I just got a Winchester Trapper .357 and am trying to figure out if I can hunt small game with it on private land in North Carolina? Is this legel? Thanks!

FYI, I heard form the widlife department on this. You are allowed to use .357, etc. on private land in NC.

glennsea,

A different approach, answering your own post. The following will work for all states, not just North Carolina. In the specific case go to www.wildlife.state.nc.us which is the NC Wildlife Dept site. Go then to Hunting & Trapping Regulations. Look in General Regulations, Game Lands Restrictions, and Local Laws.

The hazard of "someone told me", is it holds no water in court! I did not read the "Local Laws" section since the question was specific only to North Carolina. Under "General Regulations", the only mention of rifles, centerfire or not was: 1) Rifles are prohibited by federal law in hunting migratory game birds 2) Local laws prohibit or restrict rifles in some counties 3) It is illegal to hunt or take wild turkeys with rifles. Under the Small Game section there is no mention of firearms types.

To Continue: Under "Game Lands" restrictions it says only "It is unlawful to hunt with a centerfire rifle on those areas posted a "Firearms Restricted Zone".

I've said it many times, when you have a question, go to the authority. In this case it is the Wildlife Dept. of North Carolina. The only part I did not read was the "Local Laws" section. You may find something there, but in the state regulations I find nothing that says you cannot hunt small game with a rifle of any caliber.