Forever Roost: Hunt - Honor - Respect
Turkey Hunter Courtesies, Ethics, Refresher Course 101
New York State spring turkey regular season opens in a little more than a week away. With nearly three quarters of a million turkey tags spoken for it is a large group from all walks of life, experiences, and wild turkey pursuing skill levels. It is prudent to review some of the most basic desirable courtesies, ethics and humanities towards fellow turkey hunters, land owners and the quarry we seek. My comments are from a perspective of a quarter century of fall and spring seasons, many states, many tags filled. I do not fret about harvest success as the hunt provides so much in so many ways, and manage well enough to find the most foolish and the least intelligent gobblers to be had. My friends will back me on this.
Turkey Hunter Courtesies
As a dedicated aficionado of the time honored pastime you may have spent the entire winter observing flocks, taking notes on monster gobblers. As the annual breeding ritual repeats itself as it has through the centuries, you may track with much due diligence. The miles of boot leather locating roost trees, strutting zones, travel patterns both feathered and human, have you well prepared to lay out the most well engineered strategy. Your foolproof plan has you back at the diner by 6:15 AM opening day with a tagged bird in the truck and a story to tell.
Opening day at 4:30 AM, Elmer Fudd who hunts this very spot every year carrying the oldest known working blunderbuss of questionable suitability is viewed leaving his 1985 Ranger and is 50 yards in, waltzing down the very trailhead you are set on to begin your assault. What do you do?
Do the phrases of “well it’s public land, he don’t own it, I can go wherever I wan’t,” “I have permission from the landowner, just as much as he does, I’ll park right behind him,” or “Screw him, I’ll sneak around and set up between him and the roost” come to you as plausible choices? Read on:
- An ethical and courteous hunter moves on to other hotspots to try. As a dedicated participant you have a long list of hot spots with known quantities of lusty gobblers with matching hen ratio. Pay it forward as you will benefit from the same courtesy. Your fellow brethren will have an unhindered set of circumstances to match wits with a gobbler. It is fair and reasonable to have the same for ourselves as we engage a mouthy gobbler.
- Revisit the same spot later in the morning, as the hunter may leave after a few hours. It is a productive strategy to arrive later after the gobblers are done with their hens and reviewing possibilities they heard earlier. Birds worked at first light can be very eager after being warmed up. Think of it as 1:55 AM at your favorite bar and it’s last call. If it is going to happen the gobbler will be in a hurry to get to you.
- Should you be of the persuasion that pulls up next to a truck already there and proceed to intrude on the hunter already set up you can rightfully be accused of unseemly poor behavior and lack common courtesy towards your fellow turkey hunting brethren. Over the years I have come across many exclaiming they will and can go anywhere they want to, period. On its face it is either ignorant or a form of harassment. If you find yourself at odds with this condemnation, during a much needed session of soul searching you seriously need to answer why your enjoyment of the turkeywoods should come at the expense of another.
- Accosting a hunter already in position working a gobbler or while intruding, attempting to out call, flank or simply bust the bird off of them is a deliberate act of contempt for a fellow hunter. If you find this to be judgemental, it is, no apologies
- There are times an unintended intrusion occurs from more than one way to enter a set of woods or from those that run the ridges and cover appreciable distances in a given morning. As a courteous turkey hunter when discovering you are intruding:
- Assume first that hen talk is from a hunter, pay heed and respect.
- Do not wave or issue turkey calls, assume motion or calling may be interpreted incorrectly, follow safety rules.
- Back out quietly if safe to do so and without further disturbing the hunt.
- If you cannot reasonably back out, stay your position and silently bear witness to the hunt in front of you.
Land Owner Courtesies
In a closely related topic, we as turkey hunters ought to be mindful of and respectful of the public grounds we are generously allowed to access as well as the private property of our friends, neighbors and of others with permissions to access their lands.
No signage is not a carte blanche invite with special privileges. If a posted sign or ask permission first sign reads as an invite to you, then my words are little more than annoying. Far too many land owners post their properties in response to those that disrespect their property rights. In New York you need to ask for landowner permission, whether signage is put up or not. Whether LEO’s or ECO’s will enforce the property rights laws on the books or whether a judge will toss it out, it is a breach of ethics. It may work as a loophole to get out of a fine, jail time or a difficult in your face encounter but you will leave making a bad impression on the land owner, and give us turkey hunter’s a black eye collectively. Personally, I never have enjoyed hearing someone denied permission with the land owner stating “You turkey hunters…”
- Visit prospective property owners off season, after season to gain permission, be courteous, be willing to help them out, volunteer to help with chores.
- Showing up the week of the opener may result in more no’s than yes’s and it makes a poor impression.
- Landowners want those they allow on their properties to be courteous and respectful of their lands during season and offseason. Building land owner relationships may result in a lifetime of access and opportunities that come from it. Make the effort. Taxes are very high in New York. Trust me, as a landowner, offers to help relieve any long list of chores are appreciated.
- What ever permission your 3rd, twice removed cousin or great great grandfather’s high school buddy had to a property has no relevance in law or ethical perspective of permissions to hunt. Unless you hold the title, pay the taxes, whatever anyone in your tribe may have done or had access to decades ago or over the many owners from changing hands is irrelevant, entirely moot.
- Leave gates as you find them, a farmer will more than appreciate it.
- Use common sense when using your truck, atv, utv as you’ll sour your privileges in a hurry if you tear up a clover field, or freshly planted cornfield.
- Treat others you come across (unless determine to be trespassing) as you would the landowner.
