Capt Vince Pierleoni

That's what it's all about. Congrats to you, and to your son on his stellar track job!

Good work!

Congrats to you both!

Thanks for all the kind words, and for all the great stories shared here by others. Still grinding away with the gills and fins but one of the boats goes in the barn this week so more hunts to come!

Thanks guys. The landowner, who doesnt hunt, called me today to say what a "great night" that was. Good luck and be safe on your hunts. I might be able to sneak out next week.

Thanks for posting the pic, Brian.

My season is made, everything after this is a bonus. Those of you you who know my brother Mark know the challenges he faces to participate in his beloved bowhunting. The last 2 seasons I haven't been able to get him out much due to land permission losses. Several of his hunts ended when other hunters walked through his spots and when he whistled to them they chose to come over and have a conversation. They don't understand how many hours of prep go into a "sit", and all the extra challenges a parapalegic compound bowhunter faces. If its a morning hunt he has to get up in the wee hours of the morning, and super cold weather is dangerous because he can't "feel" the pain of cold in his legs and feet. I sensed him starting to to concede that the trouble of transporting via pickup or RTV through farmland or the woods was not worth the trouble anymore, and he was going to just live deer hunting through others. Late this Summer an Angel of a landowner offered deer hunting permission and the use of his RTV to get Mark out in the field. After some coaxing and some reassurance that this would not be just another wasted effort of a "blown hunt", Mark started to practice for an early outing. As it turned out, I ended up with Oct 1st off so opening day it was. Our plan was to place him on the edge of a picked beanfield, in an area where the property owner had observed deer during legal light. As with SO many other hunts, we ran into an unforseen snag since we had looked the property over--a freshly set up blind! It was by a guy who primarily gun hunts but he did have permission. He had the factory fresh blind right on top of the runs entering the field. Mark was a little dismayed, but I told him this freshly picked beanfield was too much of a draw to not have deer show. We decided to try to guess what the deer would do--enter the field downwind of the strange new blind. It worked to perfection, at 5 pm 2 does entered the field where we hoped they would. He drew but they hooked immediately dead away offering no shot. He no more than let down and a hungry 6 pt entered in the exact same spot(which was 30 yds downwind of the new blind) , offering Mark a 30 yd broad side shot as he devoured beans. The shot hit home and my phone "blew up" with excitement. We had a bit of a scare with the tracking as there was no sign for 200 yds as the shaft was still in him. Fortunately, he noted the spot the buck crossed a ditch and on the other side of the ditch the tracking was easy through an unpicked beanfield and into the woods. Mark is "back in the saddle" and I'm still smiling! Pic to follow.

Theres not much I can add to what has already been posted here. It is sad and offensive that this was actually put in an article. We were at both events and they were extremely well run. We thank the organizers and the volunteers and we look forward to helping both events grow again after the damage of "open Comm". "Open Comm" has no place in Lake Ontario fishing tournaments. It skews results and ruins friendships and camaraderie. There are plenty of derbies if you want to compete and talk. The people/players have spoken, "No Comm" provides the greatest challenge and fairest playing field. If Orleans county has seen the light, kudos! We must all keep in mind that these events were founded on the very foundation of "No Comm", so they aren't just the future they were the beginning as well. Saying that you can't enforce a rule so you should discard it is like saying the speed limit should be lifted on all roads or fish and game bag limits should be done away with.

Whether its a good year, or a not so good year, the movement of Kings to the east end in big numbers is well documented. Not only are most of the tribs over there better suited for natural reproduction, the stocked fish undergo less stress and leave the SR on their own accord. These concerns have been addressed for several years with the DEC, and only recently have I felt they are acknowledging our observations. Do not for a minute think the Niagara gets disproportionately large returns.Even though they can stage out on the bar, they can be fish moving east, west, or north. Not to mention, the enormous fleet that crops the matures right out of the gate every Spring. Ever since Caledonia hatchery was dropped as a Chinook rearing facility, the returns to the Niagara have been very small--even DEC staffers recording data at the cleaning stations have documented this. Years ago, DEC biologists told us Chinooks stocked smaller than 130/LB were just fish food-"paper numbers". I think this is our greatest problem, as even the fish delivered for the pens have been late and very small . I think the pens have certainly helped, but it could be so much better if the water quality issues could be resolved at the Altmar hatchery. Lastly, the predation on stocked fingerlings is at an all time high, as many tribs and harbors abound with desireable and undesireable warm water species today that were not as abundant years ago. This must be taken into account when figuring stocking numbers--the Alewife population isn't even close to being controlled, which of course leaves therm vulnerable to a big winterkill should we have a bad winter. For anglers, catch rates will always be partially determined by the amount of preyfish available. In my opinion, leaving the Alewife population underpredated leaves them more at risk.