Syracuse.com - Tis the season for bowhunting, pheasant hunting and muzzleloading

[HuntingNY-News]

Hunters are anxious and excited to get out during the peak of fall foilage.

Saturday marks the beginning of the bowhunting season for big game in the Southern Zone, and of the pheasant hunting season for much of this area as well. Add to all that, the muzzleloading season in the Northern Zone.

Hunters I’ve talked to in recent days are both excited and anxious. For good reason.

Central New York is on the verge of peak fall foliage and it’s a great time to be out in the woods and in the fields. In addition, this is the first year that 12 and 13 year olds will be out there hunting with bows for deer.

Before going out, check your DEC hunting manual or the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov for more on specific seasons in areas, daily bag limits and other information. A quick reminder: crossbows may be used only during the regular firearms and late muzzleloader seasons. They can’t be used during the regular bow season.

With more youngsters than usually getting out, I encourage parents to send in photos of their youngsters and their first deer or bird for publication on this page, or for on my Outdoors page on syracuse.com.

I’d like to quickly remind readers, though, about the newspaper’s guidelines concerning submitted “trophy” photos.

For years, there have been more submitted hunting and fishing pictures from readers than space can accommodate on this page. The sheer volume of submissions permits us to be pretty picky. In general, we go for tasteful, sharp, colorful, well-composed shots.

Due to the constraints of space and the timeliness of the photo, some very good shots have often gone unused. Many of the also-rans are rejected for technical reasons — too fuzzy, too dark, too bright, small image, etc. Some are not chosen because of elements of poor taste, such as a tongue dangling from the deer’s mouth, or smears of blood visible on snow.

However, I do post nearly every submitted photo on the Outdoors blog on syracuse.com. (See www.syracuse.com/outdoors). I must emphasize, though, that photos will be rejected for reasons of poor technical quality and tastelessness.

I prefer photos to be submitted by e-mail to [email protected] and as a .jpeg attachment. Include the full name of everyone in the photo, where they live, age, when and where the trophy was harvested and any other pertinent information. Also, include a daytime phone number in case there are any questions. The same goes for submitted fish and wildlife photos.

To all the hunters young and old, good luck and be safe.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog