Hone Your Late-Season Duck Hunting Skills

The Albemarle and The Pamlico sound located in Eastern North Carolina is home to a significant amount of migrating waterfowl along the Atlantic seaboard. During late-season duck hunting, you can expect to find plenty of ducks out there such as Redheads, Bluebills, Pintails, Black Ducks, and more waiting for you to come and see for yourself. 

If you’re planning on duck hunting in the swamp, try hunting in the swamps that have oaks. Ducks will stay around and feed on the acorns in the wintertime. You can expect to find species such as Mallards, Black Ducks, and Widgeons in the Eastern North Carolina swamps. 

In January, swamps are prone to freezing over, and once they do, ducks will be on the move to search for a new place that can offer them food, safety, and open water. 

Late-season duck hunting means that ducks are searching for more open waters for a better chance at finding food. However, lakes tend to freeze over during the wintertime. If you can’t seem to find a lake that hasn’t frozen over, look for small streams or flowing rivers. Be sure to stay close to open waters for a better chance at catching your harvest.

At Tim Knight Taxidermy, we want to help you remember your harvest for a lifetime! Whether you prefer late-season duck hunting in the marshes, near the sound and the ocean, or by quiet lakes, we can help you bring your trophy back to life with a mount you will be proud to display. 

Advice for the Beginner Hog Hunter

Hunting wild hogs are considered a dangerous sport even for the experienced hunter. In North Carolina, feral hogs are considered an invasive species due to their destructive, territorial behavior and disposition to host a wide variety of diseases deadly to humans and animals alike. Should you want to try your luck against this fearsome animal, consider these three pieces of advice before heading out on your hunt:

1. When tracking feral hogs, keep in mind their tendency to be territorial and aggressive. Hogs live in small groups called sounders and have a tendency to charge when threatened, their razor-sharp tusks being their main form of defense. When facing the 4th smartest animal in the world, you will want to keep your distance.

2. Hunt during sundown, nighttime, and first light. Feral hogs have become accustomed to hunter activity during the day and tend to settle down in the evening to eat. This is when you’ll have the most luck hunting a hog.

3. Take advantage of their poor eyesight. This is an additional reason to hunt in low light where you have the advantage. That said, you’ll want to keep your distance and track through the safety of binoculars if possible. Where the feral hog lacks in eyesight, it makes up for it with a strong sense of smell and hearing. 

Being able to bring home an animal as dangerous as a feral hog is an impressive feat, and one definitely worth remembering. Bring your trophy to Tim Knight’s Taxidermy and we’ll capture the moment of your hunt to help immortalize your story. 

Tips for Waterfowl Hunting in North Carolina

Waterfowl season is officially underway, marking the beginning of a short window where ducks and geese haven’t begun to feel the pressure from hunting tactics yet. To help you out with hunting this season, consider these few pointers on your trips to the waterfront.

For hunters who prefer taking on wood ducks in the marshes of North Carolina, you might find utilizing cross-country ski poles when treading through thick vegetation will help you keep your balance. The straps on the handles in addition to the wide base is designed to stabilize your fall. 

If you’re a hunter who prefers open bodies of water, you might have discovered your decoys tend to frost over in freezing temperatures, creating a reflective surface that scares away potential flocks of birds. To avoid this, cover the backs of your decoys with their respective bags until the last possible moment, or set them up 15 minutes before to sunrise. 

Whether you prefer to hunt in marshes, lakes, or a combination of both, Tim Knight’s Taxidermy will be happy to create a mount for your seasonal catch that will bring your trophy back to life, letting you treasure it for a lifetime!

Navigating Deer Rut Season

 As the length of daylight hours decreases and temperatures drop, deer enter a phase known as “rutting season” during late October. This is a period of time when deer behavior changes drastically, and navigating those changes is crucial to having a successful hunt.  

Some of the behavior you can expect from male deer in rut season includes walking into the open during normally inactive hours, territorial disputes between other bucks, and the rubbing of antlers against trees to remove the velvet. Chances are that if you spot a doe during this window, a buck will be close behind. 

In addition to the increased chance of bringing home a buck, the rutting season is a marvel all on its own. Make memories witnessing once-in-a-lifetime brawls, brazen displays of confidence, and territorial challenges.

