Category Archives: Hunting

Hunting

Junior Duck Stamp Program: Connecting youth with nature through science and art

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Since 1938, the Federal Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp or “Duck Stamp” has been required of anyone hunting ducks or geese, although anyone can purchase a duck stamp. The funds generated from these stamps have helped restore and improve important wetlands and the stamps have become collectors’ items. Duck stamps are one of the most successful wildlife restoration programs in the history of this nation.
Conservation through the arts: The Junior Duck Stamp Program (JDS), modeled after the Federal Duck Stamp, was launched in 1991 by the US Fish & Wildlife Service with the aim of increasing young people’s awareness of the importance of preserving wetland habitats and the delights of wildlife. In 1992, the US Fish and Wildlife Service printed the first ever Junior Duck Stamp with the funds used to provide awards, incentives, and scholarships to participating students, teachers, and schools.
This dynamic conservation program is designed to teach wetland habitat and waterfowl conservation to students in kindergarten through high school. Using scientific and wildlife observation principles, the program helps students communicate visually what they have learned by creating an entry for the Junior Duck Stamp Program art contest. The non-traditional pairing of subjects brings new interest to both science and the arts and teaches greater awareness of our natural resources. The art is judged in four age group categories in a statewide competition, and the entry judged Best of Show moves on to represent Massachusetts in the national JDS competition (which will be hosted by Massachusetts in 2020).
In Massachusetts the Junior Duck Stamp Program is sponsored by MassWildlife and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Junior Duck Stamp educational curriculum: Created over two decades ago as an innovative way to teach youth about wetlands and waterfowl, nationally, the Junior Duck Stamp Conservation and Design Program reaches more than 27,000 students each year, giving them the opportunity to learn scientific principles, connect with their natural world, and artistically express their knowledge of the beauty, diversity and interdependence of wildlife. A redesigned educational curriculum has been developed that will spark students’ interest in habitat conservation and careers in natural resources through science, art, math, and technology. The curriculum guides meet a number of national education standards, including the National Science Education Standards, North American Association for Environmental Education Standards and National Visual Arts Education Standards.
You can support JDS by purchasing a stamp: The overall national winner of the art contest graces that year’s JDS and is sold by the U.S. Postal Service (www.usps.com or 1-800-782-6724) and Amplex Corporation (www.duckstamp.com or 1-800-852-4897) for $5. All proceeds of the stamp are invested in the program to fund environmental education programs; award the students, teachers and schools that participate in the program; and to market the JDS program.
Artwork submissions must be postmarked by February 15 of each year. For complete JDS program details visit, mass.gov/dfw/jds or contact: Pam Landry, Wildlife Education Coordinator (508) 389-6310, pam.landry@mass.gov.
If you are a subscriber to Massachusetts Wildlife magazine, you are in for a real treat. In the most recent issue (No 3, 2019) there is a picture of artist Jenna Gormley when she was 5 years old and her Mallard artwork which was submitted to the JDS when she was 18 years old. Her article is entitled, “One Artist’s Journey with the Junior Duck Stamp Program”. When she was three years old, she was diagnosed with a receptive and expressive language disorder. She did not speak, so her form of communication was drawing pictures.
It is a very interesting and inspiring article, so be sure to read it. If you are not currently a subscriber, click onto the MassWildlife web page, click onto Massachusetts Wildlife Magazine and follow the instructions. A 2-year subscription (8 copies) only costs $10.
Primitive Firearms Deer Hunting Season opens tomorrow
Shotgun deer hunting ended yesterday. If you haven’t gotten your deer yet, (don’t feel bad, you are not alone), you still have an opportunity to get one during the Primitive Firearms Deer Hunting season. It opens tomorrow and runs through December 31. A Primitive Firearms stamp is required and there are special regulations governing this season listed in the Massachusetts Fishing & Hunting official laws. Archers can hunt during this season but must purchase the Primitive Firearms stamp. Here’s hoping you have an enjoyable, successful and safe hunt trudging through our winter wonderland. Be careful and keep your powder dry.

Licenses are on sale now
The 2020 Massachusetts Fishing, Hunting and Trapping licenses are on sale now. They can be purchased online through MassFishHunt, at a license vendor location, or at a MassWildlife office. Good news! No increase in the license fees again this year.
MassWildlife suggests you use care when purchasing licenses during December, as both the 2019 and 2020 licenses are available.

Important studies ongoing by DFW
MassWildlife and the UMass Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit are working together to conduct fish surveys in rivers at current and former dam locations. So far, nearly 50 rivers have been surveyed as part of a broader project to more fully understand the impacts of dams and dam removals on fish and aquatic invertebrates. Coldwater fish like native eastern brook trout are particularly dependent on upstream and downstream movements for reproduction and survival. Previous research suggests that abundances of coldwater and coolwater fish, including brook trout, longnose dace, and white suckers, increase following dam removals. Monitoring will continue for the next several years.
MassWildlife and US Fish and Wildlife Service have completed a third year of cooperatively monitoring juvenile American shad in the Connecticut River. Biologists capture shad at night during the summer and fall using an electrofishing boat. Abundance, length, and weight measurements are collected and used to assess the growth, survival, and productivity of the population. This study is designed to help determine the impacts of dams on juvenile shad. Shad populations have significantly declined as a result of 19th century dam construction, which prevent adults from migrating upriver to find spawning habitat. Shad are an abundant food source for smallmouth and largemouth bass, walleye, perch, and northern pike. Shad also provide food for birds and terrestrial mammals, as well as marine fish including striped bass.
Don’t forget to submit your hunting logs
Massachusetts hunters spend a significant amount of time in the woods observing wildlife of all kinds. These observations can provide wildlife biologists with a tremendous amount of information to better understand wildlife distribution and abundance across the Commonwealth. If you are an archery deer hunter or a game bird hunter, perhaps you have been keeping a hunting log on all the days you hunted this season. These logs must be submitted before December 20, 2019 to be entered into a drawing. Prizes, donated by Cabela’s, include a Polar Cap Equalizer cooler (value $249.99) and two $25 Cabela’s/Bass Pro gift cards. Winners will be randomly selected and notified in late December. If you completed both types of logs, your name will be entered twice.
Gige has not been forgotten
Hard to believe but it has been a year since our old buddy George “Gige” Darey of Lenox passed away. As you may recall, he was the long time MA Fish & Wildlife Board Chairman (35 years), our greatest conservation champion and beloved by the outdoor sports community. He surely has not been forgotten. In fact, his partner, Ginny Acabane, noted that several people have recently approached her saying how much they still miss him.
Rumor has it that the Town of Ripton, MA will heretofore have a moment of silence in his memory each December 21.