- You are being afforded access to tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of prime forests and fields. it is a generous privilege. Let that be the basis for any actions or thoughts you may entertain. On public ground it is the same, but overseen by those we elect to manage it. In New York we have access to thousands of acres of hunting lands and waterways to fish. Treat it as the great resource it is and that we all enjoy.
- If the way you treat other hunters or conduct yourself varies according to hunting private vs. public lands you may not have the best intentions. Ethics are not defined by any map program I am aware of.
- Diplomacy and good will is always warranted as you are a guest. It is essential even in the most difficult situations that arise from friends of the landowner, often times from loose definitions of family. Your ego or perceived rights are quickly refuted and revoked in a denial of permissions should you fail the wisdom in this. A landowner is not obligated to be a referee nor signed up to endure headaches over your privilege or that of others.
- On public grounds even the most difficult personalities merit diplomacy and effort to calm things down. If Illegal acts are involved an ECO can do the job required, if rude and inappropriate you may not persuade them to remorse and correction of their errant ways. You are not the Jackass whisperer, and it does you no good service if one cannot tell whom the jackass is during a dispute or altercation. Take the high road… Always.
Respect Of Your Quarry
What is sometimes very controversial is ethics of hunting methods. My intent here concerns a clean ethical kill/harvest, safety, care of table fare. Methods are varied in both ethical perceptions and legal and civil penalties by states, and regions. My negative opinion on reaping and fanning does not ring true for the massive open fields in the midwest, just as feeders in the regions of south Texas are not allowed up north. Unless you get off the keyboard, give your pro hunter rhetoric a break and lay down some boot leather in many of the places gobblers roam, you may find other perspectives to be foreign and difficult to comprehend much less understand.
As an observer of wildlife in a most inspired way, it is a respect for and in awe of all god’s creatures. As stewards of our lands, and our role in the natural order of living things I firmly assert that it is the time honored pursuit of hunting that dates further back than recorded history. It is a reverent respect that is appropriate. Our quarry perishes in that pursuit and becomes sustenance for our bodies, and in keeping with grand design as hunter gatherers. As ethical hunters we conduct ourselves in a sense of fair chase vs. filling a shopping cart at the local Piggly Wiggly, or up North at the local Wegmans or Price Chopper (no endorsements intended or implied)
Vegans claim that animals are not utilized or perish in their diets, but under a more thorough review the claim falls short when examining what wildlife habitat is altered/eliminated and what “pests” are exterminated to provide the gathering side of our diets. The equation is not so straight forward to produce consumables. The “Air Diet” has not gained that much in popularity.
As an ethical hunter and in the concepts of fair chase you owe it to the quarry you chase:
- Fully pattern your shotgun or dial in your archery tackle to produce a decisive clean kill at a known distance that you can reliably repeat.
- Expend any effort to reduce probability of equipment failure by maintenance, and routine pattern testing well before opening day.
- Acquaint yourself to become expert with distance estimation. Rangefinders are effective tools to reaffirm your estimates.
- Hail Mary or a golden BB as promoted by long shots and must kill by any means and all costs as a decision is a lack of respect and a willingness to gamble at far lesser odds that you will not maim, or mortally wound to die later. It is in many ways reprehensible and a confliction of misguided ego.
- Should you wound a gobbler which is not a desired event for any ethical hunter, you owe every effort to recover and bring a swift end to a less than decisively lethal shot if required.
- As an ethical hunter. legal hunting hours, applicable games laws, legal hunting methods, and safe weapon handling is followed and expected of others.
- A clean decisive kill requires clear sight picture of the head and neck, or commonly known as the boiler room containing vital organs of heart and lungs, Sight picture to also include a clear and safe foreground and background. You owe me that. I owe you the same.
- Sound or shadow shooting is in plain english unsafe, reckless and unethical. It is also an act of negligence.
- Take proper care of the game animal to produce the best possible table fare. as it is a precious resource.
- As a gobbler’s behavior is governed by thousands of years of honed instinct, a will to outwit all known predators, you will not win the day each time afield if measured by the kill. Over time, your reverence, your learned respect, it will be revealed the hunt itself is the reason you are there…
To hunt and fish in my home state of New York is a privilege that after all these years I am still in awe of. The perspective that I express here in reviewing some of the basics comes from many sunrises in the turkey woods. The hefty feathered carries over my shoulder while returning home, chasing turkeys in the snow over an excited weimaraner, and far too many days to count of just resting up against a towering maple, taking it all in, are all in part of being at peace with my surroundings. In that perspective, the reverence, respect and regard for the feathered monarchs of the turkeywoods and my fellow turkey hunters is a most natural thing.
-MJ
© 2018 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
. #turkeyhunting #oldturkeyhunter #wildturkey #turkeywoods #respect #ethics #courtesy
NY Southern Tier Fall Turkey Opener
Today marks the day of the Southern Tier opener for fall turkey hunting in the great Empire State. Although the afternoon is reported to be very warm, the morning greets us with abundant sunshine and crisp temperatures. The turkey woods I have had a few occasions to step foot in so far are loaded with acorns, beechnuts. The apple and fruit trees, berry bushes have bore fruit this year, maybe not as much as some years. Most likely they’ll forego the fields for acorns, and other nuts and seeds as grasshoppers and crickets are about done for the season. The reports of sightings so far have been very mixed from jakes and Jennies nearly the size of adult hens to the size of pheasants and yet again the size of ruffed grouse, A mix of first, second and third nestings. In my neck of the woods, the seven valleys of Cortland County, the numbers are still suppressed compared to five years ago, but I would submit a bit better than the prior two years, We have a way to go with warm dry springs and reduced bag limits to bring the flocks back up. Poaching remains as an issue and a scourge among our fraternity.
