NYS Deer Manangement Proposal
 

The 5 Year NYS DEC Deer Management Proposal is now available at the following link: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_...erplan0611.pdf.
The plan basically proposes a few changes in the season. A Southern zone archery opener of Oct. 1st, a Youth Firearms Season the weekend of Columbus day weekend and possibly a change in the distance that one can discharge a bow when hunting near a dwelling from 500 ft to 150 ft.

thanks for sharing....

What I don't like, if read under Appendix 3 Alternate Buck Harvest Strategies. It appears to me as though the DEC is looking to decrease buck harvest tag limits. It very well could be just 1 buck tag! I've also heard this from other club sources. If that is the case I hope its not restricting just 1 tag for archery, muzzleloader, and regular season total. That could greatly reduce license sales due to fact why pay for additional licenses if can only recieve 1 buck tag!
I personally am more than happy with harvesting 1 buck a year. Its pretty much all I do, and have done. But what I do like is having the extra tag during archery & muzzloader, then 1 in regular season so I can keep hunting for a big boy. I enjoy meat hunting first, most often a doe. Then going for big bone, perferrably with a bow. If I'm successful at that. Regular season wouldn't be all that interesting to me w/o a buck tag. Just my opinion.

I,m not realy liking the idea of cutting back the BG season to 44 days .
They end up lengthening our bow season but cuts back on rifle ?
Also I just wanted to comment on the youth 3 day hunting dates planned .
Personaly I dont feal that having the 3 day youth hunt would be a good idea during the Columbus Day Weekend do to the fact that it falls on the deer bow season .
My point is that it is not LEGAL to carry a FIREARM ( as far as I was told ) during or while BOW HUNTING .
The youths will need a Parent or Licensed adult with them and do to follow up shots , saftey or maybe dad just wants to bring a gun along wouldnt he then be braking the law ?
I would suggest having it during the opener or last 3 days of muzzleloader season .
Yes same rules apply but dad could then at least have the oppurtunity to carry a ML Legaly .

I have read the proposal and under "Alternative Buck Harvest Strategies" It appears to me that DEC is only pointing out the suggestions they received, I don't see any wording that would indicate that they are proposing a one Buck rule. It appears to me that they are more in favor of Antler restrictions.
On a side note, in this weeks NY Outdoor News is a half page advertisement on page 8 that is completely misleading in reference to the DEC proposal. I called NY Outdoor News and complained about it. I have no problem with someone pointing out what they don't like about the proposal, but at least be truthful. That AD is only designed to scare hunters with half truths and misrepresentations. I would like to know who placed it.
I encourage all hunters to read the proposal, and if they have questions about it, call DEC and let them explain it to you.
And just for the record, there are some aspects of the proposal I don't like, but at least DEC is trying to improve the deer hunting situation here in NY. And no, I don't work for DEC and never have.

let me first say i am not against the youth hunting season. however, could someone tell me what was wrong with the way most people i know learned to hunt. when i started at age 5 ( 43 yrs ago ) we were not old enough to carry guns but we went. we carried shells, helped with field dressing, checked on older hunters, and most importantly learned how to hunt, not necessarily just how to kill. In my opinion, and it is just an opinion, in today's world way too much emphasis is put on taking animals. I think it is becoming killing and not hunting.

From the proposal: Reducing the buck tag limit and shortening the firearms seasons are the options more frequently suggested by New York Hunters.
You can put your $ on it, its what the DEC will try to do! Think about it what attracts hunters, and increases license sales? Big Bucks, and lots of deer. The days of big deer herds is long gone. So that leaves Big Bucks!

Andrews, I understand what your saying and agree with you in part as I was raised the sameway. I went out every chance I could with my father as a kid. However times have changed, kids are more involved in after school activities, and the electronics era. Plus anti-hunting organizations, and health kicks like vegetarians. Hunting is no longer a top priority to kids, and families. The average age of NY hunters keeps increasing. Its a sad thing, but the DEC, and hunting organizations never saw it coming. I'm not sure a youth deer hunt is the answer. I know the youth turkey hunt has been a big success. Lowering the age limits should help as well. But the important thing is we get our kids involved for the future of hunting!

ok, can someone tell me if under this new law my daughter who is 12 will be able to partake in the youth season? I tried reading it and hope someone might have seen the age restrictions...

As far as the whole thing goes. I would have left it the way it was and added on the youth hunt the 1st of october, have the antlerless muzz season at the same time and by the time bow season gets here the deer would of had 2 weeks to settle down.