Want to preserve the experience once your hunt is over? Call us at Tim Knight’s Taxidermy to help you protect and capture your prized possession. 

Bow Hunting Tips for Deer Season

This September, bow hunting season begins for the most popular game species in all of North Carolina: white-tailed deer. For hunters relying on archery during deer season, utilize these three tips for a successful hunt: 

• During the weeks leading up to opening day, plan ahead to avoid being on your hunting property. As other hunters prepare for the season, the deer will become spooked and naturally migrate onto your land.

• Once opening day comes around, take advantage of it as soon as possible. During the early season, there is a window where deer are slightly less wary of hunters than they will become later on. This is when you are most likely to find success. 

• Once hunting season begins, move slowly and carefully to avoid spooking deer, especially as bow hunting requires a smaller range in distance to the game you’re after.  

Should you be successful in taking home the trophy of a lifetime, bring it here to Tim Knight’s Taxidermy so we can help you preserve the moment for years to come! 

Fishing Largemouth Bass

The beginning of August also marks the beginning of a promising fishing season for the largemouth bass, a fish native to North Carolina. For those of you who live near the Coastal Plains, try fishing in blackwater rivers. For enthusiasts who live closer to the Piedmont or mountainous areas, you will have the most luck with ponds and reservoirs. Largemouth bass like to live near bodies of water that are busy with submerged objects and plants such as boat docks, bridge pilings, old roadbeds, and underwater vegetation. 

Should you come across an impressive catch, be sure to take a picture to capture its vibrant colors and bring it to Tim Knight’s Taxidermy! We can craft a lifelike mount that will preserve the natural beauty of the harvests you reel onto the shore.

Saltwater Fishing: The Perfect Replica Mount

The months of July and August are big for anglers of all levels looking to hit the ocean for saltwater fishing. Whether you participate in saltwater fishing in the infamous Outer Banks or the bountiful beaches of Wilmington, this summer holds a promising delivery of angling.

If you’re looking to preserve the memory of a catch-and-release harvest or are simply looking for an alternative for a traditional mount, consider taking home a replica fish mount! Each is specially crafted here at Tim Knight’s Taxidermy using the finest quality equipment and technology.

Call us today to learn more about how we can design the perfect replica mount for your freshwater or saltwater catch.

Freshwater Fishing

Freshwater habitats in North Carolina are home to many fish such as; anglers, largemouth bass, crappie, bluegill, and more. In North Carolina, there are a variety of freshwater fishing areas you can have luck with. Rivers, trout creeks, lakes, ponds, and other areas are the perfect spot to fish. The Neuse River, one of North Carolina’s largest and well-known rivers are home to plenty of largemouth bass, black crappie, sunfish, catfish and more for you to enjoy this summer. 

Trout Fishing & Mounting Tips

Trout is one of the most favorited fishing friends for most anglers. Most anglers love to venture out to the western North Carolina mountains to find pristine trout streams. The fall season is considered to be the best time to take a trip up to the mountains to catch Brook trout, the native trout species in the North Carolina trout streams. The secret to trout fishing is that the cold water flowing from the mountains create ideal habitats for the fish to thrive, giving anglers plenty of waterways to navigate. 

This fall season, try heading up to the western NC Mountain trout streams to hone your trout fishing skills. Before bringing in your harvest to Tim Knight Taxidermy, make sure to take pictures of the fish when you catch it so that we can get the proper color scheme of your fish. 

*The colors of fish change drastically when they are deceased or have been out of water for a while.*

Turkey Season in North Carolina

Turkey season is here! In North Carolina, turkey season usually lasts from mid-April until early May. Eastern Wild Turkeys are one of the most recognizable birds in the Southeast and also have superior hearing and keen eyesight. If you want to stay ahead of the best eyes in the woods, having good camouflage is important. Each movement you make must be extremely slow to avoid almost any noise at all. Turkeys that are behind trees or are looking the opposite direction, is a prime time to shoot.

Remember, it is unlawful to:

• Use dogs during spring turkey season.

• Use any type of handgun or rifle to hunt wild turkey. 

Go out and enjoy the challenge this spring of hunting wild turkey. If you happen to be lucky and catch your first (or hundredth) turkey, bring it over to Tim Knight Taxidermy to have your trophy come back to life so that you can admire it for a lifetime.