NY DEC seeking to change some season dates for 2005

[WNY_Whitetailer]

Check out the following hyperlink...Seems that the NY State DEC is looking to change the dates for the whitetail season.  Only time will tell how these things work themselves out...

http://www.poughkeepsiejournal.com/today/sports/stories/sp111104s14.shtml

[NYH1]

Thats interesting. The only changes I've heard about were for bear hunting. The DEC was talking about lengthening the season and expanding the bear hunting area's in the Catskill Mountain and Allegany plateau regions. The anti-hunting groups went crazy! :shock:

If their (the DEC) so concerned about the deer population getting to big why don't they keep the season open longer and/or let us get more deer each year? Some of the "southern states" have deer seasons that are months long, not weeks. Some even have "daily bag limits" instead of "season bag limits"!

[bing]

I'm a 45 yr old hunter who has planned the Southern zone hunt as vacation time for many years. My first reaction is to say no-way  :evil: , I would not vote to change the  old way. Having said that I would not stay home , it does no good to bite off my nose to spite my face, especially when the area I hunt (3J) has way to many deer and ample DMU permits.
just my 2 cents worth

[RCL]

It appears they've been watching whats happening in Pennsylvania.....

[NYH1]

It appears they've been watching whats happening in Pennsylvania.....

Whats happening in Pennsylvania?

[Daveinthebush]

Great!  I move to Alaska and now you guys get more deer tags now and there might be a longer season.

If you guys get rid of Charles Schulmer and Killery Klinton I just might come back. :?  

But hey, I am comming back and will be in Rochester on Sunday and in a tree stand by Wednesday morning. :grin:

[RCL]

A lot of the proposals seem to mirror what the PA Game Commission started doing a few years ago.

[rebAL]

I noticed 1 of the proposed changes would call for early muzzleloader season in southern zones.  I'm all for that but it appears to be the same week as northern muzzleloader season.  I'm going to suggest they be 2 different weeks so it doesn't have to be an either/or decision.

[Varmint Hunter]

NY is considering an early muzzleloader, doe only season. Same as PA.

NY is considering opening biggame season (firearm) on a Saturday, rather than a Monday. PA is considering the same.
This a BAD idea in my opinion. As it is, we have about 65% of the firearm hunters in the woods on a single morning. State property looks like a pumpkin patch. Hotels/motels are booked solid, restaurants are packed, diners are overwhelmed in the am. Open the season on a Saturday and you'll have 100% of the firearm hunters in the same areas, all on the same day. Local hot spots couldn't even handle all the hunters. I think that it's much better and safer the way it is. Besides, the 35% of the (weekend) hunters seem to do quite well on the first weekend. Kind of like a second opening day.

NY is also begining an antler restriction program for some areas. Same as PA.
The 3 point on one side rule in PA is a disaster. A great idea that seems to have backfired. Way too many hunters have killed what appeared to be 6pt legal bucks only to find that they had no brow tines and were illegal taken. Considering the heavy fines and revoked licenses that were imposed over the last two years, hunters are leaving dead deer in the field. From what I've been told this is may be an increasing problem. There is NO excuse for this, but it is happening.

I'm in favor of antler restrictions for the southern zone of NY. However, maybe a 4 point or better rule would be a more effective managent method without risking the unnecessary killing of young bucks that lay in the field. It is normally much easier to identify a 4 pointer. All spikes or single fork horn deer should be allowed to walk by and given at least another year to mature.

Just my 2  cents - VH

[crazyjjk]

A lot of the proposals seem to mirror what the PA Game Commission started doing a few years ago.

You will find if you go to some of the PA hunting sites that what they have done is screwed up there deer hunting. There are many hunters in especially the northern sections of the state who are seeing no deer. There are alot of angry PA hunters out there who are calling for Gary Alts head.

There is alot of speculation that the PA Game Commission is working in the best interests of the Timber Corporations not the hunters. We the hunters of NY need to be careful about increased doe tags and making it easier to harvest deer as we could end up like PA which is a wreck compared to what it was a few years back.  Remember it's just like farming. You can't eat the seed corn if you want to grow corn next year.

[Will_C]

I have to agree with crazyjjk about the Pennsylvania comparision. I kept an open mind regarding the Pa. plan, but I don't see the results that were promised. I hunt around 800 acres in Pa. (I'm lucky; my cousins are large dairy farmers :grin: ) and there has not been any increase in quality bucks. The reduction program, I think, may have worked too well. In previous years of hunting, it was common for most of the adults to hold off for the last few days of the season (doe days several years ago) to harvest their doe. This year, most of us were trying to shoot a doe on the first Saturday, as they are not as plentiful. I know I have personally passed up 7 protected bucks over the last three years. I wonder if everybody is passing them up? :?  I really don't want to see this happen in N.Y.
Will

[Varmint Hunter]

There has been an apparent drop in the PA whitetail herd but it had nothing to do with the antler restrictions. It was caused by the PGC giving out (selling) thousands and thousands of doe permits. Hunters are also responsible for the apparent decline. MANY PA hunters have purchased 4-5-6 doe permints each year and have filled all the tags.

Gary Alt was determined to reduce the overall whitetail herd and that could only be done with the assistance of thousands of biggame hunters. Whether or not the decision to reduce the herd was was based on good science or not will be debated for a long time. But to a large extent, the hunters did it to themselves when they let greed get the better of them.

I like to shoot deer as much as anyone, but I could not justify killing deer on the scale that is allowable in PA. Legal or not, this massive harvest of does has undoubtly resulted (in part) to the lack of deer sightings that are being heard all over the state.

[rebAL]

Based on all you've posted, I don't see how you could blame this on hunters.  We as hunters rely on our state game managers to issue the proper amount of permits.  Many of those hunters could have donated the meat and thought they were helping cull an over-population of deer.

[Qtip]

Politics and money are not a good mix for sound deer management. The DEC should listen to hunters more. Way too many doe permits; especially after the hard winter of two years ago. The auto insurers love it though.
We have to contact DEC and voice our objections; and as individuals we have to stop shooting does for a while. The poster was right on the money about "seed corn". I take everything that the DEC does or says with a dose of suspicion and I have darn good reason to. Not that their aren't good people in it; but it is a bureaucracy with too many desk jockeys.

Qtip
Soli Deo Gloria!
To God Alone Be The Glory!

[Raging480]

I don't know guys, I hear a lot of complaints (including from myself) about lack of deer sightings during hunting season.  But I can remember seeing a lot of deer in the spring and summer, and I'm sure they didn't go to Florida when it got cold. lol.  Maybe there are other factors involved here, like less hunters in the woods, and TOO MANY YEARLING BUCKS BEING SHOT, season after season.  I know a lot of hunters who still subscribe to the old hunting beliefs, shoot any antlered deer, and let the does walk.  I ,for one, would have a more enjoyable experience hunting if the age class and sex ratio were better.  In my heart I believe that the deer are out there, we just need to be better hunters.

[htrjv]

I have seen few deer this year (all does, and no bucks).  Last few years, I have seen fewer and fewer deer. The most seen was last weekend here in the capitol district area.  Yet, for the area I hunt, there is an abundance of rubs  and scrapes.  Now don't get me wrong, I been lucky and have harvested a buck for the last three years.  This year, I'm not so sure.  There are many factors coming into play here.  The temps, and the lack of nuts in the woods play a BIG role in their travels.  I often wonder about all of those shots I hear during my times out.  You can almost tell what's going on by their cadence.  Like a friend tells me, "That's why they call it HUNTING.  Joe