As I see it they want to ad a 3 day youth or ages 12 and 13 season to the 2011 year .
I was under the impression it was a gun hunt for the 12 and 13 year olds .
BUT I just read an artical in the new NWTF magazine stating it was for 12 and 13 yr old kids that hunt BOW with a 21 yr old or older archer that hunted with a bow for at least 3 years ?
If thats the case then Columbus day weekend would be fine .

Are you guys seriously saying there are less deer around then there have been in the past? We need more doe tags and 3 antler per side restrictions. It is about the money so hand out more doe tags. The Doe:Buck ratio in NY is so messed up its not even funny. Maybe its just because of where you guys live, but in 4Y we sure as hell have a surplus of does. (PS. andrewstj you couldn't be more wrong buddy, no need to be cynical :) )

Don't presume that a management program that might make a difference in YOUR backyard would be what is best for the entire state.

Really? Please explain how letting a 2 year old buck hit 3 years would be "bad for the rest of the state". As for the doe tags part, i was talking about my zone that needs to be handled on a "by zone basis".

If I lived in NY still, I would support the one buck rule for sure. I moved to NC and let me tell you, they have a liberal season 2 bucks and 4 does in my area and in the Eastern part of the State 2 of those 4 doe permits become buck permits. That is 4 bucks total, the buck population is dessimated and you rarely see a good buck around here. Sounds like you guys are moving in the right direction.

I am not totally against this. Why would taking less bucks and letting some grow be a bad thing? We are already seeing bigger bucks a little more frequently, so why not try to help this along?

Also, I think they should shorten the gun season, but when the shortened gun season ends, have something like a month dedicated to Black Powder. Or just go Archery then straight black powder. While this idea would be ok for ME, it would not for most, so that goes to the back burner. In short, shorten the gun season, and a few less buck tags couldn't hurt the number of big bucks around. Even for just a few seasons (maybe 2013-2023?)

:sign0004:

Because AR would not protect a significant number of them in my area. Do you mean 1 1/2 (1st antlered season) to 2 1/2 (2nd antlered season) or 2 1/2 to 3 1/2. If you mean pass the 1 1/2 bucks, in my area 60% of them are 6 point or better. If you mean 2 1/2, then the figure is probably closer to 90% or better. Either way a 3pt/side AR restriction will not save many and will target the best of those age groups. A definate negative for my area.

Heres a small section that was in our Northern Tier newspapers sports section Sunday morning .
And I quote : Speaking of muzzleloading and archery seasons, the plan clearly states that eventually DEC would like to manage antlerless deer harvests in the Northern zone (NYS) through Deer Management Permits, as opposed to including the antlerless and either/or privilages with the purchase of archery and muzzleloader tags, as is done now .These hunters would still have the option of taking a buck with those implements . Unquote .
What the ? are they trying to say ?
Now that I purchased my LIFETIME Big Game and Bow licenses , there going to have a drawing to see if I get a doe tag or not for my bow season ?
Then give me the option of shooting a buck if I dont get the permit ?
Then say we need to have a antler restriction...
Sounds like were getting the shaft to me ..
I paid the big bucks a few years ago to be able to get my Big Game license and Bow tags KNOWING I,d also recieve a buck/ or doe tag . Not for a permit lottery .
I vote NO for the permits but would gladdly agree to an antler restriction , as I do practice this on my land and have for years .

I personnally feel the DEC is more interested in how to bring in more $, than what sportsman want. The lifetime license sales, was a way for them to get a big influx of $. Knowing darn well the license sales income would decrease down the road after all the lifetime license sales. So they have to come up with some other means. You add that on top of the fact the DEC might loose approx. 20 mil in federal $ from the Pittman-Robertson excise tax dollars spent on sporting equipment, becasue good ol' Cuomo setup this yrs budget so they could stick their hands into the conservation fund to balance things out. Thats against the fed excise tax refund to states.

The more I read this long 57 page proposal the more I get upset on some things. Alot of it makes no sense to me.
Objective 1.3 , 1.3.2: Initiate a process to discontinue use of either sex and antlerless only bow and muzzleloader tags for antlerless harvest and transition to a system based on Deer mgmt permits.
So basically if I harvest a buck with my bow say during the Northern archery season ( which I do hunt yearly). Then I don't successfully draw a doe permit. My season is OVER. Plus if I do draw a doe permit, that limits me to hunting just that mgmt area only. I live in Northern Tier, and own a camp in Southern Tier. This system would limit my hunting time considerably regardless. DEC even shows a % choice by hunters on proposed tags, and antler restrictions. The 1 buck tag only, wasn't even the top 2 choices!!!
Now the youth hunt. Dec is proposing for 12-15 yr olds, and writes how the age is now at 14. I don't get why pushing for 12 & 13 yrs olds, when they know what it took for this dam state to lower it to 14. It took how many yrs.?!!!! Plus the youth hunt is for both North & South on Columbus day wknd. In 2012 Columbus wknd is also the 1st wknd of Northern archery on the new license. I myself like many others is basically a wknd hunter. So if bowhunters can't begin 9/27, and must wait until 10/1. The first wknd will be shared with rifles in the woods! Not sure I like that. Also we know how law breakers will poach that wknd, and not enough law enforcement to stop it. Its happened on the youth turkey hunt! I'm not against a youth hunt, I just don't agree on that Northern wknd.
Then of course DEC writes how they are pro use of crossbows in all seasons, including archery. Well as many know I'm not for crossbows in archery seasons. I'm not opposed to use of crossbows say in their own season, or a separate muzzleloader/crossbow season. Northern tier shares a combined archery/muzzleloader season now. Its just my opinion on crossbows, and noone can change that.
What really gets me on this whole proposal is DEC writes this was based in part on 20 meetings in 2009 with approx. 1,000 hunters in attendance. Then shows 599,690 hunters in 2010. How biased is that. I couldn't attend those meetings. I had other obligations, and a night I could closest meeting was over 100miles away. 20 meetings hardly was enough, and 1,000 out of 566,690 hunters is a dam low percentage to base part of this on.
Basically we all need to comment, we have until end of July. e-mail to: [email protected] Place Deerplan in title heading.

You got that right Steve.

Additionally, why is it that no one person on this site considers the health of the deer habitat and how the DEC's failure to properly manage the the deer population has just about ruined the deer habitat in the southern region.


It seems to me that the carrying capacity of the land is the driving force for any changes.

The DEC should make an honest assesmnent of the habitat and manage the deer herd for a given area accordingly. The one size fits all deer mangement policy is a recipe for disaster.

NYDEC has updated it's page:


NY Big Game,



In reviewing comments already submitted for our draft deer management plan, it is apparent that a couple strategies of the plan need greater clarification. We have posted the following notes at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html to explain that the plan: (1) does not propose a 1-buck per hunter rule, and (2) does not propose an early muzzleloader season across the board for the Southern Zone.



1) 1-Buck Rule? - It's not in the plan.
Strategy 1.3.2 proposes to initiate a process to discontinue either-sex and antlerless-only bow and muzzleloader tags for antlerless harvest and transition to a system based exclusively on Deer Management Permits (DMPs) in all areas of the state. Some hunters have apparently misinterpreted this strategy as though DEC intends to institute a 1-buck per hunter rule. However, this is not the case. The proposal is strictly based on the need for a more sensitive antlerless harvest system, and Appendix 5.6 in the deer plan describes this need and purpose. At this point, the draft plan presents a concept for improved antlerless management. The potential tag system is not fully described, but bow and muzzleloader hunters would still be able to harvest one antlered deer during the regular season and one during either of the special seasons.


2) Early Muzzleloader Season in the Southern Zone? - It's proposed for very limited circumstances in specific areas only.
Strategy 2.2.6 proposes a possible early muzzleloader season under very limited circumstances. Some hunters have apparently misinterpreted this strategy as though an early muzzleloader season is being proposed for most or all of the Southern Zone. However, this is not the case. The strategy describes an approach to progressively increase harvest pressure on antlerless deer in areas where deer populations are above desired levels. This would be considered where DMPs are available to all hunters and additional steps are necessary to reduce the local deer population. A short, early muzzleloader season for antlerless deer is proposed as the third step of a three-step process. Based on current deer population trends, it is likely that step 1 (use of Bonus DMPs; see www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/10001.html for an explanation of Bonus DMPs) might be appropriate for 8-12 Wildlife Management Units, mostly located in northern Regions 8 and 9. If use of Bonus Permits is sufficient, then we would not need to progress on to step 2 (make part of the bow and late muzzleloading season antlerless-only) or step 3 (a short early-muzzleloader season for antlerless deer).



The draft deer plan is available at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html. I encourage you all to carefully read the plan, form your own opinions and give us feedback.



Please remember that July 28 is the deadline for submitting comments on the draft deer management plan. Comments may be submitted in writing to DEC Deer Management Plan, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4754 or by email to [email protected] using “Deer plan” in the subject line. Please do reply to NY Big Game to submit your comments.


Jeremy Hurst
Big Game Biologist