Applications must be received around Sept. 1 and a public drawing is held the next week. A fee of $12.50 is required for successful applicants. After the public drawing, any un-issued permits are provided to hunters on a first-come, first-served basis.

Hunters may take one antlered deer and one antlerless deer or two antlerless deer each hunting day. Deer may be taken only with shotgun, muzzleloading rifle or bow and arrow. Possession of modern centerfire rifles, pistols or other weapons is prohibited. Hunters may use boats for access, but may not hunt from boats. Vehicles are restricted to driving on designated roads. Access behind gated roads is allowed by foot travel, bicycle or boat.

All deer taken must be checked in at the check station at the refuge headquarters. Weights and other biological information are collected. But field dressing harvested animals is allowed and encouraged. No facilities are available for dressing deer.

Like the Pee Dee and Pungo Unit hunts, firearms and muzzleloader hunters must wear a minimum of 500 square inches of hunter orange above the waistline visible from all directions. While the other refuge hunts allow setting up stands in advance, Mattamuskeet NWR rules say portable tree stands may not be put up before the hunt day and must be removed each day. The use of nails, wire, screws, lag bolt steps or bolts to attach a stand to a tree and the act of hunting from a tree into which a metal object is driven to support a hunter are prohibited.

To obtain an application for deer hunting at Mattamuskeet NWR, write to Lake Mattamuskeet National Wildlife Refuge, 38 Mattamuskeet Road, Swan Quarter, N.C. 27885, telephone (252) 926-4021, or visit www.fws. gov/mattamuskeet.

ROANOKE RIVER NWR
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission jointly manage Roanoke River NWR and Roanoke River Game Land. The combined public hunting area consists of several tracts located in Bertie, Halifax, Martin and Northampton counties totaling 51,547 acres, which increased from 29,606 acres with the purchase and posting of several new tracts in 2006-07. The tracts are Askew (1,300 acres), Beach House (600 acres), Boone (1,925 acres), Broadneck (5,900 acres), Company Swamp (2,100 acres), Conine Island (3,700 acres), Conoho Farms (3,400 acres), Cypress Swamp (1,425 acres), Deveraux (5,300 acres), Great and Goodman islands (4,500 acres), Hampton Swamp (1,300 acres), Odom (890 acres), Pollocks Ferry (2,000 acres), Urquhart (1,200 acres) and Town Swamp (2,250 acres).

The commission administers permit draw hunts, which are outlined in the Special Hunt Opportunities Digest issued by the commission. To apply, hunters must complete an application and pay a $5 fee. Applications can be completed via computer at any authorized license dealer. The application deadline is Sept. 15 and the maximum party size is five hunters.