Fall news

Leaves are turning colors, most prominently first those on drying weeds and shrubs up to the stature of brilliant red staghorn sumac.

In no time, we'll be tramping the fields and woods hunting for small game, with that tell-tale rustle of dried grasses and leaves underfoot and nature's brilliant tapestry overhead.
The season opens Oct. 13, and all signs point to a year of great opportunity. Last winter was relatively mild, with only a nasty month-long spurt of dismal weather at the end. The spring breeding season for ground nesters like ruffed grouse and wild turkeys appears to have been very good.
"I can't seem to go in the field without seeing a turkey," DEC small game and waterfowl maven Bryan Swift said.
That's been my experience as well. While it's strictly anecdotal, with the official August wild turkey census count still being tabulated, first impressions are that we have a lot of new birds out there. The survival rate appears excellent. I've seen a number of young this year and their protective moms picking at mature seeds and scrambling for grasshoppers, which -- with a little help from a mild winter ahead -- should translate into great hunting for year-old jakes next spring.
But we get ahead of ourselves. According to the annual flight forecast from Ducks Unlimited, we are looking at above-average numbers scooting down the Atlantic flyway for all species except for pintail and scaup.
For the first time in 20 years we can harvest up to two canvasback ducks in the daily six-bird limit. That's a duck that's shown a remarkable comeback, flying at us from the Midwest instead of following the usual duck route out of the Canadian Maritimes.

Mallards are still the gold standard of duck hunting, and their prodigious numbers are not dimmed, which is great news. Wood ducks are rife as well, to the point that there's talk of raising the bag limit on them next year. Black duck numbers are still a tad fragile, but teal populations are healthy for both green and blue-winged. Nothing tops a teal breast sauteed this fast, zip, zip.

While the overall duck population is well above average at the moment, Swift says there's the beginning of discussion in the Atlantic flyway council that maybe seasons need to be tightened a little and bag limits dropped.
The thinking is that with a little tighter regulation we might be able to keep the population numbers on a more even keel with fewer wild swings.
From the timesunion.com