Deer tally lower this year due to all the snow

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Most shotgun deer hunters hoped that they would be dragging their deer out of the woods last Monday morning. Sadly, many couldn’t even get out of their driveways because of the heavy snow that fell the previous day and earlier that morning. Many spent the entire morning clearing their driveways of snow. Too bad for those hunters who took the day off from school or work to go hunting on opening day. Oh well, some thought, they will go hunting on Tuesday. Well, as you know, it was déjà vu with even more snow to clear.
Some hearty souls were able to get out, but with nearly 2 feet of snow in some areas, the walking was tough. Many hunters felt that the deer weren’t moving and just hunkered down for the duration of the storm. Some deer were taken, but the overall deer count was considerably lower than other opening days.
By noontime on Wednesday, 45 or so deer were checked at the DFW Western Regional Headquarters in Dalton. In a normal year, they would have checked 50 deer on Monday alone. A couple of nice deer had been checked in at that time; one was a 206 lbs, 8-point buck taken by Aaron Rocha. Another was a 161 lbs, 12-point buck taken by Joe Hinckley. A black bear was also checked in.
As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, only 1 deer had been checked in at the Becket General Store. The deep snow was also blamed for the low count, but this was the first year that the store restarted checking in deer and perhaps few hunters were aware of it.
Some 52 deer had been checked in at the Mill River General store as of Wednesday afternoon, which, according to DFW Biologist Nate Buckhout is about half of the normal count. A lot of those hunters had to work, plowing and sanding driveways. The largest deer so far checked in was a 176 lbs, 7-point buck which was taken in Great Barrington. A 150 lbs doe (which is a huge doe) was taken in Sheffield. Two black bears were also checked in.
By the way, all deer weights were field dressed weights.
At the Lee Sportsmen’s Association, some 21 deer had been checked in, at Ernie’s Auto Sales in North Adams, 39 deer and at Papa’s Healthy Food & Fuel in Otis 17 deer were checked in. No detail information was provided on these last three check stations.
As previously suggested, blame the snow for the lower counts on Monday and Tuesday, but I suspect the hunting got better as the week progressed.
While at the DFW Western Regional Headquarters in Dalton getting the deer count, I found District Supervisor Andrew Madden surrounded by a group of Wahconah High School students accompanied by Wahconah Environmental teacher April Lesage. The youths were part of the 50 or so students (three classes) in its Environmental Science Program.
Andrew gave them lots of information about deer, deer hunting, what DFW’s role is in all of it and other information. If kids were interested in deer hunting (and there were a few) he encouraged them to take a hunter education course. The boys and girls were very interested in what he had to say. They had the added thrill of seeing a deer being weighed and aged while they were there. Too bad they had to leave when they did for shortly thereafter a black bear was checked in.
Madden mentioned that 4 classes of BCC students also visit during the first week of shotgun deer season. He gets into the subject a little deeper with them discussing such things as deer population management.
2019 lake trout survey
Each fall, MassWildlife samples the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs to monitor lake trout populations. With the help of DCR, MassWildlife surveys lake trout to examine population characteristics. The 2019 fall sampling is complete and crews on Wachusett Reservoir captured and released 142 lake trout including a 37-inch, 18-pound fish.
Crews at Quabbin Reservoir captured and released 130 lake trout, 34 at Goodnough Dike and 96 at Windsor Dam. The largest lake trout encountered was originally tagged in 2015 and then recaptured in 2017. That fish, pictured above, measured 33.5 inches and 13.3 pounds. In addition to lake trout, several large landlocked salmon were captured at Quabbin weighing between 6 and 7 pounds.
To capture lake trout, field crews set nets on spawning areas starting at sunset and check them about every 20 minutes. Captured fish are removed from the nets and placed in a livewell. Next, biologists record length, weight, and sex and implant a small Passive Integrated Tag (PIT) in the fish. Prior to release, the adipose fin is clipped to provide an external mark indicating that the fish has been captured before. Data collected provide biologists with an understanding of the current condition of lake trout populations. If fish are recaptured from previous tagging efforts, biologists can calculate individual growth rates. Lake trout are long lived and slow growing and it is not uncommon for a tagged fish to be recaptured 10 years later. In fact, the longest recapture interval recorded was 24 years! When other species like landlocked salmon, smallmouth bass, rock bass, and white perch are captured, biologists record information including length, weight, and sex but do not implant PIT tags.
Lake trout typically spawn in late October and November when the surface water temperatures are around or below 50°F. The spawning grounds are typically shallow, rocky waters on windy shores of the Reservoirs; spawning occurs mostly after dusk. Night sampling on big waters can be cold and icy in November, but the information it provides biologists is well worth the effort.

New book out entitled Surfcasting Block Island and Cuttyhunk
Hot off the press, this is the fifth and latest book on striped bass fishing by D.J. Muller. It is a detailed guide to two legendary surfcasting destinations which are considered home to some of the best striped bass fishing in the world.
Block Island, just off of the coast of Rhode Island, is 7 miles long and 3 miles wide. It has some of the richest varieties of surfcasting venues from sand beaches to boulder fields. Muller explicitly details 24 good surfcasting areas on the island (He even provides a map) explaining in detail how to get to them, where to park, what type waters the angler will encounter, when to fish them, what rods, reels and lures to use and more.
He gets into wetsuit fishing off of boulders at night. He related some of his scary experiences such as being washed off of the boulders by large waves, being caught in thick fog at night with no waves hitting the shores thus denying him the ability determine in which direction to wade back to the shore.
Cuttyhunk is 35 miles northeast of Block Island and is the last island in the Elizabeth Islands chain. Arguably, it is one of the most remote and beautiful places to fish for striped bass in the world. It was there in the latter half of the 19th century that surfcasting was born and the angling remains as interesting and challenging as ever. The island is ¾ mile wide and 2 ½ miles long. You cannot bring an automobile onto it.
Muller provides a map of that island, too and the 18 best places to fish it.
He offers advice as to where to stay and eat on both islands. What I found particularly interesting was that he gave histories of both islands going back before being “discovered” by the Europeans.
It is a well written, informative book that you should read before visiting these islands. Be sure to take it along with you as I suspect you will be referring to it often.
The 141-page softcover book, which would make a great Christmas stocking stuffer, is available at bookstores, online book retailers and specialty shops. If you purchase it from the publisher Buford Books at www.bufordbooks.com, it will cost you $18.95 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.
I doubt that your saltwater anglers already have this book as it was just published on November 2, 2019.

