NY Big Game,
As many of you are aware, our recently adopted deer management plan (www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html#DeerPlan) indicates our intended direction for the next 5 years of deer management and deer hunting. The plan included a number of strategies that would affect deer hunting seasons and increase hunter opportunity. We have recently been getting a lot of questions from hunters about deer season dates for 2012 and whether the changes outlined in the deer plan are now final. So let me clarify the process and where we stand.
First, the deer plan did not propose any changes to the Southern Zone Regular season, which will begin on November 17, 2012.
Otherwise, for many of the hunting related strategies of the deer plan to be implemented (for example, begin the Southern Zone bow season on October 1, establish a youth hunt for deer, allow DMPs to be used during the Northern Zone bow and muzzleloader seasons, and establish mandatory antler restrictions in seven additional WMUs in the Catskills), we must amend our regulations through the formal rulemaking process. The process is outlined on the NYS Dept. of State's website (www.dos.ny.gov/info/rulediagram.html) and essentially involves publishing the proposed regulations in the State Register , a 45-day public comment period, DEC review and assessment of the comment and DEC determination whether the proposed rules require modification or can be adopted. We are in the early internal stages of this process now and hope to proceed so that adopted regulations may be in place by late spring, well ahead of the 2012 hunting seasons.
That said, please be aware that several recommendations of the deer plan require amendment of laws, not regulations. These issues are described in Appendix 5 of the deer plan and include: establishing a uniform minimum age of 12 years for all hunters, expanded use of crossbows, reduction of the setback distance for discharge of vertical bows and crossbows, increased penalties for deer hunting violations, and other statutory issues. Statutory changes (changes to laws) must be enacted by the New York State Legislature and signed by the Governor. DEC does not have authority to change laws.
Additionally, in the final deer plan we committed to implementing a special youth deer hunt without identifying the specific dates when the youth hunt might occur. Rather we committed to continue working with stakeholders to select an appropriate time for the youth hunt. To that end, we decided to ask those most directly affected by this initiative, namely junior hunters and the adults that would mentor them, about their opinions on the timing of a youth deer hunt. We conducted a mail survey in which we presented junior hunters with five options for a youth hunt, including: a weekend in early September, a weekend in late September, the 1st full weekend in October, the 3-day Columbus Day weekend, or the 1st two-three weeks of October including weekends. Notable findings:
•90% of respondents indicated that they would likely participate in a youth deer hunt;
•Season options in October were preferred over options in September;
•Columbus Day weekend received the greatest overall preference.
Check out www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/74971.html to see the full results of the survey.
I'll let you all know when we formally propose the regulation changes, sometime in March, and the details will be posted on our website (www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/propregulations.html).
Also, we are now in the end stages of compiling and reviewing deer and bear harvest data from the 2011-12 seasons; deer hunting just concluded last week on Long Island. I expect we'll have final harvest numbers available by the end of the month, ahead of schedule compared to the past few years.
Jeremy Hurst
Big Game Biologist
As many of you are aware, our recently adopted deer management plan (www.dec.ny.gov/animals/7211.html#DeerPlan) indicates our intended direction for the next 5 years of deer management and deer hunting. The plan included a number of strategies that would affect deer hunting seasons and increase hunter opportunity. We have recently been getting a lot of questions from hunters about deer season dates for 2012 and whether the changes outlined in the deer plan are now final. So let me clarify the process and where we stand.
First, the deer plan did not propose any changes to the Southern Zone Regular season, which will begin on November 17, 2012.
Otherwise, for many of the hunting related strategies of the deer plan to be implemented (for example, begin the Southern Zone bow season on October 1, establish a youth hunt for deer, allow DMPs to be used during the Northern Zone bow and muzzleloader seasons, and establish mandatory antler restrictions in seven additional WMUs in the Catskills), we must amend our regulations through the formal rulemaking process. The process is outlined on the NYS Dept. of State's website (www.dos.ny.gov/info/rulediagram.html) and essentially involves publishing the proposed regulations in the State Register , a 45-day public comment period, DEC review and assessment of the comment and DEC determination whether the proposed rules require modification or can be adopted. We are in the early internal stages of this process now and hope to proceed so that adopted regulations may be in place by late spring, well ahead of the 2012 hunting seasons.
That said, please be aware that several recommendations of the deer plan require amendment of laws, not regulations. These issues are described in Appendix 5 of the deer plan and include: establishing a uniform minimum age of 12 years for all hunters, expanded use of crossbows, reduction of the setback distance for discharge of vertical bows and crossbows, increased penalties for deer hunting violations, and other statutory issues. Statutory changes (changes to laws) must be enacted by the New York State Legislature and signed by the Governor. DEC does not have authority to change laws.
Additionally, in the final deer plan we committed to implementing a special youth deer hunt without identifying the specific dates when the youth hunt might occur. Rather we committed to continue working with stakeholders to select an appropriate time for the youth hunt. To that end, we decided to ask those most directly affected by this initiative, namely junior hunters and the adults that would mentor them, about their opinions on the timing of a youth deer hunt. We conducted a mail survey in which we presented junior hunters with five options for a youth hunt, including: a weekend in early September, a weekend in late September, the 1st full weekend in October, the 3-day Columbus Day weekend, or the 1st two-three weeks of October including weekends. Notable findings:
•90% of respondents indicated that they would likely participate in a youth deer hunt;
•Season options in October were preferred over options in September;
•Columbus Day weekend received the greatest overall preference.
Check out www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/74971.html to see the full results of the survey.
I'll let you all know when we formally propose the regulation changes, sometime in March, and the details will be posted on our website (www.dec.ny.gov/regulations/propregulations.html).
Also, we are now in the end stages of compiling and reviewing deer and bear harvest data from the 2011-12 seasons; deer hunting just concluded last week on Long Island. I expect we'll have final harvest numbers available by the end of the month, ahead of schedule compared to the past few years.
Jeremy Hurst
Big Game Biologist
