Category Archives: Hunting

Hunting

Another successful Youth Turkey Hunt Day

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Saturday, April 22, was the day when the youths and their mentors took to the woods to bag a gobbler.  For the kids it was the culmination of classroom instructions, safety classes, shooting practice, etc. Traditionally, the special youth turkey hunting day occurs on the Saturday before the opening day of the spring turkey hunting season.  Each year I try to cover the kids at a different sportsmen’s club that has the youth turkey hunting program.   Last year I was at the Cheshire Rod & Gun Club, this year the Stockbridge Sportsmen’s Club and next year I hope to be at the Lee Sportsmen’s Club.

 

This year the SSC had a fairly large group of kids (20) to mentor.   As you can see by the photo, they did very well with 5 kids bagging birds and just about every kid and mentors had action, either by having toms respond to their calls or having opportunities to see some.  That’s really important for it takes a great deal of fortitude for the youngsters to get up early and be out in the woods before daybreak.  If they don’t have some kind of positive action, they may get immediately discouraged and not ever go turkey hunting again.

 

Mike Buffoni, who heads up the Stockbridge program and who also is a mentor had a memorable morning himself.  He and his accompanying youth spotted a female moose during the hunt.  Others hunters spotted a bear of two.  Mike has to be super proud of his two sons Max and Marco for they both bagged gobblers.

 

The day started off damp and raw with a few sprinkles here and there but as the day progressed, it warmed up.  When the kids and mentors returned to the club around noon, (turkey hunting must cease at noon) they were treated to a hot roast beef dinner expertly prepared by Chef Peter Delgrande.

 

After the meal, the customary procedure is to teach the kids how to dress the birds, breast them out for consumption, and save the tail feathers, beards and spurs for display.   Getting that first turkey was a big event for these kids and I’m sure they wanted to save such items for fond memories and bragging rights.

 

While one of the mentors was eating his meal, he picked at least 20 ticks off of his shirt – both wood ticks and deer ticks.  He had hung his hunting jacket on the back of his chair and they were jumping off of that onto his shirt.  He said that he had also pulled a lot of ticks off of him when he finished hunting and was leaving the woods.

 

From what I hear and see, this is going to be one heck of a year for ticks, so please make sure you use a tick repellent spray on your clothes, such as permethrin, and be sure to carefully inspect yourself when you get home.

 

Matt Ranzoni, who headed up the Lee Sportsmen’s Association youth hunt, had 6 kids participate this year and 3 of them were successful.  Donavan Coccomo got a tom weighing 21 lbs, Hunter Briggs got a 20 lb bird and Matt Driscoll got a 15 lb jake.  Travis Bush passed up a jake because he saw a tom that he was after.  The other two hunters, Dorian Page and Owen Bush had close calls.

 

No word was received as to how the kids at the Cheshire Rod & Gun Club did.

 

The Lee and Cheshire youth turkey hunt programs are similar to that of the Stockbridge Club, but I doubt very much that they had the kind of delicious meal that Delgrande prepared.

 

As of midweek, MassWildlife only had harvest numbers on what had been reported online. Many check stations still issue physical seals so they aren’t able to obtain harvest numbers until they get information back from all the check stations statewide after the season closes.

 

Incidentally, readers may recall my March 5 column, ”NE Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame inductees announced”, wherein I mention that MassWildlife’s James Cardoza was one of the inductees for supervising the recovery of Massachusetts wild turkey.  Following that article, 90-year old Joe Robinson called me to tell the rest of the story.  Robinson, a former DFW Western District biologist, retired 35 years ago, but he remembered the turkey recovery effort quite well and related the following:

 

The real credit for reintroducing the turkeys back into Massachusetts belongs to the then DFW Western District Supervisor Winn Saville, and his staff including Frank Putnam, Ed Hover, Fred Bohlman and Joe.  “We were the pioneers”, he said.  “Members of the staff traveled to New York in the early 1970’s, got the birds and released them in Beartown State Forest.  We kept an eye on them to see how they were doing.  We built feeders for the turkeys and put bags of corn into them.  The deer got a lot of that corn.”  Joe said that the first turkeys migrated to the Great Barrington area along with their poults.  After some years of reintroducing them and their own self populating, the hunting season was opened 1980.

 

Fishing Derbies

The Berkshire Hatchery Foundation in Hartsville-New Marlborough is having a free children’s fishing derby next Saturday, May 13  from 9 to 10:30am at its lower pond.  Children aged 12 and under must be accompanied by an adult.

 

Trout Stocking

The following waters were scheduled to be stocked with trout last week:  West and Middle Branches of the Westfield River in Becket, Chester, Huntington, Middlefield and Worthington; Littleville Reservoir in Chester and Huntington, Trout Brook in Peru, York Lake in New Marlborough, Otis Reservoir, Laurel Lake, Richmond Pond and Windsor Pond in Windsor.

 

Questions/comments:  Berkwoodsandwaters@roadrunner.com.   Phone:  (413) 637-1818

 

Front left to right; Curt Wilton III, Max Buffoni, Madison Gilmore, Nick Powers, Zack Lupioni  Back row left to right; Kadin Shafiroff, Brady Whalen, Matt Fletcher, Bailey Gilmore, Marco Buffoni, Nick Puntin, Darrin Cloran, Nate Smith.  Not in picture; Kade Groeber, Kevin Triono, John Field III, Myles Houle, Juliana Hektor, Briel Winters, Brett Smith.

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From left to right:  Mark Jester banquet emcee, BCLS President Mike Kruszyna, George Darey, Doug Frank, Tom Macy, Karen Karlberg and Robert McDermott.