Shotgun deer hunting season opens tomorrow

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Well, here we go again. For some of us the opening day of shotgun deer hunting is still a big event and its anticipation results in a sleepless night. Before we go to bed tonight, we will have had all of our hunting equipment ready………gun, bullets, drag rope, knife, hunting license, sandwiches, thermos bottle, hand warmers, cell phone and/or compass, warm hunting clothes, etc, etc. We’ll be all set to go roaring out of our driveways early tomorrow morning headed to our hunting spots. The weather forecast predicts snow so that is good for tracking, as long as there isn’t a severe storm which would prevent us from getting up into the mountains.
I don’t know about you, but chances are pretty good that I will be tossing and turning all night until its almost time to get up around 4:00 am. Chances are that during the night we’ll be reliving some past opening days, people we hunted with, the deer that we shot…or missed, the weather, etc.
If you are a baby boomer or older, you remember when deer season ran only one week, the first full week in December. We planned our vacations to coincide with deer season. (you’ll note that I use the term deer season, not seasons). Years ago, there was no separate archery season and there was definitely no such thing as a primitive firearms deer hunting season.
So, the deer hunter had one week, 6 days, to hunt in Massachusetts. I could go on and on relating what it was like deer hunting in those days. That may be a good column, possibly for opening day next year Good Lord willing. What I decided to write about today is how our Berkshire Eagle covered deer seasons back then.
Ask any boomer about the old days of deer hunting and one recurring subject keeps cropping up, the popularity of deer hunting back then and the superb coverage in the Berkshire Eagle. The boomers undoubtedly remember that in the Berkshire Eagle, there was always a listing of all of the successful hunters. Usually, on opening day there was a headline and/or picture of a very large deer along with the hunter.
Just out of curiosity, I accessed the archives of some old Berkshire Eagles, specifically the hunting season of 1959, some 60 years ago. Sure enough, there were articles about deer hunting every day from Saturday, December 5 through Tuesday, December 14, 1959.
On opening day the headline was,” Deer kill total down but quality is high”. It had a picture of a 200 lbs, 10-point buck hanging from a tree or garage Shotgun deer hunting season opens tomorrowand standing next to it was the successful hunter Frederick W. Woodin of Stockbridge. The accompanying article also listed the names of 40 successful hunters. It not only listed their names, but in what town they lived, the town where they shot the deer, whether it was a buck or doe, the number of points, if applicable, and its weight.
For the next 8 days, there were articles about the deer hunting season along with the above information on the deer kills. During that deer season, the names and information on over 200 successful local deer hunters were listed. There was usually special attention given to successful women hunters and teenagers who bagged their first deer.
Can you imagine the amount of work that went into gathering and listing all that information? The articles were greatly appreciated by the sportsmen and were required reading. It was a big disappointment if you shot a deer and didn’t get your name listed in the newspaper. Such coverage was common in the Berkshire Eagle for 25 years or so, definitely from 1950 through 1975.
In the December 14, 1959 Berkshire Eagle article (the Monday after the hunting season closed), Bryant R. Chaplin of the Information & Education Section of the DFW, reported that some 2,290 deer were checked in state-wide. (Contrast that with the 2018 statewide kill from all deer hunting seasons of 14,513). The “Big Deer” contest was won that year by Frank Guida of Pittsfield with a 200 lbs., 7-point buck. Some 500 hunters were registered in the contest that year.
There was no name of the reporter who obtained the information for the daily articles, but there was little doubt in anyone’s mind, it was Ted Giddings who, I believe, was the City Editor in those days. What a difficult job that must have been gathering and typing all of those names and details.
I scanned the listings of the successful hunters to see if there was anyone that I knew. There were many. Most of them have passed away over the ensuing 60 years. But today there are some who are still trudging up our Berkshire mountains, albeit a tad slower.
So, you may ask, what with all of the modern-day technology, why is it that we can’t have these listings anymore? Computers should be able to easily compile this information more rapidly, right? Well, please consider this. These days there are some forms of deer hunting on-going from October 21 through December 31, and that doesn’t include the paraplegic and youth deer hunting days. The deer taken during the archery and primitive firearms as well as the second week of shotgun season can be checked in on-line or at the various deer checking stations. Some of these stations don’t report the kills on a timely basis. So, DFW personnel can’t really get accurate harvest numbers on a daily basis and usually have to wait until the seasons are over and the reports are in. They do provide me with some information on the larger local deer kills so I can mention them in this column.
You will note that on-line reporting of deer taken during the first week of shotgun season was not mentioned above. That’s because during the first week of shotgun season, the deer must be physically checked in at an official check station. That allows DFW personnel to inspect and gather important data on the animal such as condition, age, weight and antler beam diameter.
According to the MassWildlife web site, the following are authorized Berkshire County deer checking stations which you may use during the first week of the shotgun deer hunting season:
• Ernie’s Auto Sales, 400 Curran Hwy., North Adams, No phone, Monday-Saturday 10am-6 pm; closed Sunday.
• DFW Western District Headquarters, 88 Old Windsor Rd., Dalton, 413-684-1646, Monday-Friday 8am-6pm; Saturday 10am-6pm; closed Sunday.
• Lee Sportsmen’s Association, 546 Fairview St, Lee, No phone, Monday-Saturday 10am-6 pm; closed Sunday
• Becket General Store, 3235 Main Street, Becket, 413-623-6026, Monday 10am-6pm; Tuesday-Saturday 7am-7pm; Sun 7am-5pm.
• Papa’s Healthy Food & Fuel, 2000 East Otis Road, Otis, 413-269-7779, Monday-Saturday 10am-6 pm; closed Sunday
• The Mill River General Store, 10 Great Barrington Mill River Rd., New Marlborough, 413-229-2663, Mon-Fri 6am-7pm; Sat 7am-7pm; Sun 8am-12pm.
Here’s wishing you all a safe, enjoyable and successful hunting season.

Don’t deck the halls with invasive species

 

MassWildlife cautions us to avoid using exotic, invasive plants such as Oriental Bittersweet and Multiflora rose in holiday decorations. Using them in decorations can impact native species and habitat. Birds eat and carry away the fruits from wreaths and garlands and the digested but still-viable seeds sprout where deposited.
Exotic, invasive plants create severe environmental damage, invading open fields, forests, wetlands, meadows, and backyards, and crowding out native plants. Bittersweet can even kill mature trees through strangling. It is illegal to import or sell bittersweet and Multiflora rose in any form in Massachusetts.
You can learn more about invasive plants from their publication: “A Guide To Invasive Plants”.. It can be purchased from MassWildlife for $5.
TU Holiday Party
The Taconic Chapter of Trout Unlimited will be having its Holiday Party on Thursday, December 5 at Mazzeo’s Ristorante on Rte. 7/20, Pittsfield. Open to the public, the social hour and auction will begin at 5:30 PM. This is a great opportunity to pick up some neat used flyfishing stuff at bargain basement prices. At 6:45 PM dinner will be served.
The cost is $35.00 pp. On-line tickets must be purchased by this Tuesday. For more information, contact Henry Sweren at (413)822-5216 or hsweren8@aol.com.

Paraplegics enjoy another deer hunting season

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According to Susan (Ingalls) McCarthy Wildlife Biologist and Paraplegic Deer Hunt Coordinator for the MA Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (DFW) the weather statewide was “pretty terrible” for this year’s paraplegic hunts but participants and volunteers alike still had a positive experience. Here in the Berkshires, eight hunters participated – four in the southern and four in the northern Berkshires sites.
Since 1972, MassWildlife has offered paraplegic hunters the opportunity to participate in a special 3-day hunting season. This year’s hunt was held October 31–November 2, 2019 at five sites statewide in the Northern Berkshires, the Southern Berkshires, the Quabbin Reservoir, Devens Reserve Forces Training Area in Lancaster, and Otis/Edwards Military Reservation in Falmouth.

Eighteen hunters participated in this year’s hunt and 5 deer were harvested (1 six-point buck and 4 does) for a 28% success rate. Hunters at all five sites observed deer and many were presented with shooting opportunities.

Over 35 volunteers and MassWildlife staff assisted the hunters. Staff and volunteers strategically placed hunters in safe locations where deer signs had been observed. If a hunter shot a deer, staff and volunteers assisted by tracking and retrieved the deer, field dressed, reported the harvest on site, and coordinated with a local butcher for processing.

“This is my ninth year staffing the deer hunt for paraplegic sportsmen and my second year as the coordinator of the program. Participating in this special hunt has always been an incredible honor and such an enjoyable experience,” said McCarthy,  “This program could not possibly be successful without our many volunteers, MassWildlife staff, DCR staff, military personnel at both Devens RFTA and Otis/Edwards MMR, and of course our amazing hunters.”

The southern Berkshires folks hunted in the Mount Washington area and the hunt was coordinated out of the DCR Headquarters at Mount Washington State Forest. Fred Lampro and Mark Portiere once again headed up the hunt this year. The hunters were as follows: Sidney Eichstedt of Lee, Steve Gladding of Westfield, MA, Vyto Sablevicius of Norwich, MA, and Greg Baumli of New Lebanon, NY.

The Mount Washington helpers and the number of years they have served as volunteers included: Shaun Smith (46 years), Al Vincent (46), Marc Portieri (30), Greg Arienti (24), Matt Roache (14), Chuck Pickert (12), Rick Thelig (11), Tom Dean (8), Dallas Tidwell, Jim Santolin, Mike Gaffeny, and Gavin Ziegler. Vyto’s brother-in-law Paul was also a volunteer. Once again, the cook was Chuck Pickert.

The volunteers did a lot of prep work by scouting several areas and placing (donated) trail cameras to see where the best deer activity was. They analyzed the pictures to determine the best places in which to place the hunters. Volunteers transported the hunters to the locations and helped to drive the deer toward them. When a hunter shot a deer, they tracked it, field dressed it and dragged it to the vehicle.

And what can I write about Chuck Pickert, his wife Beverly and Tricia Volmer. For the last 12 years in a row, Chuck brought his trailer-mounted smoker/grill and they cooked breakfasts and lunches for the three days. A lot of friends who own restaurants and businesses donate food, charcoal, condiments, etc., every year (See donor list below).

On Thursday, the lunch menu was Irish Stew prepared by Tricia Vollmer and Chuck’s Grandma’s Poor Man Stew with corn bread. (Good meal on a cold, rainy day). On Friday it was roast beef served with mashed potatoes, etc., and on Saturday it was brined pork loin cut thin like minute steak. Unfortunately, I couldn’t make the event this year, but you better believe I already have my calendar marked for next year’s hunt which is October 29–31, 2020.

