mike rossi

So, where are you getting your info from or drawing your conclusions? Just your anecdotal observations, correct? In certain areas, where pheasant stocked areas get heavy hunting pressure, a few things happen to grouse, first more get shot, but also, more get educated and harder to find or approach. However, grouse habitat needs disturbance and maintaining pheasant stocking areas provides excellent habitat for them as well as woodcock and other game and non game.Just because they are not there during hunting season, does not mean they are not using these areas during the breeding season or during other stages of their life cycle. And, to be frank, just because hunters are saying they are not seeing them, doesn't even mean they are not there or approachable. Case in point two old dudes telling me and my wife they haven't seen a G or W in 40 years "round here" We went 100 yards ( from the hunters parking area)and killed one of each..... And that isn't the first time that has happened either, it just never happened within 100 yards before.... Your are also alluding to competition. First, stocked birds don't survive long so they have little impact on native birds. Wild hatched pheasants, have been the subject of numerous studies and have not been implicated as competitors. There has been (one) study that had shown rooster pheasant will harass rooster prairie chickens ( a grouse ) on their leks, but same study did not definitively conclude any negative impact to the PC's reproduction. Not only was the correlation with PC and RNP weak, but the PC and pheasant only marginally overlap in habitat types. No studies I am aware of link pheasant to issues with ruffed grouse or other species. Even if some minor, compensatory impact existed, it would not outweigh the benefit of sustaining hunting and conservation funding, and it certainly would not outweigh the maintenance of ephemeral habitat which is a side benefit of pheasant stocking.

Update August 13, 2015 New York Dove Hunting Petition is doing well. As we alluded in our slide presentation, this movement does not move unless it is pumped. We have analytic tracking which allows us to determine how many people look at our website and social media, and how many return. Of course, the number of petition signatures and social media subscriptions are known as well. We also enter the subscribers into a spreadsheet with petition signatories. Only 10% of those who follow us on social media have actually signed the petition. We have indeed tried to press those people to sign and/or ask why they have not signed, with no results for either. The number of petition signatures we receive is directly related to any action we take. Without doing anything, we might get about one signature a day. Of all the actions, except the advertisement in the Hunting and Trapping Regulation Guide, no action outperforms any other. For example, if we blog on a hunting forum or face book group, send out face book feed, advertise on face book, post on face book hunting groups, or send out mass emails, no one action yields more, and all indeed show a marked spike in signatures. Thus, it is important that you also undertake these actions and help us expand our reach. And, some of you have, keep it up. The others must become engaged as well. The advertisement in the Hunting and Trapping Regulation Guide is only a few days old, and it is indeed working. We also look up some of the signatories and notice we are now reaching a new market or demagraph, which is a very good thing. We hope to take out a full page ad next year, and it is not too early to start gathering donations for the June deadline. At this year’s rates, a full page ad will cost just under $3,000. Our National Hunting and Fishing Day Campaign did not get off the ground. That does not mean all of you cannot take a laptop and/or print outs of petition sheets and go gather signatures at these events next month. With enough people engaged, it would be very easy to get over 10,000 signatures on this one day. Again, now is the time for discussions about National Hunting and Fishing Day in 2016. The sooner this gets into play, the sooner we will be closer than ever toward a dove hunting season in NY. We created a slide show for your use to bring to your clubs. So far, we have no indication anyone has used it or recently presented to any clubs. We will be brushing up our internet sites. Besides housekeeping and maximizing the use of search engines and keywords we are going to also be working on different ways to deliver our message. We will be sending out social media feed in much smaller bites which are more palatable. In addition to that, we have been experimenting with cartoons, and will be prolifically producing cartoons and, of course, distributing them in the near future. We are excited and optimistic about the ground we have broken, the wide foundation we have built, and the new approaches, especially the cartoons we are developing. However, we are not nearly in place to take the beach yet. The sooner more people “get serious about doves” the sooner this will happen. “Time to get serious about doves!”

No takers? There is only so much we can do without cooperation.....

Not sure if any of this is strange, but I think this would interest you: http://wildlife.org/ignite-tws-david-drake-and-scott-hygnstrom/

Good ideas. I suggested to Elmo, the OP we could help him or some other local from NYC with this. I also suggested applying for grants, perhaps the one from the NHFD site. We are some distance from NYC, but we are open to working with locals down there. Another option is them coming up here. We are involved with one organization doing a youth pheasant hunt for NHFD and might also launch something else around Watkins Glen. Might be too late for this year, but not too early for discussions about the following year.

