WASHINGTONVILLE – Assemblyman Colin Schmitt (R, New Windsor) Co-chair of the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus, has provided input on the development of the State Department of Environmental Conservation’s new Deer Management Plan.
The plan is a set of directives designed to enforce laws and regulations determining the specifics of hunting deer. These plans are introduced every 10 years to ensure the best practices are followed in maintaining conservation-minded approaches to deer populations. This year’s proposal has made some adjustments to past regulations and guidelines that will impact hunting and deer management practices over the next decade.
Schmitt said some of these guidelines are very hunter friendly, such as the change of age limit for big game hunting from 14 to 12, increasing the amount of available time to hunt in the day, and additional hunting season opportunities, along with incentives to open more land for hunting.
“There are numerous positive proposals in this draft plan including bringing New York in line with every other state with legal hunting times, allowing more youth to participate in big game hunting and offering additional hunting season opportunities,” Schmitt said. “I urge the DEC to adopt these pro-hunter and pro-conservation measures and to continue to work with the Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus on additional positive measures for New York. I strongly encourage interested parties to submit input by the December 28th deadline as well.”
Provide feedback to the DEC Deer Plan through emailing wildlife@dec.ny.gov (using “Deer Plan” in the subject line) or by mail to DEC Deer Management Plan, NYSDEC, 625 Broadway, Albany, NY 12233-4754.