Four honored at BCLS Conte Banquet

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About 130 people packed the Cheshire Rod & Gun Club banquet hall last Saturday evening for the Berkshire County League of Sportsmen’s (BCLS) Silvio O. Conte Memorial Awards Banquet. Award recipients included Doug Frank of Lee (2016 Sportsman of the Year), Karen Karlberg of Becket (Lifetime Achievement Award), Tom Macy of Sheffield (Sportsmen’s Appreciation Award) and Robert McDermott of West Stockbridge (John Zuber Outstanding Achievement Award).

 

All were selected by the delegates of the various sportsmen’s clubs which make up the BCLS.   Their individual feats were highlighted in my March 26, 2017 column,  “2016 BCLS Award winners announced”.  The banquet was dedicated in honor of George “Gige” Darey of Lenox.    Mark Jester of Pittsfield was the emcee for the event.  Congratulations to all of the recipients.

 

Gige Darey respectfully declined to accept an award preferring that one go to one of the above deserving recipients.   He did give a moving speech recounting his 38 years on the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board.  Gige has been kept busy giving talks these days.  Recently, he received an award from the Worcester County League of Sportsmen and two weeks ago, he received a Special Recognition award from the Massachusetts Sportsmen’s Council.  At that banquet, Lt Governor Polito, several State Senators and Representatives and many other dignitaries honored him for his many achievements.

 

As you may know, Gige recently stepped down from the F&W Board, of which he served as its chairman for 35 of years.  During that time he accomplished a great deal.  He oversaw the restoration and recovery of the bald eagle, peregrine falcon, osprey, turkey, deer, bear and piping plover.  He was instrumental in increasing land acquisition and protection, habitat identification and management, education and outreach and the new environmentally state-of-the-art Field Headquarters in Westborough.

 

One of his proudest achievements was to getting “Presumption of Openness” into the language of the Open Space Bond Bills, ensuring that all state land so purchased would be open to passive recreation including hunting, fishing and trapping.  He led the efforts to transfer the Natural Heritage and Endangered Species Program to the DFW, now a model for the nation.

 

Referred to as the champion for all wildlife, from fish and big game, to the less heralded species greatly needing our understanding and protection, it is no wonder that the 818-acre Housatonic Valley Wildlife Management Area bears his name.

 

Gige is not done receiving accolades yet.  On May 13, there will be an event celebrating his lifelong commitment and achievements as well as raising funds for the MA Outdoor Heritage Foundation.  It will take place at the Stockbridge Sportsmen’s Club, 24 West Stockbridge Road (Route 102), MA.

 

The event,  co-chaired by Bob Durand former Secretary of Environmental Affairs, Dave Peters former Commissioner of the Department of Fish and Game, Wayne MacCallum former Director Division of Fish and Wildlife and Steve Sears President of the MA Outdoor Heritage Foundation Board, will take place from noon to 4:00pm. Buffet at 1pm, speaking program at 2:00pm, silent auction and raffle at 3:00pm.  The cost is $50 per person.

 

If you are unable to attend but still wish to contribute to the Outdoor Heritage Fund, of which Gige is a founding Board member,  make checks payable to: Massachusetts Outdoor Heritage Foundation (note George L Darey fund) P.O. Box 47, Westborough, MA. 01581.  You may want to consider a sponsorship and tax deductible donation that will honor and further the mission of natural resource protection which has been Gige’s lifelong commitment.

 

Some sponsorships categories are:   Woodcock -$100, Whitetail Deer-$250, Black Bear -$500 and Bald Eagle-$1000. For more information about the Foundation, visit them at massoutdoorheritage.org.

 

Fundraiser

On April 29, the Lee Sportsmen’s Association is holding a fundraiser called Aiming for Zero Steel Match.  The purpose of the event is to support the fight against veteran suicide.  Shoot times are 9:00 am and 1:00 pm with no preregistration required, $25 registration fee, $5 side match.  Centerfire pistols and .22LR pistols and .22 rifles welcome.  If you can’t attend but would like to donate, visit the Aiming for Zero/Active Heroes website.  Click on join existing club then List on registered teams.  Choose individual fundraiser and type in Paddy Sullivan. He is registered as an individual, and not with a team. He is doing this for His National Honor Society service project.

 

Trout Stocking

The following local waters were scheduled to be stocked last week. Deerfield River in Buckland, Charlemont and Florida; Chickley River in Charlemont, Hawley and Savoy; Cold River in Charlemont, Florida, and Savoy; Westfield River in Chesterfield, Cummington, Huntington and Russell; Housatonic River in Lee and  Pittsfield, Hop Brook and Goose Pond Brook in Lee and Tyringham, Upper Highland Lake in Goshen, Mansfield Lake in Great Barrington, Kinderhook Creek in Hancock, Norwich Pond in Huntington, Greenwater Brook in Lee, York Lake in New Marlborough, Berry Pond in Pittsfield, Buck and Clam River in Sandisfield, Larrywaug Brook in Stockbridge and Onota Lake in Pittsfield.

 

Spring Turkey Season

The spring turkey hunting season opens tomorrow in Massachusetts and runs through May 20. Immediately following harvest, hunters must fill out and affix the tag from their turkey permit to the turkey. The turkey must be reported either online via the MassFishHunt system or at a traditional check station within 48 hours of harvest and before the bird is processed for food or taxidermy. The MassFishHunt system generates a confirmation number which must be written on the harvest tag attached to the turkey; the confirmation number serves as the official seal. The tag (or metal seal from a check station) must remain on the bird until it is processed for food or taxidermy.