So how did the hunt go this year in the Southern Berkshires? Well, Sid Eichstedt shot a 6- point 145lb buck and Steve Gladen got a 110lb doe. Vyto Sablevicius and Greg Baumli both saw deer but didn’t shoot any.

Eichstedt’s 6 pt buck

Gladen’s doe

Southern Berkshire Paraplegic Hunt Donors included: Roma Pizza, Pop’s Diner, C A Lindell, Jay Lawn Care all from North Canaan, CT, Cranes Outdoor Power Equipment and Davis Tires of Canaan, CT , Wood Creek Bar & Grill from Norfolk, CT, Mill River General Store, Mill River, MA, JTC & Sons, Greg S. Massini Bus Co. and Massini Bus Co. from Sheffield and Fiddleheads Grill in Great Barrington.
Rick French coordinates the hunt with the volunteers and hunters at the Northern Berkshires site. The four hunters at the Northern Berkshires site were: Dale Bailey of Clarksburg, Shawn Mei of Baldwinville, MA, Dave Alderman of Petersburg, NY and Kevin Hollister (Greenfield area). Volunteers included French, Tony Mei, Robert Mei, Stacy Sylvester, J. Sylvester, Joe Benoni and Ben Pike. With permission, they hunted private properties in the Williamstown area. No deer were taken up there but nearly everyone saw deer.

DFW Western District biologist Nate Buckhout along with DFW staff Jacob Morris-Siegel, Derek McDermott and Ray Bressette were on hand at the sites to help out and check in the deer.

For more information about the paraplegic hunt, contact MassWildlife Field Headquarters at (508) 389-6300.

Lastly, thanks to you eighteen Massachusetts hunters for staying in the game in spite of the lousy hands that you have been dealt in this life. You are an inspiration to all of us, especially those who also are struggling with physical and emotional problems. And kudos to the volunteers and everyone involved with this program for your time and energy in helping them enjoy a couple of days in the outdoors. We could use more of that selfless, “caring for our fellow man” attitude in these turbulent times.

New Pheasant Stocking Map
At the last meeting of the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, DFW Western District Supervisor Andrew Madden announced that the Division is working on a new map showing pheasant stocked areas across Massachusetts. The map is still in development, and your feedback this season will help them finalize the features and design. The map shows general stocking locations and stocking frequency, provides directions to parking and special notes about stocked properties. Check it out on https://www.mass.gov/info-details/find-a-pheasant-stocked-area. Feedback is welcome

New England Outdoor Writer Association Board Member Lyon killed in boating accident

NEOWA Board Member Harold “Hal” Lyon, 84, of Meredith, NH, was killed when his and his close personal friend’s boats collided on Lake Winnipesaukee on the evening of November 9. His friend, Jim Hanson, who piloted the other boat died also. Jim’s wife Carmel suffered serious, but non-life- threatening injuries. She was taken to Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia, NH. Hal was in the boat alone.

Both boats were making a turn round Bear Island (the second-largest island in Lake Winnipesaukee) at the same moment, shortly after 6:00 pm when they collided. Friends said that it wasn’t a windy night, but it was cold and dark.
Jim and Hal were close friends and they often hunted for deer together. Friends said that the very reason that Hal was away from his home was so that he could scout for hunting spots to go with Jim once the season opened.
Lyon, was the author of seven books including the award-winning “Angling in the Smile of the Great Spirit” a guide on big glacial lake fishing based upon his fishing experiences on Lake “Winni”. Incidentally, the Native American name given to the lake means either “smile of the Great Spirit” or “beautiful water in a high place.”
I first met Hal at the Springfield Sportsmen’s Show shortly after he wrote that book in 2008. He was manning a booth there and when he spotted my NEOWA ID tag as I walked by, he stopped me and started up a conversation. He was a pleasant, friendly person, someone who you would instantly like. We had a lengthy chat about outdoor writing and when it came time for me to move on to other exhibitors, Hal gave me a numbered, autographed, limited edition of his excellent book. We stayed in touch off and on over the years and the last time we chatted was at a NEOWA function on Post Pond in Lyme, NH a few years ago.
Isn’t it ironic that his final moments were spent boating on the lake he loved so much in front of the island where he and his wife Karen were married in 2009.
I think NEOWA Board Member Joe Judd put it best. “His writings were legendary. Now, he is a legend lost … but will live on through his writings forever.”

Large black bear taken in Sheffield. Is it a state record?

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It was a pleasant afternoon on November 5 and after work, Mike DiGiovanni of Sheffield decided to go hunting for bear on a local farmland. He hunted out of a tree stand with a crossbow. (Due to a permanent disability, he had permit to hunt with a crossbow). After a while he saw a deer (doe) in the nearby field acting oddly and then ran off. Then Mike saw why. A bear approached the field, hugged the edge of it and headed right toward him. He held off his shot until the bear was about 10 yards away and let the bolt fly. The first bolt hit him high in the shoulder and the second shot was a lung shot and down he went.
He knew it was a decent sized boar, perhaps around 300 lbs, but it wasn’t until he climbed down from the tree stand and approached it that he realized how big it was. Mike described himself as being “dumbfounded”. Then came the realization of what to do now. He took a picture on his cell phone and sent it to his wife Molly saying, “I’m going to be home a little bit later than expected”.
Then, he called a couple friends while Molly called his brother-in-law for help. Mike also reached out to the farmer for an extra set of hands. The farmer had a 4-wheeler to help him get it out of the woods and into the field. Dragging a bear of this size is no small feat and the more help he could get, the better. It took 6 guys, the farmer’s 4- wheeler and a pick-up truck. Thank goodness it was only 10 feet from the field, said Mike, because if it was deeper in the woods, there was no way to get him out…..not without equipment. With permission from the farmer, they were able to drive a truck into the field to get to him.
Can you imagine what it was like lifting that bear onto Mike’s truck?
After getting the bear out of there, they weighed it at a gravel bed truck scale and the weight they came up with was 540 lbs. Roughly a day and a half after, they got it to the DFW Headquarters in Dalton and it weighed 535 lbs. on those scales. Perhaps the day delay could have made the 5 lbs. difference (drying out). Anyway, the official weight stands at 535 lbs. Mike has been bear hunting for 12 to 14 years and never got a bear this large.
One of the biologists at the DFW headquarters guessed it weighed around 640 to 650 lbs. live weight and estimated the age as being between 7 and 12 years old, but it could be older. They can’t know until a tooth is sent to the DFW labs for analysis.
Is it a state record? Not sure. Massachusetts doesn’t keep official state bear records; however, they do maintain a database of the largest bears on record. I am not aware if there has ever been a larger bear checked in with DFW so it is quite possible that it is the record. If the DFW wants to establish a state record for black bears, may I suggest that they start with this one.
Mike said that he lost some of the meat due to the weather, but will salvage as much as he can to eat. “It’s quite good”, he said, “if I didn’t like the meat, I would not shoot a bear.”
He is going to get a whole rug mount done by Kevins’s Taxidermy of Middlebury, CT. Incidentally, the taxidermist measured the hide from nose to the tail at 86 inches and girth at 65 inches. The unofficial Green Score skull came in at 21 ¼ inches. To make the Pope & Young record book, it has to be 18 inches; however, cross bow kills are not recognized.
The farmer was ecstatic over getting rid of that bear. Not only because he kept destroying his crops, but also once a week the boar was flipping dumpsters over on his property.
Mike met a couple of neighbors who live on the same street and they were very grateful that that bear is gone. They were intimidated by the size of it. Bears are opportunistic, wherever the food is, that is where they are going to be, whether it is at your house or somewhere in the woods. They are going to eat whatever they want and you are not going to stop them, said Mike. He has heard stories of bears taking livestock, goats, pigs and all sorts of animals (not to mention the deer fawns).
Mike was adamant that the names of the helpers be included in this column for without them, he could not have gotten the boar out of the woods. (They were: Jameason Russin, Tony Bleau, Kolby Bleau, Dave Ullrich and the farm owner Bob)
That feat was” something I’ll never forget”, said Mike.
A Patriotic Turkey Shoot

The Murphy-Leary American Post 298 and Adams-Budz VFW Post 8183 of Housatonic will be jointly sponsoring a Turkey Shoot at the Great Barrington Fish and Game Association Club, 338 Long Pond Road, Great Barrington on December 1 starting at 12:00 noon. The purpose of this event is to raise funds to help the organizations foster strong national security, provide help for disabled and needy veterans and their families and promote Americanism by educating our communities in patriotism.

