2012 Season record-setting for New York State hunter safety
Geese near Verona
Winter is still with us. While out and about yesterday (3/18) I saw where the deer are getting weaker. Where they walked in the light snow they were all dragging the tips of their hooves in the snow. This means they have used up much of their stored fat.
If you find a dead deer and break the leg bone apart you will see that it has started using the marrow inside. It’s amazing how deer can survive a long winter such as this by living off its stored fat.
Buck rack found dead, scoring 198 and 7/16
In years past I have seen where this marrow was a clear liquid when all the stored fat was used up. A deer like that wouldn’t last much longer without a break in winter weather.
The bear harvest numbers just came out. The 2012 season’s harvest of 1,337 is the third highest harvest on record.
Only the harvest of 2003 (1,864) and the harvest of 2009 (1,487) surpassed last year’s take.
Take in the Adirondacks was 606, Central-Western was 289 and the Southeastern was 442. Many of these bears were taken in both the early seasons of these areas.
The reason for this was that there was very little wild food and these bears denned up early so not many were taken during the regular season in all areas.
Speaking of hunting, another new record was set for hunting safety in New York. The 2012 season had the lowest number of hunting-related shooting incidents on record.
During the 2012 season a total of 24 personal incidents were reported with just over half being self-inflicted. There were two fatalities that occurred during the deer season.
Both these individuals were shot by members of their own hunting party.
Incidents involving two or more individuals stress the importance of one of hunting’s basic tenets: identifying your target and what lies beyond.
Many say the lower numbers of hunters are the reason for this statistic but the hunting incident rate (incidents per 100,000 hunters) is falling much faster.
Since the 1960’s the number of hunters has declined about 20 percent, while the incident rate has plunged more than 70 percent. The past five-year average is 5.3 incidents per 100,000 hunters, compared to 19 per 100,000 hunters in the 1960’s.
Trained instructors certified by DEC teaching safe, responsible and ethical outdoors practices play an important role for hunters and trappers in conservation.
New York has an extremely safety-conscious generation of hunters, thanks largely to the more than 60 years of dedicated efforts of more than 2,500 volunteer Sportsman Education Instructors.
A group of local varying hare hunters were hunting with hounds around Moss Lake and ran into some bunny huggers who were walking the trail around the lake.
There was a small confrontation with one of the younger hunters who was not far off the trail. He tried to talk with the hikers but they weren’t going to listen to him as the hounds were running a hare not far away.
Out in the parking lot the hikers left a real nasty note on the windshield of one of the hunter’s vehicles using words that I can’t print in the paper.
These hunters pay for licenses to enjoy their sport and the hikers pay nothing. The state land and trails around Moss Lake are open to the public for use by hunters, trappers, hikers, skiers or snowshoers.
There is plenty of room for all to enjoy whatever sport they wish to pursue.
Those poor little bunnies are safe for another year as the season closed yesterday.
I attended the Big Buck Club meeting over the weekend. Just outside of Verona there were thousands of Canada Geese in a pond beside the highway.
They made no attempt to fly away when I stopped to take a picture.
Most of them will head farther north if the weather ever warms up.
The beavers are biting a little and I’m losing some weight chasing those flat tails.
I’m using my spud to test the ice as the rains we had earlier in the winter opened up some holes that are only covered with thin ice.
I’ve seen where the deer have fallen through which makes me more cautious. Most of the beaver I’ve been after have been working out for some fresh food as they have depleted their food piles under the ice. Maybe they only planned on a short winter like we’ve had the past few years.
Ravens will be on nests soon, but that’s another story. See ya.
