Shorten the NY Gun Season?

[nyantler]

I think we should have our season like New Mexico State. One tag ,one deer, buck or doe. Kill your deer and you are all done, no more tags. When you buy your license, you must pick your weapon that you are going to hunt with and that's the weapon that you hunt with all season. They don't have any individual season for any weapons. Bow hunters hunt along side gun hunters. One season, one deer.

Great plan - 7j and 7h would be overrun with deer in a very short time. :

In NY the hunting seasons are for herd management - not so everyone can see 50 deer every hunt.

As well as other regions of NY as well.. Remember fellas, if you think there is a problem with depletion of deer in your area... don't fill all your tags and do your part to bring back the herd...just and idea

[nonnie]

i am a big gun hunters i say no to shoter seasons i want meet not big racks

[phade]

Move SZ regular opener to Monday after T-day. 

Shorter regular season...OBR...all in the mix.

I am not for extending MZ as it is now to the end of the year. I think it's a potential issue with dropped bucks getting shot. I think Iowa is having an issue with it right now. Bow/Xbow til end of the year is fine imo because it requires closer prey shooter distance. Plinking a non-antlered deer at 150-200 yards from a box blind leaves a little in the confirmation department for my liking.

[Nomad]

Some of this has been mentioned already but......  Most gun deer are killed the first few days so not sure what lopping off the end would do,other then upset a large number of gun hunters .

As far as nuisance permits, were talking a very small number of deer killed on them. DMAP's account for 5% of the whole deer take and DDP's ( true nuisance permits ) even less at around 2% IIRC .

We often fill our DMAP's and not our regular doe tags so often times its a wash .

I myself see plenty of deer in bow season in, gun season where I hunt it can be challenging, Perhaps thats why they call it hunting ?  I did go to the southern tier where deer were all over the place.

I took a doe at a camp in one sitting, the 25th deer out of that camp at that point. Everyone at that camp fills all their tags and I saw 60 plus deer in fields at 12 noon ! Location.location,location !

I could perhaps see a one buck rule.

could we make NYS better ? Sure . But we're not like many of the "big" deer hunting states. I hunt Montana, there everyone shoots nice bucks for the most part. BUT they have several times the hunting land and FEW hunters. They have 16,000 bow hunters, i got that many with in an hours drive from me ! The deer have no pressure, the hunters have limitless land to hunt , some things we can't change.

[WNYBuckHunter]

taking a couple of weeks off of gun season would dramatically reduce the pressure on the deer. Havent you noticed how they all come out of the woodwork during late season, because gun pressure has dropped off? Most guys I know are done hunting after the first couple of weeks for the most part anyway. If you made ML season 2 weeks and didnt allow scopes, guys would only end up losing 1 week of a firearms season.

[letinmfly]

I would like to see the DEC implement a season like PA had it some years back.  Two weeks of buck season and then a three day doe season for the regular season.

Probably cutting back to allowing only one buck to be harvested per year regardless of the season it was taken would help considerably.

[Nomad]

WNYbuckhunter, I'm not sure what your saying ? 52 weeks in a year gun is 3 weeks, so we have 49 where the deer are not pressured. If we change it to 51 it will some how make for better hunting and less pressured deer ?

Are you saying late season ML and bow would then be better? were going to short change the largest number of hunters for the few ???

I don't know I'm an average hunter. I get 2-5 deer a year for the last 20 some years . I hunt 8h I really don't see a problem now . I know tons of guys killing  big bucks on a regular basis. We get wall hangers every year on the farm and guys at work do very well  too.

Hunt hard hunt often, pass up the small bucks .

[132 eight pointer]

Remember too that some of us only get out on the weekend or even just Sun. unless we take vacation time.Not everyone can hunt after work during the week due to a variety of reasons.

[First-light]

taking a couple of weeks off of gun season would dramatically reduce the pressure on the deer. Havent you noticed how they all come out of the woodwork during late season, because gun pressure has dropped off? Most guys I know are done hunting after the first couple of weeks for the most part anyway. If you made ML season 2 weeks and didnt allow scopes, guys would only end up losing 1 week of a firearms season.

