doughboysigep

Hey Mike,

glad I could bring some enjoyment to your day. maybe when you are done laughing, you'll have some actual input on the subject??? (maybe not)

doughboysigep

moose,

where is you "home" area (just a pet peeve of mine, but it would be nice if eceryone on the board had to give a location that showed up - at least a general location - but that is a topic for another discussion)

I don't know the answers. all I know is in my home area (central 7M and surrounding areas) the herd is fine (but i bet I could find "a hundred" people that would say there are no deer - they tend to be those that hunt for 2 days or when there was no snow or were just unlucky - i say "tend" because there are certainly going to be hunters like some that post here that did hunt hard and saw few deer - those are the breaks)

I think I saw hundreds of deer from late september till the end of december at night on my many drives to and from my camp (~25 miles). I made that trip many times (too many) for hockey games, basketball or football games. The deer were everywhere. And this is in a unit where there was no DMP (ie low population - however, the way I understood it, they were concerened with the low buck numbers more than anything). nother case in point - I hunta at my friends in Owasco this year [3 days]; i didn't see a deer; so my obvious reaction should be "there are no deer", right??; well, they had actually taken 2-3 buck and 3-4 doe in the previous 2 weeks; so i guess their numbers were pretty good there

I think most of us agree on some things: 1) that 30-40 deer a day is not that good (in NY). 2) that in some places in NY the deer population is down. 3) some places the pop is just fine 4) there are many hunters out there that complain but really don't understand a lot of what they are complaining about (and I am not talking about anyone here) 5) and MOST OF ALL we will always be able to agree to disagree

Phade

The take is down 22% give or take a bit, not 40%.

BTBowhunter

It's obvious that there are now some real cold spots as well as some areas that still hold too many deer.

Personally, I had a few 30+ deer days this year but we hunted hard and put on drives to see that many (some private land but also some public land) I also agree that there are areas like some in the ANF where the numbers are down.

I will say that I truly believe that any hunter who works hard at it and is willing to be adaptable (IE get off the roads, find a new patch of woods, scout out new areas, stay out there etc) will still see acceptable deer numbers.

One of the reasons the "I dont see any deer anymore" crowd doesnt get much credibility is that the loudest of their lot has been screaming this for 20+ years maybe more. every increase in doe tags, bonus tags or hunting days has generated this type of outcry as long as I can remember (and I'm gettin old) Maybe some have cried wolf so long that no one wants to listen anymore.

Yes there are less deer in the big woods but there are generally sufficient numbers for the dedicated hunter. I've been hunting for 33 seasons now and the buck opener was a huge event up north. Camps stayed full all week. The small towns were busy all week. My camp is on a fairly well traveled hard road just out of Tionesta and the parade of trucks returning home starts around 9 AM on the first Monday. Lets face it, this cant be simply a lack of deer. These guys couldn't have been in the woods more than an hour! Gone with the big crowds is the idea of picking a spot, and sitting there all day waiting for deer to move by. There just arent many hunters out there moving deer like there was in the old days.

Less deer? yep, in spots but that aint all of it. There are also less hunters putting in less effort and going less distance from their trucks.

Champlain Islander

Gone are the good old days of seeing lots of deer (even though most were does) in Vermont. Over the past 5 years it appears that the hunting has gotten progressively worse. The state blames it on rough winters and all sorts of other excuses and points out that the total kill is still respectable but they have simply added seasons like youth bow, youth rifle, expanded archery and muzzleloader and allowed a 3 buck harvest which runs the total up and makes a bad comparison to a time when there was only a limited bow season and a 16 day bucks only rifle season with 1 buck total harvest allowed. What has changed? I know in my area they have logged out most of the yarding areas near my camp. I am not talking about a few acres but thousands of acres of cedar and spruce all gone. Must be they can get good dollars for softwood and figured that it wouldn't matter. Difficult to survive in a mature hardwoods all year round and couple that with the farms selling out and being developed and posted you get the present day Vermont. A place nobody hunts anymore.

moose1915

yes, i re read the article. you are correct. sorry.

