In a N.Y. State of mind

[turkaholic]

I live and hunt in Connecticut but my heart is in NY. I have a camp near Cobleskill and hunt there as many days as I possibly can. What really stinks is the lack of time I get to scout. I've been hunting there for over 32 years so I know many roost spots. Things change, woods get thick and birds move around. Ten years ago I would bet anyone $100 that they would hear birds on this particular ridge line. For the last 6 or 8 years we have not seen any birds there. I believe it has a lot to do with density of the woods. They did some timber harvest 2 years ago and a few birds have been in there again. I am so looking forward to May and was wondering what you NY guys are seeing and hearing so far this spring? Last year was a bit better than the year before and there was a good hatch here in CT but not sure about the NY hatch.

[quavers59]

Last Saturday, I heard over 20-- perhaps 25 in a certain area of Orange County. Very Cloudy and Windy this morning though--- so no Scouting today. Short Hike later is all. Alot of people are seeing Tons of Wild Turkeys along the Palasades Highway near Bear Mt. Where you can't hunt. Should be Awesome this May in New York!!!

[mikejd]

It was a snowy winter in NY I hope it did not hurt them to bad. One of my places had 4ft of snow on the ground 2 weeks ago. We will see. I dont live where I hunt so I am hoping for some decent reports from you guys myself.

[tracker#1]

The bird population in WNY has been dropping off the past 8 years, IMO. A slight come back last year, IMO. For the past few years we, organized sportsmen clubs, have been asking questions of wildlife biologist managers because the harvest rate scale on there website posted showed a dramatic drop in harvest rates from 2002 to 2015. They proceeded with 2 studies with radioed transmitters on hens. IMO, this should have been done years ago. You can get the full report from Michael V. Schiavone, senior NYS DEC Wildlife biologist at michael.schiavone@dec.ny.gov or call him P- 1-518-402-8886.  I'm personally not satisfied with the report. I believe that there was something else out their that effected the population, like a domestic bird pox disease ? That's pure speculation on my part, they, are the schooled biologist, I am certainly not. But my "ears and eyes" don't lie....

[nyhunter]

The bird population in WNY has been dropping off the past 8 years, IMO. A slight come back last year, IMO. For the past few years we, organized sportsmen clubs, have been asking questions of wildlife biologist managers because the harvest rate scale on there website posted showed a dramatic drop in harvest rates from 2002 to 2015. They proceeded with 2 studies with radioed transmitters on hens. IMO, this should have been done years ago. You can get the full report from Michael V. Schiavone, senior NYS DEC Wildlife biologist at michael.schiavone@dec.ny.gov or call him P- 1-518-402-8886.  I'm personally not satisfied with the report. I believe that there was something else out their that effected the population, like a domestic bird pox disease ? That's pure speculation on my part, they, are the schooled biologist, I am certainly not. But my "ears and eyes" don't lie....

  I totally agree with you on this, SOMETHING is going on with our birds, and not just in NY but with the Eastern sub species of birds. The studies fall short all the time it seems

[turkaholic]

I agree and did some probing and read about LPDV and avian pox a few years ago when I became worried. This disease creates lesions aground the eyes and can make them blind and vulnerable to predators. We were also in decline here in C.T. and biologists brought the limit from 2 to 5 birds. I called and spoke with the state biologist and he agreed that the limit was to high and it was not his recommendation. Give me a break 5 birds. Several good hatches will help but I don't understand why the decline. Just hoping for a steady increase. I'm not seeing as many Fishers now and the Coyotes are fewer than the past several years.

[mspaci]

there are alot of birds out there, many got spoiled when the population spiked a few years ago & every 2 yr old bird ran in. A number of factors have lowered numbers for sure but as bad as some say.  Go back to the early 80`s & then tell me about being not alot of birds.

[Bowguy]

there are alot of birds out there, many got spoiled when the population spiked a few years ago & every 2 yr old bird ran in. A number of factors have lowered numbers for sure but as bad as some say.  Go back to the early 80`s & then tell me about being not alot of birds.

This is very true. In the early 80s it was really hard to get permits in my state. Often it took a few years. I'd hunt NY. A friend of mine used to say "You can kill a bird in NY but you'll wear out at least one pair of boots a year trying. I remember hearing nothing at daylight pretty regularly. I killed some nice birds back than too though.
I live maybe 1/2 mile from Orange County NY. All has been good around here and right across border.  I haven't been to the farm I hunt in NY yet but that's only 20 mins away

[vt35mag]

I'm looking forward to hunting the Cobleskill area this spring again. Target rich area compared to what I usually have to work with.

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[troutfisher13111]

NY is a very diverse state for hunting. We have everything from game rich areas to game poor areas, large public lands to small private. There are birds to find, the problem is that some guys just won't leave their favorite hunk of woods so they get stuck in a funk.

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[johnski]

I agree and did some probing and read about LPDV and avian pox a few years ago when I became worried. This disease creates lesions aground the eyes and can make them blind and vulnerable to predators. We were also in decline here in C.T. and biologists brought the limit from 2 to 5 birds. I called and spoke with the state biologist and he agreed that the limit was to high and it was not his recommendation. Give me a break 5 birds. Several good hatches will help but I don't understand why the decline. Just hoping for a steady increase. I'm not seeing as many Fishers now and the Coyotes are fewer than the past several years.

Don't forget the 5 you can get in the fall as well.  A few years ago I asked Gregonis about this as well and played it off like it was no big deal because very few people were reporting 5 birds harvested and that hunting wasn't the reason for the decline and he may be right but my thought was if the population is declining why increase the bag limit.  At least at that time you had to buy 2 separate permits and now they just rolled everything together along with pheasant tags.  It also seems that they don't take into account the fact that not every one reports there harvest.  At least NY did the right thing and trimmed the fall harvest. 

[Bigeclipse]

Wow, Maybe I'm spoiled but I live in Eastern NY near the VT boarder and we appear to have lots of turkeys. I have only been hunting turkeys the past 5 years but have bagged a nice tom every year since I started and I hunt 2 properties which are about 140 acres each (certainly not enough to hold a flock of turkeys). I only hunt the weekends too so that means I only hunt about 8 days (4 weekends in May) every year and during those days I always get a gobbler.

[troutfisher13111]

That's kind of my point. People make assumptions of the whole state based off their limited experience. Are there as many birds in NY as there was 15-20 years ago? No way. But there is certainly a good number of them around and can be found by anyone willing to our in the effort.

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[Bigeclipse]

That's kind of my point. People make assumptions of the whole state based off their limited experience. Are there as many birds in NY as there was 15-20 years ago? No way. But there is certainly a good number of them around and can be found by anyone willing to our in the effort.

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I think there are more birds now than there were 20 years ago but not 10 years ago and that was based on a state wide study I believe.

[troutfisher13111]

I could be off on my years, I know there was a few year period where I couldn't hunt anywhere without hearing gobbles

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