paintedpaw
Retired NYSDEC Lake George Ranger
Posts: 691
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Post by paintedpaw on Sept 17, 2020 9:36:53 GMT -5
I am a northern zone trapper. I am also a southern zone deer hunter. I must say that I sympathize with southern zone trappers usually pulling their traps because of misbehavior of a lot of deer hunters. Trappers in the northern zone deal with hunters all fall season, but the lack of deer hunters has not been a serious problem for me. I have, however, had stupid hunters shoot foxes in my traps with big game rifles. My experience in Steuben County is that I hear shooting on opening weekend and Thanksgiving morning and that is all. The fact is that DEC has failed miserably in whitetail management and furbearers too. One year you can't get a doe permit and the next year they flow like candy. What jackass came up with an October fisher season in October? Correction, jackasses. The last thing needed is another extended season. I have no problem with northern zone seasons, but southern zone needs to be shorter,with better management techniques. For instance, if the herd is too big, allow licensed hunters to kill any deer. Just a suggestion.
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Post by walleyed on Sept 17, 2020 10:01:32 GMT -5
I started my deer hunting "career" in 1977 in Steuben County in the towns of Bath, Cameron, and Canisteo.
Opening day was like a war zone
You needed 4 hunters to apply for a "Party Permit" as a doe hunting permit was called then.
Everybody hunted hard for the entire season, and it to get meat (venison).
Antler worship was not popular yet, and QDMA was not the rage.
You could get permission to small game hunt or trap any where, and posted signs were few and far between.
Can't remember a farmer ever turning me down to shoot squirrel, rabbit, or grouse....Just remember to close the gate.
Trappers were welcome every where, and most farmers had trapped when they were young.
That's all gone and shot to h.e.l.l. now due to antler worship and Leasing for hunt clubs.
The good old days are never coming back.
w
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Sept 26, 2020 19:30:38 GMT -5
I started my deer hunting "career" in 1977 in Steuben County in the towns of Bath, Cameron, and Canisteo. Opening day was like a war zone You needed 4 hunters to apply for a "Party Permit" as a doe hunting permit was called then. Everybody hunted hard for the entire season, and it to get meat (venison). Antler worship was not popular yet, and QDMA was not the rage. You could get permission to small game hunt or trap any where, and posted signs were few and far between. Can't remember a farmer ever turning me down to shoot squirrel, rabbit, or grouse....Just remember to close the gate. Trappers were welcome every where, and most farmers had trapped when they were young. That's all gone and shot to h.e.l.l. now due to antler worship and Leasing for hunt clubs. The good old days are never coming back. w I'm that old, too. The posted signs went up long before BBD became our battle cry. They went up when family farms sold to developers who split them into fragments, or when growing corporate farms engulfed the family operations. Several giant landowners in the Genesee River valley post their several-thousand acres and let a scant handful of hunters on. Other than that, they "control" deer with all-season nuisance permits filled at night with spotlights.
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Post by trapperjack on Sept 27, 2020 14:15:06 GMT -5
Seasons are long enough up here in Dacks. I border a few thousand acres of state land. I have found evidence of poachers in the past. They drop someone off and pick up later at night. No vehicle Is ever found parked on road. Crossbow looks like choice weapon for them. I have found arrows from such before season. Ravens alert me to activity and gut piles. Every year a trespasser will shoot or steal a animal from my traps during season. 2 coyotes last season. Blown to Hell. Can’t comment on southern tier. Gave it up 30 years ago. It was a war zone then on state land. I only could imagine it now.
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Post by trappermac on Oct 1, 2020 19:40:03 GMT -5
NYSTA position on this posted at website here... www.nystrappers.org/nysta-postion-on-holiday-deer-season/I commend them on this position as I feel they properly represented trappers wishes on it, or I assume/hope they did. I still highly resent them opposing the 2 week earlier opener of muskrat and mink in the western NY zone and the loss of a week in the northern zone. The DEC wanted to give us trappers in western ny a longer season by 2 weeks, prior to the freeze and lake effect period. And NYSTA wants to take it away from us. I cannot for the life of me understand that, will never accept the thought process, and don't tell me a nov 10th rat is not prime enough. Mark, you may as well forever hang up your hope of an earlier coyote trapping season given the NYSTA'S logic.
