RTF Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 I have been in the woods since Oct 15th. I usually am every year, year after year for the last 25 years. We all know the deer heard is down big time in most parts of the states. The tracks in the snow are evident to that. I took a walk yesterday with my ML to known high traffic deer trails only to find out all where not even touched. But this is what bothers me. Where is the rest of the game ? I have not seen nor heard a fraction of the squirrels I once did. Rabbit tracks are absent too.Ruffed grouse are scattered. Even the sounds of the crow is missed. Turkeys are struggling too. The big question is, what the heck happened to all of the squirrels that use to pester me in the deer stand ? Where is all of our game ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWSmith Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters I was able to see a few deer but what scares me the most is that I have not seen the deer alongside the roads. I know its not that big of a problem especially when you think about what happens when you hit one. I'm talking about the same thing as you RTF....where did they go??? I used to see deer everyday...I mean every single day...alongside the road near my home at the state park. Even had one weird looking 5 pointer with palmation that made regular visits to the roadside buffet. I understand that any buck that does stuff like that is usually not around for long....someone probably found a way to get to him. I'm talking about all the does that used to be the main concern while driving...crossing the road at will and at the last possible moment...where did they go??? The area that I hunt had alot of poaching this year...a friend and I were hunting during the archery season and every evening(last 2 hours) it sounded like opening day...of RIFLE SEASON I can understand the deer herd being decimated in that area. I have no idea what happened to all the deer I was seeing last year alongside the roads...in places where there was no hunting allowed...still no deer???? Last season I thought I had moved into deer heaven from Florida.....this year I can hardly tell the difference. I still love being here and love the scenery and the people...but someone made off with the deer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYBUCK Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters RTF - Like you I hunt in he farm rich area of central NY. I am just 20 minutes north of Utica. I remember not two long ago, 3 years to be exact, where I passed up at least 25 bucks that year. It was nothing to see a buck everytime out. Not anymore. Now I can't tell you how many times I have gone out and not even see a deer. I am not a big fan of huge deer drives but we do some small pushes with 3 - 4 guys in areas where we used to push out 35 deer. Now we may push out 4 or 5 and manytimes none. I read something the other day that there are just as many deer as ever. I want to know where there getting their info. It is definately not the same as it was a few years back. Everybody that I talk to says the same thing. We need a better way of doing a herd count and I think the hunters have to be involved. I hope they let us know when these meetings are going to happen so that we can get together and possibly have some input. Not that I think they will listen but at least maybe it will make me feel a little better if I speak my mind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckNrut Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters Guys, I hunt in 8H and there has been no decrease in numbers here. However, I had to adapt to environmental changes - food sources are different this year for one example. I got 3 deer this year. Two were taken in areas I've never hunted before, and the third was taken in a spot I hunted for the first time this season. I am loosely associated with a group of hunters including my next door neighbor. All of us have had similar success, some more than I. On the last Saturday of the regular season I left early haven taken my 3rd deer. On the way home I passed a County Park (no hunting) where I saw 18 deer along the side of the road (all alive). There was only one mature buck in the group. He looked like a yearling 6pt. I'm sure he was searching for estrus does. Oh yes, no shortage of squirrels this year either! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NYBUCK Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters Art, you are the exception then. Everyone I talk to says that the deer are declining. But squirrels and partridge in our area are not either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RangerClay Posted December 16, 2004 Report Share Posted December 16, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters RTF, This is what I believe the problem is. This was told to me last weekend. A friend of my father found a coyote den during turkey season. He set up his trail camera to see how many turkeys they were catching because our turkey population has dropped 95%. What he caught on film made him sick. In the one month the camera was set up the coyotes brought 15 fawn deer to the den. As well as other game. 15 FAWNS!!! SO let me toss this back at you NY'ers. Yes the DEC can be goof balls but are the coyotes the problem with our deer population problems? Ranger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTF Posted December 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters [ QUOTE ] SO let me toss this back at you NY'ers. Yes the DEC can be goof balls but are the coyotes the problem with our deer population problems? Ranger [/ QUOTE ] Yes the yotes are a problem here and I have noticed a big increase in population this last spring. I hear many more hunters seeing more yotes and killing them this deer season more then ever. I even had a yote try twice in one morning to move in on me while ground hunting. I tried my darndest to get a shot at him but he knew what trail to take to escape. The other day while checking my beaver sets, I had seen where a yote was stopping and checking all of my beaver sets out. Put it this way. The old system, you got one deer and one deer only with the bow and you where done. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buckshot Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters [ QUOTE ] Yes the DEC can be goof balls but are the coyotes the problem with our deer population problems? [/ QUOTE ] I believe they are! I've heard simalar stories rangerclay. The worst one was a coyote den up in Old Forge.They had a trail cam on that den for 90 days.Those yotes dined on white tail veal over 40 times! That's got to hurt the deer herd. As far as other game goes I'll tell you this.When we 1st moved up here on our property in Chenango county 13yrs ago we had a large number of wood chucks in our meadows.Well I havn't seen a wood chuck on our property in over 5 yrs and neither I or anybody else hunts them, so where did they go??? The same place our deer are going?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuckNrut Posted December 17, 2004 Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters That settles it - I'm going Yote huntin after the holidays! Now let's see, Bow... ML... 22LR... 12ga... Oh yes, here it is.... 30.06! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTF Posted December 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 17, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters Can we use ML on yotes after deer season in the southern zone ? Anyhow, does anybody got these pics of the yotes eating deer on the web ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Turkeygirl Posted December 18, 2004 Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters Well even though I saw a nice flock of turkeys today, the turkeys are not what they use to be where I hunt. The last day of shotgun season I did see 3 does come out into a field but I had a buck tag. We also had a pheasant in our woods the other day but I wasn't here to shoot it, and having a pheasant in ours woods is a first. I've seen a few grouse and found a dead pheasant earlier in the year that I think either a fox or goosehunters got. Either way I am going to be doing some fox/coyote hunting because not only am I sure they are cutting down the turkey population(I've seen turkey remains by several dens) but there are some foxes that have taken I think a total of 7 or 8 chickens since last spring. Something surely is out of balance........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RTF Posted December 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted December 18, 2004 Re: ? To all NY hunters TG, the turkey population in Otsego county is also down big time, but I feel is recovering. While deer hunting I came upon an area where birds where heard on opening morning of shotgun season. I found a kill site of a turkey. Coyote for sure as track where everywhere. Now I ask this to my fellow NY'ers are we underestimating the impact yotes have on our deer ? I wanna see those game cam pics of those yotes eating deer ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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