Oct. 6-8, Columbus Day Weekend, marked New York state’s first youth firearms deer hunt and from all reports it was a resounding success. The final results are being tallied now and should be available soon, but field reports indicate young hunters took some 500 deer. To refresh your memory, junior hunters ages 14 and 15 with a big game hunting license were eligible to take one deer of either sex with a firearm when accompanied by a licensed and experienced adult.

According to figures released by the Department of Environmental Conservation, 12,873 youths were eligible to participate in this special hunt, though it’s not likely they all availed themselves of this opportunity. There were no hunting-related shooting accidents associated with the hunt.

Some hunters indicated that while they didn’t support this youth hunt when it was first proposed, their observations over that weekend has changed their thoughts on the subject and they became in favor of it.

MUZZLELOADERS WORK

Have you ever thought that perhaps a muzzleloader, even a .50 caliber smokepole, isn’t suitable for anything other than thin-skinned game such as whitetails or occasionally a black bear? If so, think again.

According to the Boone & Crockett Club, a hunter recently took a Muzzleloader World Record grizzly bear using a CVA .50 caliber ACCURA V2 with a 405 grain Copper Powerbelt bullet propelled by 150 grains of IMR whiteshot pellets. The weapon was topped with a Burris FastFire sight and he took the bruin at 49 yards while on a hunt in British Columbia. The grizzly bear scored 26-2/16.

Here in New York state, the muzzleloader season in most of the northern zone closes in two more days, on Oct. 19.

Incidentally, muzzleloader hunters took two bruins in Hamilton County during the 2011 season, including a 480-pounder that was the third heaviest taken during 2011. The Town of Lake Pleasant gave up that bruin. The other one was taken in the Town of Wells. In total, the Adirondack Region gave up nine bears during the muzzleloader season last year.

DEER TAKE

In case it slipped past you, the northern zone regular big game season opens Saturday. Last year, the northern zone gave up 12,208 deer, including 7,621 taken by muzzleloader hunters. Hamilton County gave up 762 deer, 616 of them adult bucks.

The Town of Long Lake led the county with a total take of 170 deer, including 126 bucks. The Town of Indian Lake was a close second with 159 deer, including 129 bucks. The Town of Wells was the only other township that experienced a triple-digit deer take last season, recording a total take of 123 deer, including 106 adult bucks.

Incidentally, that total of 7,621 deer taken by muzzleloader is substantially higher than the 1,394 deer reported taken by bow-hunters in the northern zone late season. However, on a statewide basis, bow-hunters recorded a take of 36,323 deer while muzzleloaders took 16,454. That muzzleloader total is substantial when one compares the length of the bow season to the length of the muzzleloader season.

CWD HITS PENNSYLVANIA

The Pennsylvania Agriculture Department announced Oct. 11 that chronic wasting disease has been discovered at a captive deer facility there. Further investigation determined the CWD-positive deer had been exposed to animals from other captive facilities. All of these deer farms have been quarantined.

As a result, Vermont has added Pennsylvania to the list of states from which importing deer carcasses is largely prohibited. Vermont’s CWD importation regulations apply to hunters bringing in deer or elk carcasses from the following states and provinces, which now includes Pennsylvania:

Alberta, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Saskatchewan, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.