Coyotes Finally Where They Belong – Manhattan

Many of us who complain that it’s the city dwellers who dictate to the country folk that we should put up with wolves, coyotes, bears, etc. Well, finally it seems there might be some coyotes invading Manhattan. This is cause for a huge celebration! I immediately suggest that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service place the coyote in Manhattan on the Endangered Species List so nobody can harm them poor innocent animals.

Tom Remington

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New York Hunter “Outraged” By The “Unconscionable” License Fee Increases

Guest blogger, Richard Rizza

I am OUTRAGED by the callous disregard for we the NY sportsmen and women by the DEC’s (Department of Environmental Conservation) Peter Grannis. While a fee increase from time to time is expected, this is nothing short of RAPE and highway robbery. Can I pay it? Yes, I can pay it. Will I? Will you??

The cost of a single item license (ie: small game hunting; fishing; etc) was increased by a factor of OVER 50% That can not stand. The cost of an upper echelon license (ie: Supersportsman)factoring in doe permit fees and the new license for Marine fishing approaches a factor of 70%. I think we should scream bloody murder and call for the head of Commissioner Grannis. We must live within our means. So must the DEC. So must ALL governmental agencies. An end to the never ending upward spiral of fees, taxes and surcharges must be demanded!

We have the power to do this. I know that many have made statements by their refusal to purchase doe permits. That’s good. I am willing to go a little farther by calling for a BOYCOTT of sporting licenses until DEC backs down, and they will, quickly, as soon as they see that their attempt to raise their income by raping New York sportsmen has BACKFIRED in their faces. We don’t need to hunt or fish. We do it because we want to. DEC on the other hand does need us. We are the hand that feeds them, and they are biting us HARD! Raise your voices and close your wallets!

In the interest of full disclosure, I want to state that I have, up till now, been a regular annual purchaser of a Conservation Legacy license. This year, I will not be buying that. I do, however, want to put venison in my freezer, so it is likely that, despite my call for total boycott, I will at minimum purchase a big game tag with doe permit. I am also considering a lifetime sportsman license prior to Oct. 1 as this will place my money into the conservation fund which is untouchable save for it’s garnered interest and provide me without increased charge my recreational licenses (optional to me for bow and muzzle loader) and no charge doe permits for life, thus undermining Commissar Grannis’ attempted extortion.

I sent a letter to State Senator William Larkin to express my outrage. Below is a copy of that letter.

An open letter to:
Senator William Larkin
1093 Little Britain Rd
New Windsor, NY 12553

August 19, 2009

Dear Senator Larkin,

I am returning your recent mailing of the NYS Hunting Seasons. Kindly stop spending MY money on unnecessary items. I won’t be needing it, at any rate. I went to the DEC website to purchase my annual Conservation Legacy license, to find an unconscionable increase in the fee. This increase of 30 dollars has caused me, at great personal disappointment, to cancel my annual hunt and also to give up my fishing privileges for at least the coming year.

I am sick and tired of you, the ruling class, constantly and continually imposing increased fees, surcharges and new licenses (Now a MARINE license is required!!) upon we the people as if we are nothing more then an inexhaustible “fountain of money.” Enough!!!!! Although I will feel very bad and very sad for giving up my hunting and fishing, I would feel worse if I allowed myself to be RAPED by the Legislature and the DEC.

This “obscene overcharge” situation is not limited to any one thing, either. It is pervasive throughout every part of modern life in this state, from campgrounds to state parks to motor vehicle to property taxes. The property tax portion of a current mortgage payment is rising to the point where it EQUALS the actual mortgage!

Sincerely,

Richard Rizza
Cc: Times Herald Record

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Northeast Environmentalists Want To Protect Interbred Canids (Dogs)

Where will the absolute insanity stop when it comes to efforts by extremists to end hunting, fishing and trapping, close off lands to human use, strip us of our rights and destroy our god given right in the pursuit of happiness?

It has gotten so bad that a group, made up of representatives from Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and New York, have petitioned the Department of Interior in order to place protections under the Endangered Species Act for any interbred species of dogs, coyotes, wolves or any combination of the above, claiming these all to be unique species.

In accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act and/or the Endangered Species Act, we hereby petition the U.S. Department of Interior and the Service to regulate the commerce or taking, and treat as endangered species in the States of New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts, coyotes (Canis latrans), coyote/gray wolf hybrids (Canis latrans x Canis lupus), eastern wolves (Canis lycaon), eastern wolf/gray wolf hybrids (Canis lycaon x Canis lupus), coyote/eastern wolf hybrids (Canis latrans x Canis lycaon), and coyote/eastern wolf/gray wolf hybrids (Canis latrans x Canis lycaon x Canis lupus) because of their close resemblance to the federally endangered and protected gray wolf.
In accordance with the Administrative Procedures Act and/or the U.S. Endangered Species Act, we also hereby petition the U.S. Department of Interior and the Service: (1) to establish a Northeastern Gray Wolf Distinct Population Segment consisting of the States of New York, Vermont New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts; and, (2) to develop and implement a Northeastern Gray Wolf Recovery Plan.

Part of this groups reasoning is that with open hunting and trapping seasons on eastern coyote, because some of these coyotes my have interbred with an Eastern gray wolf, it should be protected in order to protect the gray wolf.

We seem only now willing to admit that wolves and domestic dogs have been interbreeding for centuries. Recently it was determined that what made wolves black was the result of interbreeding with dogs. We’ve even found in historic writings, like those of Teddy Roosevelt’s, that Indians and trappers/hunters used to do a lot of interbreeding with wolves and their hunting dogs to develop a dog that could stand up to wolves.

Neither the gray wolf nor the eastern coyote is threatened or in any danger of extinction. To think that we now should consider protecting mongrel dogs in the wild is absolutely ridiculous. When the USFWS gets done reviewing this petition, it should be immediately tossed in the garbage can.

Tom Remington

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Man With Deer Head And Red Paint Arrested

Don’t ask!

A nineteen year old was arrested walking down the median of I-84 in New York carrying dead deer parts, including a deer’s head, a red spray paint can and he was covered with red paint.

“Mr. Carlson could not give any reasonable explanation for walking out on the highway, carrying paint and dead deer parts,” police said in a release today.

Now unless this dude just got off the bus from Washington, D.C., where he was working on writing another stimulus plan (I don’t think he was a monkey), I find it hard to believe that someone could be so creative as to take a stroll down I-84 with a dead deer’s head and red paint and he couldn’t come up with a creative excuse as to why.

The last time I was stopped for walking down an interstate highway covered in paint and carrying a deer head, I told the officer I took a break from work – I’m a professional spray paint can tester – to walk my pet deer, Oliver. Oliver didn’t want to go for a walk so I didn’t take Oliv-him. Ooooh, that was really bad.

But hey this is right up there with the guy who was arrested for driving around town with a Hurst and a dead deer in the back. Was that the same guy who was having sex with the deer?

Tom Remington

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Wisconsin: And Then There Were More Bears

The Natural Resources Board in Wisconsin will raise the bear harvest quotas for next year after they agree that there a far more black bears around than they had thought. According to the Capital Times, the DNR had estimated there were around 13,000 bruins ramming the woods of Wisconsin but a study done by the DNR and assisted by the Wisconsin Bear Hunters Association, showed around 37,000 bears. That’s quite a discrepancy.

The good news is that the fish and game officials recognize and acknowledge the problem and are moving to do something about it. Consequently the bear harvest quota will be upped to 4,585 and will be monitored closely.

Also, further east in New York, bear hunters this year appear to have had a pretty good season reaching at or above record bear harvest numbers in two of three hunting zones.

Tom Remington

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I Went On A Hunting Trip And……….

I went on a last minute whitetail deer hunting trip to Maine and didn’t see any deer! At least in the woods while I was hunting…….More details to follow!

But that didn’t stop at least one person in our hunting party! Of the eight of us at camp during the week, one deer was seen, total, and one deer was taken.

Dennis, pictured above with his deer, persisted in his tree stand until last legal light. He had placed a combination of scents around and near his spot and waited. Just before dark, this prize appeared with nose to the ground, determined in his quest to find the source of the compelling odors.

He was a 10-point, weighing in at 193 pounds.

So where were all the deer? Good question. We know that last winter’s deep snows created a “blood bath” in some locals, as was described to me by one game warden who flew over the region last winter where we hunt. Ironically, the same warden believes there are still ample deer although not like the past couple seasons.

