jgbennett6

so obviously there are some major disagreements on how to manage NY's deer herd. Some say AR's some say its my right to shoot what I have tags for, and otehrs could care less either way.
However i have been thinking about it, how many people do you know that shoot the first legal buck they get, just so they have one, but keeep hunting for the "big" one.....i think a major problem in NY's deer herd has to do with the enforcement of laws..............way too much poaching in my area!!...shooting at night, filling others buck tags..and plainly just killing 8-10 bucks a year without reporting a single one..i'm sure we all know people who do that. ....................BUT!!!! imagine if you had to check in your deer.....and we had 3 times teh conservation officers to enforce the laws, do you think people would still shoot the first thing that came through, string it in tehg arage and keep hunting for teh big one?.....i dont think so.....that is how ohio works.........very tough game laws..........guys hang onto their buck tags for something big because they know......you only get this one buck.....and if you break the law........your screwed!!!!...............so what do you guys think
1) leave it as it is.....
2) AR's are the only savior
3)stronger law enforcement and check in stations would work wonders...

tmeservey

The way Ohio looks at enhancing their deer herd is a nice one and it works. I still think we should start for a few yearsusing antler restrictions because this is a rapid way to increase buck numbers in just afew years.......then limit hunters to one buck tag, you pick your weapon and what buck will make you a happy NY hunter.. Like in Ohio, enforce your existing buck laws and have harsh penalties.

I know a advid deer hunter in Ohio that keeps bugging me to go out and hunt with him. He hunts coonhounds also like my father and I, this is how we know him. He believes many of the 2.5 year old bucks are making it throught and becoming 3.5 year olds. This makes a big difference in body size and horn growth in most cases. I'm all for this.

I'm also for limiting our gun season to only a week for example. Our bucks get slaughtered especially the stupid 1.5 year olds.

mlo3135127

I know alot of hunters that do this. I makes me so freaken mad. They shoot the first little buck that they see and than say "now i am hunting for a big one" even though they only have one buck tag during regular season. They usually end up shooting another little one.

tsoc

I am definitely not in favor of leaving it as it is! There were some very good points made on the Antler Restriction post pertaining to the need for a more reliable way to have accurate harvest records.Couple that with more ECO's inthe field,mandatory check stations possibly and at the same time introduce a one buck limit and significantly shorten the rifle season.This seems to be why other states such as Ohio and Iowa and Illinois have so much to offer.Why can't we duplicate their model so to speak?
Their agricultural situation certainly contributes to their success.

jgbennett6

I honestly do not believe much of the data provided by the DEC, i know of myself and hand full of other that actually call in their kills. nobody around here does, and also nobody around ehre shoots 1 buck with teh gun..they shoot one throw in the garage, skin it and throw an archery tag on it...thats teh way it goes. ..I ask them why they shot the small 4 pointer.........you knwo why?.." cause i havn't shot anything all week..i was getting itchy".....not many people where i come from take pride in killing small bucks they jsut like to shoot something.

Sylvan

1) leave it as it is.....
I say there is always room to improve and experiment.

2) AR's are the only savior
I don't see that we need a savior. As far as I'm concerned things are going pretty well in NY. Of course, like I said, there's always ways to improve and I would encourage experimenting with ideas. I would however strongly oppose a state wide AR mandate.

3)stronger law enforcement and check in stations would work wonders...
If by stronger law enforcement you mean increase the number of CO's then I am totally against it. The dollars spent for more CO's imo would be much better spent on other much more important issues in NY. It seems to me we have plenty of deer here and it is obvious that the state can very effectively increase the population any time they want just by restricting the doe permits a bit. In fact for quite a few years the problem has been too many deer not too few so again imo I can't see spending money to make sure Joe Blow doesn't use his wifes tags to kill a few more deer than he's entitled to when for example it could be used to help make sure Joe and his buddies aren't driving drunk and maybe save some human lives. When compared to many other issues poaching just isn't a big enough problem. CHeck stations? Again, that means people to man them and money to pay the people. Besides what a pain in the butt!

jgbennett6

sylvan.i couldn't disagree with your statement more...........sure limit doe tags and the pop. will increase.sure the pop. of does as all of the 1.5 yo will be killed...

Sylvan

I'm not sure what you disagree with. You agreed that the population would increase and that's all I said. As far as all the 1 1/2 yo's being killed,what is your point?

jgbennett6

I disagree to the point that the pop. is fine, maybe where you are but not in many areas of NY.. think of other hunters and not jsut yourself. I agree the doe population wil increase, but it would throw off the gen. pop of the herd in the long run. do you ccar about the longevity and health of the deer herd in NY?..in my area, i'm not sure of others, the buck to doe ratios is way out of whack!! and the woods are over browsed

cnyguy

Can you prove this will happen? Based on what?

I grew up in Ohio, my brothers, nephews, sisters, aunts, uncles...etc still live there. They own land from an acre to over 200 acres. Ohio has never had antler restrictions. When I killed my first deer in 1976 the total take statewide was around 30,000 deer. Now its almost 10 times that.

With themultiple bucktags and long gun season in NY, you will see a minimal increase in bigger bucks, even with AR. I have lived here for 12 years, I know how the majority of the people feel about killing a deer around here, and most want to shoot bucks, includingsome of my close friends and coworkers. I dont care what you use for AR's, if you allow people to gun hunt for over 3 weeks, eventually you will get snow, and the deer will get slaughtered, regardless of size. With AR's, They will just kill a whole bunch of little 6 and 8 pointers instead some spikes and forks. What did you gain? You can see the stats in NY(southern tier), years with ample snow, deer kill goes up, no snow, down. Its the same in Ohio. All you hear around here, "Man, we need some snow so we can kill a deer", the DEC will tell you the same thing.

I don't think ARs are the answer because its one more layer of red tape and sublegal deer will be left in the woods to rot because someone thought they saw "3" points.

Ohio got to where they are at by issuing "deer tags" . In some counties you could kill either sex, but only one deer. With a 1 week season (some counties were as low as 3 days) many hunters killed the first deer they could, very often a doe. Some people waited for a buck(spike, 6 pt, 180 class B&C), but no matter what, you could only kill one buck during the season, bow, gun, or muzzleloader.

With a generous bow season in Ohio, the gun season isn't all that important, in fact I know guys who don't even hunt the gun season!

If you tried to cut the southern tier season in NY, people would flip out, including many sporting goods stores and other businesses that depend on hunters. The only wayto help, statewide, is for the DEC to allow only 1 buck per season, andantlerless tags as needed. I think younger or inexperienced hunters should be allowed to kill any size buck they have the chance to(it they want to kill a buck), most will learn to become more patient over time. Just don't give the the chance to kill 2 or 3 small bucks during the season.

JMO