DEC'S NEW DEER MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE FUTURE

Well, if I had to summarize the DEC's "new" deer management plan that was unveiled at the New York State Conservation Council's meeting on September 19th, I guess I could sum it up in one word "PATHETIC."

Let me explain.  The presentation listed the following goals for the 5 year plan:

1) A Population goal.

2) A Hunting and Recreation goal.

3) Conflict and damage goal.

4) Education and Communication goal.

5) A Habitat goal.

6) An Operational goal.

Now, on merit, if you were the average educated citizen of New York State, you might be tempted to say, "okay, it seems like they are focused on the needs of NY conservation and we are heading in the right direction".  WRONG!

At the Spring meeting of the NYSCC Director Riexinger assured us (the Big Game Committee) that by this Fall meeting, an extensive deer management plan would be laid out to the council members.  The only real thing that is clear with this plan is that the DEC is content to sit back and do nothing!  They are going to "paper tiger" deer conservation to death, until they are all eligible for retirement incentive packages.

Anyone who was present at the meeting knows that I was the first to raise my hand and my voice.  See, my blood was boiling about this extension of the ruse that we have come to accept as deer conservation in this state.  For well over a year, we have been questioned (deer meetings of '09) and surveyed, nearly to death (Cornell HDRU, etc. etc.).  This plan, when looked at objectively, is a common sense look at what should have been in effect for the last 100 years!  The DEC is mired down in stall tactics fueled by fiscal neglect.  It is clearly the same old BS, but now we have less and less to work with!  Less money, less personnel, less leadership, and certainly less insightfulness.  

The DEC has failed to address the real problems that concern hunters.  They just don't comprehend that the main component of attracting more hunters to the tradition is "better deer hunting" and that means bigger racked, healthier deer.  They don't seem to comprehend that habitat plus age diversity equals better hunting and better hunting means more license sales.  Its just common sense.

While the DEC insists out of one side of their mouth that more education is needed; before antler restrictions can be expanded and out of the other side they proffer that antler restrictions should be voluntarily expanded on private lands.  The message becomes quite clear that the DEC speaks with forked tongue.  If they truly believed that more education was needed then why is it they don't tell the truth about antler restrictions?  In the past, you would hear the DEC biologists spout about how there was NO biological need for antler restrictions, but since world renowned wildlife biologist Dick Henry (one of their own brethren, formerly of the NYSDEC) put to print the true facts about antler restrictions and the role age diversity actually plays in the herd's cycles of life, well I haven't heard or read a peep out of them.  The fact of the matter is that as Mr. Henry has tied it all together through scientific fact, it becomes a clear matter of what is best for the resource (the deer) and NOT what is good for the uneducated hunter.  

So let's see if I can tie this altogether.  The hunting tradition is on a strong decline in this state.  The resource is not even close to maximum health.    Deer habitat in a substantial portion of the Southern Tier is severely lacking and the state sits back and reverts back to the same old stuff!  There is something terribly wrong in the state of New York.   

Antler restrictions will insure that a necessary aspect of a deer's life cycle will be healthier.  67% of the DEC surveyed populus wants antler restrictions because they know it is good for the deer and deer hunting.  Antler restrictions are not the cure all for what is wrong with our deer population, but they are one of many steps in the right direction.

What is crystal clear here is that the NYSDEC is deficient in their approach to modern deer management!  They neither have the direction nor the means to rectify the situation in time to salvage our tradition!  Perhaps with the election of a new governor in the coming months we can look forward to getting rid of the dead wood in the upper echelon of our dysfunctional conservation department!

PS - To the members of The NYSCC.  I think it would be a step in the right direction if Mr. Dick Henry was invited to speak to the council on the antler restriction issue.  He could certainly answer all the scientific/biological questions relative to herd health and the dynamics that will lead to better hunting.

------ Martin T. Mc Donnell

A HORSE STORY or JUST HORSING AROUND???

So, I am coming back from a "trout town USA " dinner Saturday night, and as always I am on the back roads and always looking for a photo-op.

I figured I could get some nice shots along the Willowemoc as dusk was approaching.  As I came around a turn on Hazel Rd I spied two horses in a fenced pasture and they were on the far end!

Well, as soon as they saw me exit the car with camera in hand I could see a twinkle in their eyes and I knew they were in a mischievous mood. They looked at each other and then sauntered quickly in my direction.  Now, by no means am I a horseman, but as a "ute" I was around horses many times, as my sister rode frequently and eventually worked on a horse farm, a place called "Borderland Farms" (Sussex, NJ) as a teenager.  I am comfortable around them, but I have to admit that I am intimidated by their size.  I could see that they were up to no good.  I felt like I was about to be pick-pocketed.

I realized that the possibility that they could smell the "rib sauce" from my recent dinner on my hands may have been an attractor, but these two just had "trouble" written all over their faces.  I greeted them with soft friendly words as they lifted their heads over the corral fencing to get a better look at me.  They seemed friendly enough as I patted their foreheads.  I saw this as a great photo opportunity and tried to position myself with my back to them to set up the picture.  I was laughing as I did this and one of them pushed my shoulder with its nose putting me off balance, (a little) but still laughing (almost knocked the pick out of my mouth)!

I was actually giddy at this point and tried to center myself between these two characters holding out the camera trying to get all three of us in the picture.  As i did this, the blonde haired hussy on the left grabbed the back of my arm with her mouth giving me quite a pinch.  Still laughing, but now alert, I chortled some foul language in her direction and backed away.  I knew i had been used and abused by these equine comedians!  So I said to the one on the right "Whats with the long face?"

Eh, I guess you had to be there!

PS - I have subsequently learned that this dynamic duo's names are Horace and Jaspar  --- NO Just kidding!

Thats Rusty and Jeri.

Never look a gift horse in the mouth!

Never kick a gift horse in the mouth!

Never stick your arm in a gift horses mouth!

WORDS to live bye!

MR. NELSON, "TEAR DOWN THAT WALL!"

I read Dick Nelson's column the other day.  His diatribe on crossbows and the pathetic stance of the "New York Bowhunters" was reading just fine until he mixed in his usual nonsense about antler restrictions.  See, Dick is still mired down in the rhetoric that surrounds antler restrictions.  To most opponents, antler restrictions equate to trophy hunting.  They all  spout the same crap, "ya can't eat horns" or "I have to feed my family" or the classic "its about personal freedom".  I am sick of it!  This is retardation at it's best!

These rationalizations, and that is EXACTLY what they are, draw a direct correlation to what is wrong with "sportsmen" today and why our tradition is dieing.  SELFISHNESS!  To posture one of these excuses is downright selfish and contentious, to say the least.  Thank God, that Dick Nelson and his ilk are the minority in this debate because otherwise, all hope for the resurrection of our tradition could be lost!  

Now, selfish is a strong word, but that is exactly what comes to mind first, every time I hear some "expert" using the "personal freedom" mantra.   It resonates ME ME ME!  Sportsmen, are supposed to represent what is great about our tradition.  They are supposed to embrace their role as a deer management tool while enjoying all that nature has to offer!   In this case, the quarry and its healthy proliferation are supposed to be what is important to deer managers and hunters alike.  When that importance is not evident, well, then it becomes all too easy for the antis to paint our picture with broad strokes using depictions and words like "bambi-killers", "blood-thirsty" and even "murderers".  We are tools of deer management, borne from primordial needs, but we are supposed to have consciences too!  We are supposed to respect our quarry and nurture their healthy management. Gone are the days when men (in general) had to go afield to feed their families.  Rarely, is it a necessity in America for men and women to take weapon in hand for the express purpose of putting food on their table.  Those days are over! 

I believe that to negatively connote and disparage, those of us that realize that antler restrictions can help insure a healthier herd is myopic; and to a degree slanderous.  If nothing else, it is an attempt to shed poor light on the people who truly understand the positive effect that yearling buck protection can play on the animal; in conjunction with the herd health and hunting tradition.

Mr. Nelson really manifests his ignorance on antler restrictions when he postures and panders his negative rhetoric:

"If proponents of this restriction are so obsessed with shooting older deer, why don’t they hunt in those units. Unless, of course, they don’t want to stray too far off the road.

One has to wonder, does he really believe this crap and just what is he trying to infer?

Does he really believe that better deer management plays into the anti-hunter's agenda?  

Mr. Nelson needs to wake up and realize that his perspective on deer management is part of the negative equation, as to how and why, our hunting tradition is sinking into an abyss.  Our generation has FAILED to stimulate regeneration, because men like himself have become enamored by mediocrity.  They choose to remember bygone days as the 'good old days' instead of understanding the reality of our failure to improve hunting conditions (habitat, access and the nurturing of the specie) as they will relate to the future!

Mr. Nelson's column can be read at:  http://www.registerstar.com/articles/2010/05/27/columnists/outdoors/doc4bfdf99d4b903273176495.txt