As for me being sick most of the week, I managed only to see a gathering of wild turkeys one day and a ruffed grouse on another. Ironically as it may seem, our trip north and the return trip south provided moments of great entertainment spotting deer.

The most deer that we saw in broad daylight was about a 30-minute drive from downtown New York City. The second most deer we see were in Pennsylvania, where all I have heard for the past couple of years is that Pennsylvania’s deer have all been killed as the result of poor management by the PA. Game Commission.

To spend six days in the woods of Maine hunting for deer and seeing nothing and to spot perhaps hundreds of deer from a car in broad daylight in Pennsylvania, doesn’t conjure up a whole lot of sympathy to those Pennsylvania hunters who say it isn’t worth hunting anymore. Try spending $105.00 for a non-resident Maine big game hunting permit and seeing nothing.

I’m back and am sorting through my 60,000 plus emails. Depressed as I am over the results of the election, I’m putting my nose to the grindstone and will be back to posting information, stories and entertainment again.

Thanks for keeping the site active with your comments!

Tom Remington

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New York Does What New Jersey Won’t About Bear Problems

We all know and have heard by now that New Jersey has some serious bear population problems and as a result there has been a remarkable increase in bear/human encounters. New Jersey refuses to do anything about the problem other than blame humans for living and tell them to buy better bear-proof garbage cans.

The state of New York meanwhile is deciding to take the lead and do what they know is the right and best thing to do. They are going to expand their bear hunting zones as a way to counter the rapid growth of bears in certain areas.

The polar opposite of Liza Jackson, New Jersey’s Department of Environment Protection commissioner, New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation commissioner, Pete Grannis, recognizes and acknowledges that hunting is a viable tool. This according to Newsday.

State DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis says the hunting boundaries were expanded because the black bear population has grown in number and range in recent years, and hunting is an important tool in managing bear population growth.

Gordon Batcheller is a wildlife biologist with the NYDEC and says when he began his science career in Western New York, there were few bears. Now he says dealing with bears is a common occurrence.

Anti-hunting groups continue their onslaught of deceit attempting to convince the people that man is the problem and that we are living in their space and should therefore suffer the negative consequences of dealing with hungry bears.

I might concur that man is the problem but not nearly in the same manner as these groups might. Man has done such a fantastic job of managing these animals, they are flourishing. That isn’t to say that certain conditions don’t have good and bad effects on bears but they must be responsibly managed. That means making adjustments to populations.

A well run wildlife management program will stay on top of issues like the bear and implement changes to its hunting season to maintain population numbers at healthy levels. Kudos to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation for being a leader and staying on top of things.

Maybe some of this will rub off on your neighbors to the south.

Tom Remington

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Is The Economy Driving Up Hunting License Sales?

It’s often been said that when the economy goes sour and people are either out of work or their work slows, they buy hunting and fishing licenses and go rustle up some grub. What also seems to be a trend is that when this happens, those going hunting and fishing do so for the food not so much for the recreation.

I am beginning to hear grumblings from different corners of the country that hunting license sales are edging up from recent years and some are thinking it might be related to the economy. Newsday.com is reporting that the state of New York is seeing a jump up of around 75,000 licenses but can’t quite get a handle on the real reasons why. I suppose time will tell.

What about where you live? Are you going to hunt and fish more now that things might be tightening up in your household? Is the price of gas going to have the opposite affect and force you to hunt and fish less? Please feel free to leave comments here about your personal perspective and if you can provide any substantiated evidence of increased license sales in your area or state, we’d appreciated hearing about it.

Tom Remington

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Reducing Deer Populations For Healthy Forests And People

I’ve talked some about his subject from a couple different perspectives. In Pennsylvania, the state is in the middle of a major deer population reduction in order to regrow the forests. According to reports from studies and officials, there are areas where too many deer have destroyed the natural under story of the forest allowing for growth of invasive plant species.

In Connecticut, some areas are battling Lyme disease brought on by too many deer that carry the tick that causes the disease. In both these cases, the solution seems to be to reduce the deer population in order to accomplish one or both, of two tasks.

Dr. Emile DeVito, a conservation ecologist and Manager of Science and Stewardship for the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, has an article in the New York Times about similar forest destruction problems in New York and New Jersey by deer. He offers solutions to the problem, one of which being a drastic reduction of the deer population and utilizing the efforts of hunters.