They do that in the middle of pheasant season too...

Does his handle happen to be Phade?

There may be some explanations for that. Notice I said "may" - I am guessing, I am not putting words in the DEC's mouth, it is best just to ask them. . The longer the deer is alive, the more crops and natural foods it is eating. And the longer it lives the more likely it could get hit by an auto. A deer is more likely to get hit by an auto in November than October to begin with. From a reproduction perspective or perspective of total population little matters if harvest is early or late, but considering the above factors, it can be argued that earlier is better... Like I said, ask the DEC... It is unlikely they would implement something so controversial just because of a reasonable, but untested, hypotheses, they might have some data or developed a model that bodes for the importance of early harvest. Listening to hunters as well as antis, the perception is the DEC lays things down without either testing or past experience, fact is they don't collect all those numbers for nothing, the numbers tell a story. Sometimes the story lies, but more often it is a fair guide.

This is bound to resuscitate this thread.....

(One) part of the equation I have not seen anybody discuss is that the timing of crop harvest and the decreasing daylight. The earlier you knock the population down, the less crop depredation and the less deer killed by autos. The rut occurs when deer activity is highest when most autos are on the road..... Also, I do not know how common this is, I heard it twice, but the practice of ignoring does by theory they will draw bucks during the rut is going to concern the DEC if it becomes a cultural practice.

NY Dove Hunting's advertisement in 2015-16 Hunting & Trapping Guide is out! If you go to the link below and then scroll to page 50, our ad appears in the lower left hand corner. If ads do not appear on your screen, you will see that if you click on that location you are directed to our petition. The hard copy regulation guides will be out soon you can also look for the ad there. We again thank those who donated to pay for this ad! Moving forward, it will take some time to generate the needed political support for a dove season and we hope to purchase a full page ad next year, and to do so will require additional donations. To make a donation for next year's ad, email us through the contact page of the NYDH website. http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/15huntguide.pdf

So how many is Mr. Shepard going to get on his petition or does he have a different strategy? I don't know if he is cheer-leading or he actually believes his statement or has no sense of proportion, but I def. do not see him outlining a plan. Do what join the NRA? Complain about the so-called liberal or democrats? What is his plan? I don't know if this is apples to oranges, but the recent NY wild turkey regulation proposal only generated 120 public comments from NY hunters. I think turkeys are the number two game in NY after deer? Think he will get 120 to engage about a controversy about African Lions? I would say if he does, it represents a problem, not a success, considering only 120 bothered to engage in NY state turkey conservation policy....

Police and the courts do indeed need to take reckless driving more seriously, perhaps as seriously as they do drunk driving. Here is the law they should be enforcing: S 1212. Reckless driving. Reckless driving shall mean driving or using any motor vehicle, motorcycle or any other vehicle propelled by any power other than muscular power or any appliance or accessory thereof in a manner which unreasonably interferes with the free and proper use of the public highway, or unreasonably endangers users of the public highway. Reckless driving is prohibited. Every person violating this provision shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. > Actually, there is a bill pending to put more teeth in this law: http://open.nysenate.gov/legislation/bill/S3724-2015 > I see it is an "Unclassified Misdemeanor" > Sounds serious per some lawyers: > Reckless driving is a misdemeanor in New York State. A conviction means a criminal record. Police officers have wide latitude in determining the definition of reckless. Judges also have discretion to impose severe penalties, even for a first offense. As a result, drivers may commit a minor infraction and still find themselves facing serious penalties, including fines, five points on their driver's license, suspension, revocation and even jail time. Collateral effects can include increased insurance premiums and a criminal record. > Make no mistake about it: reckless driving is an extremely serious offense in New York. It carries with it severe penalties, and a conviction could indefinitely stain your driving record. Reckless driving (VTL 1212) is considered to be one of the most intense tickets you can receive. It is commonly charged as a catch-all vehicular offense. Usually, drivers charged with this offense are facing allegations of running lights, speeding, improper lane changes, and other more minor traffic infractions. Reckless driving is an unclassified misdemeanor which means that it, unlike a minor traffic violation, it can lead to a permanent criminal record. Also, depending on how reckless you were, you could go to jail for up to 30 days for a first offense, 90 days for a second offense, and 180 days for a third offense. This could make background checks in an already down economy yet another barrier to finding or keeping a job. Aside from the criminal penalties, a reckless driving conviction will put 5 points on your driver’s license and you will incur a fine of up to $300. Reckless driving will cause your auto insurance rate to go up tremendously. A recent study conducted by Insurance.com revealed that the average insurance hike amounted to an increase of 22% for a reckless driving ticket!

