Photo courtesy of South Dayton Pheasant Farmers Preserve Amidst the start of the Southern Zone Big Game Early Archery Season with the Crossbow Season starting just ahead (Nov. 4), Ron Viavada sends a reminder that “pheasant hunting is in season, too.”

Much to the dismay of aging hunters in New York State, the NYS Southern Zone Big Game Crossbow season does not open in conjunction with the six-week-long NYS Southern Zone Early Archery Big Game Season on Oct. 1. It opens 30 minutes before sunrise this Saturday, Nov. 4, 2023, for only the last two weeks of the Southern Zone Early Archery Season, and will end 30 minutes after sunset on Friday, Nov. 17, the day before the NYS Southern Regular Big Game Season (firearm season).

The good news is that the crossbow season runs through the very best part of the whitetail deer season rut, mating season, where bucks looking for female deer (does) in estrus are much less cautious about distractions, such as hunters making noise in the woods. Longbow, compound bow or crossbow, these last two weeks in the Chautauqua County woods are usually the best time of year to hunt deer. The bonus is that the NYS big game seasons also include legal hunting for black bears, where 31 black bears were harvested in Chautauqua County last year, 15 with archery products, and 16 with firearms, despite all the complaints from the aging hunter core who feel their hunting season with arrows is cut short thanks to the short NYS crossbow season compared to many other states such as Ohio. All because they cannot draw the string of a regular hunting bow owing to aging issues of arthritis, decreasing strength, etc. Many say they are discriminated against by NYS. This has been an ongoing issue for several decades, with persistent legal claims in court.

Adding to the list of complaints, NYS also includes other requirements (shortcomings) that if you hunt with a crossbow, you must buy an NYS muzzle-loading license, as NYS claims the crossbow privilege does not fall under archery.

That said, all NYS crossbow hunters must fill out and carry the NYS Crossbow Certificate of Qualification, which can be found on page 23 of the NYS Hunting Regulations syllabus. In addition to this nonsensical rule and the shortened NYS crossbow season, other crossbow restrictions must be reviewed sometime soon. Among these include: that crossbows must have a minimum outer limb width of 17 inches when uncocked; a minimum length of 24 inches from the butt stock to the front of the limbs; and a peak draw weight minimum of 100 pounds and a maximum of 200 pounds.

All that said, those are the rules for NYS. Most crossbow hunters will be hunting in stealth from a pop-up blind on the ground, but there may be a few who are strong enough to go vertical and hunt from a tree stand. If you are going upward in a climber or ladder stand, PLEASE don’t forget to wear your full-body harness to stay safe.

The good news about the new crossbows is that they are highly engineered hunting systems designed with an optical sighting system that will provide high-speed bolts (a term for the shorter crossbow arrows) delivered with high power (kinetic energy) and accuracy to the target. They vary in cost from $300 to $4,500. There is a wide range of options, but most folks can find a safe crossbow with an internal cocking system that suits them for between $550 to $1,100.

With new cold fronts heading our way at this time of year, it is only a matter of time before we see some snow. That said, boaters are still accessing Lake Erie for heavily feeding yellow perch, steelhead anglers are in full force numbers along Chautauqua Creek and our five other Lake Erie tributary creeks, and the NYS hunting season in the legal Southern Tier zone for pheasants has been successful for many hunters on public and private land — many of these are with stocked birds now.

Nearby publicly stocked pheasant WMUs include Alder Bottom, Conewango, Allegany Reservoir, Zoar Valley, Clear Lake and Carlton Hill. Among locally popular private sites is the South Dayton Pheasant Farmers Preserve. According to member and an adept local outdoorsman, Ron Viavada, “Our group releases about 300 birds across 70 acres there, and we also send a few birds to other sites such as Hanging Bog.” Other similar private groups in WNY are also working hard to supplement the minimized NYS pheasant stocking efforts.

Outdoors Calendar:

Oct. 1-Nov. 17: NYS Southern Zone Big Game Early Archery Season.

Oct. 21-Feb. 29: NYS fall wild turkey season opens in the Southern Zone. See DEC map.

Oct. 21-Feb. 29: NYS Pheasant Season opens in the lower Southern Zone. See DEC map.

Nov. 4-17: NYS Southern Zone Big Game Crossbow Season.

Nov. 7: Children-In-The-Stream-Youth 4H Fly Fishing Program, Free, SUNY Fredonia Rockefeller Art Center, 7PM-8:30PM, info: Alberto Rey, 716-410-7003.

Nov. 11: Free Fishing Day for all ages in NYS, resident and non-resident (in honor of Veterans Day).

Nov. 18-Dec. 10: NYS Southern Zone Big Game Regular Hunting Season (firearms).

NOTE: Submit Calendar items to forrestfisher35@yahoo.com