The past two fall reports show the reported takes are down which is the goal of the changes in the fall seasons. I am steadfast in the opinion that recommendations of gobblers only in the fall and restriction of taking turkeys from elevated platforms would further reduce the fall take while favoring the enjoyment of those who purposely wear a turkey vest in the fall and or engages in the time honored pastime of using turkey dogs to break the flocks. As a professed bowhunter I do understand the desire of incidental opportunities from a tree stand. However the numbers of those with the single minded purpose of pursuing turkeys in the fall are dwarfed by those that bag a turkey as happenstance while on deer watch. I find it ass-backwards that the seasons were not directly influenced/changed to suit fall turkey hunters, turkey doggers rather than the sidebar interests of deer hunters. It is still a bit disconcerting as to the decision making by our folks at the NYSDEC.
Opening day is of importance as given to national holidays and religious observances. This year finds me going into work to put in a 12-14 hour day and spending a little bit of the morning working on my laptop, with my bride and our two weimaraners. Despite long days, I do need to make a guest appearance at home from time to time. Although I might view not being afield a moral offense, I appreciate having gainful work and good customers which I’m smart enough to keep as customers.
Our beloved Jake who is turkey crazy and would love nothing more than to break a flock of turkeys. Actually he tries to catch them, not break them, it works. Yesterday he had surgery to remove what is believed to be a malignant skin growth (mass tumor) and will not be chasing much of anything until after the season has ended here. It is worrisome and we await to learn the prognosis. As in your homes, our weims are essential family members and we spoil them as you do yours. Abby, our female weim loves to chase turkeys, will bark at the break, but since having surgery seven years ago to remove a 10″ abscess, encapsulating a malignant tumor on her small intestine, her stamina has been reduced and does not range far or can go for more than short excursions.
With demands of my professional life, and not being able to bring along my favored turkey chaser with me, I’ll enjoy the stories I learn from your grand days afield later as the day marches on. I expect I will catch a few hours here and there over the two weeks of our season as a few hours in the turkey woods is a welcomed reprieve in what will be long days at work. There was a planned fall hunt in Maine that I looked forward too, but with the current demands of my tech company we’ll make the trip next spring.
From all of us at Joyner Outdoor Media we wish you a grand day in the turkey woods, full of adventures and memories to be had by all!
-MJ
© 2017 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
50/58 Year Anniversaries Of Wild Turkey Seasons In New York
As the New York Southern Tier wild turkey fall season is set to open on October 21st, it will mark the 58 year anniversary of the fall season going all the way back to 1959. The spring turkey season this past spring shares a 50 year milestone with the founding of the New York Outdoor Writers Association (NYSOWA) which was celebrated this past weekend in Lake George, New York.
The first fall season held in the fall of 1959 premiered as a three-day either-sex season, limited to two southern tier counties (Allegany and Cattaraugus.) It was reported that there were two hundred and fifty successful hunters in the inaugural modern day season.
The first modern day spring turkey season in New York premiered in 1968 and was held in five Southern Tier counties (Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Chemung, and Steuben.) It was reported that there were one hundred and thirty five gobblers (males, bearded) successfully tagged in the inaugural modern day season.
The anniversaries are a significant marker in the historical timeline when reviewed against the backdrop of a grand conservation story of the wild turkey and its restoration from nearing the brink of extinction, from alarming low numbers. At the turn of the century (1900’s) the logging and farm practices of the day coupled with unrestricted harvesting for individual subsistence and market hunting wreaked havoc on wild turkey flocks. These practices reduced the populations to the point it was thought they were eradicated entirely from New York. Currently, the estimated population in New York would dwarf the estimated population of the entire Continental United States a hundred years ago, dipping as low as an estimated 30,000 birds.
As modern day sportsmen/wildlife conservation practices took hold, they were adopted by state wildlife agencies and implemented across the United States. In the early 1950’s efforts were made to introduce farm raised turkeys but with little to no success due to their inability to evade predators. With the adopting of live trapping, furthered by the use of net cannons, the process of trap and transfer began coincidentally in 1959. In the years leading up to these programs, wild turkeys established flourishing populations in Pennsylvania that expanded northward into southwestern New York prompting both a three day fall season and to kick off trap and transfer operations. Since the early trap and transfer program began in Allegheny State Park, turkeys have been reintroduced to nearly every county within the Empire State and reestablished themselves with these efforts, conservation practices, and ethical hunting by sportsmen. Flocks can be found across the entire state in nearly every county including feathered sightings in Manhattan, Staten Island and well established flocks out on Long Island. New York wild turkeys were also used to help restore populations in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont and the Province of Ontario.
Although the estimated peak populations are reported to have occurred in the mid to late 1990’s with some northern counties peaking five to ten years later, the peak estimates of 250,000-300,000 birds during the golden age of restoration has pulled back to estimates of 160,000- 180,000 currently. As conservation efforts and research continues, weather impact on brooding success models, land use studies, landholding capacity models, and avian (and other) disease studies are put forth to provide scientific tools for wildlife agencies to help manage populations, set seasons and bag limits to maintain healthy and flourishing populations for many years to come.
We celebrate a grand milestone in the conservation success story of the wild turkey restoration and comeback in New York. The thousands of hours of efforts of wildlife professionals, conservationists, volunteers, modern day hunting practices of ethical sportsmen, funds raised from earmarked taxation of hunting and fishing equipment purchases along with funds raised by thousands of donations, superfund dollars and grants from the National Wild Turkey Federation have made this success story in New York possible.
