outdoorstom

I don't think the economic status of any particular area should even come into play. If anything, it seems huge fines would be even more of a deterrent for these areas.

That is beautiful!

I find it very disheartening when I read these reports with the laughable fines imposed. Why can't NY be more like other states when it comes to serious violations like poaching? Certainly thousands of dollars in fines, confiscating weapons and vehicles, and loss of hunting privileges for a few seasons would be more of a deterrent than what is done now. DEC lists conservation law violators in St. Lawrence County Thursday, January 28, 2016 - 11:45 am The state Department of Environmental Conservation Region 6 office has released the following list of violations of conservation law and court action: • Donald L. Maroney, 54, Butternut Ridge Rd. Canton, charged 11/27/15 Town of Clare, Place Salt on Lands Inhabited by Deer. 12/10/15 $25 fine, $75 surcharge, Judge Camp • James F. Barse, 40, St. Rt. 56 Raymondville, charged 8/21/13 Town of Norfolk, Unlawful Open Burn. 1/5/16, $50 $2.50, Judge Grubee • Connor J. Hoben, 20, Clyde Allen Dr., St. Albans, Vt. Charged 11/27/15, Town of Clare, Hunt Big Game over Pre-established Bait Pile. 11/27/15 $50 $2.50 Judge Camp • Edwin M. Baxter,65, Benson Mines Rd., Star Lake, charged 11/29/15, Town of Clifton Unlawful Body Gripping Set on Land. 12/23/15 $25 $75, Judge Friden • James C. Baker, 42, Furnace St., Norfolk, charged 8/29/15 Town of Norfolk, Unlawful Open Burn. 9/23/15 $50, $2.50, Judge Grubee • John C. Kingrey II, 24, Fordham Hill Rd., Hermon, charged 9/25/15 Town of Russell, Hunt Deer without Big Game License, Possess Loaded Firearm in a Motor Vehicle, Take Deer with Aid of Artificial Light, Take Deer during Closed Season. 11/16/15 $350, $10 Judge Friot • Philip A. Kavanagh, 57, Hollingsworth, Lane Piercefield, charged 6/19/15 Town of Colton, Fail to Obey DEC Regulation. 10/27/15 $100, $75 Judge Robar.

We ended up going on 31 tracks and recovered 11 deer and 2 bear. A number of the unrecovered animals were due to non fatal shots, a few others I believe we should have found but didn't due to lack of experience. Our success rate should get better the more we do. The national average is 35%. in March we're attending Trackfest in Georgia which will be 3 days of training and testing.

I agree with everyone else, the only way they will take you seriously is to bring in the law.

That's really too bad, I hope he changes his mind, but I doubt if he will. That might be the biggest 8 I've seen in New York. Really wish he would have called me to bring my dog!

I only read the first story, but I liked it. Well written????

That looks great!

That's not the case in my area....a lot of my tracking jobs were hail Mary's unfortunately.

This is in 6A

You tell me????

Very nice.......congrats!!

I got this picture a few hours ago.

Thanks for the kind words....much appreciated.

I watched a 3 pointer breed a mature doe 150 yards in front of me a few days ago. (Nov 28). The 8 pointer I shot yesterday was alone and came into my food plot.

This morning it was my turn????

11/30/2015 I went on a track today that was an hour and a half from home. There was a dusting of snow on the ground, which was a first for Luna and I. The hunter reported shooting a buck in the brisket and finding tremendous amounts of blood. He bumped it out of a bed about 100 yards from the hit site and backed out. He and a friend went back in this morning and followed blood 1/2 a mile, then found four beds within yards of each other. This was the point of loss and where their grid search began. We started at the hit site and Luna made short work of the 1/2 mile. We then spent about 40 minutes getting beyond that point. After 4 restarts, we eventually found blood a couple hundred yards away. We were going long distances with no blood, then would see a drop. After awhile, we started finding blood more frequently and it it was fresh. We had started pushing it and now we were finding it almost every step, but it was running. Three different times we found bone fragments, one of them being very large. We found bone marrow near that one. It was obvious it was a leg shot, not brisket. We ended up in a swamp with a pond stretching out in front of us for 150-200 yards. We could see where the deer had broken through the ice every step of the way in the waist deep water, and had made it to the other side. It was dusk at this point, so the hunter marked it on his gps and is going back in the morning. I told him if you don't find him in a bed near where he came out of the pond, chances are he is going to live. We were on this track for 3.9 miles from the hit site to the pond, as per gps.

