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Tuesday, December 19, 2006
NYS DEC Needs To Consider Changes
How was your deer season? Were you successful? Of course, success has many meanings for deer hunters. Success might mean tagging a buck. It might mean tagging a deer — either doe or buck. And, it might mean just sitting and relaxing in the deer woods every other weekend throughout the season.
After every deer season I tend to ask whether or not the state could do a better job managing its priceless commodity — the whitetail deer.
Again, this year, many hunters expressed their concern with the lack of deer sightings throughout the big-game season. Some hunters believe our deer herd experiences tremendous pressure because of the length of the season. Some hunters say our reduced deer herd and smaller bucks are a direct reflection of the Department of Environmental Conservation's inadequate deer management policies.
SHORTER SEASON
Too much pressure will, indeed, turn whitetails nocturnal. Under continuous pressure, even does and yearlings will curtail their movements during daylight hours. So, what can we do to overturn their night time movements? How about decreasing the amount of hunting days? There is absolutely no reason not to shorten our big-game season. Just look at some Midwestern states where, not big, but huge, bucks are taken year after year. Their seasons are less than half of what are season is and, yet, these states rank on top for quality deer taken.
For a matter of discussion, let's forget about hunting season. Throughout the fall and into early December, whitetail bucks are stressed beyond belief. Chasing does, chasing inferior bucks, running from dominant bucks and fighting other bucks burns so many calories and causes certain injuries that bucks are fortunate just to survive any north country winter.
So, why not have a shorter season? What would be so wrong with this concept? DEC's response would be something like, "We need to provide our valuable hunting community as many hunting days as possible because they just simply deserve it." I'm guessing that DEC does not utilize any science or biological facts that determine the length of our deer season. Could they shorten the season? Absolutely. Would they? I doubt it.
ANTLER RESTRICTIONS
A number of hunters firmly believe that, coupled with a shorter deer season, the local deer herd would benefit from antler restrictions during the harvest. The bottom line is to permit young bucks the opportunity to become mature and possibly grow to their optimum potential. Could we see antler restrictions placed on our northern DMUs? Maybe. Does it make sense? Yes. Will there be those opposed? Certainly, until they put the crosshairs on a buck of their dreams.
MANDATORY DEER CHECK STATIONS
How can you do good science with unreliable data? Well, that is exactly how the state manages or attempts to manage our deer herd. I have written in support of a mandatory deer check in the past and I'll continue to voice my support for one. Will a mandatory deer check prevent tag swapping and other tagging violations? No one will know unless the program is implemented. Will the state obtain more accurate deer harvest data? By all means. Every deer should be accounted for — even all nuisance deer harvested should be checked. To date, the state's system for calculating deer harvest is nothing more than an educated guess. And it is the guessing game that has caused our deer herd to fluctuate from one extreme to another.
TAG SWAPPING
This year, in particular, I received many complaints about hunters using other hunter's tags when they kill a deer. Evidently, there are a number of hunters who feel compelled to hunt week after week while utilizing tags from other hunters. Not being confused with transferring Deer Management Permits from one hunter to another, these individuals make a practice of blatant big-game license abuse. Somehow, some way, the law enforcement and sportsmen must work out a way to prevent this wide-spread illegal activity.
CROSSBOW SEASON
While just about every state in the nation has set a crossbow season, New York continues to sit back and let a revenue-generating hunting activity be dictated by a minority voice. Big-game crossbow hunting is largely overdue and the department needs to work with the state Legislature to make it a viable and exciting new big-game sport.
HUNTER HARASSMENT, A FINE LINE
This season I received disturbing reports from deer camps located along the foothills of the Adirondacks that DEC law enforcement used helicopter flights (priced at a reported $800/hr) to locate hunters as they pursued game. I understand the helicopters would hover over a hunter sitting in a treestand or on a ground watch. Now, can you imagine having a noisy helicopter hovering over your treestand? How many deer do you think you'll see after the copter flies off? While I commend DEC for placing effort on catching game violators, I believe some of their methodology borders on hunter harassment. There must be some sort of logical and less costly method to the taxpayers for dealing with baiting and other deer hunting violations. It's a shame that ethical sportsmen are having their weekend Adirondack deer hunts ruined by the same agency that enforces any other type of hunter harassment by the public.
