I Phones Just Got Better (FF1)

It seems that just about everyone has a smart phone or a tablet computer. With that hardware you have the ability to add Applications to the system and there are Apps for everything you can imagine. A person can use his smartphone or tablet for, well, you name it and there’s an App for it. I’m happy about technological advances especially those that pertain to the outdoors. It can take a long time for the outdoor industry to catch up to technology, but they have figured out Apps. Two that I have incorporated into my program recently are the Navionics Charts App and Vexilar’s Sonar Phone. With these two Apps and some hardware a person can head out in his boat or fish from the shore and know exactly what’s going on with the resources they are tapping. The Navionics shows your exact position and the bottom contours where you’re fishing and the Sonar Phone shows you actual depth and fish position in the water column. The Navionics is the first step to being in the right spot. The App reveals position on a body of water that is mapped out to show bottom contours. Finding structure or straining a break line is easy with a graphic on the screen that lets you visualize exactly where you are in relation to a bottom shape. Once you are on a potential hotspot, then you fire up the Sonar Phone and link it to a transducer. There are a couple different transducer options. One is the T-Pod – an independent floating unit that you can cast on a rod and reel, pull on a canoe or kayak, or tow around with a remote-controlled boat. This is the perfect unit for the shore angler or small craft fisherman. Boaters who like to anchor can use a T-Pod for searching surrounding water without having to raise the anchor. What about cost? Depending on the Sonar Phone system you buy, prices range from $129 to slightly under a couple hundred dollars for the hardware. The Sonar Phone App is free. The Navionics App is $15, so the price is right to have GPS mapping and sonar capabilities for under $200 with a smartphone or tablet and a couple of Apps. Just amazing.

The Snood Affect (EE2)

As long as it’s hanging down, you have time. If only you knew what a turkey was thinking. Then you could better guess when it’s time to shoot, or hold off and let it keep coming. If only there was a way to get a reading on a gobbler’s degree of excitement or anxiety over the current situation. There is a way, study the snood. It reveals the mood. Watching what’s going on with that fleshy appendage hanging from just above the beak will help you know when a turkey is excited about your calling and relaxed about the situation, or when it is tense and may be ready to leave. The position of the snood is the first thing that I look for when a gobbler is coming in. if the snood is extended, just hanging there, flopping around, with that blue and red appearance, chances are the turkey is going to stay around and keep getting closer. But if the snood is short, and especially if it changes from hanging loose to shriveled up on top of the head, that turkey is more likely to leave the area. Studies with tame turkeys appear to show hens prefer to mate with toms that have longer snoods. Studies also seem to indicate tom turkeys with longer snoods are more intimidating to other toms. One study used fake turkeys that differed only in snood length, and showed real toms were more likely to try to steal corn from a tom with a shorter snood.  Knowing how the turkey is acting when he is coming in closer to you will determine if you are going to have a chance to shoot him or not. So the next time you have a gobbler coming in close look and see how he is acting.

A Quiet Season (EE1)

During the last week of April, 2014, about 70 percent of America has been swallowed up by high winds, cold air, driving rain, tornadoes, and other lousy conditions. Not the kind of weather that puts turkey gobblers in the mood for spring mating season. This weather has affected turkeys all over the state. The birds hardly gobble off the roost. The only time I have heard any birds gobbling is right before they fly down from the roost. I personally think that this weather has had a major effect on the turkeys. I also personally think that the winter that western New York experienced before this spring has killed off a lot of the birds. Therefor I do not think that there may not be that many birds in the woods to hunt this year. However there are things that you can do to possibly change your luck in the last half of the year. The first thing that you can do is scout more and to scout out different property that you haven’t hunted at all this year. You may find new birds that you haven’t seen before. Another thing you can do is to not get discouraged and to stay out in the woods longer and not leave early. I would stay in one location where you have seen birds before and just call. After a long time of this you might have some birds walk through in shooting range. The last thing that I have seen work is when people sit in one location and at around seven they start calling in an excited tone. If you call excited and sound like a turkey that wants to be with other turkeys then the other turkeys are going to want to be with you. Try doing these things and see what happens.

