Gill-T

Mussel biomass supposedly has peaked a few years back and has now dipped slightly. Lake Erie is a tough one to figure because schools of perch, smelt, emerald shiners and alewives can be displaced from Lake Huron esp. if looking for more fertile waters. This could have created the massive clouds on fishfinders a few years back. This would give a false sense of tons of fish that then leave or crash. Erie is always cyclical. On years when Erie freezes the amount of emeralds displaced into the upper Niagara becomes more pronounced. Jimski, I would not be worried about the bait in Erie or Ontario unless we have another crappy winter.

Yes, there is verbiage in the law about NOT shooting from the road, the shoulder, culverts or drainage ditches so including improved or maintained areas where the grass is mowed by highway departments as within that safety zone from which you cannot shoot from would make sense.

Not s Was the incident in New York? I asked my DEC buddy again and he said you can be one inch off the shoulder of the road and fire. You can even shoot along the road as long as you bullet never crosses over the road space. You are responsible for your bullet. Again, not good practice to shoot near roads even when legally done. If grandma is in her nearby farmhouse and wets her pants when someone nearby opens fire, she is likely to call the cops or the landowner. In either case you will have to take time out of your hunting day to answer questions or perhaps face losing hunting privileges from the neighbor farmer who granted them if he thinks you are unsafe.

Long Island has bow-only zones open til January 31st. Some great state park hunts are available for those willing to make the drive to get your deer-fix satisfied.

Thanks. I clarified the answer.

Here is another one. True or False. You can bowhunt in New York January 15th.

Yes #1 causes the most grief and probably gives anti-hunters lots of "ammunition" to showcase the ills of hunting.

Here is another that some may not consider. You can transport your loaded muzzleloader on your ATV as long as the primer cap is removed.

Got clarification on "law enforcement FAQs" on DEC website and found that I was wrong. You can have bow and gun during Gun Season but not during archery season. I will change the answer

Yep, you are correct. Adirondaks and Catskills don't require back tag display My buddy is a DEC officer and he has told me tagging should be done immediately. You don't want the situation where a DEC officer comes upon you and an untagged animal. They deal with poachers not tagging deer all the time so they may not give you the benefit of doubt

Answers: 6). NOT LEGAL. Your deer tag must be filled out immediately before festivities begin. The law does allow for you to drag the deer to camp and then place tag on the animal but the tag has to be filled out and punched immediately.

Answers: 5). NOT LEGAL. Has to be on your back

Answers: 4). NOT LEGAL. Only family members or persons specifically given permission Can legally fire a gun within 500' of a farm building (outhouses excluded). Clear things up with the farmer beforehand.

Answers: 3). LEGAL. Use of a .22 rimfire is legal for small game even in a shotgun-only deer zone.

Answers: 2). LEGAL. You can hunt with a bow during gun season.....you can hunt with a gun....you can hunt with both during GUN season. You cannot hunt with both during archery season.

Answers: 1). LEGAL. As long as you don't shoot from the car (non-handicapped) or shoot towards or across a road. You could shoot two feet off the shoulder as long as you are shooting away from it. This one causes a lot of phone calls to DEC officers to investigate by concerned neighbors.

Ok ......without looking up regulations in DEC handbook see how you would answer these.

6). You just downed a beauty of a buck. Excited, you pull out your cell phone and immediately start snapping pictures of your buck to send them to your buddies. After receiving your texts, your buddy shows up to the kill sight and shares in the celebration with backslapping and more pictures. Next, you pull out your hunting knife, gut the deer and fill out the tag. You place the tag securely on the buck's leg with a zip tie. ARE YOU LEGAL?

5). You just bought a new Gore-Tex jacket. Unfortunately, the jacket did not come with rivets to put your backtag thru. Not wanting to put a hole in your new jacket, you decide to pin it to your backpack. LEGAL?

4). Luck has found you. After knocking on some farmer's doors, you have secured permission to hunt a farm loaded with deer. The farmer is not one for words and merely muttered "you can hunt the farm." On your first hunt on the farm you are on your way out to the hardwood block out back. As you pass the last barn building you are surprised to see a nice shooter buck standing broadside in the middle of a field 100 yards away. A chip shot. You take a knee, take a deep breath and pull the trigger slowly on the end of your exhale position. The buck drops in its tracks. ARE YOU LEGAL?

3). You have been scouting squirrels in an area near Rochester where hunting is legal. You have tagged out opening day of deer gun season but you want to still spend time in the woods so Thanksgiving morning you decide to take your .22 rimfire in the woods to get some squirrels for the stew pot. ARE YOU LEGAL?

2). You have decided you don't want to risk spooking a buck on opening day of gun season. Your plan is to take both your gun and bow into your stand with the idea of quietly shooting any does that come by with an arrow while having the security of having the gun handy if a buck comes by. ARE YOU LEGAL?

1). You pull up to your hunting lease land. You look across a field and see a nice buck standing broadside 100 yards away tending a doe. You decide he is a shooter. You pull your car over off on the shoulder of the road and turn it off. Quiet as possible you slide out of the car, open the back door to access your gun. You remove the gun from it's case, load it, and take 10 steps 90 degrees away from the road towards the deer. You take a knee and are shocked to find the deer is still standing there. You squeeze the trigger and watch the buck take it's death march dying within sight. WERE YOU LEGAL?

Fort Niagara launch is $8.00. Youngstown launch is free unless they changed something.