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Third consecutive decline in state deer kill predicted
[/align][/align]Sunday, December 25, 2005
J. MICHAEL KELLY
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OUTDOORS WRITER
[/align]Although we have an impressive backlog of whopper whitetail photos for our "Trophy of the Week" feature, and many readers see tall stacks of venison steaks when they open their freezers, the consensus among Central New York hunters seems to be that the just-ended deer season was a bit of a disappointment.
The Department of Environmental Conservation isn't expected to report the statewide deer kill until late February or March, but the higher-ups in the agency have already predicted a 9 or 10 percent decline compared with the 2004 season, when hunters bagged 208,000 bucks, does and fawns.
If the early assessment proves accurate, it will mark the third consecutive drop in the deer kill. Last year's venison harvest was down 18 percent from the 253,000 deer shot or arrowed by hunters in 2003, and about one-third fewer than the record 308,216 whitetails we whacked in 2002.
Most of that decline was planned, as state game managers sought to reduce deer-car accidents and field crop depredation by issuing unprecedented numbers of doe permits to hunters in 2002 and 2003, but the herd-trimming drive got a little out of hand in some wildlife management units in the last two years.
Add a couple of harsh winters to the string of liberal doe-harvest quotas and you can appreciate why buck sightings have become infrequent in fields and wood lots that used to sprout antlers to spare.
Recognizing the downward spiral that was at least partly due to their own machinations, DEC biologists began putting the brakes on doe permits two years ago, and really clamped down this season.
The 400,000 or so antlerless tags allocated for the 2005 hunt were 40 percent fewer than issued the previous fall. As a result of that cutback, many hunters found doe permits hard to come by and shot fewer deer this season.
On the plus side of the ledger, letting more does survive in a given autumn is like stashing a few extra dollars in the bank. It means there will be more fawns born in the spring and more bucks to hunt a couple of years later.
Hunters who didn't fill any buck or doe tags this season can't put all the blame on state officials, in any event.
While the deer population is thin now, compared with a couple of seasons back, it is far more robust than it was in the 1970s or even the '80s. In big-picture terms, we are still enjoying the good old days of deer hunting.
Deer managers can't be expected to gain permission for hunters to put up tree stands on posted lands, nor can they force bone-weary sportsmen to get out of bed and into the woods on days when the weather is less than ideal.
I know I'm not the only hunter who has less access to private property than he did 10 or 20 years ago. Nor am I the only aging nimrod who thinks twice about carrying out one more deer drive before lunch or staying on watch until sunset when an icy December wind is rattling my teeth.
A little extra preseason scouting, asking a few more landowners for permission to trespass and simply hunting harder and longer will add up to more bucks on the tailgate, year in, year out.
Sport show on horizon
The Northeastern Sport Show will return to the state fairgrounds Center of Progress from Jan. 27-29. That's about a month away.
Several new feature exhibits and seminar presenters have been lined up for the show. The biggest added attraction, literally, is Brody the Bear, a strapping 1,300-pound bruin from Alaska's Kodiak Island.
I'll let you know the show hours, entry fees and other details as the event draws closer.
here`s the link
http://www.syracuse.com/search/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1135330569222900.xml?syrspdout#continue
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Sunday`s paper in Syracuse NY
