Re the Oct. 25 letter by John F. Van Patten titled, “Don’t let dogs loose during trapping season”: His views about trapping and hunting are outdated. You have got to be kidding me! Trapping and hunting were done 50 years ago because a lot of people needed another food source to survive. Not so today. Most of the cowardly men, today, hunt and trap for fun! Explain to me, please, how watching a helpless animal die is a sport. I take you to task, sir, when you stated that trapping is done for enjoyment of the outdoors. What hogwash. Can you really expect people with some intelligence to comprehend this line of reasoning? Civilized enjoyment is walking through the woods on a gorgeous day with your family and dogs, encountering a deer or two, watching the beauty of nature — from a distance. Also, yes, letting your dog off a leash, for just a bit, to watch them romp around, and occasionally, jump into a secluded pond for some fun. Your statement about supplementing a person’s income from this trapping is baloney. If you haven’t heard yet, there is not a big market to buy a dead animal’s fur and put it on your back. I’ve got a better sport for you. How about we arm the animals, and let you so-called hunters go out in the woods and take your chances, because I am so sure that there would not be a single soul out there, if they knew something was going to shoot back. Or better yet, let’s put some human traps out here to snare you people, and watch your face when you contort in agony. Now that’s enjoyment. DEBORAH MCALLISTER Gansevoort
DEC: More deer in area found dead of disease The Associated Press
ALBANY — State conservation officials reported Tuesday that additional deer in upstate New York were found infected with an insect-borne virus that had not been detected in New York state before this year. Tests showed that deer found dead in October south of Albany died of epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD. The state Department of Environmental Conservation said Tuesday that additional cases have now been confirmed in Albany, Rensselaer and Niagara counties. EHD killed deer in Selkirk, Castleton and Youngstown, the agency said. The disease — which doesn’t pose a known threat to human health — causes hemorrhaging and has mostly afflicted white-tail deer in the Southeast, the DEC said. It was reported in mid-Atlantic states this summer, and the deer found in Voorheesville were the first known to have died from it in New York. The disease is transmitted by certain types of biting fl ies in late summer and fall, and subsides as weather turns cold and the flies die. Recent frosts throughout New York are expected to help prevent any large-scale outbreak this year. The DEC is advising hunters not handle or eat any deer that appear sick, act strangely, or are found dead and contact the agency. There also have been EHD outbreaks reported in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Virginia, and West Virginia. In states where the disease has been detected, it has not had a significant negative impact on long-term health of the deer herd, infecting only localized pockets of animals within a geographic area, the DEC said.
Sure as shooting, time to hunt By FRED LeBRUN First published: Thursday, November 15, 2007
At sunrise Saturday, the shooting begins.
Opening day of the 2007 big-game season for rifles and shotguns here in the southern zone typically sees the greatest number of deer taken of any day in the season. Thanksgiving morning is usually the second-place finisher because tradition sends a few more hunters out in the field that day.
This year should be no exception because the weather looks to be nearly perfect, except for Thanksgiving. Cloudy, light winds, with temperatures in the high 20s up to the mid-40s are predicted, with no rain. On the cool side, but no precipitation or howling winds, and that should hold true through at least the season's first five days. Rain, however, is expected for turkey day.
Weather has so much to do with opening-day success. A driving rain is just no fun for the hunter and chases many a sodden nimrod back inside early, and often the deer go into bedding mode anyway. When the deer don't move around, the numbers taken plummet. High winds tend to have the same effect. Deer, not being able to accurately sniff direction in extreme wind, opt to hunker down and wait it out. When in doubt, don't go for a random walk in the woods seems to be the way deer are hardwired to respond.
Fingers crossed, this looks to be a rebound season for the numbers, after a couple of miserable ones here in the southern zone. We have been especially slow in rebounding from a couple of harsh winters a few years ago. But according to DEC biologists, more deer are out there, as always varying in populations among deer management units. Hunting this year out in western New York and the Finger Lakes should be gangbusters because those areas made surprising recoveries last year.
Still, biologists also warn us that rebound is just that. We'll still be a long way from the huge numbers taken three, four and five years ago. We might not see that level of population again for years, if ever. The herd was way above what the habitat could tolerate, as farmers will certainly attest. Foresters, too. Excess deer were overbrowsing new vegetation all over the state.