DeVito says that there are too many deer to count and nothing left of plants to survey, so any money to study and count would be a waste. He calls for population numbers to be dropped to around 5 deer per square mile, claiming this number is necessary in order to allow for the forests to regenerate.

These are very low numbers when you begin presenting them to deer biologists, depending on region and carrying capacities, and you’re sure to get some heated responses from deer hunters, as we have witnessed in Pennsylvania.

Last week I wrote an article about how it appeared that Pennsylvania was tearing down its deer herd in order to build it back up again. In that article, I asked the following question.

I don’t have all the details obviously but if the 10-year effort was to reduce the deer population to 15 per square mile, a number that many wildlife biologists would consider reasonable, in order to regrow the forest and sustain a healthier deer population, why are they looking to rebuild it?

Reader Willard responded to my question about why the state would first advocate for knocking deer population numbers down to around 15 per square mile, only to bump them back up to 20 per square mile once the forests have regenerated.

…..he means that once the habitat has recovered from the severe over browsing that it should then be capable of supporting a larger number of deer than 15 per square mile.

According to DeVito’s article, it sounds as though reader Willard is exactly right.

All nonprofit environmental groups, government agencies, sportsman clubs, farmers, professional foresters and community groups need to work together to reduce the regional deer population to a biodiversity-based carrying capacity, which must initially be significantly lower than 10 deer per square mile, but could be boosted to about 20 per square mile when the forest is once again filled with tree seedlings and saplings, a dense shrub layer, and a forest floor carpeted with wildflowers!

This sounds as though it could be a great opportunity for hunters and hunting clubs, to work more closely with farmers, landowners, community and state governments to provide more hunting opportunities now and into the future to help restore damaged forests and to help stop the spread of diseases such as Lyme.

But here’s the million dollar question. Mr. DeVito advocates for the use of hunting in places where feasible to achieve the reduction of the deer population. Being that he is a member of the New Jersey Conservation Foundation, which basically buys up land to preserve and limits it to mostly hiking and bird watching, would the NJCF advocate for the use of hunting on their “preserves” when certain game species become too abundant?

Tom Remington

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Northwoods Sporting Journal To Recognize Skinny Moose Media Bloggers

With over 40,000 Northwoods Sporting Journal readers throughout the Northeast, with subscribers in all 50 states, John Ward, National Sales Manager of Northwoods Publications, LLC. and co-host of the new Northwoods Sporting Journal Television, thought it would be a terrific idea to gift our tried and true bloggers with a one-year subscription to their magazine.

This is a great opportunity for everyone as the result of a cooperative business spirit between Northwoods Publications, LLC and Skinny Moose Media, LLC. I spoke with my son Steve Remington, President of Skinny Moose Media, LLC., this morning about this and asked him if either he or John Ward perceived each other as direct competitors in the outdoor media business.

“I can’t really speak for John but I don’t see it that way at all. I assume John doesn’t either otherwise I can’t imagine he would make such a generous offer. As far as Skinny Moose Media is concerned, our objective is to reach as many people as we can to strengthen the industry. It’s what’s best for the consumer and that has to pay dividends for both of us. If it involves working closely with other media and related businesses, I think it’s great.”

I communicated with John Ward a few minutes ago and asked him to make a comment on how he perceives an expanded working relationship with Skinny Moose Media.

In this day and age where more and more outdoorsmen rely on the Internet for their communication and information needs, the partnership the Northwoods Sporting Journal has formed with Skinny Moose media and U.S. Hunting Today brings us another step closer to being the complete resource hunters have expected of us for years. Steve Remington and his crew work tirelessly to unite hunters, not only in Maine, but across the country. With the essential need for united grassroots efforts among the sporting community, it is companies like Skinny Moose Media, LLC. that help us to reach out using all of today’s communicative capabilities. Five stars and a dip of the hat to Skinny Moose Media.

Northwoods Sporting Journal, in addition to its regular subscribers, makes their magazine available in over 1,500 stores throughout Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and Eastern New York. With subscribers in all 50 states and Canada, NWSJ is looking to expand its readership. The NWSJ is also handed out to thousands of readers at dozens of outdoor and sporting shows throughout the Northeast.