Also, they sponsor and provide scholarships to civic programs such as the Boys/Girls State Program, Student Trooper Program and to local students. In addition, their fund-raising initiatives also allow them to offer academic and vocational scholarships to selected graduates from local High Schools.

The turkey shoot is billed as a great opportunity to come out and compete for a turkey, pork, steak, beef, or maybe a money prize as well as enjoy a barbecued hamburger, hot dog, fries, and refreshments. You don’t even have to shoot to win a prize. There are many people that will be there who will shoot for you.

You are invited to come out and have some fun with family and friends in one of the most picturesque locations in the Berkshires. In addition to having some old-time outdoor fun, you will be helping our Housatonic American Legion and VFW to raise money so that they may give back to the youth in our community.

MassWildlife’s Habitat Management Grant Program

Thirteen municipalities, conservation organizations, and private landowners were recently awarded a total of $341,396 for habitat management projects to improve habitat for rare or declining populations of wildlife. The grants will fund 13 wildlife habitat improvement projects totaling 698 acres in 14 communities across the state.
In its fifth year, MassWildlife’s Habitat Management Grant Program provides financial assistance to private and municipal landowners of conserved lands to improve and manage habitat for wildlife deemed in greatest conservation need and certain game species. The projects are also designed to complement ongoing habitat management efforts on state lands and expand opportunities for hunting, fishing, wildlife viewing, and other outdoor recreation.
“Fish and wildlife habitat management for both rare and common species and to enhance wildlife-related recreation opportunities is a top priority for MassWildlife,” said Dr. Mark Tisa, Director of the DFW. “Because 80% of Massachusetts is in private ownership, working with committed municipal and private landowners is a no-brainer. These grants help protect everyone’s investment in wildlife, habitat, and the enjoyment of outdoor activities such as fishing, hunting, or watching wildlife.”
Congratulations to the following local recipients of the 2019 MassWildlife Habitat Management Grants:
• Great Barrington: The Nature Conservancy was awarded $28,576 to create and improve old field and shrubland habitats at the Schenob Brook Preserve.
• Lenox: The Town of Lenox was awarded $26,810 to remove the invasive hardy kiwi plant at Kennedy Park and Mass Audubon’s Pleasant Valley Wildlife Sanctuary.
• South Lee: South Lee Associates was awarded $13,655 for efforts to control invasive species on Housatonic River properties.

It was a good year for DFW Land Acquisitions

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According to a report made by DFW Western District Supervisor Andrew Madden and Western District Fish & Wildlife Board Member Stephen Sears at the October Meeting of the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, fiscal Year 2019 (July 2018-June 2019) was another good year for the MassWildlife/Department of Fish and Game Land Protection Program.

Statewide they protected more than 2,400 acres. They completed 15 projects in the Western District alone, accounting for 1,078 acres, which is almost half of the statewide total. The annual budget for land acquisition is approximately $5.5 million.

They both highly complimented DFW Western District Land Agent Peter Milanesi for the superb job that he does every year. The list of the Western District projects is as follows:

 

Town Acres Description
Otis 29 Abuts Long Mountain WMA on Stebbins Road.
Plainfield 1.57 Small Inholding at Swift River WMA
Windsor 18.4 Along the East Branch of the Westfield
Dalton 100 Abuts the Chalet WMA on three sides.
Sheffield 70 Guilder Hollow Road. Abuts Dolomite Ledges WMA
Chester 100 Builds on the Western side of Fox Den WMA
Worthington 13 Improves access to Fox Den WMA.
Middlefield 90 Abuts the Fox Den WMA. Protects upper portion of the Westfield watershed
Chester 55 Part of the Fox Den WMA.
West Stockbridge 26 Extensive Frontage along the Williams River
West Stockbridge 48 Wetlands along Williams River. Part of Maple Hill WMA
Cummington 86 Stage Road. Part of the Cummington WMA
Worthington 315 Part of Fox Den WMA along the Middle Branch of the Westfield River
Chester 75 Abuts the JJ Kelly WMA.
Worthington 51 Provides access to Fox Den WMA from the East

Do those land acquisitions make you happy? Well wait until you get out and enjoy them.

I hope you read the article in the October 21, 2019 issue of the Berkshire Eagle entitled “Study: Want to be happier? GET OUTDOORS”, written by Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post. According to scientific studies, people who got in two to three hours in nature were about 20% more likely to report high overall satisfaction with their lives than those who spent no time outdoors at all. They were 60% more likely to report being in good health than their cooped-in counterparts.

So, what are you waiting for? Check out these new acquisitions!

2019 Youth Deer Hunt Day results
On September 28, 950 young adults participated in this year’s Youth Deer Hunt Day. The statewide preliminary harvest total was 77 deer reported through the online MassFishHunt system.

MassWildlife created the Youth Deer Hunt Day to allow young hunters to hunt deer with their own permit. The hunt occurs on a special one-day season before the state’s annual deer hunting seasons. Shotgun deer season regulations apply during the hunt. Licensed hunters who hunt other animals on this date must follow special restrictions.
Fifth Annual Berkshire Natural History Conference
Next Saturday, at the Clark Art Institute in Williamstown, Williams College will host the 5th Annual Berkshire Natural History Conference. It will run from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM. You are invited to celebrate the incredible diversity of Berkshire County.

The Conference brings together residents and visitors to celebrate the remarkable biological diversity of Berkshire County and the efforts to preserve, restore, and learn more about species, landscapes, and the myriad interactions among all of them. An impressive list of speakers, exhibitors, and displays will cover such wide-ranging topics as historic naturalists, native brook trout, unknown organisms, and local forests.
Birds, Bogs, Little Snakes, Trout, and Slime Mold Highlight This Year’s Conference
• Botanists/historians Maida Goodwin and Allison Bell retracing the steps of the remarkable, prolific, (and somewhat erratic) late 19th century naturalist Grace Greylock Niles.
• Evolutionary biology student Jenks Hehmeyer introduces the world of incredible organisms, including the Berkshires Giant Amoeba Slime Mold.
• Author Lauren Stephens illuminating Thoreau’s decision to spend the night atop Mt. Greylock.
• Dr. Ron Bassar detailing the plight of native brook trout in light of the Climate crisis.
• Biologist, Pete Hazelton will introduce MassWildlife’s new Citizen Science initiative – the use of the cell phone app, iNaturalist, to record everything on state Wildlife Management Areas.
• Other speakers introduce the incredible density of little snakes, local efforts to restore Cliff Swallows, how the new technology, Lidar, can tell a great story, and more. Ending the day is Williams College ecologist Hank Art on the changing landscape of Western New England.
You can also check out a wide array of displays by more than a dozen local and regional natural history organizations. Purchase new and historic books and join in a Silent Auction that helps support student attendees. A Natural History quiz, where participants can test their knowledge of the Taconic/Berkshire environment, is ever popular.
It is sponsored by the Hoffmann Bird Club, BCC, MCLA, Green Berkshires, BEAT, Mass Audubon’s Berkshire Sanctuaries, Hoosic River Watershed and others.

Pre-registration is required ($25 per person; $15 per students) at: www.berkshirecc.edu/bnhc. Contact Tom Tyning for details at ttyning@berkshirecc.edu
Community Conversation: Love/Hate Relationship with Mother Nature?