For the first time in 29 years the opening of the deer and bear seasons are the same. Usually the bear hunting lags a week to get them safely wary of hunters.
But the feeling in the DEC is that the bear numbers are so strong in the Catskills, increasing the kill is desirable. To some extent that's also driven by the increased incidents of human-bear contacts inevitable when bear numbers are up. In a straight-up contest, humans always win.
New this year is the possibility you'll stumble on dead deer, even in groups, that succumbed to a new deer killer, epizootic hemorrhagic disease, though the midges that carry the virus have probably been knocked off by hard frost. But if you do encounter a deer carcass that's been hanging around awhile and doesn't appear to have been done in by bullet or arrow, give DEC state wildlife pathologist Ward Stone a call. He's keeping track of sporadic outbreaks. So far, three have been found: in parts of Albany, Rensselaer and Niagara counties. The disease does not affect humans and theoretically doesn't taint the meat. But as always, steering clear of sick or strange-acting animals is the best plan. At sunset on Dec. 9, the rifle and shotgun season in the southern zone ends, but the shooting doesn't stop. A late archery and muzzleloader season extends to sunset on Dec. 18.
In her article Deb fails to mention all the venison that's donated to the feed the hungry program run by the food kitchens. All she talks about is just the bad things about the sport.
The overpopulation of the deer presents many problems for them. Many more are hit by cars, endangering the occupants of the car and frequently the deer is left on the side of the road to die a long and agonizing death. They are subject to starvation, which is a long and agonizing death. They are subject to a host of diseases. I can not speak to whether the death is long and agonizing or immediate, my guess would be it is atleast long if not agonizing. I am personally not a hunter, I shot a rabid skunk once and didn't sleep for a week, I felt so bad. My family always hunted and many of my friends hunt. Last year during the February and March snowstorms I had 18 to 20 deer in my back yard at my bird feeders trying to get food.
I suppose I should have shooed them off to McDonalds. Oh yeah, we don't have a McDonalds
These deer have no place to go anymore. We have taken 'their' homes away with our obsession to develop. And then we call it humane to kill/hunt them since there isn't enough food. I believe that hunting use to be a necessity, it has now become a sport and an economic commodity for the state(licenses) and for the sporting goods industry.
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Only because we are afraid to eat the irradiated meat at the "superstores" and the e-coli tainted vegetables picked by those filthy illegal-immigrants--(I'd rather have mine picked by the sex offenders on the chain gangs.......atleast we can hose them down, that is-- until the animal rights activists get involved or are they people?
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
Hunters caught breaking rules BY MICHAEL VIRTANEN The Associated Press
Near the start of hunting season, one man was fined for luring a huge bear with doughnuts, another for shooting a rattlesnake, and two brothers were accused of killing a doe caught in their headlights. There are rules in the woods. They prohibit baiting bears, killing rare species and night stalking big game with spotlights, among others. They are meant to keep hunters on a level field with their prey, giving wildlife a running chance and preventing any more species, like the wolf and cougar, from being exterminated from New York’s wilderness. “First off, we want to make sure we don’t decimate populations, but we also want to control the populations,” said Wendy Rosenbach, spokeswoman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Region 3, which includes the Catskills and lower Hudson Valley. “It’s a real balance with the hunting.” While most hunters know and follow the law, some get ticketed, officials said. Statewide data were not immediately available. In Sullivan County last month, a 41-year-old man paid $1,502 and lost his hunting license for five years after using a pile of doughnuts, bagels, fish and molasses to lure the black bear he killed with an arrow, according to the DEC. David Malone, of West Nyack, was charged a few days after killing the bear on his upstate property in Lumberland on Oct. 14, one day after bow hunting season opened. “We got a tip from the local Lumberland town police. People were talking about what happened,” Rosenbach said. Conservation officers found the bait pile with a broken arrow, a gut pile from the bear, a deer feeder, also illegal, and recovered the head and fur from a taxidermy shop in Pennsylvania, she said. The bear was estimated at 617 pounds, almost twice the size of a normal male. The civil compromise in town court satisfied two