11/29/2015 I have to admit to being frustrated tonight. We went on a track this afternoon that I feel we should have recovered the deer, but didn't. At the hit site we saw 4 small saplings the round had gone through after hitting the deer. I didn't measure, but the holes were at least 4' off the ground. About 10 yards away was bright red blood. I didn't see it, but the hunter reported blood with bubbles and what appeared to be lung tissue. We were initially on good blood, but that dried up considerably after a couple hundred yards. We were still seeing an occasional drop when we got to the hunter point of loss. He had waited 3 hours before tracking, then did a good job of marking blood, and they had not grid searched. The point of loss was right at the start of a clearcut area under overhead power transmission lines. I remembered reading how the lines cause dead areas as far as scent goes, and I believe that is what happened. Luna turned off the trail we were on and ran parallel with the lines for a few hundred yards, but was never acting confident and I never saw any blood. We went back to last blood and she went across the clearcut this time and down a trail. Again, she never acted confident and I never saw any sign. We worked circles around the whole area for an hour and a half but never found any more blood. Darkness was setting in and the track was called off.

11/28/2015 We went on a track this morning that the hunter reported he had white hair and good dark blood on. At the hit site I found white and brown hair and a decent amount of bright red blood. Luna quickly advanced the track past the hunters point of loss, and we found a bone fragment early on. The blood varied from a tiny drop here and there to larger areas where the deer stopped. I believe we were tracking a leg shot deer and weren't too far behind it. All the blood we were finding was very fresh, and several times Luna's excitement level drastically increased. A good half of this mile and a half track was through thick prickly ash. I was definitely slowing Luna down as I tried to fight through it. We ended up in a swamp, and it got to the point the water was too deep for Luna. I'd carry her and when we came to an intersection I'd set her down long enough to show me which trail to take. It eventually got too deep for us humans too. We walked around the deep part and checked every trail coming out, but never got back on it. I believe it stayed in the swamp. I consider this a successful track for Luna and felt bad that she didn't get her reward at the end. I did share some venison jerky with her on the drive home.

Way to go....congratulations!!

This is definitely cutting into my hunting time, but it's a blast to do. I have no good bucks on my cameras anyway, that makes it easier.

11/24/2015 I had a call from a DEC Officer this afternoon asking if I would be willing to track a buck that someone had poached. The guy had shot it at 11:30 in the morning from his vehicle on a fairly busy road, with houses very close. The landowner heard the shot and caught the guy. Luna and I arrived and accompanied the landowner and Dec Officer to the hit site where I observed white hair and no blood. Luna got on blood a short distance away and made it to the point of loss. We advanced the track on pretty good blood approximately another 75 yards, then it got tricky. The deer had walked in circles in a thicket, but Luna figured it out. She then tracked to another thicket and started pulling hard and using her high pitched bark that is reserved for live deer. She took me for quite a run through the nastiest, thickest brush imaginable. I was on my hands and knees to get through some of it. We never did see the deer she was on, but I can't imagine a healthy deer would have stuck around with all the commotion we had made up to that point. After checking around a couple nearby ponds, we called it off.

11/23/2015 Luna and I tracked a big mature buck this morning that was shot last night on public land. This area is bow hunting only. The arrow had both brown and white hair on it, plus blood and fecal matter. The hunters stand is about 30' high, and the shot was at 10 yards. It was hard to get a read on the color of the blood due to the fecal matter. The hunter followed blood for 20 yards, then backed out and called me. He also told me he was denied access to the bordering private property, where he believes the buck went. I told him we'd try it, to make sure that is in fact where it went. Starting at the hit site, Luna was on blood for 50 yards or so, then took a trail to the right. I didn't see any blood for a couple hundred yards, but remembering my recent mistake of taking her off track and restarting prematurely, we continued. After about another hundred yards with no sign, I picked her up and went back to last blood. Off we went in a different direction this time for a few hundred yards. Back we went for another try. This time I made a conscious effort to really slow Luna down because it appeared she was working too fast. We stayed on blood this time, which lasted around 150 yards and led right onto the private property. I had the hunter call the landowner again to tell him we've confirmed that's where it went and tell him if he gave us permission we'd be happy to wait for him to join us. He said he went out there a little while ago and followed the blood but it stopped after 100 feet into the woods, so again, no you can't enter. Very frustrating, but we had no choice but to call it quits.

I think they could carry it that far. I once watched a little red squirrel carrying an ear of cone that was bigger than it was. He'd carry it a while, then stop and rest, carry it a while, stop and rest.......

You've got a lot more patience than me! Dumb and dumber sound a lot like the dickheads in the other thread.