Wish NY would adopt this...
Contributors to this thread:New York
From: Pat Lefemine
30-Nov-22
Not one buck was killed in 3000 acres that immediately surround my property this year. Season closes Sunday. I wish NY would make systemic changes to the deer season starting with a one buck rule.
From: Squash
30-Nov-22
From: Squash
30-Nov-22
From: scentman
30-Nov-22
Yes Squash, even though the herd is somewhat depleted for whatever reasons, never want those old days back again... hunting deer sucked back then.
From: Pat Lefemine
01-Dec-22
Squash, I know that because I’m in constant contact with my 5 immediate neighbors and the six of us own 3000 combined acres. Nobody has killed a buck.
Nobody will convince me that a one buck rule won’t help improve herd age structure.
From: scentman
01-Dec-22
As a hunter and landowner I adopt my own rules as I try to convince my neighbors that bucks are scarce, harvest the does. If need be skip on a buck this season... that would be a big shot in arm for future seasons
Oh and stop introducing predators that end up hurting our deer and turkey populations... encourage trapping and taking of nest raiders.
From: Shawlerbrook
01-Dec-22
Around here ( ne Chenango County) we have been seeing and harvesting many more 2 1/2+ year old bucks in the last few years. Many hunters are letting the young pass and the hunter and hunter-days number seems to decrease every year. The one exception, and the reason you will never see the DEC issue less tags is the xbow. I actually think we have more people hunting hard during the xbow season as we do during the gun. DEC( actually NYS government) will never do anything that might negatively affect license sales.
From: Squash
01-Dec-22
From: scentman
01-Dec-22
I'll take a yearling doe or a 2.5 yr old doe for the freezer... 2.5 yr. old buck is just starting to grow larger antlers, I'll pass on him as next season or season after... now your talking.
I cant control the DEC or my neighbors, I just need to control myself and my property.
From: Pat Lefemine
01-Dec-22
It will be interesting to see the DEC harvest stats from this year. It very well may be a localized problem here due to predation and winter kill. It’s most definitely not landowners being selective. Not one of my adjoining landowners will let a little buck walk. I’m the only one.
I got my very first rack buck photo last week. It’s not a mature buck, just a 2.5. Normally I have 3-4 bucks in that class and one or two 3-5 year olds. I have the very best food of those five properties and typically the best buck takes up residence here. This is the only pic after running 30+ trail cams for 6 months.
From: spike78
01-Dec-22
Pat, you might have the best food but you may not have good buck bedding. Have you looked into creating buck bedding habitat?
From: scentman
01-Dec-22
In the 80's and 90's my brother and I hunted a 1800 acre block were we live as we were the only hunters at that time... 30+ yrs later and 2 hunters per 50 acres on the same block has greatly effected the deer herd... being selective and good game management makes a world of difference.
From: petcontain
01-Dec-22
Pat all I can say is you have 3000 acres, The Oneida Indian Nation also has 3000 acres. Yours is not controled enough. On theirs if you want to shoot a 200+ INCH buck it is $10,000 plus you get a night in the casino and a box lunch for your stand. On yours, you have state land and 5 venison fed neighbors. Oh buy the way they have a hign fence around their 3000 acres and camera surveilence.
From: Squash
02-Dec-22
From: petcontain
02-Dec-22
I live out inthe country and I have had farm neighbors tell me during the off season if there was no meat in the house they went down in the back and shot some meat. I am sure this happens more than anyone will admit.
From: scentman
02-Dec-22
I had locals tell me"deer taste best when the strawberries are ripe"... petcontain, sad but very true it happens.
From: kakiatkids
03-Dec-22
Having hunted in the Catskills for the past 40 years, and I know the deer population is much higher and I'd like to point out that I do not need a freezer of venison to survive but I am with Pat on this. I want the opportunity to see more mature bucks...Let everyone have the opportunity to take a doe, in some areas let them take two. There will be meat in the freezer.
From: jdbbowhunter
03-Dec-22
Certain areas in Catskills that have adopted 3pt rule has seen an increase in mature deer. But EHD has taken its toll on areas where it has hit.
From: Shawlerbrook
03-Dec-22
I got to agree with Squash on this. You can legislate one buck and antler restrictions but unless you also change hunter( I use this term loosely because night and out of season poaching will dramatically increase with increased regulation) attitudes nothing will change. You would also need to dramatically increase law enforcement and penalties for those violating game laws. Like drug laws and gun laws, only those that care about following the law will obey and the more strict you make them the more violators you will have. And not to beat a dead horse but the state will not do anything that might hurt license sales numbers.
