I have a good friend from AZ who's passion is hunting. Mule deer, white tail, elk, feral hogs, he travels a lot through the west hunting all sorts of stuff. I haven't been hunting since I moved to NC, and he would like to come hunting with me. In the west where we used to hunt, a majority of the state is public land that is legal for hunting. Out here, it is my understanding the limited public land isn't great for hunting, and that the best course is to obtain permission to hunt on private land.



So far my searches have come up only with what look like ultra high priced "deer farms" rather than standard land that might have deer on it. My buddy needs me to set this up within the next month or to to make sure he has the time to do it. I was wondering where I should go or who I should talk to to get more information on private land hunting opportunities.



Thanks!

Unless you can find some private land to hunt on hunting public land in NC is tough. I'm in the Western part of the state so my public land options are great, but the land doesn't support large numbers of deer and the season is short. There are better public land opportunities in the Eastern part of the state.

Deer season is over till it opens back up in October of 2016.

I'm in the western part of the state also. But used to live in the eastern areas. Public land isn't very good anywhere in NC from my experience. They get shredded with dog hunters.
Your best bet is to find someone with a good chunck of private woods and get permission to hunt. It ain't what you know, it's who ya know. ;) So just ask around.

One of the best places to find land is to befriend a local farmer.

Are there any programs that the Fish and Game do, where hav theye made an agreement with a land owner to allow a certain number of tags into certain parts of their land? I know the East has serious deer issues like WY had pronghorn. So I was wondering if there was any land agreements. UT has this program also. It allows for more hunter opportunities. Usually you have to contact the land owner so they know who is going onto their land. Or does the land owners sell permits to hunt their land or allow land access for a fee? These are just some western US techniques.  

Just curious

Well, this confirms my suspicious that I'm in a poor position to leverage a deal as a carpet bagging city slicker with few urban friends and no rural friends.

No, there are no programs like that in NC.  There are a number of public gamelands across the state.  To hunt them you are required to have a hunting license and a gamelands license (some licenses, like the sportsman license include both).  If you google NC Gamelands you will find the link to a map of their location and the regulations that govern each gameland.  Be sure to read the regs since gamelands vary on days you can hunt, etc.  Obvously gamelands close to urban areas are going to have a lot more hunting pressure than gamelands in the more rural areas.  There are also National Forests across the state that allow hunting...again, you need to check each one since regulations vary.

Big game has closed for the year.  Hogs and coyotes are open year round and can be hunted at night on private property.  They can still be hunted for Feb 28, 16 on gamelands as GLs are still open for small game.  Once small game closes GLs are closed until Turkey season.  All I hunt is GLs down on the southern coast of NC.


CD