This Thursday evening beginning at 7:00 pm, the Lenox Land Trust will hold its Annual Meeting at the Lenox Community Center, 65 Walker Street, Lenox. They are featuring two noted local environmentalists to help homeowners understand their own properties as part of larger landscapes and habitat.

Fighting the Good Fight – Presenter Jess Toro, of Native Habitat Restoration, will offer advice and guidance on identifying and controlling those pesky, persistent Invasive Plants in our yards and neighborhoods: knotweed, bittersweet, and barberry, among the most common of the dirty dozen species.

Where the Wild Things Are– Tom Tyning, Professor of Environmental Science at Berkshire Community College, literally “wrote the book” (A Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles), highlighting the indispensable role of Vernal Pools to biodiversity. Discover and protect the Vernal Pools in your neighborhoods and woods – they’re an essential habitat for the life cycles of many species, including the protected Spotted and Jefferson Salamanders, and an incredible landscape feature – half land, half water.

(In 2017, the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen awarded Tom its Lifetime Achievement Award for his work in this area).

The program is open to the public — to any homeowner or property-owner in Lenox or elsewhere! And dessert is on them!

Help needed in planting trees and shrubs along the Housatonic riverbank

In Great Barrington, the Housatonic River access on Division Street has been improved and a new parking lot installed thanks to a great partnership with the property owners, Berkshire Natural Resources Council (BNRC) and funding from the Great Barrington Community Preservation Council.
The area was heavily infested with invasive plants which have been treated by Native Habitat Restoration. Now it’s time to plant.
On Tuesday, November 12 from 1:30 to 4:00 pm (Rain Date/Extra Date is November 20) you are invited to help plant native trees and shrubs along the riverbank. The Housatonic Valley Association will supply the tools, but if you have a favorite digging implement, bring it along.
The event is in partnership with BNRC.
If you think you can help, contact Alison Dixon at 413-298-7024 or adixon@hvatoday.org
Directions: Please note, the bridge on Division Street is closed so the access and parking area can only be accessed from Rte.183.
Dam Removals in Massachusetts

The Department of Environmental Restoration (DER) is presenting a six-part film series entitled River Run – A Story of Dam Removal in Massachusetts. It was created in partnership with UMASS Amherst’s Science Media Collaborative. Each short video highlights the efforts of DER and partners to advance river restoration projects across the Commonwealth. These films highlight the benefits, challenges, and local perspectives of dam removal across Massachusetts. One film addresses the Tel-Electric Dam on Mill Street in Pittsfield.

To see the films, click onto:
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/river-run-a-story-of-dam-removal-in-massachusetts.

Veteran’s Day

What are you going to do on Veteran’s Day? It is a day off from work/school so maybe you will watch a parade. Will you visit some veterans in nursing homes or assisted living facilities? They would love to see you.

Perhaps you’ll go hunting, preferring to spend some quiet time in a tree stand or a duck blind or just taking a break and sitting on a stump near a stone wall. Whatever you do, you might want to take a moment to remember and thank our living and deceased veterans for their service to our country.

Public Hearings coming up regarding Coyote and Wanton Waste regulations

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Two upcoming public hearings will be conducted by MassWildlife on proposed new regulations, summarized as follows:

It is proposing the prohibition of contests for the capture, take or waste of certain predator or furbearing animals, and a new section that would prohibit the “waste” of certain game animals and birds.

MassWildlife is also proposing an amendment to existing regulations that would change the time for checking harvested fox and coyote from four days from the end of the season to within forty-eight hours of harvest.

The first public hearing will be held this Tuesday at 7:00 pm, at the Lenox Town Hall, 6 Walker Street, Lenox. The second public hearing will be held on Tuesday, October 29, at 7:00 pm, at the Field Headquarters, Richard Cronin Building, 1 Rabbit Hill Road, off North Drive, Westborough.

The draft of MassWildlife regulations, as well a related summary and other explanatory information, are available for review by the public at https://www.mass.gov/servicedetails/fisheries-and-wildlife-board-public-hearings.

There is a 2-week public comment period after the public hearings. The Fish & Wildlife Board will then review the comments at a future meeting and decide on a path forward.

Preliminary bear harvest report
In his October report to the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen, DFW Western District Supervisor Andrew Madden reported that during the September bear hunting season, licensed bear hunters reported a harvest of 137 bears; 55 reported as female, 82 as male.
This is down slightly from the 151 and 145 taken during the September season in 2017 and 2018. He felt that this may be partly due to the abundance of natural foods available this fall.
The Second Season opens on November 4 and runs through November 23.
Hopefully, if you harvested a black bear this season, you submitted a tooth and hair sample to MassWildlife. Teeth are used to find out a bear’s age, and hairs are used to study bear genetics. If you haven’t submitted the samples and wish to, MassWildlife has a video guide on how to properly extract the tooth and it is suggested that you watch it before attempting it yourself. There are also instructions as to which hairs should be sent.
They ask that you provide them with precise locations where the bears were harvested.
If you have any questions, contact MassWildilfe Black Bear & Furbearer Biologist, Dave Wattles at (508) 389-6359 or dave.wattles@mass.gov
You will receive a letter in June or July with the age of your bear.
Wild Turkey Hunting
The fall hunting season for wild turkey opens tomorrow and runs until November 2. As you may be aware, the Fisheries & Wildlife Board recently approved turkey hunting changes affecting bag limits, fall season dates, shot size, and the Youth Hunt.
NOTE: Regulation changes will NOT be effective until 2020. There are no changes to turkey hunting regulations in 2019.
Other hunting seasons open
On October 12, the hunting season for ducks and geese opened up here in the Berkshires. Be sure to familiarize yourselves with all of the regulations. You can find them at the MassWildlife web site by clicking onto Waterfowl.
There are new bag limits this year: The Mallard daily bag limit has been decreased to 2 birds (only 1 female), the Regular Goose daily bag limit for the Berkshire Zone has been decreased to 2 birds, and the Northern Pintail daily bag limit has been increased to 2 birds.
Yesterday, the hunting seasons opened for cottontail rabbits, snowshoe hare, pheasants and ruffed grouse.
Every year, MassWildlife stocks about 40,000 ring-necked pheasants statewide. These birds are stocked on public and private lands that are open to hunting. The Western District should be receiving about 10,000 of them for stocking. For a listing of local areas stocked and the frequency of stocking, click onto: https://www.mass.gov/service-details/pheasant-stocked-areas.
Incidentally, in Vermont, biologists hope a multistate research program will help them determine if West Nile virus could be responsible for a decline in the population of ruffed grouse across the Northeast and other parts of the country. Vermont is taking part in the project to determine the distribution, prevalence and potential effect of the virus on the bird and are asking hunters to help collect blood and feather samples from the birds they take this season and submit them to the state so they can be tested for the mosquito-borne illness.
The populations of the birds have been declining in several locations and biologists suspect West Nile, an illness that can also infect people, could be at least partially responsible.
Stresses are adding up because of a loss of suitable habitat, said Benjamin Jones, president and CEO of the Ruffed Grouse Society & American Woodcock Society. The Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study is working with state biologists and veterinarians from the Great Lakes, Mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Northeast to test blood samples from hunter-harvested ruffed grouse.
Its goal is to estimate West Nile infection rates in wild grouse. Once finalized, the data will be shared with the participating states.
Coyote hunting season opened on October 13. NOTE: The current, existing coyote regulations (as described in the 2019 abstracts) ARE STILL IN EFFECT. There are no changes to coyote hunting regulations in 2019.
Tomorrow the Archery Hunting Season opens in Zones 1 – 9. Don’t forget, an Archery Stamp is required.
Hunters would be wise to refamiliarize themselves with the various regulations which affect these hunting seasons.
Here’s wishing you an enjoyable and safe hunting season!
Be alert for moose and deer

Fall is moose breeding season, which means the animals are more active, and they sometimes follow waterways into urban areas, according to wildlife officials. Whether in a car or on foot, it’s best to keep your distance — moose are big, and they can get aggressive if they feel threatened.