-MJ
© 2017 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
Poachers, Trespassers, and Thieves On Borrowed Time
In surfing the outdoor online forums, chat rooms, and social media sites, it is apparent that we have some cleansing of our ranks to do. The days of being too slick, too sly to be caught poaching, breaking game laws, trespassing and stealing may soon be made less commonplace. In short, a message to such unsavory individuals: You are on borrowed time.
The grand era of outrunning the law, jacking deer at night, trespassing at will is a testament to backwoods smarts, to being more clever than your pursuers. Some of the stories describe great inventiveness and ingenuity in not getting caught. A simple observation, not any form of admiration. No doubt that game wardens and ECO’s across the land would not describe these acts in any glowing terms.
It is a black eye to our fraternity of hunting brethren, to our time honored sport. The poaching of game at night, or out of season, the game hogs who harvest beyond legal limits, undermines our public resources and dollars in meeting game management goals. The trespassers who steal from and interfere with land owners that pay land taxes, put in their sweat equity, have their own land management goals or simply evoking their rights as property owners. Simply put, you are not entitled to another’s property. So many reports of tree stands, blinds, game cams stolen, or damaged. Unlike the era of running moonshine and jacking deer on the backroads, you’ll be more likely to enjoy the accommodations at the gray bar motel as you are risking it all on borrowed time.
The fantastic technologies as depicted in the last century and in the present: Star Trek, The Minority Report, NCIS, The Avengers, have become in some way partially true, or in many cases very real, and currently available. Should you be one of the unsavory individuals I describe, you are already caught, and you just don’t know it. It is no longer the ability to piece together a case against those that commit these offenses or to prosecute those in the future. Why some are not in handcuffs is a matter of available or accessible resources. Our NYSDEC does not simply call up the joint chiefs of staff at the Pentagon to get real time live satellite video (or retrieve previously recorded) to catch somebody out in the boonies spotlighting deer along with a loaded rifle out on the farmers corn fields.
We have much more available tech beyond robo decoys and CB radios. Now and in the foreseeable near future more of these technologies will become common tools for enforcement, and prevention. The same GPS location features in your smart phones, and Satellite imagery you use to pattern those big bucks are useful for finding two legged animals as well. Social media also provides investigative data as so many are prone to boasting/bragging. Those pictures contain metadata including time, date and location. You can equip your smart phone with a thermal imaging device for less than $300. IR and night vision cameras are now affordable to equip game wardens and other law enforcement. Drone technology is another tool that can fly sensor platforms you cannot hide from, even in the deepest woods. Big Data and Persistent Surveillance will be a game changer for even the most clever among us. That is a more involved topic and I recommend you search it online to gain a better understanding of it. It is currently in use in several major cities, and it is a matter of time to apply it to your neck of the woods.
The integration of these emerging technologies will be key to reigning in those that feel so embolden. These technologies that were once only available to our military are now finding their way to law enforcement and wildlife agencies. There will be a day that making a quick turn on an old logging road, or hiding out in a set of pines will no longer throw the local game warden off your trail. It may not be a drone with a thermal camera that tracks you to your truck, instead it may be big data that connects you to a debit card purchase at the taxidermist for your 160” deer when you reported a tag stating a lesser buck. Data logging your purchases at the feed store might give away your baiting practices, and so on. Your online pic holding a great gobbler might give away that it was shot before season or in a different state than you legally reported, and you freely disclosed it unknowingly. How happy might a landowner owner be to find out his stolen stands and game cameras were located with IOT location tags or to get an email from a cell enabled game camera with the thief’s face caught in brilliant HD quality along with the current GPS location coordinates (true story).
As I point out, there are technologies in place that will increasingly be used to thwart, lessen and curtail such bad acts. This comes at a price as we question our privacy and the power of government. However, when I hear a rifle sound off in the middle of the night as I did the evening before, the thought of law enforcement converging at the source of the rifle shot is something I might just be OK with.
-MJ
© 2016 Joyner Outdoor Media
The Hunter, Blaze Orange? It’s The Golden Rules That Matter
With the news of a female hunter in Caledonia, NY succumbing to a fatal gunshot wound to the abdomen during a deer drive yesterday afternoon, it is cause for a visceral reaction. Her name has not been released, and with due respect, not disclosed. Sorry if I appear to be a chauvinist. My reaction to this event is more pronounced, more upset, a bit sadder, and I’ll not apologize to feminists over this one. My wife hunts, at the behest of any and all the encouragement I can muster. Years of volunteering at Women In The Outdoors events has me inclined to support women participating in our favorite pastime. Yet, as much as I appreciate equal treatment of all, my sense of chivalry is disrupted by this very tragic event… Very few details have been made public as I write this, and my reaction is from what I know to be in nearly all cases to be preventable. I’ll not claim any wrong doing by anyone as the facts are not in yet.
This is the third such incident this fall season. Before I dive into an experience I had many years ago, let me first express my sincere condolences to the families in these tragic events. The loss of life, the possibilities of what if, the ripples in time from what they may have accomplished are our loss and more so of their families and loved ones. There is no upside for the persons who made the shots in these tragic occurrences. Their lives, their families will be changed in so many but different ways. With or without civil or legal repercussions, their lives will not be the same.
Our sport, our activity, is unique in that despite the common thought that it is a very dangerous, deadly pastime, it is polar opposite from the truth. The use of firearms understandably lends itself to that image as it is portrayed as such in movies and television. As reported by the NSSF in their 2015 report, the injury rate versus participation is 0.05%. This includes tree stand failures, falls, etc. All Non-Intentional Firearm Fatalities reported in 2013 are less than a fifth of that number. With over 17 million participants it is remarkably safe. To think you would be 30 times more likely to be injured while cheerleading would not be my first guess. No, I won’t be sporting pom-poms anytime soon.