Thanks Paula! The others who ordered this shirt thank you as well for helping us meet the order minimum!

Exactly Doc, people do not respond to logic, they respond to emotion. Its a tight bind. Hunters are just as emotional as antis....

Well, you can implement an earn a buck or as someone on here said, make the lottery for buck permits not doe permits, that they got it reversed.... I would go with the buck lottery. Than the BOW can generate conservation funds instead of burning them running check stations. Either way they still can create zones to manage on a finer scale.....

Buy one more pheasant shirt please!

I would question that because numerous public opinion surveys have pointed that the majority of the general public accepts hunting when wild game is eaten and disapproves of trophy hunting. Now, if those surveyed have been influenced by anti-hunting campaigns is a valid question, but not answered, at least to my knowledge. Although taxidermy and eating wild game is not necessarily mutually exclusive, hunters themselves have generated skepticism. There are hunters on THIS forum who do not believe other hunters enjoy eating waterfowl and woodcock.... Now, that is hunters ( or those who claim they are hunters), so how might that extend to others? And of course, there are indeed hunters who do not eat wild game. Some of them don't even donate it or give it away to people they know. Some are open about that as well. That adds fodder to anti hunters and sways the opinion of non hunters. Then there are animals that virtually nobody eats - coyotes, foxes, wolves, bobcats. Antis will cite those activities to bolster their premise hunters do not eat wild game. Of course, those animals are sometimes hunted or trapped for pelts, which is not considered wanton waste, but nevertheless harvesting for pelts is not popular with much of the public.

Lets just say, nobody really wants to talk about it, and that includes me, however, the info is out there without much looking.... Briefly, the restored whitetail populations are now considered sub-optimal from a biodiversity perspective. Linked to that is a landscape effect, including encouraging invasive or nonnative plants. In the social context hunters have lost a connection with the land and government biologists have been unable to maintain their cooperation or trust whichever you prefer. However, it is the same government biologists that have encouraged the present hunting culture and/or didn't stand up to industry or other commercial interests regarding hunting. Look, its about August. I need to do other things with my spare time than reinvent the wheel again and again.... Point here was not to get super - specific and evolve this post into a narrow focus around whitetail management, but rather entertain the relationship between anti hunting and hunter behavior (including the representation of organizations) and how that influences public opinion and in turn, ultimately, hunting regulations. In NY, public opinion may not be as influential regarding regulations as in states such as Maine and Michigan which referendum initiatives can and do ban hunting.... However, antis in NY or national anti hunting organizations have a different approach for each state, and they have had success here. That is regarding regulations. Regarding hunter recruitment is a totally different thing. So is political support for funding. And funding and hunter recruitment are tied together. Without support of the broader public these items will continue to suffer. This discussion has endless tangents and I am not going down all of them. One example might be hunters behavior toward woman. And/or the content and/or ads in hunting magazines. Woman shun this and parents block their kids from such exposure. Say something dumb, and you lose the not dumb people. I will tell you this, it was the mentality of fisherman that pushed me to quit fishing. So I do not see it at all a stretch that the same would operate on hunters or on non-hunters. I got scouting to do, dogs to work, decoys to paint.... Its August.....

I can't tell from reading that article whether the author is arguing for or against whale hunting, sounds more like a meaningless ramble to me.... This post didn't evoke the reflection I had hoped it would. I have been following SHARK and Steve Hindi for some time now. Hindi actually has gotten much smarter and his mental health seems repaired some, probably due to a few days in the clink he served for harassing hunters... Anyway, I tend to agree with Hindi that it is the hunting community, including some organizations representing hunters, who has killed hunting. The various hunting industries also share responsibility as well. To be frank, state wildlife agencies have mismanaged whitetail deer in this country for 100 years and now that the tip of the iceberg is showing there is a mad scramble to make changes that are not going to be palatable. Being frank again, I don't really sympathize with the government biologists either...

Looks like they had some degree of success here:

Recently, a petition with 115,000 signatures protesting a bow fishing contest "caught the attention of the HSUS".... http://www.wbaltv.com/news/animal-rights-activists-seek-to-end-cownosed-ray-tournament/34277560

Alaska's Human Population in 2014 was 736, 732. Alaska's Fur Seal population is 141,000...

I am not going to argue Steve Hini's case for him, but what do you say about the bobcat hunting scene?