According to figures released recently by the Department of Environmental Conservation, hunters in New York State harvested 228,350 deer and 1,258 bruins last season. The 2011 deer take varied less than one percent from the 2010 take statewide and outside the Adirondack region the bear harvest last season set new records, substantially exceeding previous record takes in central and western New York. In contrast, the bear take here in the Adirondack region dropped to a level not seen since 1998.
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation remains concerned about the introduction and spread of invasive species in the state’s waterways, and will pursue a uniform, national ballast water standard that will leave in place the Environmental Protection Agency’s current standards at least through November 2013.
While I applaud their concern, and this action, where were all the state and federal agencies in the early 1950s when the St. Lawrence Seaway project was begu ...
The state Department of Environmental Conservation’s recently adopted deer management plan indicates the agency’s intended direction for the next five years of deer management and deer hunting. The plan includes a number of strategies that would affect deer hunting seasons and increase hunter opportunity. However, there are a few items that require clarification.
First, the deer plan does not propose any changes to the Southern Zone regular season, which will begin Nov. 17.
Otherwise ...
Here’s one more reminder that the Department of Environmental Conservation is now accepting applications for its 2012 Summer Camp program. This program offers one-week adventures in conservation education for youngsters ages 11-17 at one of four residential camps.
Camp Colby in Franklin County, Camp DeBruce in Sullivan County, Camp Rushford in Allegany County and Pack Forest in Warren County offer opportunities for youngster ages 11-13 while Pack Forest and Camp Rushford also feature Teena ...
For a while it appeared it might be a bad year, but according to figures released by the state Department of Environmental Conservation last year tied 2009 as New York’s safest hunting year, based upon the number of hunting-related shooting accidents.
During the 2011 seasons there were 26 personal injury hunting-related incidents, including four fatalities. All the fatalities occurred during the regular deer season, and one was self-inflicted.
The number of hunters has declined some 20 per ...
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation recently announced the release of a proposed five-year bobcat management plan for public review and comment. The plan, once finalized, will guide the management of bobcats in NYS for the next five years.
Basically, the plan has three major goals: maintain viable population levels and monitor trends in bobcat distribution and relative abundance; provide for sustainable use and enjoyment of bobcat by the public; and minimize negative bobc ...
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation will begin accepting applications for its 2012 Summer Camp program today. This program offers one-week adventures in conservation education for youngsters ages 11-17 at one of four residential camps operated statewide by the agency.
Camp Colby in Franklin County, Camp DeBruce in Sullivan County, Camp Rushford in Allegany County and Pack Forest in Warren County offer opportunities for youngsters ages 11-13. Pack Forest and Camp Rushford ...
This is very interesting. The state Department of Environmental Conservation is asking the public to report any instances of deer appearing sick or acting abnormally. That includes deer that appear to have died from unknown causes, but not those killed by motor vehicles.
Anyone who sees a whitetail deer acting abnormally or who finds a dead deer that was not struck by a vehicle is asked to report it to the nearest DEC regional office or to an environmental conservation officer or forest ranger.
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With the ice fishing season upon us, this is a good time to remind you that recent changes in fishing regulations also apply to ice fishing. For example, in waters where ice fishing is permitted, all anglers are now allowed to use up to three lines (jig poles, etc.) and five tip-ups. Previously, only two lines and five tip-ups had been allowed.
This change is a result of anglers now being allowed to also use three lines during the spring, fall and summer months, rather than just two. Of course, ...
The Department of Environmental Conservation has issued preliminary harvest estimates for the 2011 big game hunting seasons. For deer, the agency says the harvest reports started out slowly compared to the 2010 season, particularly in the Southern Zone, where there was 20 percent less harvest in the opening week of the season. However, that picked up considerably during Thanksgiving week, bringing the total take closer to the previous year.
The preliminary harvest estimates for bear are a bit of ...
As I’ve mentioned before in early-year columns, right up until Dec. 31 I’m in a reflective mood, spending a lot of time reviewing my hunting and fishing experiences of the previous year, looking over scores of digital photos I’ve taken and in general just basking in whatever positive experiences I might have had. However, on Jan. 1 I go into a completely different mode, thinking less about where I’ve been and what I’ve done and more about what I’d like to do d ...
Here’s a reminder: the Central Adirondack Ice Fishing Contest will be Saturday, Jan. 21, at Adirondack Lake. Check-in begins at 5:30 a.m. at Byron Park. The entry fee is $30 for advance registrations or $35 at the event. Registration forms are available at the Indian Lake Chamber of Commerce and Indian Lake Town Hall.
The contest hours will be 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Over $2,000 in cash prizes and $1,000 in equipment prizes will be available, with cash prizes awarded hourly. For additional inform ...
The Southern Zone regular big game season ended at sundown Sunday, Dec. 11. All that’s left is the late bow-hunting and muzzleloader seasons in that zone, which opened Monday, Dec. 12, and end at sundown Tuesday, Dec. 20. The muzzleloader season in portions of the peripheral Adiron-dacks also closed Sunday, Dec. 11.
My congratulations to all of you who were able to take a buck in either the Northern or Southern zone this season. For my part, I cut my hunting season a bit short this year in ...