In regards to those that have been fatally shot while afield, these numbers are meaningless. They offer no comfort to the families, to those involved in these incidents. The numbers are a yardstick to show progress, compare apples to apples, to affect rules, and policies.
In our sport, our ideal number is 0% fatalities, 0% injuries. We think one is one too many. You cannot apply this very well to automobiles, or medical practices. Actuary tables are applied to most activities, yet we preach in many ways, in many forms that 0% is the expected norm.
To illustrate where I am taking this, I’ll recount a story of my first deer going all the way back to 1988…
I was now into my fourth fall season of chasing whitetails with a bow, and my first full firearms season with my own shotgun. I had been a few times with a borrowed gun before that. Up to this point, I had not successfully filled a deer tag. A whitetail virgin if you will. Opening day I was in a preselected spot in a piece of open woods up on state land above the Deruyter Reservoir, not far from where I live now. I was with a crew of four other hunters. We would sit until late morning then do slow walks towards each other midday. We all sported blaze orange hats and vests or full jackets/coveralls. We meant to be seen.
I had previously built a small makeshift blind out of dead tree limbs that would conceal the lower half of my body while sitting. It wasn’t much, but I liked the spot, and deer crossed out in front and along both sides of my blind. Using a smooth bore barrel and a 1-4X scope limited my shots out to 100-120 yards if on a rest. I was relieved to find it unoccupied as I walked in. The morning was full of action including hunters walking about at 7AM as they couldn’t sit for more than a half hour. It wasn’t that long of a sit when deer started moving. I had a big doe pass out in front, well past my ability to accurately hit where I would aim. Just the same I was thrilled to see deer moving. Several more would come across from my right side and continue on, without offering a shot within my reasonable distance. Mid-morning I noticed movement to my hard left. Eighty yards out to my left. There was a thicket that ran down along to my left that was 150 yards long and finished out down range out in front.
With deer moving about, it was a promising idea that I would fill my first deer tag. I began to see patches of tan/brown moving along the thicket, then an occasional flash of black. Adrenaline was flowing. My gun was up and ready, and I knew that I would get my chance as the deer would eventually pass one of the two openings in thicket/hedgerow. The movement was slow and deliberate. Even with my scope, I could not make out a head, antlers, or a shoulder crease that I would want for an aiming point. Being that I had tags for either sex, I was giving thought to preferred choice of cuts at the butcher.
As the patches of brown neared the first opening, I was more than excited, the moment of truth was just seconds away….
Into the opening, a hunter appeared. After surveying the open woods I was watching, he looked my way. I had lowered my shotgun by the time he looked back. Rattled to my core, I was shaking. I had pointed my shotgun at something I would never intend to shoot, worse yet, another hunter. Unlike my apparel of blaze orange, the unknowingly lucky hunter sported well-used carhart overalls with a matching jacket and a black felt hat. His gun was also painted black which is what I saw in the underbrush of the thicket. I managed not to throw up, but in hindsight, it might have settled my stomach sooner. He walked off, without any acknowledgment, none the wiser. It would be the last day I ever hunted from that spot. Some time later I did fill a doe tag on a nice sized doe that crossed out in front of me and within range. Later in the day as I recall it.
Even after so many years, it upsets me to think how bad it could have all turned out, and how much both of our lives would have changed because if it.
Like all hunters in New York State, I attended hunter safety class and passed the written test given at the conclusion of training. I paid attention, for my sake, the sake of the foolish hunter I described, and for your sake. To those unfamiliar to firearm safety training, firearm golden rules, I’ll recall a few for your wellbeing.
- Assume every gun is loaded
- Control the muzzle. Point your gun in a safe direction
- Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to shoot
- Identify fully, be sure of your target, foreground. and beyond
- Don’t rely on your gun’s safety button/lever for safe handling.
- Never shoot at sound or movement without fully identifying the target
These short and very simple rules can keep you safe from tragic events when everyone practices safe, ethical hunting. As a shooter, blaze orange is not a fix all or prevent all as shown in my example. although I was clearly lit up like a tree, it did not deter my hunter friend from sneaking about in the very colors of our quary. Had he sported blaze orange I am absolutely certain I would not have pointed my shotgun in his direction. If he had worn a deer costume, as anti-hunters have been known to do, maybe it would turn out badly. My adherence to the basic safety rules kept me from a very tragic possibility. This was over stressed by the instructors at my class, and I owe them much for engraining that into my training. Despite my ill-advised hunting friend engaged in suicide by deer hunter, I owed him, any other hunter, and any deer I chose to shoot to clearly identify my target, and a proper aiming point. It is impossible to ensure a clean efficient kill without doing so.
As a hunter, blaze orange does not guarantee that you will be seen. As odd as that seems, it takes just a little bit of cover, terrain, alignment of trees to interfere with being seen. In general, blaze orange does the job of making you stand out as much as possible. As ugly or unattractive I might be, I have yet to look remotely like a gobbler or a whitetail at any distance. You as a hunter owe me and my fellow hunters the respect of identifying your target, a safe sight picture, no exceptions.
On deer drives, if it is hurried, or the shooter is snap shooting, it may not give enough time to acquire the entire scene, and the target, or more importantly another member of the drive in the wrong position at the wrong time, Taking a little longer to take it all in may cost you a deer downed from time to time, but you’ll be safer for doing so. Deer drives I have been on are slow, methodical, where the pushers tend to get the shot opportunity, and the watchers are in very open areas in which to see what is coming and more importantly, who is not in the line of fire. My statements are not absolute and it is only your dedication to the basic safety rules that ensure we all go home safely from a great day afield.
