In this week's episode of We Love Outdoors with Rich Davenport, we celebrate the Christmas season with a special holiday version of the podcast. Five days left before the jolly old elf brings toys and goodies to all the good boys and girls, and with supply chain problems due to policies of Let's Go Brandon, perhaps St. Nick will bring that new ice shanty or set of tip ups with him from the North Pole. With the winter solstice just a couple days away, nights are long and temps are chilling the surface waters of all lakes and ponds, and it won't be long now before we're jigging walleye and perch through the ice.
Meanwhile, the extended big game season in NY's Southern Zone sees the final day tomorrow on 12/21, but the Holiday Deer Hunt, not big game hunt, will open Dec 26 and run through Jan 1, 2022 this year. Doesn't appear we will have a whole lot of snow on the ground, and it does look like a more green Christmas for the 2021 holiday, making the concerns the snowmobilers had for lost economic activity due to the Holiday Hunt a funny and moot point. In other states surrounding NY snowmobiling and muzzleoader deer hunting coexist simultaneously without issue, and has for a long time. NY can do the same things.
In other news, it looks like NY has set a record with overnight stays at our parks and campgrounds, with over 787,000 overnight stays recorded from Jan 1, 2021- end of October. This breaks the old record set in 2019 of 685,000 stays, an increase of 15% over the old record. Since NY has been renovating and upgrading at great capital expense the parks, the cabins and cottages and yurts to include more modern amenities, NY has witnessed an uptick of 45% in visits and overnight stays over the past decade. Adjusting the big game hunting rules in the parks to allow for Sunday hunting and other changes have also contributed to more active fall cabin rentals, especially in Allegany State Park.
And Moreau Lake State Park has added another 860 acres to the parkland, expanding the size to over 6200 acres, putting this park in the top 10 largest parks in NYS. And a tradition which started in 1992 in Massachusetts, the First Day Hike event, will be held in 75 locations across NY parks and state forests and campgrounds, historic places, etc. Hikes ranging from 1 mile to 5 miles are planned, and you can get more info on this new tradition from parks.ny.gov, or dec.ny.gov, search on first day hike.
And with snowmobiling season just around the corner, now is the time to enroll in a snowmobile safety course, which is required for kids to be allowed to ride the state trail system.
The inaugural Chautauqua Lake Ice Derby is now taking entries, $25/ angler and you can enter at Chautauqua Reel Outdoors in Lakewood, NY. Derby starts Jan 15- Feb 27.
DEC has also announced new fishing regulation proposals with comment period ending Fe 6, 2022. Efforts are to streamline some regulations, while making some changes to fishing seasons. You can read the proposed changes at dec.ny.gov. Expos are coming up, kids fishing clinics see a return to more normal operations in 2022, and also the schedule for licensed NY guide exams has been released.
Maine meanwhile has recorded their largest deer harvest since 1968, and Montana has added a CWD management deer hunt through Feb 15, 2022. The folly of wind turbines in Lake Erie now has a shill organization drumming support up, but with 19 followers of their Facebook Group, vs 3700 for CAWTILE, looks like WNY is rejecting soundly the notion. We have more cost-effective, working alternatives that must be pursued, but stupid is stubborn, as NYC announced ending natural gas use for even heating. Stupid is as stupid does, and when you vote for stupid, you get stupid.
Merry Christmas everyone!
