November 15, 2008 09:32 am
—
By Tom Grace
Cooperstown Bureau
NEW BERLIN _ Before
sunrise Saturday, Morgan
Sohne of New Berlin will
be in the woods with her
father, Robert, standing
silently, hoping to take a
buck.
Only 15, Morgan, a sophomore
at Unadilla Valley
Central School, is able to
hunt this year because
Gov. David Paterson recently
signed the ``junior
hunter’’ law, allowing 14-
and 15-year-olds to hunt
with experienced adult
partners.
Morgan has passed her
hunter safety course. ``I
got a 98 on my test,’’ she
said.
She knows how to handle
a firearm, has practiced
shooting and said
she’s thought a lot about
Saturday, the opening day
of the 2008 regular deerhunting
season.
``I’ve wanted to do this
since I was pretty young,’’
she said. ``My dad loves to
hunt, and I wanted to go
with him.’’
Last year, she accompanied
her father on
opening day and watched
as he shot a 10-point buck
in Edmeston.
This year, it’s her turn,
she said.
John Stevens, 90, who
owns Stevens Hardware
Store in Oneonta, said the
inclusion of young hunters is good for
the sport and the youth.
``I’ve found that the ones who learn
early, the ones who share time with an
older hunter, grow up to be good hunters
and people,’’ he said.
``There are a lot of 14-year-olds who
are better in the woods than some of
the 40-year-olds,’’ said Stevens, and
hunter Ralph More of Goodyear Lake
agreed with him.
It’s hard to predict how productive
the three-week shotgun and rifle season
will be, but the archery season,
which opened Oct. 18 and closed Friday,
was excellent, according to Joe
Leonard, who owns the Farmers’ Place
butcher shop in South Edmeston.
``We usually take in from 25 to 50
deer during bow season, but this year
we’ve taken in 70,’’ he said.
The deer look healthy and hunters
report seeing a lot of them, Leonard
said: ``There’s tremendous excitement
this year, and I think the economy has
something to do with it.
``With so many things you can’t control
in your life, people are looking for
what they can control,’’ he continued.
``Around here, they’re making sure
they have wood to burn, and they want
to fill their freezers.’’
And hunters may do well, because
after a series of mild winters, deer are
abundant, he noted.
The sale of guns locally, a harbinger
of hunter effort, if not success, also has
been strong recently, according to Stevens.
``We’ve done very well this fall,’’ he
said Thursday, while looking over the
gun rack in his Oneonta store.
In 2005, the state changed the opening
day for the annual shotgun-rifle
season from Monday to Saturday. Leonard
said the change helped many local
enthusiasts, who don’t have to ask for a
day off to hunt on the first, and usually
best, day of the season.
However, hunters who travel here
from downstate and other places feel
differently, he said.
``To get here and set up before opening
day, they have to take time off in
two different work weeks, and that can
be hard,’’ he said. ``They used to come
in on a Saturday and stock up on bacon
and lots of other supplies, because
nothing’s too good for deer camp. But
we’re not seeing as much of that.’’
Nonetheless, the 2008 deer season
looks promising from a butcher’s perspective,
Leonard said.
According to the state Department
of Environmental Conservation, rifles
and shotguns may be used in Madison
County this year, and new areas
are open for hunting black bear. For
details, visit www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/
hunting.html.
For many years, rifles, which have
a far longer range than shotguns, have
been allowed in Delaware County, and
their use was extended to Chenango
and Delaware counties a couple of seasons
ago.
Three years ago, chronic wasting
disease was found in captive and some
wild deer in the Oneida-Madison counties
area. The DEC began a surveillance
program and has tested more
than 24,000 deer since then, without
finding another case of the illness,
which is fatal to deer.
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