As one who believes that nearly all of these tragedies are preventable by simply following safe practices, my words are not in judgment of those that have experienced these unfortunate circumstances. The goal is always 0% injury, 0% fatality. To prevent or contribute to this not happening again is worthy of being written. Again, to those that suffer the loss of these recent events, and those that suffer the consequences, the aftermath, you have my sincere condolences and wishes to learn and heal from it.
-MJ
© 2016 Joyner Outdoor Media
A Whitetail Season Opening Day- Final Season… Almost
Opening weekend of the Southern Tier whitetail firearms season is now in the books. Judging from social media posts, there are a lot of happy hunters out there. I’d say the taxidermy business might have a good year also. It is a bit odd for an opener that has gone from t-shirt weather to near blizzard conditions on Sunday late morning.
I was able to hunt the morning and late afternoon and a few hours Sunday morning, as has been the norm in recent years, work limits my other otherwise die hard desire to go at it from before sun rise to after sunset. In early ahead of the crowd, Out late as to not bump any deer on the way out. Still I am thankful for work and being gainfully employed.
Stan Sawicki, our good friend, scored early in the first hour with a nice 8 point buck on the ‘J’ Ranch. My wife saw deer throughout the morning. I would eventually lay eyes on a monster buck at 10 am, which provides a very different story as follows…
Going on towards 10 AM, I had yet to see a deer from a favorite stand. Over the years it has been deemed a meat stand as it covers several well used deer paths with nearby scrapes and rubs, and well known escape routes when bumped by other hunters on adjoining properties. This year not so much. It was getting warm out, time to retrieve Stan’s buck, and get him out of the woods to be taken care of. I got down, and slow hunted my way over to and down a ravine to the main creek on our property. Our ATV was parked above the creek on the other side. Having bulldozed a path some years ago, it makes for a convenient spot to park it. Where we cross the creek has several smaller ravines and feeder creeks meeting up together there. Deer cross the same spot for much of the same reasons.
As I neared the bottom, I got a phone call that a buck was just shot nearby. Having heard the shot, I thought Stan or Lee may have shot. While on the phone I thought I had heard something, only to look up to see a monster buck coming up over the knoll not 15 yards away and coming straight at me. I had no where to go, as he would pile drive me 20 yards further to the creek just below me. Given that his rack was 5-6″ out past each ear, with long dog catchers (brow tines) and impressively long G2-G3 tines, I would not survive the imminent impaling. For an immeasurably short moment in time, It would be my final moments. The pure power of such a large buck was breathtaking at the same time.
I dropped the phone, and awkwardly went to retreive my 30-06 from my shoulder. The buck then threw out his front legs in an effort to stop as he didn’t like this big ugly hunter in his path, and maybe just as startled as I was. His lower jaw nearly touch the ground as he slid. He came down the knoll with so much power that his hind end came around the side and up over, basically flipping over, swapping ends for a lack of a more precise description. He slammed down in front of me at less than 5 paces. Aside from being a bit more than thankful for not being driven to the creek and ventilated in 5 or 6 places, this bizarre and violent circumstance was his finally moment before piling up… not.
As quickly as he went down, he was back on his feet, motoring back up the hill. Having finally got the gun up I found his leading edge of his chest, and shot. Never touched him, but I can center punch a sapling like nobody’s business. I could not get back on him again as he traveled up and over. I found the blood trail coming down the hill, where he went down, and back up. Mostly a few drops here and there. After meeting up with the hunter (shall remain nameless) that put this all into motion, we tracked the deer for several hours, out into a 100 acre crop field and down to the river. Finally determined it to be a flesh wound. Upsetting to wound and lose a deer, but merely disrupted him from chasing does. Hope to see him again in more ballistic friendly circumstances.
Lee and I went back out later that afternoon before the storm came in. We both passed on a fork horn buck that went by both of us a half hour before legal sunset. Uneventful sit by any comparisons of the day. It is about as excited, elated as I might possible get while totally terrified, and fearing my last moments given a fateful brief moment in time. I am humbled and thankful that this was not my last day of deer hunting, and your learning of this from a memorial page. In all my 32 years of hunting whitetails this was a first. I have heard stories from others of rutting bucks aggressively coming at them, either on purpose or incidentally while giving chase on a hot doe. I know a neighbor that dropped an aggressive buck just mere feet in front of him, at closer range than my encounter. That buck did not get back up…
Good luck to all of you for the remaining days of the season and that your whitetail close encounters be less precarious than what you have read here of mine.
-MJ
© 2016 Joyner Outdoor Media
A Morning Sit In New York’s Fall Turkey Woods
A rather odd feeling for me this year as we head into our fall hunting seasons here in New York. I love my time in the turkey woods, the deer woods (I’ll reluctantly call them that but default to turkey woods if it all possible.) This fall season so far does have a bit of a different feel for me. I’ll come back to the morning sit in a moment, as there is something I wish to convey while it is present in my thinking…
Our fall turkey season in the CNY area has shifted to the middle of October for a two week period, now in it’s second year of it. I have written previously about my conflicted opinion with the NYSDEC’s decision to go this route under the stated goal of reducing the fall take. I still remain steadfast in my opinion that they catered to the wants and desires of fall archers over that of fall turkey doggers (it is actually a fall turkey season right?) They could have adopted regulations to be bearded birds only and restricted shooting from elevated platforms. They did find some virtue of adding two weeks to archery deer season, thereby cutting out the time one could run a turkey dog without conflict with deer hunters. The hunting season dates would have been fine left alone. By doing as I suggest here, hens would have been well protected, the fall take would have dropped in a dramatic fashion. To be fair, their chosen regulations resulted in a reduction in fall takes compare to 2012, 2014, but only slightly lower than 2011 or 2013. I maintain it could have been far more effective with the right regulations.
