Photo courtesy of James Monteleone Bucks are searching for their mates at this time of year and are often not as cautious as they might be otherwise. Hunter advantage, vehicle driver disadvantage. Please be aware of crossing highway deer when driving day or night.

The weekend after Halloween can be scary good in the woods and on the streams. The female deer are coming into their estrus period and are ready for breeding. The water temperatures in the streams beckon steelhead and trout to enter the tributaries, where there is nary enough water flow to support their normal migration this year.

Today begins the last 14 days of the New York Southern Zone early archery big game season (whitetail deer and black bear) and is when the official New York Southern Zone crossbow season opens to run concurrently with the early archery season that started on Oct. 1. Crossbow is not permitted in WMUs 4J and 8C. The traditional archery and crossbow big game seasons run through Nov. 15. The next day, Saturday, Nov. 16, is opening day for the Southern Zone regular big game firearm season that will run through Dec. 8. Traditional archery and crossbow use is permitted during the firearm season, as well.

All hunters must have a completed New York State Hunter Education Certificate of Qualification Card to purchase a hunting license and hunt with a bow, crossbow or firearm. In addition, crossbow hunters must have a completed crossbow certificate of qualification on their person when using a crossbow, AND, they must also purchase a New York State muzzleloader privilege (license). The required crossbow qualification and safety training can be accomplished easily by reviewing the online crossbow qualification training and then completing the crossbow certificate of qualification or by doing the same in the current New York State hunting and trapping regulations guide. It’s a little extra effort, but it’s worth the time if you are aging or injured and pulling back a bow is outside your repertoire of doable efforts. Interestingly, the muzzleloader license is not required when hunting with a crossbow during the early bear season or the regular firearm season. An archery license is not required to use a crossbow at any time. Are you still trying to figure it out? There’s more. Only Bow/Muzz tags, DMPs or DMAPs may be used to tag your deer during the last 14 days of the southern zone early archery big game season if you are using a crossbow.

Gotta love New York in the manner that we at first attract hunters with our incredible deer and bear numbers, then dissuade them to hunt in nearby states with the myriad of non-sensical rules and regulations imposed here. But that’s the way it is, and those of us lucky enough to live and hunt here accept the strangeness of the rules to enjoy the benefits of our hunts with non-GMO meat harvests for our freezers.

If you are hunting with a traditional bow, a recurve or a compound, the minimum distance to fire an arrow is 150 feet from a dwelling. It’s 250 feet for a crossbow and 500 feet for a firearm.

To eliminate any confusion about hunting, you can always go fishing! It’s so warm right now. The yellow perch are hammering live bait (minnows), plastics and swim lures in 40 to 70 feet of water along Lake Erie’s Chautauqua County shoreline. Limit catches are common, and walleye are often among the harvest. Large tube jig baits (four-inch tails) are working on the smallmouth bass along the rocky drop-offs where this species is gorging on forage in preparation for the cold ahead. The Lake Erie steelhead are gathering in schools off the creek mouths, and many have entered the tributary streams we have here and in nearby Pennsylvania and are trapped in the pools. The water flow is inadequate for them to swim back to the lake right now. Ethical anglers might wait a week for some rain; there is nothing fancy about fishing in a virtual aquarium filled with fish you are trying to catch. That’s how it is from pool to pool. Lastly, the musky fishing in Chautauqua Lake has been excellent. Get out the big lures and give it a try. For hot lure advice, visit Musky Guide and proprietor Mike Sperry at Chautauqua Reel Outdoors at the Asheville Bay Marina.

Gotta love the outdoors.

CALENDAR

Oct. 1 to Nov. 15: NYS Southern Zone early big game archery season.

Nov. 1: NYS Southern Zone fall turkey season ends.

Nov. 1: Leftover deer management permits go on sale, first-come, first served; at license issuing sites.

Nov. 1: NYS Personal Floatation Device law is in effect for boats less than 21 feet. Ends May 1.

Nov. 2: PPO-TV Show “The Dream” release party, 6PM, The Grandview of Ellington Restaurant, 116 W. Hill Road, Ellington. Small cover to enter, many prizes. Open to the public.

Nov. 2-15: NYS Southern Zone crossbow big game season opens

Nov. 5: Fly Fishing and Fly-Tying Class, free, 7-8:30 p.m., with Alberto Rey, Costello Room, Rockefeller Arts Center, SUNY Fredonia. Info: email reya@fredonia.edu.

Nov. 16 to Dec. 8: NYS Southern Zone regular (firearm) big game season

Dec. 9-17 and Dec. 26-Jan. 1: NYS Southern Zone late bowhunting season