violations, hunting big game over a pre-established bait pile and illegally taking big game, and a misdemeanor charge of possessing illegally taken game, Rosenbach said. Malone could not be reached for comment. There were 21 known illegal baiting cases in Sullivan County so far this year, but it’s uncommon statewide, Rosenbach said. It’s illegal to use bait to hunt bear or deer, and illegal to feed deer at all, which is meant to prevent them from congregating and spreading infections, she said. Two weeks earlier, on Oct. 3, a Long Island man shot a timber rattlesnake near the northwestern edge of Lake George, in one of the snake’s few remaining Adirondack habitats, the DEC said. The poisonous snakes, hunted legally for bounties until 1971, are listed as threatened in New York and protected by law. Wildlife officials estimate there are a few thousand left in New York, mostly around the Hudson Highlands and Southern Tier. Kayakers docked by Tongue Mountain heard the shot, went up a trail and found Riordan, who told them he just shot a snake that scared him on the trail, according to the DEC. Conservation officers never saw the snake, but Dennis Riordan, 60, of Hampton Bays, was cited for taking a threatened or endangered species and settled the case for a $200 administrative penalty, according to the DEC. Calls to Riordan were not returned. Such cases are rare, agency officials said. More common is deer jacking. In New York, big game like deer and bear are hunted legally only from sunrise to sunset. Bright lights, usually handheld spotlights, can leave deer confused and easy prey. “A lot has to do with fair chase and safety,” said Stephen Litwhiler, spokesman for the DEC’s Region 6. “There’s no reason to take unfair advantage of the game.” On Sept. 8, Arnold Marolf, 44, of Turin, and Herbert Marolf Jr., 46, of Glenfield, were charged in Lewis County after a 911 complaint was called in about deer jacking in Martinsburg. The DEC said its investigation showed the doe was shot in a field with the help of the pickup truck’s headlights.
Along with baiting and jacking of deer, I disagree with the practice of hunting from tree stands. How sportsmanlike is that? Sit in a tree and wait for the deer to walk by and shoot it. Years ago when my father and brother hunted they spent a good portion of the year walking the woods to determine the areas deer traveled most. I also worry about those guys who pick up a gun on opening day and haven't even looked at it the rest of the year. They should practice and improve their aim during the year to avoid a poor shot and only wounding the deer.
A tree stand is no different than a lion ready to pounce on it's prey.....we are predators in this world--and not just with the food chain.....hunter-gatherers,,,how we do it doesn't matter---dead animal is dead animal---food is food
I have done bow-hunting via tree stand, sitting in the bush and driving---I have been successful at all three....
there is a fourth way but I dont think that actually counts, the front end of my car---I called the troopers and they gave me a tag and home it came with me.......
One head hangs in my home as testament that food is never handed to us no matter how it is plated at a fancy restaurant and that yes--I can survive
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
I have heard numerous stories of the "macho's" that come up from NYC to so called hunt. They come up with pistols and not only shoot the deer with the gun but will gut it whie it is still blatting! I think that they should be shot and gutted alive and then roped to a car and driven around like a trophy! That makes me sick.
Perhaps D'burg could pass an ordinance stating after they endure your wrath we hang them from the light in town for three days before sending to the taxidermist.
It's not wrath, just what we do.....even if we eat steak/roasted chicken or pork roast......we just dont get to see the whites of their eyes so to speak, as we drink wine and make merry at meal time....
As for the jack-a** jackers----higher penalties or go to Iraq to practice your skills......
...you are a product of your environment, your environment is a product of your priorities, your priorities are a product of you......
The replacement of morality and conscience with law produces a deadly paradox.
STOP BEING GOOD DEMOCRATS---STOP BEING GOOD REPUBLICANS--START BEING GOOD AMERICANS
As for the jack-a** jackers----higher penalties or go to Iraq to practice your skills......
You have my vote on that one!
When the INSANE are running the ASYLUM In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. -- Friedrich Nietzsche
“How fortunate for those in power that people never think.” Adolph Hitler
Anyone who violates the NYS hunting and fishing laws in the way that these idiots have done should have the book thrown at them, stiff fines, confiscate their guns and vehicles, and take their licenses away for at least 10 years.
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