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Onondaga County now a "rifle" county

Onondaga County (Syracuse) was 1 of 8 upstate NY counties where rifles have been prohibited for regular season deer/bear hunting. Governor Hochul signed a bill yesterday making them legal, effective immediately (see link to read it). Hard to believe she signed a "pro-gun / pro-hunting" bill.

With the piss poor deer hunting in NY they should be reducing rifle counties instead of expanding them.

This is a good thing, with all the other counties around Onondaga having allowed rifles for almost 20 years now in some places. And as for the individual who commented on hunting being “piss poor” in NY, all I can say is one of 3 things. 1: they live in/hunt in an area that just doesn’t have a lot of deer. 2: they are too picky about what they shoot ( trophy hunting won’t consistently put meat in the freezer) but thats their purgative. 3: they never get out of the blind or stand and put in the leg work to find a deer, it is after all called hunting, we don’t always get one.

Pat, you simply own land in the wrong (arguably one of the worst) areas of NY. We are an hour and a half South of you and our club has killed at least 2 4.5 to 6.5 year old deer per year for the 3 years that I have been on it. Before that I personally killed 3 bucks in 8 years over 3.5 on public ground. Is it KS, hell no. But I would still rather hunt here than a lot of the states East of the Sip.

Agree 100%, Blake.

Pat I have to agree with Denali, if your property was in Brookfield or Georgetown you would be praising management of the deer heard. Our club leases 272 acres in Georgetown the year after 2 8 points where taken 16 different bucks showed up on trail cams.

Fair point. If you guys are happy with your deer herd then I can’t argue with that.

I’m envious.

Everyone I know who owns land in NY thinks it sucks, me included. Even my buddy in Cattaraugus county,

Here’s two bucks at my Ohio place right now. The wide buck is 6.5 and the tall one is 5.5. I’m one hour from the NY border. The difference is ohio has more deer, yet they have a 6-day rifle season after the rut, 4 day Muzzy season in January, one buck tag statewide. NY could be great, I’ll leave it at that.

NY will never be a deer hunting destination, politicians will see to that.

Agree on too many tags and too long a season, but you cannot compare NYS and Ohio, weather wise, ecologically,etc., especially in Central and Northern NY. I think most hunters would rather not shoot 1 1/2 year old rag horn bucks, but also most hunters would be satisfied shooting 2 1/2 or 3 1/2 YO bucks. Most are not looking for P&Y or B&C deer, but just a nice mature example of a whitetail. I have been critical of the DEC, as most who read my writings know, but they must juggle the wants and needs of all hunter’s objectives as well as all the other groups with concerns of deer management ( we all know who all the players are). I must say at least here in my little corner of 7M, every year recently, we have chances at a fair number of 2 1/2+ year old bucks. Many reasons for this, and they are all not good for the future of our sport.

Lets look at some estimated numbers from NY and Ohio State Land Mass Population Deer Pop Hunters NY 54556 19.51 mil 1.2 mil 251000 Ohio 44825 11.75 mil 680000 196000 With these numbers in mind can you see why tags and seasons are different?

Petcontain, sorry I can’t make sense of your post. Looks like you copied it from a table.

If I was a biologist in NY I’d recommend one buck only statewide . A slight or no reduction in SZ rifle season, a heavier reduction in NZ rifle along with expanding the two week NZ archery season to 4 weeks.

That’s it. No antler restrictions or any other drastic changes to the deer season.

At the same time I’d do something about the exploding predator population and would recommend legalization of bait for the early bear season (only), and moving coyote season to 12 mos instead of 5.

I know it’s not Ohio, particularly in the NZ, but these rather subtle changes would go a long way to improving herd health and age structure in NY.

Flame away!

Pat it was not a table I copied I created it and then posting it re-arraigned every thing. The point I was trying was trying to make was comparing NY and Ohio there is a scale difference with numbers. I know in CNY where I live car deer collisions are evidently down because you do not see the deer laying on the side of the road like you did 25 years ago. DMP's have had a hand in this reduction.

Pet, I see your point, not to mention the difference in climate between NY and Ohio. Pat, I agree with your suggestions, but with the fact that NYS is politically controlled by the leftists in NYC, you will never see expanded bear or coyote season. I remember when hounds were allowed. The pressure will force seasons the other way . Just look at what they did to bear season in NJ and the fight that has been going on in Maine to keep their season as is. I fear that any changes made would only make things worse, so I am happy to keep the status quo, as imperfect as it may be.

NY was one buck years ago. Don't think it will ever go back to that.

This change also means that during any open season for deer in Onondaga, coyote hunters may now use centerfire rifles 22 caliber and larger. Previously, they were restricted to shotguns, rimfires and centerfire under 22 caliber. So, it actually expands coyote hunting opportunities as well.

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