From: Al Dente Laptop
03-Dec-22
Every piece has to work together, but as pointed out above, it comes down to the hunters to take the lead. The DEC is an inept, hollow form of what it supposed to be. They are driven to provide money for the state coffers, that has been their M.O. for well over a decade. They could not manage a lemonade stand, let alone an entire state whitetail herd.
Hunters should show restraint, but in this "me too" and "everyone gets a trophy" era, that will never happen. You used to have the rifle hunters shooting the last day of archery season, now, they're out there from the onset of it. One year, I counted 72 shots from just before sunrise until 9AM. That is a huge problem. Factor in the coyotes, and now EHD, the only I plan on seeing will be pulling Santa's sleigh.
NYS can be a destination hunting locale, but it never will be, for those reasons I stated above. Everyone needs to be on the same page, but sometimes you can't see the forest through the trees.
From: Wildan2
06-Dec-22
Legally I could have shot four deer this year;landowners,bow,muzzle-loader and rifle;I can only eat one and that's what I shoot.I don't care about the B&C record book;I want a decent buck for the freezer;last ten have been 8pts.or better.Just because you have the tags doesn't mean you HAVE to fill them.
From: spike78
09-Dec-22
Seems to me you guys should be against APRs as that’s just another way they force you to kill more does.
From: scentman
11-Dec-22
Well I'll be dipped, turns out every yearling and 2.5 buck I past up are now freezer meat... the " trophy " hunters in the local area panicked at not seeing mature bucks, so they took late season lesser bucks just to brag about "getting a buck" at any cost. One fella did take a nice 8 pt, but I believe him to be 3.5... boy he had potential. My question... if I pass up a lesser deer for qdm and the fella 2 doors down takes him, and the fella 2 doors down from him takes the other lesser I passed up... what does the future hold for big mature bucks in my area? Oh, I know the answer... just gets me some talk big before the season on passing on young ones and saying"plenty of nice does to harvest"! I believe it is to the point in my area a 1 buck, per 15 doe ratio... is that healthy? Sorry just venting. scentman
From: Shawlerbrook
11-Dec-22
I do agree on voluntarily passing up scrawny 1 1/2 old bucks, but when you start trying to push letting 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 year olds walk you are going to lose 90% of all hunters. Hunters trying to only kill record book bucks are a very small minority of our sport and if we push management decisions and regulations to that end it will be to the detriment of hunting in general. There are many things I disagree with personally, but I always try to think about hunting at a larger level. With declining numbers and all the outside pressures on our lifestyle in general I think we need to take a much broader perspective. Just my opinion for what it’s worth.
From: scentman
11-Dec-22
Ralph, I totally agree with what you stated, I definitely meant voluntarily letting bucks pass... times change, hunters change, play fair and by the rules is my number one objective.
From: Al Dente Laptop
12-Dec-22
If this past week was any indicator, 4Y has a few more years of recovery. I spotted a lot of young ones and fork horn on the Taconic by my exit, Hudson/Ancram, then almost a dozen on Livingston Road off of Route 82. At my cousin's place across the road from me, was the telling sign. No mature bucks at all, but the spikes were having a field day. They were playing/accosting each other. If there was a big boy around, he surely would've chased them away. On my piece only had a few does with young ones. EHD sure beat up the heard pretty bad. Just grateful for what survived.
From: spike78
12-Dec-22
Every year I say I’m not going to shoot a doe or spike and every year when I see one I get the bow ready lol. When your dealing with low numbers here in MA it’s just too tempting and may be the only shot you get.
From: Shawlerbrook
12-Dec-22
I hear you Eric. My biggest pet peeve starts today. I have out of state neighbors that come up to just shoot a doe or two for the sake of shooting and then look to give them away. And these are not guys that can blame it on youthful indiscretion.
From: scentman
12-Dec-22
Truth be told. I'm getting soft in the heart in my old age... just can't shoot a doe, especially with fawns. My buddies ask me why I hunt then, I enjoy being out there and when it feels right.... I'll squeeze the trigger!!
