Article from 1930

[Don_C]

I saw this on Facebook today. Check it out.

 

 

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[Daveboone]

What we take for granted now, huh?

[DoubleDose]

Market hunting essentially made deer extinct in NYS.  The state had to be restocked with deer from Virginia.  

[Pygmy]

..Deer have always existed in the state.....The Adirondacks have always had a deer population, as has the northern tier of PA. 

As I understand it, the deer population in central and western NY was pretty much exterminated due to uncontrolled hunting  ( the first regulated deer seasons were around 1900)   and  habitat destruction..The time period where there was the most cleared land was around 1860....

There probably were some attempts to stock deer from other states, but I think most of the repopulation of whitetails in this state was due to migration from the Adirondacks, and more significantly, from PA along the long southern tier border..

[crappyice]

..Deer have always existed in the state.....The Adirondacks have always had a deer population, as has the northern tier of PA. 
As I understand it, the deer population in central and western NY was pretty much exterminated due to uncontrolled hunting  ( the first regulated deer seasons were around 1900)   and  habitat destruction..The time period where there was the most cleared land was around 1860....
There probably were some attempts to stock deer from other states, but I think most of the repopulation of whitetails in this state was due to migration from the Adirondacks, and more significantly, from PA along the long southern tier border..

Thank you for your first hand account of deer numbers from 1900. Did you catch and release Moby Dick as a minnow?


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[grampy]

As far as deer numbers go, we are living right now, in "the good old days"!

The deer numbers have never been higher. When I start hunting in the 70s it really was something to just see a deer. Getting ANY deer, was a cause for celebration!

The old guys when I started would say, "back in the day", they'd go years without seeing a buck!

[luberhill]

2 minutes ago, grampy said:

As far as deer numbers go, we are living right now, in "the good old days"!

The deer numbers have never been higher. When I start hunting in the 70s it really was something to just see a deer. Getting ANY deer, was a cause for celebration!

The old guys when I started would say, "back in the day", they'd go years without seeing a buck!

Agree, I’m in my early 60s, always lived in the country ( fingerlakes) and I don’t remember seeing numbers like I see now

[GreeneHunter]

One has to go back when a Party Permit required 3-4 people on it to take a Doe , now they pass them out pretty readily just not in all areas !

[crappyice]

As far as deer numbers go, we are living right now, in "the good old days"!
The deer numbers have never been higher. When I start hunting in the 70s it really was something to just see a deer. Getting ANY deer, was a cause for celebration!
The old guys when I started would say, "back in the day", they'd go years without seeing a buck!

Always curious as to the reasoning. Is it simply deer numbers or has the game changed so much that we are now seeing more deer than hunter before?
I was brought into hunting from a college buddy whose Italian grandfather and father and uncle would load the guns and car from the Bronx after Thanksgiving dinner, drive up 87 and stay a few days. No scouting, no cameras, no scent free….no deer! Hunting for them was a week long card game interrupted by some time in the woods! If they were fortunate to harvest a deer, it would be driven around the neighborhood for days!!!!


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[wolc123]

4 minutes ago, grampy said:

As far as deer numbers go, we are living right now, in "the good old days"!

The deer numbers have never been higher. When I start hunting in the 70s it really was something to just see a deer. Getting ANY deer, was a cause for celebration!

The old guys when I started would say, "back in the day", they'd go years without seeing a buck!

I agree with that completely and I think that the NY state DEC deserves a lot of the credit for that.  As a pure meat hunter, I don’t believe there is a state where the deer population is managed any better.  
 

Prior to last year’s tweaks (early September antlerless, restored Adirondack ML antlerless, extra 1/2 hour early & late, and Holiday ML) each of which put a deer in my freezer, there may have been another state or two with a leg up on us.  
 

With those changes,  as meat hunter living in NY, it couldn’t be much better.  I guess maybe  they could tack on full inclusion of crossbow for archery season next year, or at least one additional weekend up in the northern zone. 
 

Now that NY is in the number one state for a meat hunter, I think I would prefer that they leave the rules just as they were last year.  Let the trophy hunters shuffle off to the other 49 states, if they are unsatisfied here.

[grampy]

6 minutes ago, crappyice said:

Always curious as to the reasoning. Is it simply deer numbers or has the game changed so much that we are now seeing more deer than hunter before?
I was brought into hunting from a college buddy whose Italian grandfather and father and uncle would load the guns and car from the Bronx after Thanksgiving dinner, drive up 87 and stay a few days. No scouting, no cameras, no scent free….no deer! Hunting for them was a week long card game interrupted by some time in the woods! If they were fortunate to harvest a deer, it would be driven around the neighborhood for days!!!!


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In my situation, "the old guys" lived on the farms they hunted. They were in the fields every day. If there were deer around, they would've seen them. And true was the fact, that in hard times, it did not have to be deer season, to put meat on the table to feed their families. It was a different time and place during the first half of last century. Hunting was primarily to feed yourself and family. Not so much for sport. Perhaps that contributed to a degree, the low deer numbers of that time period?