Last month, two moose made it into Worcester, MA the same day but only one made it out alive. One was a 600 lbs moose roaming around St. John’s Cemetery which the Worcester police and DFW personnel tranquilized and relocated to a rural area.
But later that day, a second moose wasn’t so lucky. A young bull, thought to be about 3-1/2 years old was hit by two cars on Stafford Street, Worcester. The moose suffered compound fractures in its legs and had to be euthanized.
MassWildlife reminds motorists to be mindful of increased deer and moose activity, especially during early morning and evening hours. Moose, found in central and western parts of Massachusetts, breed in September and October. White-tailed deer breed from late October to early December.
To protect yourself, your vehicle and the deer and moose from physical damage, please slow it down a bit while driving through dark and remote areas at night.
Wildlife observations

If you are an archery deer hunter or a game bird hunter, consider keeping a hunting log on all the days you hunt this season. If you complete and submit either an archery deer hunting log or a game bird hunting log before the December 20 date, you will be entered into a drawing. Prizes, donated by Cabela’s, include 1 Polar Cap Equalizer cooler (value $249.99) and two $25 Cabela’s/Bass Pro gift cards. Winners will be randomly selected and notified in late December. If you complete both types of logs, your name will be entered twice.
Archery Deer Hunting Season Log: If you are an archery deer hunter in Massachusetts, keep a daily log of your hunting activities and observations of wildlife during the archery deer season. Because archery hunters are usually very stealthy and camouflaged, they are uniquely suited to record valuable observations of wildlife including deer, wild turkey, black bear, coyote, and other species not commonly observed.
Game Bird Hunting Season Log: If you are a game bird hunter in Massachusetts, keep a daily log of your hunting activities and observations of game birds while hunting bobwhite quail, pheasant, woodcock, or grouse. These observations will provide MassWildlife biologists with information on game bird populations across the state and allow them to evaluate hunter effort of various upland game bird species.
MassWildlife seeks to maintain healthy game bird populations while ensuring quality hunting experiences for both wild and stocked birds across the Commonwealth. Your input is essential and they need hunter participation in every Wildlife Management Zone.

Let’s pay more attention to the health of our lakes

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More and more attention is being paid to controlling native and invasive aquatic vegetation in our lakes these days. (Calling them weeds is out nowadays, those green plants growing in and choking our lakes are now called aquatic vegetation.) Some think that lowering our lake levels in the winter to freeze and kill them is the way to go. That is a controversial subject and others wonder if we are accomplishing anything by lowering the lake levels other than protecting people’s docks and other property.

And what about the cyanobacteria stuff that showed up in Stockbridge Bowl last year and Pontoosuc Lake this year. Where did that come from? What is causing it?

I don’t think anyone has the perfect solution for controlling excessive vegetation growth and bacteria in our lakes but we need to do something. Inaction is not an option for we could lose these beautiful bodies of open water. We need to educate ourselves and pay more attention to the health of our lakes. Here are a few opportunities:

LAPA-West Symposium

The Lakes and Ponds Association will be having a symposium on Saturday, October 5 from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm at the Zion Lutheran Church, 74 First Street in Pittsfield. There will be a significant focus on cyanobacteria (AKA blue green algae) which is a potential threat to all our lakes and can pose a serious health threat to all lake users, especially children and pets. It made the local news last fall when a bloom in Stockbridge Bowl forced the relocation of the 2018 Josh Billings paddling leg.

All lake association members, Conservation Commission members, other municipal officials and anyone else with an interest in protecting and improving our lakes are invited.

The objectives of the cyanobacteria presentations are to provide background needed for lake managers on:
• The basics of what it is and what are the risks.
• How to test for it?
• How to prevent and/or treat a bloom?
• What precautions must be taken to avoid risks to lake users without over-reacting and needlessly restricting access to our lake resources.
• What federal, state, and local agencies are involved, what regulations are in place, and how can local lake managers get help.
Other symposium topics, many of which are follow-up to previous symposium presentations, are:
• Drawdown effectiveness and risks.
• Increased State funding for our lakes and ponds.
• Improved coordination among the EOEEA regulatory agencies.
• Guidance from the DFW on maintaining and improving healthy fisheries.
Registration with a light breakfast starts at 8:15. Tours of the USEPA CMC mobile laboratory will be conducted after adjournment at 1:00 pm. (This facility is used to provide on-site trainings on the Cyanobacteria Monitoring Collaborative program to lake associations, state water quality managers and staff, drinking water suppliers, NGOs, school systems, private research entities and the like. Trainings and/or demonstrations of the program can be provided on request. The mobile lab provides a platform where individuals can participate in collecting and analyzing samples adjacent to the waterbody and become familiar with the equipment, steps, and protocols used for understanding and managing harmful cyanobacteria and blooms. The mobile lab has been used to teach hundreds of individuals throughout New England how to appropriately collect and identify samples for cyanobacteria analysis).
The symposium which is free, is sponsored by the LAPA West member associations. Invited exhibitors include state agencies with responsibilities for lake management and contractors who work on our lakes.

There will be opportunities to network with experts in lake ecology and management, and with other lake advocates. Bring lake plants you want identified. Any other questions you have specific to your lake can be raised with the experts and other attendees during the presentation breaks.
You are asked to let them know if you are planning to attend. Also please indicate whether you will be staying after the 1:00 pm adjournment to tour the CMC Mobile lab.

 

Lake Winter Drawdowns
An article in Volume 64, Issue 8 of Freshwater Biology which came out in June of this year and dealt with annual winter drawdowns might be of interest to local conservation commissions, lake and pond associations, anglers and the general public. The 15-page article, entitled Annual winter water level drawdowns limit shallow-water mussel densities in small lakes detailed the findings of a 2-year study (2015 and 2017) of 13 western and central Massachusetts lakes. The 9 lakes studied in the Berkshires were the following lakes: Onota Lake, Ashmere Lake, Richmond Pond, Stockbridge Bowl, Goose Pond, Greenwater Pond, Lake Garfield, Lake Buel and Otis Reservoir.
The report provides evidence that annual winter water level drawdown regimes in lakes constrain mussel distributions below drawdown exposure zones during normal water levels in addition to causing stranding and mortality soon after drawdown exposure.
In addressing the drawdown effects on mussel distribution, density and size, the report provides evidence that they negatively impact surface and buried mussel densities in areas annually exposed during winter even though these areas remain submerged from spring to autumn. Winter drawdowns also negatively affect buried mussel size.
Interestingly, the study provided evidence that mussel mortality did not correlate with drawdown rates. They found no difference in mussel mortality in experimental dewatering rates of 4 cm/day verses 8 cm/day.
The study concluded that “given that the documented ecosystem services mussel populations provide, including biofiltration, water column and sediment nutrient coupling, and habitat structure for macroinvertebrates and primary producers, the constraint of mussels deeper than the drawdown exposure zone may reduce these ecosystem services in the exposure zone. The extent of these potential functional losses relative to the whole lake ecosystems may depend on winter drawdown regime character (e.g. magnitude, rate, timing, frequency) relative to mussel population density-depth distribution and population size”.
Further research to examine the extent of potential ecosystem function loss in annual winter drawdown regime was encouraged. (Personally, I would like to see a study done to see what, if any, effects the herbicides that we are annually putting into our lakes are having on the mussels and other crustaceans).
So, why do we care about freshwater mussels? Well, according to MassWildlife, more mussels mean cleaner water. They are nature’s great living water purifiers. They feed by using siphons to filter small organic particles, such as bacteria, plankton, algae, and detritus, out of the water. This filtration doesn’t just take nutritious bits out of the water for the mussels to eat, it also takes floating debris like silt and algae out of the water, making the water cleaner for everyone.
One mussel can filter up to 15 gallons of water moving over it in a single day. We need them and should take care to see that we have healthy populations of them in our waters.
Map, Compass and Survival course
The free course will be offered by MassWildlife on Saturday, October 12 from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm at the DCR Visitor Center, 740 South Street in Pittsfield. This course is not recommended for students less than 12 years of age.