Those of us that claim to be dyed in the wool fall turkey hunters, turkey doggers would purposely put on a turkey vest rather than a safety harness and make a day of it at any given time. I’ll probably catch hell for saying this, but in what logic, what wisdom would you consider the hunter’s satisfaction/perception of deer hunters with archery tackle in regards to fall turkey season over that of fall turkey hunters that partake the time-honored tradition of breaking fall flocks with a good turkey dog? Or the fall hunter who puts on a turkey vest with the specific goal of tagging a fall bird. Do not misunderstand my comments that I have a philosophical argument with those that arrow a fall turkey while deer hunting. As a generality, perfectly OK in my book. When it comes to regulating a fall turkey season, I have a firm opinion as to whom the considerations might go to first. I tip my hat to those that pursue fall turkeys with a focused purpose, over that of incidental happenstance while on a good deer watch. Again this is not a jab at archers as I hunt the fall archery season with great enthusiasm, and would arrow a turkey should I have a tag in hand. Under the old season dates, I would more often than not have those tags filled before the 15th. Back to this morning…
I passed on going out on opening day of fall archery season on the 1st for several reasons. For starters, my heart is not into it this time of year. I dearly miss the October 1st for fall turkey in our area. For thirty years I have become accustomed to the October 15th start of archery season pursuing whitetails. Even then I really don’t get that excited until the week of Halloween. Admittedly I am set in my ways, not unreasonably so, but it is my feeling that I have about it. In my conversations with fellow hunters, I come to know that I am not alone in that perception. The other consideration for the opener was an east wind, and it all but guarantees that you push out any deer on the property while getting to one of our many stands and most likely be winded while on stand given the way they are set up. On to day two…
I chose to head out on one of the best-producing stands on my property. Today would be a deer watch as I am waiting on a few possibilities to hunt the currently open turkey season up north. With a short walk from the house, I would find myself situated and comfortable as the morning unfolded. A moderately warm and still morning, it was just as easy to fall asleep as to be on alert. I would not dare doze off as I would surely miss something. I would not be disappointed in my short watch of two hours. Although I was not particularly driven to be on deer watch this early in the fall season, the great deer that were reported on opening day on social media was impressive, and it did not escape my attention. I do subscribe to the idea that opportunity comes to those that are vigilant and prepared.
During my peaceful time on a great deer watch, I had one tall four point buck stroll in a little after 8 o’clock. With most of the leaves still on the trees, I only saw bits and pieces of him about seventy yards out. He came into my chosen area several times. The young buck would jump, play, then bound away only to return several minutes later. Not exactly sure what held him there, but he returned twice this morning. He finally walked into my shooting lane and onward to where it was he needed to go. As much as I love the meat, and filling the freezer is a priority, I would let him go on his way, unaware of my presence. I would be hard pressed to arrow a whitetail of his weight, and looking for something larger than a deer I could carry out on my back. To watch him was a highlight of the morning. I am hoping to catch up with an impressive buck that I have pursued for three years, and came close on several occasions to sealing the deal. We hear of other great bucks roaming the hills where we call home. So early in the season, no particular hurry, and hoping to do a little selective shopping. Truthfully the one that I have my eye on, does have my attention.
Another first for me was to have a pileated woodpecker in very close proximity this morning. We see them on occasion. We hear them more often than see them. I heard this one for a bit before he landed on a tree no more than five yards out in front of my stand. Not the largest that I have seen over the years, but a good sized adult just the same. I got to enjoy his presence for a bit longer than four minutes as he worked his way up a healthy young maple tree. I knew that we would make his way over the gnarly old maple next to my favored shooting lane just twenty-three yards from the stand. As predicted that is were he went to and it got rather loud as he quickly found the rotted out hollowed sections which I am sure provided the meal he was looking for. Having various hawks and owls up close and personal over the years it was treat to have my pointy headed friend show up for me to have a good look at him. Another fun memory of the morning.
As always, a morning in the turkey woods was soothing to the soul. Today’s brief foray proved to be fun and heart warming. Over time, my regard for the past scheduling of seasons, loathing of the new seasons may subside. I will make the best of it. Adjustments are possible should my writings, along with yours, reach the eyes and ears of those responsible for setting season dates and regulations. Make your voices, your opinions known and heard. I sincerely hope that my comments on the fall turkey season provide for some thought, even resonate with your own thoughts. I am just as confident that some will not regard my comments so kindly as there are those that profess that archery season should be the only season and is superior. Although I love my time during archery seasons, I would not agree with such an elitist perspective as I enjoy the other methods/seasons for different reasons. That is my personal view, yours may be different. Although you may take issue with me on that, I do think we can agree that experiences like I had this morning while in the turkey woods, the deer woods is something we can all smile about and think fondly of. Best of luck to all of you this fall season.
-MJ
© 2016 Joyner Outdoor Media
2015 Fall Seasons, Looking Ahead To 2016
2015 Fall Seasons, Looking Ahead To 2016
It will be interesting to see how things shake out for the 2016 deer seasons, and especially the fall turkey season. A lot of fellow hunters I talk to have serious concerns, questions as to the NYSDEC’s ability to give any weight to hunter inputs. There are some including myself that wonder if public input on pending wildlife issues has any impact at all on the decision making process. In central NY which I am most familiar with, deer/fall turkey seasons was in general very disappointing. One cannot place blame on the decision makers for the weather, hunter practices, but may certainly question changes in rules that contribute to situation we now have. The fall harvest I am told reflects just as much in the numbers gleamed in successful hunter reporting.
