mike rossi

Waterfowl are not easy game, that is why we do it, plus they taste excellent. But I think in this case, the topic started by the OP is confusing enough and it would serve the most people to stick to this topic, which has many people confused. I actually think the OP is a DEC police officer or a prankster, because this is not the first time he posted about a complex subject. I think his use of the handle "ranger" is influencing my suspicion as well. This is the heart of waterfowl country, and I just don't find this query 100% genuine... People will and do pay well over $250 to hunt in places like that. And, they hardly think it isn't worth setting up. Many who fill their freezers will not agree with anyone who says it is not worth the effort. NY actually has some pretty skilled waterfowl hunters over the entire state, who stack up the birds, but the majority of them are discreet about it.

Another thing occurred to me, unlike other youth seasons, during the youth waterfowl seasons mentors are allowed to hunt if a regular waterfowl season overlaps. It is slightly complicated, but if you want to be a waterfowl hunter you need to pay attention to the regulations as well as the birds... In the entire western (duck) zone, the youth season overlaps with the regular snow goose season. So during the western duck zone youth season, mentors would be allowed to hunt for snow geese. In the Youth season for the northeast (duck) zone, there is an overlap with the early Canada goose season The Canada goose zones do not correspond geographically with duck zones,except in the northeast duck/Canada zones and Lake Champlain duck/Canada zones. However, the Lake Chaplain zone, does not overlap date wise, so there a mentor could not hunt Canada geese. There may be other zones that overlap both geographically and date wise which the mentor can legally hunt Canada geese. There are 5 Canada goose zones and 5 duck zones, and as said only two of them completely overlap geographically, It would require lining up the boundaries for each respective zone to determine if any other areas overlap both geographically and date wise, and therefore allow the mentor to hunt Canadas. I also reread the original post. The OP is from Jefferson County, a hot bed for both ducks and canada geese. He is located in the Northeast zone, and therefore would be able to hunt Canadas while his daughter participated in the youth waterfowl season. The OP lives in the center of the best duck AND goose sections in the state, perhaps the USA.

If you want enough ducks to sustain hunting, you have to pay. Don't worry, anti hunters are lobbying congress for a federal wildlife conservation stamp to undermine the duck stamp program and the entire North American Wildlife Conservation Model.

I am not sure what you mean by that. Maine and 19 other states allow voter referendum. That is, if sufficient petition signatures are gathered, a particular proposal can be included on the ballot in the state general election. This is why these actions are called "ballot initiatives" "referendums", "voter referendums." "ballot referendums,", etc.. A local organization in Maine which opposed several methods of taking bear, with the support of the HSUS, succeeded in adding a ballot referendum in a recent election. The initiative, though reported by national pro-hunting organizations as defeated by a wide margin, was in fact, defeated by a narrow margin. The HSUS supported the effort in a number of ways, including contracting with PCI Consultants. This contractor, based in California, according to the article, had a team go to Maine to promote the referendum and gather petition signatures. According to some people, that may be illegal under Maine law, but it turned out it was not illegal. A Maine pro-bear hunting organization pressed state lawmakers to introduce a bill which would prohibit or make certain stipulations, such as out of state persons doing grass roots campaigning were a badge and disclose their employment history. However, similar proposals have been shot down in other states, including by a court ruling that such a law is unconstitutional. The first link I provided is to an article discussing this legislation in Maine and elsewhere. The second link I provided is to the website of the contractor hired by the HSUS. As do many business, they list on their website work they have done as testimonials of their effectiveness. This company has testimonials in the form of a slide show. The second or third slide they are bragging about their successful push to ban dove hunting in Michigan by referendum when contracted by the HSUS to do so. I find this all interesting and perhaps a double-edged sword. We have been involved in using petitions, although we don't have the ability for ballot initiatives in NY, we are using them a different way. We also reached out to seven of the other eight states that do not allow dove hunting ( there is virtually no mourning doves in Alaska, so we left them out); and the 11 states that do not allow Sunday hunting. We entered a partnership with a number of sportsmen in NJ. Although it turned out after verification, that our critics in NJ were actually anti-hunters pretending to be hunters (complete with photos of them with guns and harvested game) who have even attended state and county meetings of hunting organizations and/or have been or are elected officers of such clubs, have attacked our efforts to help NJ sportsmen, legalize Sunday hunting in NJ (they oppose Sunday hunting), because we are not NJ residents. The same persons who claim to be hunters, in addition to being opposed to Sunday hunting, are also opposed to mute swan management in NJ, spinning wing decoys for duck hunting, and pheasant stocking, even going so far as to constantly mock and criticize NJ hunters who pursue pheasant, including youth hunting opportunities for pheasant hunting.

Here is the company - one of their testimonials of their successes in the slide show was in the Michigan ban of dove hunting. Other successes are gun control... http://www.pciconsultantsinc.net/

http://www.pressherald.com/2015/03/11/lawmakers-back-bill-to-limit-out-of-staters-role-in-maine-petition-drives/

Do waterfowl hunting guides have to be in possession of a stamp or hunting license when guiding clients but not carrying a gun or shooting? I could be wrong, but believe the legal interpretation of "hunting" includes helping another person take game. To hunt waterfowl you must have a federal waterfowl stamp and be registered in HIP. Perhaps, if he is "mentoring" he is hunting, therefore he needs his license, stamp, and hip registration? That however, leads to the question if one hunter limits out, can he legally continue to call for his hunting partner or even handle his dog? Although he is technically hunting, he is not exceeding the limit, and has all his endorsements (license , stamp, hip registration) so why not? Some federal lands require an entrance fee, or in lieu of paying the fee, a current signed duck stamp, if he happened to be hunting one of those lands, that would be another reason.

They raised the price now to $25. Still a heck of a bargain.

Don't buy your license from an agent that is not careful with how many are dolled out or lets his minimum wagers misplace them. I am sure the DEC knows how many books to give each license agent. And I know agents have been instructed to ask if the license buyer wants one and only to give out one per hunter. If you are not finding the books my guess is those particular agents are not handling them the way they are supposed to. If they screw up, of course they are going to give you some excuse, such as the DEC doesn't give us enough. Heck, sometimes the screw up is they just don't want to open the box... If I am wrong, and someone from the DEC tells you they are not giving out a calculated number of books to each agent, please let me know, this would be a surprise. I think the DEC knows both the past history regarding how many licenses each agent sells, and how many hunters in the locality compared to how many license agents. If they do not have a handle on this, yet want to print with minimal waste, they should start figuring it out. Like I said, if I am wrong I want to know about it, but I think you are just dealing with retail irresponsibility, the country is full of it...

I was thinking somewhat along the same lines. I think the objective of the youth waterfowl season is to develop lasting participation in waterfowl hunting.

Again, it is important to write in on these proposals! http://myemail.constantcontact.com/RGS-CALL-TO-ACTION---NY-Young-Forest-Habitat.html?soid=1102801309431&aid=vOtfITSEioY

If we do an organizational letter I will let you know. I am not sure if we are going to, but I will probably be sending my own along. I need to read the darn thing first though...

I have not yet read the revised draft, but I did read the DEC's responses to last years comments. They didn't respond to any of our comments. However, they did use a number of the videos we had sent them to supplement or bolster several of their replies. I also noted that it was indicated that ANY was one of the organizations the DEC cited was in support of the first draft. If you have not yet read the responses, I think you will find them interesting. Based on what was indicated in the responses, I have a few points I want to submit already. Do you plan on commenting?

Since we buy annual licenses, I am not aware of how this is handled for those who have lifetime licenses. We buy our annual NY license at the store and they give me one book and my wife one book. NY has about 750,000 resident and non-resident licensees every year on average, I am pretty sure they offer a hard copy to every one of them, I can't imagine how that would not be true, even in the internet age. We buy our out of state licenses online and all the states I hunt mail me a hard copy of their regulation magazine. I also wanted to expand on what I said to Culver about the reach of the regulation guide. The NYON is a weekly or biweekly paper. So it goes in the trash in a matter of days. By contrast, people hold on to the regulation guide for a year, until they get the following year's edition. It is very reasonable to assume that over the entire hunting season, most active hunters constantly refer back to the sunrise and sunset tables in the guide. Surely many hunters also refer to the guide on a regular basis during the hunting season for regulations, season dates, etc., in addition to the sunrise/sunset table... I think if we advertise we are helping defray the cost of printing. We just had a more or less across - the - board sporting license reduction, so now is the money tight, despite a year or two ago it was testified that the conservation fund was fat and needed to go on a diet, and the prescribed diet was to reduce license fees, what happened? A dove stamp would add a few calories, perhaps not many, but some...

Bob, Since you are subscribed to us on face book, you will get a different survey. Although a few may have taken this survey, we really didn't want a biased survey, so we tried to distribute it all over, and I think we did. The other survey will be more to gather insight about things pertinent to people who are indeed interested in a NY dove season, so there is no vice in directing it at our subscribers, that is exactly what we want to do - we wont be representing this as a broad representation of attitudes and opinions. As far as the dove stamp, we need peoples opinion on it. We need to have something in a bill package that offers benefits to those who do not hunt, if not a stamp, something else. Similarly, the lawmakers need an arguing point if they are going to call any meetings among themselves to justify why a dove bill should be passed or is even worthy of a vote. NY has a history of dove bills that never once progressed. One reason is nobody is contacting the lawmakers in support; and the other reason is the lawmakers have not been given much to sell their colleagues with. Don't forget, this is not a DEC initiative, so lawmakers are not being compelled by them, which differs from most other pro-hunting legislation. A dove stamp is one approach, and it should translate into better hunting opportunity. If our surveys determine most hunters object to a dove stamp, the lawmakers will be advised, but I think there should also be an awareness among lawmakers that this funding strategy is an option. We are not thinking about it at this time. The regulation guide reaches far more people (750,000) and it better represents the total hunting community. It is important we reach the so-called "unorganized sportsmen" whose voice is under-represented.

Have you ever been to the DEC Saratoga Tree Nursery? It looks like that place should be loaded with doves.

I have not taken the time to read the revised plan yet, but I will. I am sure it is a competent plan. It is not the DEC anyone is complaining about in this, it is how the political pressure forced the revision. How well the DEC balanced the public outcry with their management objectives will reflect in this revision, which, like I said, I have not yet read. I would say partnering with DU is a good idea. One thing to keep in mind. Although, it is not inconceivable that DU would invest in enhancing small pockets of habitat throughout NY; DU chapter money may or may not stay locally; DU has priority areas it focuses on. This should not dissuade anyone from supporting DU, because the majority of migratory birds you encounter in NY are hatched in the PPR or Boreal forest. I would also question the receptiveness of private landowners in NY to DU's efforts on their property. They achieve tremendous cooperation in other regions, but I would imagine a greater challenge here. The long term solution is habitat, but in this case, I think slowing these winged lawn mowers from encroaching on more and more habitat pockets on private and public land is akin to stopping the bleeding before operating... I think people who don't hunt have difficulty with the concept of the problem with a pair of non native swans on some secluded two acre wetland. Wetland habitat is limited, and the percent of wetland habitat conducive to nesting is even more limited. With tough winters like this year and last year, the impact of mute swans is less affordable than in more moderate years. Even if birds do not starve, reproduction of under-weight hens is impaired. Mute swans make less food available, less space available, and cause the smaller birds to burn calories when they flee for their lives from aggressive and territorial mute swans...

That is the rule, not the exception. We have been working to change that... DU refuses to become involved with any issue other than habitat. If this was not the case this time, it would be a first as far as I know. I hunt widely across the state. I have them in gun range every year in all the sections I hunt. From the center of the state to state lines. Some of those locations include border waters, were they are unprotected on one side and fully protected on the NY side. Sometimes that would be a river 40 or 50 yards wide. Other locations are border lands, with permanent water and/or beaver impoundments used by mute swans. A lot of the places I hunt during the first split are very good nesting and brooding habitat. If mute swans are there in the fall, I am sure they are there during nesting/brooding season. In the fall those small waters only contain so much SAV. It doesn't excite me to take mute swan, but I recognize their growing impacts, and where it is allowed I shoot and eat them. They taste like swan... As far as specifically targeting them, I am sure that if experienced waterfowl hunters observed and monitored mute swans during scouting missions they would return specifically for them unless they located an "X" of a more desirable species. And what is desirable is determined by personal preference. In lieu of the X, hunters would resort to what is known as hunting traffic birds. If they found an X used by mute swans, they would have another option besides hunting traffic. I think that defines targeting them, but if you mean is there enough to target every weekend ,over the entire 60 day duck season or entire goose season, of course not. When there are that many places to locate mute swans, the problem should be promoted to out of control...

