Crews Rescue Doe That Fell Into Ice

Doe Was 900 Feet Out In Frigid Lake

Read more

Birders brave cold for ‘Big January’ competition

Meredith Sampson, left and fellow birder Annette Cunniffe look for different species of birds at Greenwich Point beach. Birders compete to get the most species during January.

(Helen Neafsey/Staff photo) Meredith Sampson lifted her binoculars and peered at a flock of gulls hopping in the shallows of Long Island Sound at Greenwich Point.

“What I’d like to see are white-winged gulls,” Sampson, a Greenwich resident and professional wildlife rehabilitator, said on a recent morning as she scanned the shoreline. “Iceland gulls and glaucous gulls. That’s G-L-A-U-C-O-U-S. This actually can be a very good month. This winter we’re experiencing what’s called an irruption of winter finches. Large numbers of common redpolls. We’ve also had pine grosbeaks.”
Read more

Connecticut Couple Catches Bobcat On Tape In Yard

I know this might be a couple years old but, I just found this news report and video and wanted to share it. It shows a Bobcat pouncing on a unsuspecting Woodchuck. This is something that is rather rare and not seen very often if any.

Connecticut (Sept. 29, 2006) ? Recent bobcat sightings in central Massachusetts have some homeowners on alert and one family just south of the border in Connecticut has spotted a bobcat at least six times recently even catching it on camera.

Read more

Group Lobbies for Deer Kill to reduce Lyme Disease

GREENWICH, Conn. (AP) — A group of Connecticut residents is lobbying state health officials to kill deer to reduce Lyme disease

Georgina Scholl, vice chairwoman of the Connecticut Coalition to Eradicate Lyme Disease, says the abundance of deer is a public health hazard. She says killing deer is the only method that has been found to reduce Lyme disease.

Lyme disease is spread by ticks, which feed off deer and other animals. Scholl’s group cites studies that show the deer play a key role in the ticks’ reproductive success and is trying to inform the public and lobby health officials.

“It’s something whose time has come,” said Scholl, a Redding resident. “There’s nothing that’s been attempted that has successfully reduced Lyme disease.”

Animal protection activists vow to fight any efforts to kill deer.

Natalie Jarnstedt, a Greenwich resident, has organized local efforts to oppose the killing of deer and other animals.

“It would be irresponsible to raise people’s hopes on reducing the incidence of Lyme disease,” she said.

Opponents to deer kills say studies show that certain mice, chipmunks and other small animals carry the Lyme disease bacteria, and ticks carrying Lyme disease will find hosts other than deer.

In addition, reducing the deer herd in Greenwich could be complicated. It’s unclear how many deer are in the area.

A survey seven years ago showed that the town has 68 deer per square mile, but more recent studies show Fairfield County has about 30 per square mile. Researchers acknowledge they do not have an accurate method of counting deer, particularly because the animals can roam large areas.

Rick Ostfeld, an animal ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, N.Y., said evidence shows drastic reductions in deer numbers that can lead to a drop in tick population on islands and other isolated communities, but that’s not necessarily the case in wide-open areas.

For instance, on the institute’s 2,000-acre property, where 50 to 70 deer are killed a year as part of a deer-management plan, the tick abundance is no different than in the surrounding areas where there is no deer management, Ostfeld said.

“Over the long term, there is no relationship between deer numbers and tick numbers,” he said.

Four-year-old bags big buck

Brennon Sikes recently bagged a six point Buck

COLUMBIA – Brennon Sikes loves hunting. The 4-year-old had been searching for his first big deer for quite a while.

And on Jan. 5, Brennon – the son of Jerry and Tonya Sikes of Columbia – finally got what he had been waiting for.
Read more

There’s a New Hunting & Shooting site in Town

I want to take a minute to tell you about a new site I was introduced to and I feel that even though it is new it appears to have a lot of potential. I kinda like the fact that it is a Connecticut based site, there are not to many in this area. My forum over at “Connecticut Hunting Today” is still sort of new but, is slowly gaining some new members. That is how I came across this site I am talking about because a new member named Andy Swatik the Owner/Administrator for the site which is called “CThunting n Shooting.com”. He was kind enough to register on my forum and I so returned the favor and registered on his.
Read more

Recoil, It doesn’t have to be as painful as you might think.

Recoil, this is something that has always been in the back of my mind especially as we get older. I for one sometimes will feel the recoil for quite awhile afterwards and it does catch up with you so here are some tips from Federal Premium Ammunition that was posted at Buckmasters that are very helpful and informative.

The amount of recoil you feel on your shoulder depends on three basic factors: the weight of the bullet, the velocity of the round and the weight of your gun. Choose a load that fits the weather you’ll be hunting in (thickness of clothing) and maximizes your chances of making an effective kill. Big magnum cartridges aren’t for everyone.

Make sure you test a few loads before taking to the field. Starting at the range will give you an idea of your tolerance for recoil. If you’re flinching and not putting shots on target consistently, it’s time to downsize, add a recoil pad or wear a thick jacket. Federal offers Fusion Lite for effectiveness on game to 200 yards without shoulder punishment.

– From Federal Premium Ammunition

No deer management at Stony Creek, this year

By Kristyne E. Demske
C & G Staff Writer

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — A program that’s been in place since the 1999-2000 hunting season is taking a break this year, leaving the deer herds at Stony Creek Metropark be for the first time in more than five years.

“We are not … conducting any deer management programs this year in any of the metroparks,” said Denise Semion, chief of communications for the Huron-Clinton Metroparks.
Read more

Out of Control, Deer Send Ecosystem Into Chaos

By ANDREW C. REVKIN – The New York Times

In Posey Hollow, tucked into the Blue Ridge Mountains, Dr. William J. McShea was inspecting a forest primeval — 10 acres of oaks, wild yam vines, seedlings and shrubs that made an ideal home for nesting songbirds and scurrying small mammals.

But he had to look through an eight-foot deer fence to see it. Where he stood, the forest was trimmed from eye level to earth as if by an army of obsessive landscapers. Mature trees stood unharmed, but oak seedlings were nipped in the bud. The only things thriving were Japanese barberry and other nonnative flora, plants that deer cannot digest.
Read more

Reflections of a Die-Hard Bowhunter

By Mike Rex

The author poses with a wall full of impressive Buckeye bow bucks taken over the years, including his 2005 megabuck that scored 218 6/8 non-typical and graced the January cover of North American Whitetail.

 

When I first took an interest in deer hunting, if I learned about a veteran hunter’s technique for harvesting big deer, I would usually take it to heart. After all, he was the expert and if it worked for him, then why not me? After I had a few seasons under my belt, the realization began to sink in that there’s never a “never” and never an “always” in the whitetail woods. If I was going to increase my luck, I knew that I would have to adopt some basic principles that applied to my particular situation.

Over the last 30 years, I’ve developed a strategy through trial and error that, combined with a little luck, has helped to keep my taxidermist busy. These are a few of the things I’ve learned that have helped me get close to a handful of mature whitetails in the area I hunt. Not everything I do is necessarily in line with “conventional wisdom,” and some of my techniques may not apply to every area that whitetails roam, but these strategies certainly have helped me on occasion.

Click on picture above for complete story:

« Previous Page — Next Page »