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Oct 2, 2020 5:06:27 GMT -5
I am glad they put the time into the letter and hope it helps.... I gave up on the earlier coyote season not because of the NYSTA but because I seemed like the only one who was concerned about it in the rank and file.....which makes for a tough argument for change! LOL I had hoped perhaps the deer season would be shortened, to show my naivety! No way, especially since they want to lengthen it. In the end, if I can scratch-out three weeks of dirt trapping before deer gun, I guess that's as good as it gets. The northern guys laugh at me since they fight deer season from the outset of their dirt trapping.......yes, southern zone deer is vastly different than northern zone deer regarding hunter's numbers, etc. Still, I trapped up north late one year around Adams Center on BIG dairy farms with a bud, and I was still shocked how sensitive the landowners were about deer hunting and us driving around during open gun season. And at that point deer gun had been open since Labor Day! (I joke I kid) (I WILL say we never saw ONE hunter in the five days I was up there) Deer management in this state has to be about as screwed up as anywhere in the country..... Give everyone two weeks. Shoot anything that moves. Open it AFTER the rut. If you have to, let everyone shoot 2-3-4 deer. Just get it over and done with..... PA's deer hunting tradition is as rich as any state's....the whole place shuts down. AFTER Thanksgiving! I am a trapper. This is a trapping website. I am always shocked at the guys on here that support 17-weeks of deer gun season! (I exaggerate to make a point!) I grew up in Ohio. I lived in PA before I moved to NY. Both states do it better than NY does.....and both have healthy trappers numbers and state assn's....... Perhaps therein lies the problem: Has New York State's lengthy deer seasons (both North AND South) hand-cuffed trappers SO much that it lessens the opportunities enough to create conflicts and disinterest? I think I'm on to something here............ MZ
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Post by tony1967 on Oct 2, 2020 6:56:31 GMT -5
I agree with you Mark. Deer season length is ridiculous and keeps guys off properties they would normally be allowed to trap. I have two farms that want me to trap, one is 350 acres and the other is 500 acres. But both tell me to show up after deer season is over. I told the one guy, sure, as long as he went with me every day and kept the sets in working order. They don’t understand why it’s a big deal.
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Post by arran on Oct 2, 2020 13:56:25 GMT -5
"Lessens opportunities and creates conflicts and disinterest" You ARE! on to it. The deer hunting mantra has created a generation of hunters who do not believe that there is any hunting ,except for deer hunting. To add to that, you have the coyote hunters who come out after deer season to hunt coyotes and create huge issues with trespassing and conflicts with trapping, because of their dogs. It's a real circus here. Actually since bow season opened here yesterday, small game hunting is also over according to some of the local deer hunters.
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austin
test results are back... I am joerat's daddy
Posts: 483
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Post by austin on Oct 3, 2020 8:02:14 GMT -5
strength in numbers. There are more guys in NYS who hunt for Native American artifacts than there are licensed trappers. Fur trappers are a niche' sport. There is no way in he(ll) any deer season will be affected by trapper voices.
I'm part of eleventy-seven NYS outdoors FB groups. 95% or more of the guys there are almost orgasmic in support of that late deer season. When I voice my opposition (and I do rather often) it immediately draws umpteen trolled dissents and a couple guys who agree.
As for gun season in general here in this part of the southern tier? Hunter numbers are a fraction of historical, this year might buck that trend due to covid life. Past several years I would have rolled landlines and not worried too much about damage or theft. Especially with fur prices worse than picking up 5-cent bottles and cans roadside for profit.
Adams Center area... combed that hunting turkeys in May 2019. Was surprised to see the deer numbers around there, and how many big farms are locked up with waterfowl leases from outfitters who live elsewhere.
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Post by trappermac on Oct 8, 2020 20:13:01 GMT -5
NYS snowmobile group has chimed in favorably;
The New York State Snowmobile Association is opposed to the new season for several reasons, saying it would shorten the snowmobile season by a week and would have “a direct negative impact on rural areas” that depend on revenues from the popular winter sport.
“Many small businesses depend on snowmobile activity for their livelihood. This proposal will result in a one-week delay in that economic activity starting,” said Dominic Jancangelo, executive director of the Snowmobile Association. "We estimate that losing one week of snowmobiling in New York’s Southern Zone may cause a loss of up to $13 million in direct spending by snowmobilers and a potential $1 million dollar loss in sales tax revenue.
“The snowmobile industry has been hurt by the last few years of low snow and frequent winter rain. The businesses associated with our activities are feeling this impact and many are just hanging on.”
In addition, adding an extra week of hunting could have negative impacts on the relationships snowmobilers have with private property owners for access and interfere with snowmobile clubs' efforts to prepare and put up signs for safe snowmobiling on trails, Jancangelo said.
He recommended the DEC delay its decision, conduct public hearings on the proposal and as an alternative try it out a pilot program in the lower Hudson Valley/Catskills area.
The Snowmobile Association advocates on behalf of the more than 220 snowmobile clubs who maintain over 10,400 miles of trails (mostly on private property) on which over 100,000 snowmobilers ride each year. The snowmobile season in the state traditionally starts at the end of the big game hunting seasons each year as a courtesy to landowners and/or the landowners requests.
This year, the late muzzleloading/bowhunting seasons in the Southern Zone span nine days from Dec. 14 to Dec. 22. The special seasons follows the regular firearms season, which is from Nov. 21 to Dec. 13.
According to DEC, the proposal is not being considered in the Northern Zone, as “deer may already be moving to wintering areas by late December. Hunting seasons that occur when deer are migrating or are already concentrated in wintering areas could result in localized over-harvest.”
The following are excerpts from a letter consisting of talking points that Jacangelo sent out to snowmobile clubs, encouraging them to voice opposition to the DEC’s proposal.
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