will certainly be a lifetime adventurous memory for a group of men after a rare encounter with a Great White Shark.

Captain Watson has fished for about 25 years off Wrightsville Beach, where the shark close encounter happened.

“The fish kept circling. He kept getting closer and closer and he swam under the bow of the boat and hit it then came around the boat a couple minutes later, did a turn, and slapped the side of the boat with the back of his tail,” said Watson. “You could feel the whole boat shutter.”

According to the men, they were about 25 miles southeast of Wrightsville Beach when they saw the shark, which they estimate was at least 18 feet long and more than 4 feet wide. That’s nearly equal to the size of their boat.

It circled the boat for nearly 20 minutes

“I was probably 2 or 3 feet from the bow roller. His nose was at my feet,” fisherman Don Smith was quoted as saying. “His tail was pretty much in line with the rod that we had in the back of the boat in a rod holder. That’s a pretty good estimation of just how big the thing was.”

North Carolina waters are home to many sharks, but great white sightings like this are pretty rare.

Discovery News

A shark about the size of the boat I’m in? Hmmmm Nope I’ll stay on the mainland. Call me a wimp but I don’t want to even think about having to tangle with that guy.

NCWRC sent out a notice for hunters to be on the look out for deer suffering from hemorrhagic disease.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission is alerting hunters that they may encounter sick or diseased deer afflicted with hemorrhagic disease. Two closely related viruses — epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD) virus and bluetongue virus — cause hemorrhagic disease and both are spread by biting flies, called midges.

The Commission is asking hunters to report any sightings of the disease, which has no human health implications but is one of the most significant infectious diseases of white-tailed deer in North Carolina. Hemorrhagic disease should not be confused with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), which is a distinctly different disease that occurs in members of the deer family. Extensive monitoring since 1999 has yielded no evidence of CWD in North Carolina and strict regulations are in place to prevent the introduction of this disease.

Symptoms of hemorrhagic disease in deer vary widely. Some diseased animals will exhibit no symptoms. Some may appear bloated, very thin and weak, while others suffering from the disease for longer duration may drastically lose weight. They also may have foot, mouth and internal lesions. High fever associated with the disease can make deer thirsty, so dead and dying deer are often found near water. Hunters may observe cracked or sloughing hooves on harvested deer, which is another classic symptom of the disease.

We had a break out a few years ago in Caswell County where I hunt and it knocked down our deer population for a few years. We found a number of dead deer concentrated around water sources.

To report sightings of symptomatic deer, or dead and dying deer, contact the Division of Wildlife Management at (919) 707-0050 or wrccomments@ncwildlife.org.

When people report sightings, it allows Commission biologists to determine what areas of the state are experiencing outbreaks and the extent of those outbreaks. It also gives biologists opportunities to obtain tissue and blood samples for virus isolation by veterinarians at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study (SCWDS) in Athens, Ga. Reported occurrences are summarized annually and sent to SCWDS where the occurrence and outbreak extent is monitored collectively for all states.

Commission biologists have observed outbreaks of the disease this year in deer across North Carolina — the most prevalent in the northeastern part of the state in and around Halifax, Edgecombe, Northampton, Bertie and Gates counties. Evidence of the disease also was documented in the western part of the state in Cherokee and Yancey counties.

The disease does not pose a threat to humans so hunters should not be concerned about any potential exposure.