One can question the wisdom currently coming from Albany. For my personal experience I never laid eyes on a whitetail after November 21st. I did fill a fall turkey tag on a nice sized Jake, but overall I saw very few turkeys in any of my favorite haunts. Lack of hunter participation? Reliance on deer stands over deer drives? A perfect storm of hunter variables, wildlife management directives, and weather to bring harvest opportunities down. Hunter satisfaction is something I question in a big way when it comes to changes in NYSDEC policies. For deer season I’ll chalk it up to a down year. Turkey population is certainly down especially when compared to peak populations of the late 1990’s. Having expressed my opinion on the handling of fall turkey season, I am not yet convinced that they’ll make the right moves to reduce hen take in the fall, and instead cater to the satisfaction of deer hunters during archery seasons. Mind you I am not against deer hunters in any way as I started my hunting days with a bow in hand.
As for what we can do despite political management of our beloved natural resources? Each of us can purposely hold back on harvests, educate our fellow hunters when it comes to helping build back wildlife populations. While management decisions are made post seasons, or after sighting studies are conducted, we as hunters have direct in the field intel. There are always going to be game hogs, those that poach and routinely disregard game laws. The good news is that they are not the majority. Each of us can make a personal choice and contribute as we see it. As a hunter, as a participating steward of our wildlife we can all make personal choices not to over hunt areas of depressed populations or fill a tag just because. We certainly do not require a directive from Albany to hold back in areas that could use a season or two of reduced harvest, etc.
© 2016 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
NYSDEC Flips The Bird To The Traditional Fall Turkey Hunter
To those that follow all things related to wild turkeys in New York, you may well know that fall season is a very different one here in the great state of New York. To those not entirely up to speed on what has changed, the generously long season in recent times use to run from October 1st up until the Friday before southern tier gun season for deer. Roughly 6-1/2 weeks in the central part of the state. Northern NY just two weeks, and the western part of the state would not start until mid-October. Long Island has had a season for only a few years now and runs into December.
That has all changed now with Northern NY having changed the least. The NYSDEC has come up with a staggered two week season that varies across the state. A one bird limit has also been implemented. How it has been implemented, and combined with changes in recent years forms my opinion that the NYSDEC has as much as given the middle finger to the traditional fall turkey hunter, turkey dogger (those of us that use turkey dogs to bust them up in the fall.)
Before I go further I do agree that changes needed to be made. It is reasonable to conclude in my point of view that the wild turkey numbers are down. Compared to population peaks in the mid to late 90’s they are drastically down. Historically, going back to 70’s, and 80’s and even further back one can make several arguments. Sightings now vary greatly across the state from those that I hear from, and in my travels. There are many questions about the natural holding capacity of suitable habitat. Many hunters are blaming fishers and coyotes, and yes, they are efficient predators, but not taking out entire flocks. It is hard to compete with Mother Nature, especially with the string of wet, cold springs we have over the past 5-6 years. Last two springs have not been as bad. Nesting success has been spotty at best, and likely the culprit or the lion’s share of the decline. I have been told over the years that for every legally tagged turkey there is likely two more that are not. Not exactly a great way to keep track of what’s what when managing seasons. I blame poachers for this, not dedicated and ethical turkey hunters. Exceptions noted… While my further comments are very critical in what the NYSDEC has done, it is proper to acknowledge that it is not such an easy thing to manage nor black and white in the decisions to be made.
In the CNY region up until several years ago, the traditional fall turkey hunter could pursue their favored pastime for two weeks without risking disturbing bow hunters looking to arrow a whitetail. Perfect time to bust flocks with a turkey dog. Those two weeks are compromised giving the bow hunters another two weeks of early season. Many land owners and bow hunters are ok with fall turkey season until bow season opens up. Thumbs down against the NYSDEC for doing this. The one bird limit makes sense, and is an expected variable when tasked to manage the flocks. It is obvious to those of us immersed into fall turkey hunting that much of our inputs fell on the ears of those that had already made up their minds. Basically going through the motions and the final decisions were based more on other groups interests or other’s perception of hunter satisfaction. Fall turkey hunters seem to have fallen off of that list. It is thought that a significant percentage of the fall take occurs from incidental opportunities from bow hunters while on a deer watch. One could see how that might be kept as a hunter satisfaction perspective, namely that of a bow hunter. I started out bow hunting for deer, and can understand the idea. However in the quest to tightly reducing and controlling the fall take, prohibiting the taking of fall turkeys from a tree stand would certainly impact the harvest numbers. I highly doubt archery organizations would allow that to go unanswered without a lot of backlash. One can argue the virtues of incidental hunting vs those that put on a turkey vest and go afield to participate in the age old tradition of fall turkey hunting. Instead of reducing the season to a staggered two weeks in a given region why not make it gobbler or bearded turkeys only, and that would have a huge impact in reducing the fall take.
It is baffling why the NYSDEC has done a bang-up job of ignoring the hunter satisfaction aspect of the dedicated fall turkey hunter, turkey dogger. Even though the fall season at one time was “The Season” it is now the spring season that captures most of everyone’s attention. In just a few short years the NYSDEC choices made to reduce harvest take numbers has negatively impacted much of a fall turkey hunters time afield to enjoy the great turkey woods in NY. In light of this observation, I assert they could have made better choices and served the great past time of the traditional fall turkey hunter, turkey dogger in a much better fashion.
© 2015 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
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