The 2011 hunting season tied 2009 for New York State’s safest year of hunting on record based on the number of hunting-related shooting incidents.

“Hunting is a tradition in New York state that continues to be safely enjoyed by many” said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens. “New York has an extremely safety-conscious generation of hunters thanks largely to more than 60 years of dedicated efforts of 3,000 volunteer Sportsman Education Instructors. All first-time hunters are required to attend a comprehensive hunter safety course of a minimum of 10 hours taught by DEC’s highly-trained instructors. Their hard work is paying off.”

In the 2011 hunting seasons, 26 personal injury hunting-related shooting incidents were reported and unfortunately included four fatalities. All of the fatalities occurred during the regular deer season, one of which was self-inflicted.

Extreme Archery is Westchester County's first archery shop with an indoor range. Located at 801 East Boston Post Road in Mamaroneck, Extreme Archery has a friendly staff that offers lessons for archers of all ages.

If you've thought about giving archery a try, but didn't know how to get started now is the perfect time. Extreme Archery is offering a Groupon deal for those thinking about getting into archery or just looking for something different to do on a Saturday afternoon.

Mike Coyne and his dad were hunting in late December when they saw two different 8 pointers - a 90" buck and a 100" buck. A few days later Mike had a young 90" seven pointer come within 30 yards of his stand around 7:30 am.


Later that morning Mike caught movement as two deer headed off the hill towards his stand. The first deer was a bigger bodied buck, but as the buck approached Mike realized it had shed its antlers. With the an 8 pointer close behind the shed buck Mike prepared to take the shot. At 35 yards the buck gave Mike a slightly quartering away shot.

ALBANY, NY (01/23/2012) - The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) today announced the release of a proposed five-year bobcat management plan for public review and comment. "The plan, once final, will guide the management of bobcat in New York State for the next five years, a wildlife species which continues to fascinate and intrigue both the hunting community and nature observers," said DEC Commissioner Joe Martens.

The draft management plan is available on the DEC website at www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9360.html. The comment period on the draft plan runs through February 16, 2012.

Bowhunting has ended in New York, but continues for the month of January in neighboring Connecticut which just so happens to be a quick 15 minute drive from my house.

My favorite time of year to hunt is the late season and Connecticut allows me to stay in the woods a whole extra month - if they would just change the law to also allow Sunday hunting it would probably be where I spent all of my time.

Yesterday I took advantage of the freshly fallen snow to hunt whitetail deer as they scoured the covered landscape in search of food. The morning hunt was interesting and after arriving late due to my alarm not going off and the snow covered roads I walked up on four deer, drew back on one and killed a tree - so much for that.