2 week ML season sounds great but you'll have to pry the scope from my hands. I'm open sites challenged.

[Larry]

I would also like to see the late bow ML season go longer. Talked to the guys at the DEC they said there is no reason the late bow Ml can’t go into January. They told me the only reason it doesn’t run into Jan. is everyone wants something to start early instead of running late.

Before you think about shorting any season take a look at the survey done by Cornell.

deersurvppt2010.pdf

[SteveB]

Also the snowmobilers are against any extention. Landowners will not allow the trails to open on their properties while hunting season is open.

[nyantler]

Very good point Steve.. never thought of that one.

[tj1187]

How come when someone has a less than great season we have to reinvent the wheel?  Just leave things the way they are.

[nyantler]

Another good point TJ!

[fasteddie]

Now that Deer season has ended , we will probably start seeing deer during the daytime in a couple weeks .

[WNYBuckHunter]

WNYbuckhunter, I'm not sure what your saying ? 52 weeks in a year gun is 3 weeks, so we have 49 where the deer are not pressured. If we change it to 51 it will some how make for better hunting and less pressured deer ?

Are you saying late season ML and bow would then be better? were going to short change the largest number of hunters for the few ???

I don't know I'm an average hunter. I get 2-5 deer a year for the last 20 some years . I hunt 8h I really don't see a problem now . I know tons of guys killing  big bucks on a regular basis. We get wall hangers every year on the farm and guys at work do very well  too.

Hunt hard hunt often, pass up the small bucks .

Gun season is 4 weeks long plus another of ML which makes 5, where have you been? If you go back and look at what I originally said toward the beginning of the thread, youd see that I would like to see a 2 week gun season, followed by a week or so of going back to bow/x-bow, then a 2 week Late ML season with iron sights only. I believe that it would put less stress on the deer herd and make for better hunting for everyone.

BTW, dont preach to me, I hunt 8h as well and spend more time in the woods than the average guy. 

[WNYBuckHunter]

How come when someone has a less than great season we have to reinvent the wheel?  Just leave things the way they are.

What are you talking about? If its broke dont fix it?  :

[nyantler]

shortening the season is not the answer..

[WNYBuckHunter]

shortening the GUN season is part of it. The overall season should be extended. What state with a rep for great hunting has 5 consecutive weeks of gun hunting?

[nyantler]

The problem is not with the length of the gun season, but the amount of deer being allowed in the overall season... as well as with the number of young bucks being taken.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

2 weeks bow,2 Weeks shotgun,rifle and 2 weeks muzzleloading one either sex tag for each 2 week hunt and no doe tags also a major crackdown on the dmaps and the crazy act of letting someone drive around at night with a light in their hand shooting anything they want!!

[Chevy]

2 weeks bow,2 Weeks shotgun,rifle and 2 weeks muzzleloading one either sex tag for each 2 week hunt and no doe tags also a major crackdown on the dmaps and the crazy act of letting someone drive around at night with a light in their hand shooting anything they want!!

glad you're not in charge at the DEC. You propose 2 weeks of bow and 4 weeks of gun to improve things? It's twice or three times has hard to close the deal with a bow but you want the gun season to be twice as long?  Makes no sense.

[Four Season Whitetail's]

Thats right twice as hard to get it done with the bow=Less deer shot.Twice as hard with muzzle(one shot)= Less deer shot!!2 week gun=Less deer shot!!! People complain about not enough deer out there well this would save a few lives thats for sure.You would have to use your weapon and hunt deer or you might not get one.

[SteveB]

Thats right twice as hard to get it done with the bow=Less deer shot.Twice as hard with muzzle(one shot)= Less deer shot!!2 week gun=Less deer shot!!! People complain about not enough deer out there well this would save a few lives thats for sure.You would have to use your weapon and hunt deer or you might not get one.

Don't do statewide management based on your back yard.

[WNYBuckHunter]

The problem is not with the length of the gun season, but the amount of deer being allowed in the overall season... as well as with the number of young bucks being taken.

This thread isnt about the overall strategy to help the herd, its just about gun season length. Shortening gun season equal less deer killed, correct? 

I never said that changing season lengths was THE solution to all of the issues, I said it was PART of it.