Raleigh, N.C. — Hunters in North Carolina can bow hunt on Sundays on private lands as new hunting rules are in effect.

In all, 15 hunting and trapping rules were approved by the N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission in March 2009. The new rules that went into effect Sunday include:

• Require hunters harvesting deer through the Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) to use tags and report their harvests, whether those deer are antlerless or antlered. Allow harvest of deer on DMAP areas under the big game harvest report card and the bonus antlerless deer harvest report card, where applicable.
• Change the description of where bonus antlerless deer harvest report cards may be used from “private lands” to “lands other than those enrolled in the Game Land Program” in order to permit the use of these cards on military installations, national wildlife refuges, and other public lands that are not game lands.
• Remove the daily bag limit for deer.
• Allow hunters to use archery equipment to harvest deer during the muzzleloading firearms season on game lands.
• Shorten the bow season by one week and open the muzzleloader season one week earlier to create a two week muzzleloader season.
• Deer seasons in the northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons in the eastern, central and western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Deer seasons on game lands in the northwestern deer season will be changed so that the regular gun season is extended through January 1. Deer seasons on game lands in the eastern, central and western deer season structures will remain unchanged.
• Open all private lands in the eastern, central and northwestern deer seasons to the maximum either-sex deer season.
• Assign all of Moore County to the eastern deer season.
• Allow falconry on Sundays, except for migratory game birds.
• Allow the use of crossbows anytime bow and arrows are legal weapons.
• Allow bow hunting on Sundays on private lands only, except for migratory game birds.
• Disallow the selling of live foxes and coyotes taken under a depredation permit to controlled hunting preserves.
• Allow a landowner with a valid depredation permit to give away the edible portions of deer to anyone. Require the recipient to retain a copy of the depredation permit.
• Eliminate the requirement that a landholder must get a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service permit for the taking of nuisance migratory birds before getting a Commission depredation permit to do so.