I'm glad to see the NY regional forum getting more contributions, makes it more interesting. scentman
From: Shawlerbrook
13-Dec-22
Same here . We can eat 2 deer a year so that’s what we shoot. My wife shoots one and I shoot one. I have let countless bucks and doe walk by, especially during the early season because I am retired and want a reason to be out there until mid December.
From: Meathook
18-Jan-23
Talk to the taxidermists and butchers not the DEC. The problem is NY has a one size fits all approach. I also don't think hunter observation is the best way to judge the health of a deer herd. Some of my most productive stands have been about useless the last couple of years due to crop changes a 1/4 mile away. Additionally mast crops play a huge roll in where deer will be found and in what density.
From: petcontain
19-Jan-23
Meathook I agree with allot of what you are saying. Two years ago the DEC clear cut a couple of thousand acres next to the 250 acre lease I am on, Clear cut pushed a number of deer onto the lease. This year the owner of the property my lease is on decided to log it. It is to be seen how this will affect the deer.
From: Shawlerbrook
19-Jan-23
Logging generally negatively affects deer movement for maybe a year and then the second, third year’s start seeing increased activity. When we hunted moose in Maine back in 2013, the guides honed in on 3 year old clear cuts. Unless on State land, these are things that are( and should be) beyond the DEC’s control .
From: jdbbowhunter
19-Jan-23
Are they clear cutting or just selective harvest?
From: petcontain
19-Jan-23
On the State Land they clear cut, on our lease it is selective cutting.
From: jdbbowhunter
19-Jan-23
Had about 200 trees cut years ago on piece my family owned. Did help the deer IMO.
From: petcontain
20-Jan-23
We have no choice our lease is on Gutchess Land so they will do as they want. I think it should help because the pines they are cutting are so thick you can't even walk trough them.
From: Squash
20-Jan-23
From: Denali
27-Jan-23
Pat, If you have 3000 acres and you are not killing any bucks in teh last week, I would hope it is by choice. I live in Cortland County and we have a third of that acreage and had 4 guys hunting food during ML and Gun and very rarely did they not have buck sightings. I TOTALLY agree with the one buck premise. We practice it on our club (12 members). We killed 3 bucks this year and passed a lot. The one buck rule is a keystone, but how will it help in your situation? Are your neighbors killing multiple bucks per season? I just need to understand the issues you face to comprehend how you believe that the one buck will help you? Thanks,
From: ultimag
06-Apr-23
Ny has'nt got the genetics for true trophy whitetails . Bettween poor genetics,poaching and loss of habitat ny will never be a b&c whitetail state
From: ultimag
06-Apr-23
Shorten the seasons for all weapon types to 14 days, take it out of the rut start enforceing the mandatory harvest reportng and clamp down on the illegal baiting and Night hunting
From: Squash
06-Apr-23
From: UPSTATE
06-Apr-23
I support the implementation of a one buck a year rule in NYS and have self imposed it for many years now, although I also enjoyed shooting 2 bucks a year for many more years prior to this advanced stage of my life. Honestly I don't even think about any of this stuff much anymore. Deer have a fairly small range so why should I care if someone is killing bucks with a crossbow during the rut anywhere but my immediate area. If you let deer walk, you see more, especially if you can improve habitat on your piece. If you shoot every deer you see you'll have nothing to see before long. I've seen this play out many times. People complain about the deer hunting quality degrading since "me and my buddies " used to all each get a yearling buck every year. You can't sustain 5 bucks on a 30 acre spot if you shoot them all every year, I know I'm preaching to the choir here. Most of NYS is private so it's up to us do fix the herd
From: Trial153
25-Aug-23
Very hard for to understand the push back for a one buck rule in NYS. Nothing will help quality more in NY then a one buck limit. No way it hurts out current herd
From: Silverback
26-Jan-24
I wouldn't mind the one-buck rule. It would teach many to be more selective
From: Silverback
26-Jan-24
I wouldn't mind the one-buck rule. It would teach many to be more selective
From: gjs4
04-Feb-24
Rest assured, if there is a god move for the deer herd or trophy hunting; NY will never consider it.
The best thing this state could do is enforce the rules it has with hearty penalties. We are the land of the lawless.
From: Shawlerbrook
05-Feb-24
Couldn’t agree more . There recently was a story about 2 guys from central NYS that were posing as photographers online to get information on the location large bucks in no hunting urban areas and then shooting them. Their only punishment was loss of hunting license privileges( like law breakers care about that) and something like a thousand dollar fine.
