DuPont State Forest

The N.C. Forest service rejected proposals by state wildlife officials to allow bear and racoon hunting with dogs in DuPont State Forest for 2008. Forestry official instead agreed to review the bear populations in the Forest to determine if they exceed the capacity of the land.

Public comment on the issue, which was solicited in February by the NC Wildlife Commission, ran heavily against the proposal, with 258 opposed to 98 in favor.

For more information, please read the Times News article below:

Forest Service rejects raccoon, bear hunt proposal

Additional background articles

Friends of DuPont Forest took a strong stand against this proposed rule change during the comment period in February. See the FODF position statement below.

Friends of DuPont Forest opposes hunting with unleashed dogs

The NC Wildlife Commission is considering the following major policy change: "H35: Allow dogs to be used during permit hunts for small game, bear, opossum and raccoon on the DuPont State Forest Game Land.". Public comment, which was accepted during a February window, ran heavily against the proposal, with 258 opposed to 98 in favor.

Friends of DuPont Forest respects the rights of hunters to use DuPont State Forest, most of which is designated NC Gamelands.

However, our organization strongly disagrees with the proposed policy change which would allow for unleashed dogs to run the property during both the day and night. Such a stark change of policy is inconsistent with the existing recreational use of the forest and the present rules requiring other forest users to keep their dogs on a leash.

More info

There are many reasons why the unleashed dog hunting is not compatible with current Forest usage:

Packs of roaming dogs could startle horses or frighten other trail users
Other dog owners are required to keep their dogs on a leash
Bear hunting with dogs is associated with high speed traffic and gunfire on and near roadways *
Unleashed dogs frequently roam on neighboring property, requiring trespassing in efforts to retrieve them *

* see Chattooga Conservancy web page for additional information regarding this issue.

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