The Saltwater Registry is Still Being Pushed By The DEC (DD2)

Three years ago, New York established a free registry for saltwater anglers in an effort to gauge fishing effort in the marine district.  That registry actually came after Governor Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers repealed a $10 saltwater fishing license, to the displeasure of many freshwater anglers who must buy a license annually one that costs more than $10 in most cases. Since the registry was made voluntary, however, only a fraction of the state’s saltwater anglers have chosen to sign up. Also it prompted the DEC last month to issue a reminder of the mandatory requirement. DEC officials said in a news release the free recreational marine fishing registry is designed to “ensure federal and multi-state regulations are fair to New York’s anglers”. Registration is valid for one full year from the date registered. There is no lifetime marine fishing registration. Anglers found without a registration may be ticketed up to $250 per violation. Several violators of saltwater fishing regulations have also seen additional fines for failure to register. The no fee recreational marine fish registry is a vital tool that helps DEC better manage New York's fisheries. The no-fee registry was established in 2011 in response the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s mandate that all recreational anglers fishing in coastal waters complete a National Saltwater Angler Registry. It was made permanent in 2013. While participation in the free registry is low, it has been slowly improving. DEC spokesperson Lori Severino said that while 125,508 signed up in 2011, that number jumped to 291,363 in 2012 and to 367,682 last year. To date in 2014, 150,862 saltwater anglers have signed up, according to DEC figures last month. Information from New York’s marine registry is incorporated into the National Marine Fisheries Service database of recreational marine anglers. The database helps to efficiently obtain fishing activity information, vital information for setting quotas, size and bag limits, and fishing seasons each year.

Calling All Hens (DD1)

The 2014 spring turkey season has finally started. This year on opening day it was very windy and rainy. The couple weeks before the season even started it was very poor weather conditions with a lot of rain and cold days. This type of weather shuts the birds down with a snap of the finger. So therefore opening day was not very exciting because the birds were not gobbling and were not very active at all. This type of slow paced action carried over through Saturday as well. Sunday morning was a bit of a different story however. On Sunday morning there were a couple birds that gobbled early in the morning while they were on the roost. Their gobbling was short lived because I was hunting on a piece of property that is heavily populated with many predators. Once the birds flew down from the roost they shut right up. After they shut up I was able to see a hen walk into my set up of decoys all alone. After she left I waited about a half hour until nine o’clock and that’s when I left. After I left I checked some other fields to see if we could see any other birds. Well sure enough in one of the fields we could see a strutting tom that was able to be stalked. We were able to get around him and the hen to set up. These two birds were already heading our way before we could get in a good position. Unable to set up my cousin and I set up facing toward the two possible directions the birds could come from. After a couple calls we had the hen coming which brought the tom in as well. Well unfortunately because we were unable to set up in a good position the hen was able to pick out where we were and bust us. Even though I didn’t leave the woods with a bird, I still learned of what I could do next time something like this happens.

Crossbows Are Approved (CC2)

A contentious debate over crossbow use in New York carried into the closed door, late night sessions used to craft a state budget. The budget language allows for crossbow use in portions of the Northern and Southern zone archery deer and bear seasons was in place. While Governor Andrew Cuomo’s budget proposal would have placed the crossbow decision fully in the hands of the DEC, what emerged from the budget making process were specific crossbow use regulations that were developed by state lawmakers. These are some of the regulations; you can hunt during the final 14 days of the Southern Zone archery deer and bear seasons. You can hunt during the last 10 days of the Northern Zone archery deer and bear seasons.  You can use crossbows for small game, including wild turkey but not waterfowl. Finally you can use crossbows during any season in which firearms are allowed. The age limit for crossbow use is 14, compared to the current 12 year old minimum for compound, longbow and recurve hunters. I honestly kind of have mixed feelings about crossbows being now legal. I think that crossbows should be able to be used by people with disabilities. Therefore it would make it easier for them to kill big and small game animals. This would also give them an equal opportunity to harvest animals just like everyone else without disabilities. People that do not have any disabilities should not be allowed to use them during any type of hunting season in New York. It would make it extremely easy for people to kill any type of animal. Therefore I think that there should have been some sort of regulation that would allow crossbows to be allowed for people with disabilities and where they should not be allowed to be used by people without any disabilities.