BuckAlley

Hey Dough. I recently made reference to seeing 30 plus deer the other day. But that was only as a reference comparing the older days to the present. Although I admit it was fun seeing all those deer, it was obviously a problem for the reasons you mentioned. But I also do feel todays herd is underpopulated in many areas of NYS. For me our populations of deer back say late 90's was more to my liking where I still saw a group of 3-4 doe together. Occasionally maybe even 5-6. The last 2 yrs its seems I'm lucky to see 2 deer together.
I do put in as much time as possible, and usually harvest 1 deer a season to help put food on the table. I also hunt from 9/27 right to the final shot in Dec. while still working a 40hr wk job, tending to 2 teenage boys, and a grumpy wife that time of year, hahaha! But even though common sense would seem the more time you hunt the more deer you see, and the better chance of harvesting a critter. It doesn't always work out that way. How often have we heard the stories of a hunting buddy whose hardly scouted, hardly been out. Finally gets a day in the woods, see's several deer, and arrows a decent buck!!!
It just seems to me when several hunters, butchers, taxidermists are all saying the population must be down. Plus we have no excuse for a foul weathered opening day of Southern reg season in 2004. Its time the DEC listened to the ones buying the licenses, members of hunting clubs, and businesses related to hunting.
As far as opinions in the meetings, anyone purchasing a hunting license in this state as a say. Regardless of others opinions on how well their commented foundations are, or knowledge of a overall solution to the problem. The the DEC is asking for everyones opinions.

Mr. .45-70

Maybe you need to come up and hunt the Adirondacks with me for a little dose of reality. On average, I hunt 45-50 days each hunting season which includes bow, black powder and rifle. I've been keeping a hunting journal for several years now and a disturbing trend is painfully obvious. I used to see between 60-80 deer during the entire season. Granted,some of those sightings were of the same deer but on different days. This averages out to a little over 1 deer sighted per day of hunting. The last 3 or 4 years I have been seeing less than half of the deer I used to see! This past season, I went a staggering 13 days straight without seeing so much as a flag and saw less than a dozen deer for the whole season!! Suggesting that I need to hunt harder just doesn't hold water. This was a reaccuring theme with all the hunters in this area. The deer numbers are not even close to what they used to be. Obviously the deer population is a lot lower in the Adirondacks than in the Southern Zone, but this rediculous. Something has got to change.

Mr. .45-70

doughboysigep

Thanks for the invite and I DO HUNT in the Adirondacks. This conversation has nothing (as I meant it) to do with the 'Dacks. It is a different balgame up there. Big woods, lower hunting pressure (but still "lots" of deer). We are lucky to get 1 or 2 buck a year out of our camp (a total of ~20-30 guys hunting over 3 weeks) this year was a great year to hunt (only one deer hangin, but..). the weather was great, we had snow, and the deer seemed to be everywhere. I saw more tracks than I have in the 9 or so years I been going. fun huntin' there with some snow. I think we have benefitted from some large blowdown over the past 10 years or so (makes excellent deer- and moose- habitat)

by the way, I have seen 1 live deer in the 9 years up there (a flag my 1st trip) and I have a great time every year. with the right weather, hunting can be great, you just need a little luck to get a shot.

and, by the way, to get a deer in the adirondack, you do have to hunt harder - that is a FACT. mountain, tough terrain, navigation, wather, etc, etc. the guys in our camp that consistently see deer are the ones that hike 5-8-10 miles a day. i personally don't need a deer THAT bad - I go out a mile or 2 and sit and hope. maybe someday

bullmoose38

Its weird how everybody is seeing less deer in the Northeast. For all the "ANTI-ALTS" in PA. Let me guess he screwed up the deer herd everywhere not just in PA.