You may have noticed that orange people have invaded the woods in our area. Saturday the 18th was the opening day of the regular gun deer season in what the Department of Environmental Conservation labels the southern zone of New York State for big game. The gun season here is 23 days long and always begins the third Saturday in November.
One thing for sure is that this state has a lot of white-tailed deer. It is by far New York’s most popular game animal. Each year, more than 500,000 deer hunters contribute nearly $690 million to New York State’s economy through hunting related expenses, the purchase of hunting licenses and federal excise taxes. Hunters generate over $35 million to support the management activities of NYSDEC. Hunters take some 220,000 deer annually, filling freezers with roughly 10.8 million pounds of high quality local venison, one of the healthiest meats you can eat. Talk about organic!
To get a few tips on hunting whitetails during the gun season, I contacted veteran deer predator Mark Powley. Mark has hunted whitetails for over thirty years in more diverse sections of the state than any other deer hunter I know. He has hunted deer from the shores of Lake Erie, down to most of the counties of the southern tier then back up to Oswego county along Lake Ontario and most of the counties in-between. So the man can speak to the deer hunting in many different areas of the state.
Here is what Mark revealed: “I can’t spout numbers, but just share what I’ve seen over the years. I used to hunt the southern tier religiously, but found the deer numbers have slowly dwindled over the last decade. Of all the places I’ve hunted deer in New York, the biggest deer I have taken were right behind my house in Spencerport.
“Don’t get me wrong, though, there is something special about hunting in the hills of the southern tier. The romance of staying at a deer camp with a bunch of buddies in the evening around a warm fire while fresh snow falls outside is what I see when I dream about deer hunting. But when it comes to putting venison in my freezer, I now hunt right behind my house in Spencerport. The crop-fed deer are bigger and the venison is tastier.
“Personally, I hunt out of a tree stand; I don’t like the idea of driving deer. I know it can be very effective, but I like my woods so quiet that I can hear a squirrel fart … not the full-on unnatural commotion of an army of hunters attacking the area. I try to stay in my tree all day, especially on the opening day. Deer could be moving anytime, push by other hunters as they come and go in the woods. I will take enough food to get me through the day and, hopefully, enough clothes to keep me warm. I walk to my stand in the dark of early morning with as little clothes on as possible so as not to work up a sweat. I can then add layers as the day goes on. I believe that if I can stay in my stand all day I will get an opportunity for a shot.
“Obviously, you must have your tree stand placement covering as many deer trails as possible. I like to be on a major deer run just outside of the thickest cover I can find. I know that after the first couple shots of the morning, deer are heading for cover and then will not come out of that protection until just before dark. Much of stand hunting is psychological; you must believe you are going to see something at any minute. All the advise in the world will not help if you are not patient. If I can give just one tip it is be patient. It is the number one key to filling your freezer, especially during the gun season.”
Thanks to Mark for his advice, the man knows deer behavior. He harvested an amazing deer with his recurve bow back in 1997 right behind his house in Spencerport. It was an amazing trophy any deer hunter would sell their mother to the gypsies for … a deer of several lifetimes, an incredible 12-point piebald buck right here in Spencerport. A unicorn is more common than a buck like this. Props to Mark for staying cool under pressure after missing this deer with his first shot, and then smoking it on his next. I would have shaken myself right out of the tree if I’d laid eyes on an animal like that under my tree stand.
As for my two cents on gun hunting deer, I ask everyone to hunt safely. I know I could write my 1000 words and preach safety, but I doubt it would be effective and surely boring. So I will just touch on it and remind everyone that there are some real dopes out there with guns this time of year. For example, twenty-some years ago while I was deer hunting on some state land (my first mistake) in the southern tier, I had the chilling experience of someone shooting and hitting a tree just a few feet in front of me. Bark actually flew into my face. I went to the ground and yelled, “Who just shot?” knowing that whoever pulled the trigger had to be close by and was no doubt shooting at the sound of me walking through some thick cover (my second mistake). Of course, no one answered. To this day it still boggles my mind that anybody would just shoot at a sound.
Now when I hunt deer, which is rare, I wear orange on every part of my body. I even dye my hair orange like our president during the deer season. You can see my hair coming through the woods from miles away.
When all is said and done, I believe that it is rare that hunters mistake each other for deer. I think most accidents happen when a deer comes between hunters and the hunters get so excited that they shoot at the deer without being aware of what’s behind it. Then other common accidents happen when hunters shoot themselves while crossing fences without unloading their gun, climbing in and out of a tree stand or back at the vehicle when somebody mistakes an empty gun that is still loaded.
I also had that happen to me while getting into a vehicle after a hunt a few years back. A good friend of mine, who will remain nameless, had his gun go off right at the vehicle while we were putting our guns away for the day. Luckily for all of us, he had his barrel pointed in a safe direction. Needless to say, an experience like that will scare you to religion.
Remember … there were three fatalities deer hunting 2016 in New York, so it can happen. Don’t let it be you getting shot or, worse yet, shooting someone else.
