NY..3 more weeks ..really

[maxfit]

I mean cmon...i am here seeing all the game guys are shooting, and we still have three more weeks to go before the Ny southern opener.  I have the same deer hitting my new food plots 3x daily on camera under my stands..no big boys but some doe groups and 1 1/2 yr olds..This SUCKS, I want venison and patternable deer.  :mad:  and yes i am so happy for all the rest of you..    Just had to vent..

[KentuckyTJ]

Chuck, I don't blame you I would be miffed as well. Take that passion, join a state organization and lobby to change your season dates. It can be done.

[maxfit]

Tj
I know i shouldnt complain if i am not actively invoved in changing it.(Wait on second thought i pay my taxes and buy a license..?)  There are so many different regs being fought now here..it all comes down to $ for more liscenses. Its just that everything in  this state seems to be arse backwards..I ran a charter boat for a while and even the  big fishing organizations i was involved in, here cant get anything done. It just gets to me when i read magazines about early season patterning of deer, and late season food plot strategies..i cant do either! o.k all done crying in my wheaties this morning.

[ronp]

Go north, young man!  Plenty of public land and the early bow season starts in 48 hours.

[Bowwild]

Chuck,
You are well north of Kentucky. Your deer herd could support the thousands of extra recreation days a much earlier season opener would provide. Politics rather than biology is obviously retarding your bow season.

An early season promotes younger and older participation. An earlier, longer season adds recreation days which increases tourism dollar income. An earlier season will shift your bow harvest earlier also. An earlier season will provide more folks an opportunity to kill does which takes some pressure off your antler-class.

Those who don't want to change the season, especially to earlier will say:

1. It is too hot. Invalid -- Your lows in September will often be in the 40's and 50's. Afternoon hunting in your current mid-October season are hotter than the September mornings will be.

2. Fawns will be orphaned. Once the fawns are weaned, by mid-August they will do just fine with or without the doe.

3. Fawns will have spots.  Very few will have spots after Sept. 1st. If you don't like aiming spots, pass on those rare late-born fawns.

4. Here's the biggie: The firearms hunters will be irritated if the bowhunters are given more opportunity. Frankly, bowhunters need more opportunity to have a chance at killing deer. The average bowhunter can see deer at 30+ yards every time he hunts and never get a shot. A firearms hunter rarely does. The average days hunted by firearms hunters is 6-7 days/year. The bowhunters average is 23 days.  

Sorry but I think your agency is stuck about 30 years in the past and it is costing you. I wouldn't stand for it. Until recently your agency was one of the most biased AGAINST youth hunting of any state with too-young to hunt laws.

New York used to be a very progressive hunting and hunter regulation state. Bowhunter ED had its birth in your state. Your state bowhunter orgnanization is one of the very active on a national level.

Try to change it. I can tell you from experience from the agency side that a SINGLE comment or letter can affect change in your regulations -- for the good or bad.

[ckanous]

Let it out buddy we are all here for ya! I'm kinda opposite of you. Our season has been open 2 weeks and I don't have a food source to hunt so the patterning is hard especially with acorns starting to fall pretty good now. I should cry myself a river though, I have a 7 acre field sitting empty that could have a plot in it. My excuse is "Haven't had time to do it" but really didn't have the money! Hang in there, opener will be here before you know it.

[Izzy]

Im starting to get the feeling that its coming. The hunter age was lowered, new bear zones opened, crossbows accepted. This is more change in one year than we've seen in a long time.
           Change is coming, the more vocal and politically active you become the better chance you have at seeing the earlier season.

[Autumn Whitetails]

Chuck,
The push for an October 1st start is in the works. Lets hope they vote it through for next year.

[Bobaru]

One reason for the change is: $.

I just got an advertiser in the mail from the NYS DEC reminding me to go out and buy a hunting license if I haven't already.  

The population in Western New York is not growing.  It's getting older.  So, I'm pretty sure we're losing hunters quicker than the rest of the country.  And, that means lost revenue for the State.

[Shawn Leonard]

My only concern is that if they open bow season earlier, our DEC (which are terrible at managing our herds)will than open gun season earlier and we(bowhunters)will miss out on the first weeks of Nov. when the chasing and seeking really picks up. Shawn

[Shawn Leonard]

Sorry, I do not want to see an earlier bow opener if we have to give up our time in the woods in November. If they open it up Oct. 1st. for example and than say well now gun opens the first weekend in Nov.!! Forget it, leave it alone!! Shawn

[JamesV]

3 more weeks for Mississippi archery deer but squirrels next saturday.

[sleepyhollow]

I agree Shawn !!

[maxfit]

Sean.. i agree with you completely, longer gun season is not worth an earlier opener. Many areas up here have been hammered by overhunting, and NUSAINCE PERMITS. I am still fortunate that my area still has a decent population of deer. i would say we are down 30-40% since the peak around 1998-2000..
I have been to meetings and the Dec seems to scoff at the idea that theherd is down ...
I am no biologist but i have been in the woods since 4 when my dad would carry me through the snow..i just turned 40 and have shot alot of deer, and passed hundreds..
but i have eyes..drive around the southern tier, ontario,stueben yates wayne county and there are not nearly the deer in fields et..like there used to be.I am all for earlier opener with less doe permits..i dont mind only having a few tags ..

[Shawn Leonard]

Agreed, in the early 90's I started hunting a bow  only area. I would commonly see as many as 30 plus deer in a single sit, now the most I have seen in one sit is 9 or 10. I used to kill as many as 15 a deer in a year with the bonus doe tag program, now I may kill 5 or 6 and only because the farm I hunt wants you to kill deer or you don't hunt. It is harder and harder but I believe our deer numbers are greatly impacted by the coyote and bobcat population. It really has nothing to do with the bag limits as 20% of the hunters take 90% of the deer taken in the areas I hunt. I do not want ENCON/DEC messing with anything anymore, if it ain't broke don't fix it and I just want to say It is not alway best to get what ya wish for!! Kill off the coyotes by offering a bounty and watch the deer come back to the levels they were. Shawn

[maxfit]

Sean
i was thinking it was coyotes as well but now i am not so sure...  if you drive by several of our local parks here..some are hunted and some are not..all have one thing in common..coyotes..
the ones open for hunting have very few deer left..the ones without hunting, there are deer galore of all age and size brackets. fawns all the way to many mature deer. On our way to and from camp  we see a few deer here and there..but when we come into the park there is a 3 mile stretch we call the gauntlet we have to slow down to 25mph.. hundreds of deer. It is awesome to see some of the bucks..bruisers! The coyotes are there as well...they have had 0 impact on the deer population where there is no hunting. The wellknown forest/whitetail company that just logged and designed my food plots, is of the same opinion...overhunting and NUISANCE  permits. I witnessed on one of my hunting properties i used to hunt ,a complete obliteration of the der herd on this 100 acres. The farmer unbeknownst to me at the time let some guys in that summer with rifles.  When i showed up to hunt that fall.. guess what NO DEER.  and very few the following 4 yrs i hunted there after.  I am all about killin yotes as well..i just dont think they are the main culprit..