I’m more than a bit curious as to how many deer and bear will be taken by crossbow hunters this season here in NYS. Not very many at all I’d guess, though as the three-year sunshine clause on these weapons approaches in 2013 we may see a loosening of restrictions on crossbows, permitting them to be used more easily and more often.

 Right now I doubt many hunters will forego the use of their favorite shotguns or rifles during the firearms seasons and use crossbows instead, though I’m certain there are some who would like to say they took their deer with this weapon during its first year of legal use. I also suspect that most of the deer taken by crossbows will be does rather than bucks. Hunters lucky enough to take their buck and also have a Deer Management Permit will then use the crossbow to fill that DMP.

Crossbows are effective (I took a bear in Quebec with one several years ago) and I suspect they’ll find their place in our big game seasons here as well.

The Department of Environmental Conservation has altered its online and phone reporting system to help track hunter success with crossbows and its likely there will be some hunters who choose to use those weapons. I’ve owned and used one for over a dozen years, though I’ve only used it in Quebec and Ohio, where they’ve been legal hunting implements for some time. Still, though I’m proficient with it, I doubt I’ll use my crossbow here this season.

For a number of reasons I’m operating under considerable time constraints this season and will probably stick with my shotgun and/or rifle for my deer hunting - at least for this season.

SOUTHERN

ZONE SEASON

The southern zone regular deer season opens in just nine more days, on Saturday, Nov. 19. I’ve had my trail cams out since Nov. 1 and have spotted a number of does and only one small six-point buck and a sizable coyote so far, most of them during the evening and early morning hours so they’re following essentially the same pattern they followed last year.

Still, I have seen bucks chasing does in the vicinity and the rut is already on in some areas. I’ll probably retrieve the cams a few days before the season and review any photos I have, then determine when those photos were taken. So far, my photos have been split almost evenly between the visible flash and infrared cams.

The two cams are far enough apart so that I’m fairly certain I’m not seeing the same deer on both, though their behavior and times seem to be about the same. I like both cams and the visible flash doesn’t seem to bother deer any so I think I’ll just swap locations between the two and see what happens.

In any event, my gear is prepped and ready to go so all I can do now is hope for the best on the Nov. 19th weekend. I just hope the weather is as nice then as it has been for the past few weeks. It has definitely moderated since our surprise October snowstorms. Night time temperatures in the 20’s and day time temps in the low to mid 40’s are fine with me. That’s great hunting weather from my perspective. The big question now is how much precipitation we might experience during the early days of the season in the form of either rain or snow.

Also, if memory serves me right, I’ve never taken a buck on the opening day of the southern zone season. Over the years I’ve taken several on the second day but never on the first day. I’d like to break that streak this year but I’m not optimistic. Patterns like that seem to hang in there. I’m probably doing something wrong - I just have to find out what it is.

COLORADO ELK

Greg Heck of Amsterdam, along with a dozen other members of the Tomantown Sportsmen’s Club, ventured out west recently on a combined mule deer and elk hunt. The group hunted public land in the Meeker, Colorado area and experienced a very good success rate, bagging five mulies and one elk. Greg took the elk, a 5 X 6 that weighed in at an estimated 750 pounds, using a Remington 7mm mag. with 180 gr. Winchester Supreme ammo.

He bagged the critter at 8 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22.