Some real early turkey talk: Match your strikers with the right pot call
Just when you’re ready to relegate one to a stash of calls in your camo bag, you connect with the right striker and you’re ready to put it in your vest for future action.
New York – Steve Piatt
Centerpin fishing becomes a center of attention
I don’t know much about centerpin fishing but I’m ready and willing to learn, especially after seeing all the Facebook photos from friends who seem to consistently – and I mean consistently – score on fine steelhead and hefty, colorful brown trout. It’s something I’ve been considering for a while, even though the traditional Great Lakes tributary hotspots – Oak Orchard Creek,…
With deer season winding down, plenty of tags remain unfilled
Looking at the season to this point, the writer is beginning to see that they’re getting out of it what they put into it.
Make the hunt happen – don’t pin all your hopes on luck of the draw
Make the memories while you can, while your legs still allow you to hunt hard, and before something comes along that prevents you from doing what you love. You never know when your hunting time is up.
Fall seasons require some decision-making
I jokingly say I like to visit a taxidermist once every 30 years or so, but when I look back at that statement, it’s really no joke. I’ve only taken two decent bucks over nearly 50 years of hunting – a fine 8-point back in 1979 and a bigger 10-pointer a few years ago that actually required a tape measurement, netting 136 inches….
Late start to archery season: I’ll go when I’ve properly prepared
Author’s game plan is to hunt next week, around Oct. 15, after he’s convinced himself he’s as ready as he’ll ever be to make the shot when it counts.
Early archery season worth a shot, weather or not
Bowhunters, myself included, can be a fickle bunch. Take New York state archery hunters, for instance. For years we lobbied hard for an earlier opening to the archery deer season, and DEC finally bumped it up from mid-October to an Oct. 1 kickoff. And once that was in place, we moaned about the warm weather that typically lingers well into October….
Deer hunters should learn a bit about food sources in the forest
You don’t have to be a biologist with a degree in forestry, but some basic knowledge can go a long way in the deer woods.
Tough times for turkeys: Poult numbers may point to poor nesting, brood-rearing season
Should the DEC’s Summer Sighting Survey confirm the writer’s observations, the low poult numbers this year will mean fewer jakes on the landscape next spring, and even more importantly, fewer 2-year-old longbeards in the spring of 2020.
Shape up for hunting season – and a physical isn’t a bad idea, either
Make it hurt now and it will hurt a little less when it’s time for that future hunt of a lifetime.
This summer, fishing takes a back seat to time on the rifle range
Paula put three of four shots into a six-inch square last week from 200 yards, and the lone miss wasn’t off by much. That kind of shooting easily puts her in the kill zone of a moose, although she wants to tighten things up even more before we head to The Rock.It’s been a bit of an unusual spring and…
Porcupine encounters become a prickly situation
For dogs’ sake, this writer is keeping porky numbers in check.
For the tired spring gobbler hunter, keep at it
We’ve pretty much arrived at that point in the spring gobbler season where it’s easy to come up with an excuse to turn off the 3:30 or 4 a.m. alarm and go back to sleep. It’s too windy, too rainy, too cold, the gobblers are done pursuing hens, and it’s too anything. It’s easy to shut it down for a season. If…
Missing a gobbler: It happened today, and it will probably happen again
Still, the excitement surrounding turkey hunting is the very reason we arise in the middle of the night and head out into the turkey woods.
Experience crucial to spring gobbler success
And other simple things to remember as we begin another season in the turkey woods.
Tough times for turkeys, and don’t expect that to change anytime soon
While turkey numbers are clearly driven primarily by production in the spring and Mother Nature, there are other factors playing into the decline.
Dog days at the sport shows: Toiling with a ‘toller’
I always enjoy working the New York Outdoor News booth at the winter sport shows. It’s a great time to connect with readers, hear what they like or don’t like about the paper, and trade hunting and fishing stories with folks whose interests are pretty much identical to mine. If I’m tag-teaming the show booth with either Paula or our…
Paula’s hunt, Paula’s gun: Yes, the 7mm-08 for moose
I’m heading to Newfoundland on a moose hunt in September and I’m not even bringing a rifle. Or a bow. It’s not my hunt. This time, since I’ve already taken a Newfoundland moose, it’s Paula’s turn. We can’t wait for this return trip to The Rock, with its breathtaking scenery, great people and, oh yes, superb moose population. It will be…
In the invasive pest world, looks can be deceiving
Perhaps nowhere is the phrase “looks can be deceiving” more appropriate than when applied to the mute swan. Yes, they are beautiful. But they are much different than the trumpeter swan, despite the physical similarities. The non-native, invasive species displace native wildlife species, degrade water quality, destroy submerged aquatic vegetation, are troublesome in the area of airports, and can even be aggressive toward humans. Yes,…
Bad bamboo: Japanese knotweed clogs riverbanks
Expect to encounter Japanese knotweed along riverbanks.I’m already looking ahead to spring and, obviously, turkey hunting, but also to the open-water fishing season. Paula and I didn’t get a lot of fishing in last year and I can’t remember why, but I know some of it was due to high water conditions on the nearby Susquehanna River. That eliminated our typical…
Pheasant hunting on hold with Finn on the mend
I’m never sorry to see deer season come to an end because, by early December, I’ve had plenty of time in a tree, usually have enough venison in the freezer, and have made enough memories in the field that I’m ready to move on to the next big thing. And that next big thing is pheasant hunting. Our 2-year-old Lab Finn…
Planning, preparation key for major hunting, fishing trips
When it comes to any trip involving considerable effort – and expense – Paula and I tend to research and plan thoroughly. That said, when the time finally arrives for a memorable excursion, we enter it with the mentality that chances are it won’t go as smoothly as designed on paper. You have to roll with the punches during a hunting…
A pep talk, and a New York archery buck
Author was ready to surrender, then his
buddy called, convincing him to give it one more try. And it paid off.
A beech bonanza may make for tough hunting
This encounter with an incredible supply of beech nuts was amazing.I hunted fall turkeys one day last week in Tioga County, visiting Pete Clare at his storied Turkey Trot Acres hunting lodge, where fall turkey hunting with dogs has emerged as an autumn tradition, albeit a shortened one given New York state’s fairly brief fall turkey hunting season. It was an enjoyable…
Young hunters need early success
A little positivity will go a long way toward becoming a dedicated hunter.
Fall’s hunting decisions: bowhunting or pheasant fun?
Call me a “gametime decision” every day in October and into November, with a lot of factors coming into play.
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