With NWSJ’s 40,000 plus readership and Skinny Moose Media’s network-wide visits approaching a half a million monthly, Steve and John hope to be able to drive traffic in both directions strengthening the industry and just as importantly providing outdoor sportsmen with a greater base of valuable resources.

NWSJ’s generosity will put their information and article-filled magazine in the hands of all Skinny Moose Media bloggers who have been at if for at least one year. In return, SMM will strategically place advertisements at selected websites deemed to be appropriate by both parties.

“We were discussing the other day how we could find ways of motivating our bloggers,” said Steve Remington. “We came up with several ideas but this one kind of stuck with me and so I went with it. We are working on other ideas as we speak.”

Skinny Moose Media is always looking for interested bloggers who may want to write about the outdoors including sports. If you or anyone you know, might be interested in blogging, send Steve an email at steve@skinnymoose.com. It’s free and you can actually make money at it.

Tom Remington

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Illegal Disposal Of Deer Carcasses

The dumb get dumber I guess and the same idiots are probably those most vocal when it comes to trying to make others understand that not all hunters have the IQ of a dump rat.

Wayne County, New York, near the shores of Lake Ontario, is an area where stupid people with not enough sense to get in out of the rain, dump the remains of their deer after a successful season. Some of the brain dead fools, just sawed off the antlers and trashed the deer alongside the roadways or, as the picture shows to the right, near the shores of Lake Ontario.

I would be quick to point out that probably this was not done by hunters but by poachers but believe it or not some of these sub-human creatures actually leave their tags on the remains so law enforcement can track them down.

Got brains?

Tom Remington

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The Art Of Hunting Deer The Old-Fashioned Way

Pete Bodo has a story today in the New York Times about a traditional bowyer and deer hunter, Thomas Aquinas Daly, who prefers to hunt with a hand-made long bow and arrows. Interesting story and one I like because he doesn’t dump all over hunters who prefer other methods of hunting the whitetail tail.

Check it out here.

Tom Remington

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Massachusetts Study Says Eastern Coyote Part Wolf

Like similar studies done in Maine and New York, a recent study conducted in Massachusetts by Bradley White, a conservation geneticist at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario, showed that the state’s coyote there is also a mix breed. The tissue samples that were collected for the study was done by wildlife biologist Jonathan G. Way of Marston Mills.

For years many have believed that the coyote found in the east was some kind of cross between a western coyote and a wolf because the eastern coyote is considerably larger than the those found in the west. New York and Maine have conducted similar studies to show that what we call an eastern coyote is a cross or hybrid mix of probably a western coyote with a Canadian eastern wolf.

Read more about this study and its results at the Republican on MassLive.com.

Note: Top photo is of an eastern coyote and bottom photo of a western coyote.

Tom Remington

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Someone Allegedly Illegally Imported Deer From New York To Vermont

Vermont authorities are investing a report that someone imported three deer, I assume dead, from New York, a state that is on the list of those determined to have cases of chronic wasting disease.

Officials decided they should reissue a warning to all people that it is illegal to bring into Vermont any deer or elk or parts thereof from states and Canadian Provinces listed as having confirmed cases of chronic wasting disease. Those states and provinces are:

New York, West Virginia, Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Utah, New Mexico, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Montana, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Below is a list of Vermont’s exceptions or clarifications as to how deer or elk harvested in other states and/or Canada must be handled.

– Meat that is cut up, packaged and labeled with hunting license information and not mixed with other deer or elk during processing.
– Meat that is boneless.
– Hides or capes with no part of the head attached.
– Clean skullcap with antlers attached.
– Antlers with no other meat or tissue attached.
– Finished taxidermy heads.
– Upper canine teeth with no tissue attached.

Please be vigilant and do your part to help stop the spread of the fatal disease chronic wasting disease to other parts of the country.

Tom Remington

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EHD Hasn’t Peaked Yet Evidently

Even though portions of northern New England last night saw some frost and temps below freezing, cold weather has yet to reach areas that are infested with Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EDH), an insect-born virus that is deadly to whitetail deer. This year the outbreak of EHD was quite widespread. Common in many southern states, this year EHD has been detected in northern states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and now New York.

It has been confirmed that EHD was the cause of death for some deer found in Albany County. This is the first ever that EHD has been officially found in the Empire State.

Officials say that once the first freeze arrives it will kill off the tiny insects that carry the disease.

Tom Remington

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