The northern zone regular big game season ended Dec. 4 and only the late muzzleloader season remains in certain peripheral areas of the Adirondacks, as well as the southern zone regular season, which ends Dec. 11, just a few days from now, but ice fishing will soon take over as the preferred outdoor activity of sportsmen.
That being the case, perhaps this is the best time to issue our annual cautionary note about the dangers of hypothermia. Simply put, hypothermia occurs when exposure to wind, c ...
For those of you who await the end of the season as much as the beginning, as of today there are only four days remaining in the northern zone regular big game season and only 11 left in the southern zone regular season. The northern zone regular season closes at sunset Sunday, Dec. 4, but a late muzzleloader season opens in peripheral portions of the North Country Monday, Dec. 5, and closes Sunday, Dec. 11.
Conversely, the southern zone regular season closes Sunday, Dec. 11, then the late muzzl ...
This may come as no surprise to many of you. According to statistics issued by the Department of Environ-mental Conserv-ation, 85 percent of the State of New York’s 560,000 licensed big game hunters hunt the southern zone of the state. That’s not to say all of them spend their deer hunting time exclusively in that zone, just that 85 percent of them spend at least some time in that zone. In addition, the southern zone accounts for roughly 60 percent of the annual deer harvest in NYS.
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In the past few weeks I’ve had a number of hunters comment on the apparent abundance of bear and bear sign in the northern zone. I guess some hunters are seeing quite a few while others are seeing not so many.
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, this year’s early season bear take was very low, due in large part to a good mast crop, which kept the bruins from ranging very far. Obviously, they have a preference for staying where the food supply is ...
I’m a bit curious as to how many deer (and perhaps even bear) will be taken by crossbows this season here in New York state. Not very many at all I’d guess, though as the three-year sunshine clause on these weapons approaches in 2013 we may ultimately see a loosening of restrictions on crossbows, permitting them to be used more easily and more often.
There are several directions in which the state Department of Environmental Conservation could go regarding crossbows after the initial ...
Several years ago I gave up trying to get a Maine Moose tag, despite annually paying the price for the application and purchasing extra points as well. In the process I also earned a number of preference points that were supposed to boost ones chances of being selected - which I wasn’t. The Maine DNR should be pleased because their “random draw” process is about as successful for me as our NYS deer management permit process for antlerless tags. When I quit applying for the moos ...
According to the recently published results of a study conducted by the New York State Museum, it appears wolves have migrated into the Empire State as well as other areas in the Northeast. For the first time, scientists used a new isotope test to determine whether eight wolves found in the Northeast over the past few decades had been living in the wild or had escaped from captivity.
Wolves are not known to breed in New York state but are occasionally discovered here. Three of the eight wolves t ...
By Ron Kolodziej
For the Express
Last weekend I attended the annual conference of the New York State Outdoor Writer’s Association. The event was headquartered in the Holiday Inn in Gloversville, in neighboring Fulton County, and it was close enough to my home for me to drive to the site for various meetings and events rather than stay there. I’ve belonged to NYSOWA since 1979 and that’s the first time the conference was that close.
Over 50 outdoor writers and other media repre ...
I doubt its gotten past you but if it has, the 2012 Northern Zone muzzleloader big game season opens Saturday, just three days from today, and the Northern zone regular big game season opens Saturday, Oct. 22.
Most of Hamilton County falls within Wildlife Management Unit 5H so let’s review what happened here last season. Past results aren’t always a good indicator for the future, because of all the variables involved, but for comparative purposes here’s how Hamilton County hunt ...
The 2011 - 2012 license year is already a week old so if you haven't yet cleared the old 2010 - 2012 license tags, back tag, etc. out of your pocket and/or back tag carrier, now is the time to do it and replace everything with the new, current tags and licenses.
The new license year began Saturday, Oct. 1, and that was also the final day to apply for a Deer Management Permit if you were hoping to get one. According to information I received last week, the state Department of Environmental Conser ...
Very shortly, whitetails will begin their pre-rut activity, meaning they’ll become more active. Actually, some bucks in this area have already begun “chasing” does, but as mid-October arrives they’ll begin their activities in earnest. Exactly when the rut occurs is subject to conjecture and it depends upon whose book you’ve read and what part of the country you live in. Better perhaps to just go with rough rules of thumb.
Hereabouts the “primary rut” gen ...
I'm certain we have plenty of warm, pleasant days ahead of us before snow flies, but autumn officially arrives Friday.
Whatever happened to this year's summer? It appears to have been sandwiched between days of rain, wind, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, colder-than-normal temperatures, a tornado and generally unsettled weather. For many boaters the boating season came to an abrupt end the last week of August when Mother Nature began to unleash her fury on the area. One can only hope for better ...
The state Department of Environmental Conservation has been investigating reports of over 100 sick and dead whitetails in the Town of Clarkstown in Rockland County. Tissue samples from the dead deer were collected by the agency's Wildlife Pathology Unit and sent to the Cornell University Animal Health Diagnostic Center for testing.
The results of those tests are now in. The culprit has been identified as Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease, a viral disease of whitetails that is transmitted by the bite ...
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