Ducks Unlimited is listed too, however they do not typically get involved in these types of matters. It does concern wetland habitats, and mute swans impact wetland SAV, but I still believe this would be out of DU's ordinary scope. That gets my curiosity up...

Here are the DEC's responses to the comments from the first plan: http://www.dec.ny.gov/docs/wildlife_pdf/pubcomsmuteswan2015.pdf

We will see how the first draft's strategy to open a hunting season fares. Ironically, mute swans have been classified in NY as a game species since the 1970s. I am not sure if the DEC even needs legislative approval to create a hunting season when it involves a species already classified as game. They might have the legal authority to just go ahead and set a hunting season... It should make everyone uneasy,given that the DEC's original plan was to extirpate the species, if they are now unwilling to even allow regulated hunting, especially since mute swans are already classed as game and are considered invasive species...

Yeah, I don't know the link works, just not from here. Something called parsing. Google is picking up our site by now, so you can just search NY Dove Hunting, you will get a few of our sites the one for this is the website not the social media. Go to "contact". It is all working.

It depends on where you place your blind and if there is any wind. It is not always the case, but it is a safe bet, both ducks and geese will land downwind of the set. If your trailing decoys, or those most downwind are too far or at the edge of shotgun range, you will be getting marginal shots. It does not take much wind at all to direct birds, it takes more wind to impart motion in decoys, so do not confuse the two. (wind also encourages migration, FYI) The obvious solution is to simply set your blinds down wind, but like anything else when your out in the field you cant always conform to a plan, plus, the wind may not be there, then the birds might drop on the other side of your spread... So, as a general rule, understanding you need to be flexible and adapt, place your blinds on the downwind side, but not so far you cant reach the other side of the spread. That doesn't guarantee anything either, because you will get birds that will still land too far downwind. If that happens more than once, then move your blinds and hope the wind doesn't shift.. You need to strike a balance in your setup and you rarely will get shots at every swing or every commitment. That is one reason why waterfowlers like the wind. When you are dealing with a lot of birds, especially birds actively migrating, AND a lot of decoys you will see hunters using blind placement in the middle of the decoys and/or near some "hole" or empty spot in the large decoy set. That will of course work with the right conditions and sufficient decoys. Those conditions usually include, hungry, aggressive birds during migration, which it becomes a social norm to "cut the line", find a hole in the large number of birds on the ground and plop right in.

I don't like the taste of honey, but I am aware it is expensive. I am not informed about the profit margin of bee keeping, but I do know keepers also "lease" bees to pollinate crops and/or are involved themselves in growing commodities that do not rely on wind pollination. I am sure there is both economic and personal incentives to bee keeping. So important is the ecological services provided by honey bees in the production of our food supply, that if everyone gave up bee keeping the government would have to do it. Another interesting thing about honey bees , is that they are NOT a native species. Other bees and other invertebrates pollinate, but the introduced honey bee is very efficient. So the honey bee, along with the ring-necked pheasant, gray partridge, and chukar are all non-native species that are beneficial, rather than deleterious or invasive. Invasive is usually defined as a species that has a negative impact on ecology and/or a negative impact on the economy. The term is also usually reserved for species which are increasing in population size and population distribution. Those species (honey bee, pheasant, partridge, and chukar) do not meet any of those definitions... As far as "crowd funding", this is going to be another" here we go again topic" which some will claim every person or entity trying to raise funds is running a scam.

Yeah, so what. The lady socialized a couple of cubs, My neighbor did the same thing. Who would want to shoot one of those anyway? There kinda cute...