 

Students will spend a lot of time outside in the woods practicing map and compass skills. MassWildlife recommends wearing comfortable footwear (i.e. hiking or running shoes), long pants, long-sleeved shirts, and bright outer clothing. Students should also carry insect repellent, sunscreen, and water with them while in the woods and, if available, a whistle.

 

Timberdoodle time
Woodcock, (also known as timberdoodle) hunting season opens on October 3 and runs through November 23. The daily bag limit is 3 and the possession limit is 9. The woodcock is a migratory bird so hunters must register with the Harvest Information Program (HIP) each calendar year. Waterfowl stamps are not required nor is the use of non-toxic shot when hunting woodcock.

For more information on the regulations, click onto https://www.mass.gov/service-details/migratory-game-bird-hunting-regulations

Linking Landscapes

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How many times have you been traveling along a road and have seen the dead carcasses of deer, squirrels, salamanders, turtles, etc. which have been hit by vehicles? Any how many times have you seen such dead critters in the same location year after year? You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the road is probably crossing their ancestral migration paths or some necessary transit way. Do you feel helpless and wish you could do something to reduce these casualties? Well, there might be.

There is a statewide, long-term, and multifaceted volunteer-based wildlife monitoring and conservation planning collaboration that involves the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, state agencies, and citizen scientists. Called Linking Landscapes for Massachusetts Wildlife (LLMW), its objectives are to: 1) reduce wildlife-vehicle collisions and improve public safety; 2) enhance, protect, and restore habitats impacted by roads; 3) control invasive species within habitats of high conservation priority; 4) incorporate conservation priorities into transportation planning; and, 5) implement wildlife transportation research projects to inform transportation and conservation decision making.
Utilizing expertise from the program partners, a research project was designed to collect information on wildlife roadway sightings and mortalities through volunteer participation. Partnering with the UMASS since 2010, The LLMW website, hosted by UMASS (http://www.linkinglandscapes.info/), features three separate databases: 1) road-crossing observations of vernal pool-breeding amphibians during spring migration; 2) turtle road crossing mortality during nesting season; and 3) all other wildlife road related mortality.
Online data forms available on the LLMW website use a Google Map interface that allows users to identify the exact location of a recorded observation and all of its associated data, including species and numbers of animals observed, date of the observation, observer name, contact information, and additional comments. Multi-year wildlife mortality observations and the presence of any rare wildlife are also recorded.
The citizen scientist volunteers documented over 3,500 mortalities representing 49 species at 1,161 locations throughout the state. Nine species of current or former state-listed salamanders and turtles were among the mortalities recorded. Sites of highest conservation need were identified and targeted by MassWildlife and MassDOT to develop on-site improvements such as new signage, enhanced culvert design, or installation of wildlife barrier fencing. One successful fencing example at the highest turtle mortality hot spot documented in the state (Littleton) reduced turtle mortality by 90%.
In addition to community engagement through citizen science, the collected data from LLMW has informed the agencies where best to install improved crossing structures and other wildlife barriers to enhance public safety and protect endangered species. The LLMW collaboration has helped the partners prioritize and implement invasive species control, and conduct habitat restoration activities on scenic uplands and calcareous wetlands that are hot spots for biodiversity.
The LLMW has engaged with community organizations to build and install nesting boxes for American kestrels, a declining species; installed and monitored peregrine falcon nesting boxes on bridges; and provided an avenue for meeting the Highway Division’s GreenDOT goal to enhance the ecological performance of MassDOT impacted land.
To prevent or reduce turtle road mortality – one of the most pernicious and devastating threats to this group of reptiles – new initiatives are providing barriers to road crossings, placing turtle crossing signs at reported high mortality areas, and enhancing culvert/bridge designs to favor turtle survival.

You can learn more about Conservation Projects at the link https://www.linkinglandscapes.info/uploads/2/8/7/8/28782453/linking_landscapes_2017_final_3-26-18_update.pdf. Also, there is a good write-up regarding this program in the Issue #3, 2014 Massachusetts Wildlife magazine if you can get your hands on one.

After reading the Summary Report, I had a few questions which I posed to David Paulson from MassWildlife. asked him if the program covers secondary roads, ie, town roads? He said that it covers all roads in MA, especially the citizen science data.

I asked him how can the general public participate? Does the general public join as a monitor, or just report a road kill?
Reporting is easy, he said, volunteer effort can be as passive as occasional observations to more intensive survey efforts (which are usually coordinated). Safety is always the priority. To submit your findings, click the major project that best fits what you see: reducing turtle roadkill, mapping amphibian crossings, or mapping wildlife roadkill. Fill out the short survey, with detailed location information. The Google Map at the bottom of the survey can be zoomed in and panned to a specific location. The information provided on the website helps MassWildlife and MassDOT determine priority areas to mitigate wildlife-human interactions and how best to manage them.

I asked him if people can sign up through the Berkshire Environmental Action Team (BEAT)? Not required, but absolutely, he said. Two organizations have been very involved with the monitoring program and deserve recognition: The Parker River Clean Water Association and our own BEAT.

Many thanks to Fish & Wildlife Board Member Steve Sears who originally brought this program to the attention of the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen in February of this year.

Basic Hunter Education Course Cancelled
In this column of August 11, I mentioned that there will be a 6-day basic hunter education course at the Pittsfield High School running nights from September 10 through September 26. Please be advised that the course has been cancelled. No word has been received as to why the cancellation or if another one is being rescheduled.
Is it time to allow crossbow hunting here in Massachusetts?

Many hunters think so. A crossbill hunting bill passed in the State Senate last year, but not the House. Sportsmen have been trying to get a bill passed in the House for years now only to see it hug up in “committee.” Now they are asking public support. The Massachusetts Conservation Alliance is spearheading this year’s effort by supporting a bill in the MA House of Representatives titled H.3866. They are joined by the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council, GOAL and others.

Here are some of the reasons the MCA is asking the public to support the bill:
• Crossbows are legal in 46 other states.
• MA currently allows crossbow use by disabled persons by permit. If passed, Massachusetts would join at least 32 other states that currently allow crossbow hunting for non-disabled individuals
• It allows professional managers at the DFW to regulate crossbows as they currently do for all other archery equipment
• Crossbow sales taxes would increase the Pitman-Robertson funding for conservation of both game and non-game species.
• Crossbows are quick, quiet and effective on all types of game
• Crossbow hunting increases options for hunters and wildlife managers in areas where firearms are prohibited, and populations are high.
• There are no documented cases of non-hunters being injured by archery equipment in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Unfortunately, many older bowhunters have had to give up archery hunting simply because they no longer have the strength to draw a 45-50 lbs. bow anymore. (Sorry folks, it’s a fact of life.) Because crossbows are much easier to draw (load) it allows them to enjoy a few more years in the woods archery hunting.

So how can the general public and sportsfolks help? By phoning or writing your legislators asking them to vote for H.3866.

Fishing Derby
The Berkshire Hatchery Foundation in Hartsville-New Marlborough is having its next free children’s fishing derby on Saturday, September 14 from 9:00 to 10:30 am at its lower pond. Children aged 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult. This will be the last derby of the year.
Early Goose Hunting Season

The statewide Early Canada Goose hunting opened on September 3 and runs until September 20. The daily bag limit is 15 and the possession limit is 45. For more information such as type of shot, licenses required, hunting hours, etc., click onto https://www.mass.gov/files/documents/2019/05/14/MassWildlife_MigratoryGameBird-Regs_2019-2020.pd.