Too much money being made by a greedy state. And no land to hunt. They are upgrading our local Di<ks sporting goods to a premier archery location due to the volume of sales. You would think a bass pro or a cabelas would consider coming in.
Bass pro shops was supposed to open in Monroe New York by Woodbury Commons this year everything was all set and then something happened with zoning and bass pro shops pulled out. The gander mountain by me is a zoo opening weekend during rifle. They should expand the bow season and limit rifle in New York. Too many weekend rifle hunters who shoot young bucks like spikes and 4 pointers. We need QDMA minded hunters.
Well guys this may not effect all of you but the tenative schedule is out from the dec and as of right now the first two weeks of bow are to be antlerless only for several counties again. This sucks!!!! I have no problem with wanting to take more antlerless deer but not this way. If a big boy walks by you are just supposed to sit and watch him. Stupid. Check it out here http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/huntseasons16.pdf
I'm 5J and 5R. I'm good to go. Only change I like, no early muzzle loader season. One more week of bow only and peace and quiet. I gave up the ,isle loader years ago.
I agree Crash. Im in 3M so I can't kill a buck in the first two weeks either. But if you look at the top of the hunting seasons pdf it says that the anterless rule is under review and subject to change before the start of the season. Hopefully they change it. I would rather less rifle and more bow or require having to kills a doe to earn a buck tag.
8G for me, which means doe only again for the first and last weeks. I believe that NY does a lot wrong, and the DEC along with it. But I also believe that if you aren't doing your part as hunters and conservationists, you can't be complaining of the changes they made. First off, people have to be reporting their deer. I know guys who have never done it in their lives, and I also know people who shoot does, don't report them, and only report their big bucks that people hear about. DEC has made it very easy to report your harvests by either phone or computer, takes about 45 seconds and you're done. With that kinda stuff, it's no wonder the DEC thinks the doe harvest is down. AR's are a dream, and in my area of WNY, could really make a big difference. And also, make alot of those "if it's brown it's down killers" upset for a few years, but once they begin seeing more mature and larger bucks then that could change in a hurry. As much as the "doe-only" weeks pissed me off, this year I have seen more "shooter" bucks around than I've ever seen before. It could definitely be due to the weak winter we had, but I believe that NY's season changes caused more people to hunt less those first two weeks (and not shoot does like they expected to happen), and less people buying MZ tags and hunting that late season. Good luck to my fellow NY hunters this upcoming season!
Just heard from a friend that has a hook at DEC that the 3 antler restriction is a definite for next year. (I have heard that before though) I have mixed feeling about it.
as a DEC employee I feel I have to comment. Now to start I agree it is frustrating, I also have a few hunting areas that fall in a doe only wmu. But the idea of this is not to increase buck take or quality of bucks. It is to insure that people fill their doe tags to attempt to fix our buck to doe ratio which is currently terrible. a lot of doe tags are given out but they aren't being filled. The WMUs in which the doe only restriction was applied are the ones with the worst ratio. So the best advice I can give is to kill does and look at the future potential that may come from this.
Also those people who shoot bucks when they shouldn't we have no control over and karma will catch them one way or another. But they are no different than those people who shoot 2 or 3 bucks during bow season, that can not be controlled or accounted for.
Most people I know won't hunt the first two weeks of the season if they cant shoot a buck so I don't think the anterless restriction the first two weeks won't work. I am a firm believer in filling my doe tags and also filling some DMP doe tags. I strongly agree that the doe ratio is out of control but I think the only way you will get people to shoot more does is to only give out buck tags after two doe tags are filled. Even if they just did this for rifle. I also think bow hunters understand deer management. It's the rifle hunters who only hunt a couple of days a year and shoot spikes and young bucks that ruin it.
I agree with you Rob. I also do some hunting in Jersey and for the early season they have a "earn a buck" program. You have to shoot a doe and once if is reported you can fill your buck tag and that seems to work well. You just pray a shooter buck doesn't show up at first light lol
