Happy Martin Luther King, Jr. Day! In this week's episode of We Love Outdoors with Rich Davenport, your humble host reports on updates from the DEC concerning wildlife work done over the fall and early winter with deer, bear, upland birds and more. DEC law enforcement was busy and in region 9 an anti-poaching effort led to the apprehension of 2 poachers who decided to take a couple whitetail bucks from the Town of Tonawanda, an area where big game hunting is prohibited.
On the fishing front, the ice is finally nice on Chautauqua Lake, just in time for the start of the Inaugural Ice Derby. The wicked cold over the weekend put 4+ inches of crystal clear ice just about everywhere on the lake, although the winds picked up Sunday shortening teh fishing time a little bit.
Chautauqua Lake shows its incredible fishery quality in a review of the fall electrofishing survey work done by DEC. Walleye and black bass both show very strong, while 2022 permit application for aquatic herbicide treatments are being carefully reviewed. A fisheries master plan is being developed for Chautauqua Lake, which should be released for public comment at some point in 2022. Meanwhile, sauger surveys in the Allegheny River show strong representation of multiple year classes, and stable catch rates. And Lake Erie is seeing some emergency action being considered, as another strong spawn has walleye numbers at overly abundant levels, and to start addressing this, fisheries officials across all areas of Lake Erie seem to agree to lowering the minimum size from 15" to 13", to start this season. Stay tuned to WeLoveOutdoors for more information as it breaks!
Several events are coming up, including Southtowns Walleye Assn general meeting on Jan 20, which is open to the public. They will be holding a gun raffle on March 19, cost per ticket is $20. The Erie County Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs has their January meeting on Jan 27 at Elma Conservation, also open to the public, and their awards banquet is March 5 at Kloc's Grove, cost is $45/ ticket. Evans Rod & Gun Club has their winter trap league running now, and a rotational 3-D Archery league is also going on, rotating each week between Glen Coe, West Falls, Evans and Collins Conservation, culminating with the shoot off on March 27 at Glen Coe, with the banquet slated for April 9. And in breaking news, sportsmen are urged to get active in contacting your Senate and Assembly reps to push back on the upcoming wood burning ban, proposed lead ammo ban (A5728/ S5058) on state lands for hunting, and the resurrection of the opt out legislation (A7785/ S6510) as well.
In the final segment, hypocrisy from the radical environmentalists is now being fully revealed, and new lawsuits have been filed in Federal Court over auctioning off 800,000 acres of the NY Bight area of the Atlantic Ocean for wind factories. The lawsuit states that environmental laws have been ignored and the process expedited through denying the people their right to provide input. And locally the Sierra Club continues to embarrass themselves with their own hypocrisy, concerned over transmission lines re-exposing toxins in the Hudson, but not in the drinking water for millions in Lake Erie. Go figure!
