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A slow start to deer season

By DON LEHMAN Commentary | Posted: Monday, November 16, 2009 1:25 am | (2) Comments

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To say the Northern Zone rifle season is off to a slow start seems to be an understatement, at least in our part of the zone.

The tale was the same wherever I called last week — hunters, outfitters and

a local deer processor lamenting the slow action so far.

“The Northern Zone season has been real slow,” said butcher John Rozell from Whitehall. “People just say they aren’t seeing any deer.”

“I haven’t heard a lot so far,” said John Aiken, owner of John’s Outdoor Sports in Queensbury. “I’ve heard of a few deer, but not a lot.”

The story was the same in northern Warren County, where Mike West of The Crossroads Country Store and Sports Shop in Chester said the staff at the store didn’t weigh in a single deer the weekend of Nov. 7-8. The numbers are definitely down, though the deer that have been checked in have been of decent size, he said.

“It has been kind of slow,” added Kevin Walker at Nemec’s Sport Shop and Farm & Garden Center.

Two veteran hunters I know said mountain ridges they’ve hunted for years in Thurman and Queensbury have seemingly been devoid of bucks this year. No scrapings or hookings have been evident, they said, when they would normally be quite visible.

That should change in the coming days, as the rut should be approaching its peak this week, by most indications. Walker said hunters have been reporting some tell-tale antler rubs.

The cause of the slow start to the Northern Zone season has been much-debated, Aiken said.

Some believe the deep snows and ice storm of last winter caused more whitetail mortality than people realized.

Others think a growing population of coyotes has had an impact on the deer herd, since coyotes prey heavily on young deer.

“Everyone’s got a different theory,” Aiken said.

Rozell said he processed deer for hunters from Vermont as well, and the action there seems better. Vermont instituted a statewide antler restriction rule in 2006 that many believe is starting to pay dividends.

Many hunters have remarked about coyote populations seemingly on the rise, and that the canine hunters have been very active in recent months. Walker said every trail camera he sets up has captured coyotes on the prowl.

But Rozell said he believes last winter’s harsh weather was the biggest factor.

“I think the Northern Zone took a hard hit with more winter kill than people accounted for,” Rozell said.

Gary Foster of the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s office in Ray Brook said the DEC has yet to start any statistical analysis of the deer season, but he said initial reports are that it has been “normal.” He said the Adirondack black bear season seemed a little better than normal.

Staff writer Don Lehman may be reached at dlehman@poststar.com

Posted in Sports, Dlehman on Monday, November 16, 2009 1:25 am Updated: 10:18 am.

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