Syracuse.com - Young archers getting ready for their first deer hunting season

[HuntingNY-News]

A new state law signed in May by Gov. Andrew Cuomo lowered the minimum age to bowhunt from 14 to 12. The season opens Oct. 15.

Mike Greenlar/The Post-StandardEmily Buschbascher, 13, has been shooting in indoor and outdoor archery leagues for more than 4 years. She'll hunt for deer for the first time this season. Emily Buschbascher, of Skaneateles, has been accompanying her father into the woods while he hunted with a bow.

“She’s sat up in a treestand with me, helped me track deer after I’ve shot them — even helped field dress them and everything,” said Don Buschbascher.

This fall Emily, 13, will finally get to pull back the strings of her own bow and aim it at a deer. A new state law signed in May by Gov. Andrew Cuomo lowered the minimum age to bowhunt from 14 to 12. The season opens Oct. 15.

The eighth-grader, who attends Marcellus Middle School, can hardly wait. For the past four years she’s been practicing her bow skills by being part of an indoor league during the winter and participating in weekly 3-D competitions during the summer.

Alongside her garage at home, her father has put up a big square target with a 3-D bear target in front. She often works on her skills after soccer practice with her Mission Endeavor bow, which is set at a draw weight of 40 pounds. She stands 5 feet, 4 inches and weighs 110 pounds.

“I feel pretty comfortable taking a shot (at a deer) at about 30 to 35 yards,” she said. “I think it would be cool if I got a deer this fall.”

In East Syracuse, David Dabrowski, 12, is also getting ready to hunt with his bow. He has been tagging along for years with his father, Mike, and older brother, Matt, during bowhunting season.

“He’s been out with me since he was old enough to walk,” said the father. “He’s seen his brother do it. It’s a natural progression.”

The youngster, who is a seventh-grader at Pine Grove Middle School, took his hunter safety course last year and has already gotten his first turkey and goose with a shotgun. The father and son have been practicing in earnest together for more than a month and half, shooting at targets at local parks and from treestands the father has set up.

David, who stands 5-7 and weighs 120, is eager to get out and show his stuff. On opening day, he’ll be shooting his Hoyt bow with a 45-pound draw weight. His goal?

“I’d like to best my brother’s pretty good deer that he got last year — an 8-pointer,” he said.

Jim Commentucci/The Post-StandardAndrew Rhoads practices shooting in his yard in Summerhill.

Andrew Rhoads, 12, of Summerhill, a seventh-grader at Groton Middle School, has been practicing for months shooting a 3-D deer target in his yard and downstairs in his basement, where his father has set up a 20-yard range.

Rhoads, who stands 5 feet, 4 inches and weighs 110 pounds, has also been going out for years with his father. He said he likes just being out in a treestand, watching deer, watching nature.

“I’d like to shoot one deer. I don’t care which kind it is,” he said.

His father, Dennis Rhoads, said he’s taken the boy out a number of times to practice shooting from his two treestands, but “we’ll be hunting from a ground blind the first day.

“I’ll probably have the videotape camera going more than my bow,” he said.

The boy will be taking out his Diamond Razor’s Edge bow, which according to his father has a draw weight of nearly 40 pounds.

What do young David’s friends say about him getting out with a bow and hunting with his dad?

“They think it’s pretty awesome,” he said.

Know the law

- The minimum age for a bowhunter is 12. Young hunters (ages 12-15) must have taken a bowhunter safety course and possess a junior bowhunter’s hunting license.

- The season for bowhunting for big game in the Southern Zone begins Oct. 15 and ends Nov. 18.

- Youth bowhunters must be accompanied by a licensed parent, guardian or a licensed adult mentor of at least 21 years of age. The adult mentor must be also carrying the designation form supplied in the DEC’s hunting guide (page 35). The two can be in a treestand together. The individual accompanying a junior bow hunter (ages 12-13) must stay close enough so that he or she can speak to the youth without an electronic aid such as a phone or radio, and both should be able to see each other at all times during the hunt. The same applies for young bowhunters ages 14-15, with the exception that the licensed adult mentor can be 18 years or older.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog