By DAN LADD, Adirondack Hunting & Fishing Report
With today being the final day of any deer hunting at all in New York's Northern Zone, sportsmen will soon be turning to other pursuits.
Deer season is always an extremely busy time for me as I hunt from the archery opener in September right on through to when the muzzleloading season wraps up in certain areas at sunset today. I may even hit the Southern Zone, which is open through Dec. 22. What can I say? I'm addicted to deer hunting. If they had a rock-throwing season, I'd probably give it a shot.
That said, I usually welcome the down time that follows hunting season, at least after the busy holidays. But it doesn't last long. My winter activities are usually divided between ice fishing and cross-country skiing. I also like to get out with my wife, Adrienne, on our snowshoes, especially around our property in the southeastern Adirondacks.
I enjoy small-game hunting too and for some reason this year I've got grouse on my mind. That is likely because I have been seeing quite a few lately while deer hunting. That wasn't the case in the early season but it certainly has been since about mid-November. As much as I like venison, there is no finer meal than the breast of a freshly hunted grouse.
I grew up hunting these birds on the same property I call my home. Although some years there are more grouse than others, I usually get out right after deer season in hopes of bagging one for Christmas dinner. For the holiday feast my mother made a tradition of cooking up a grouse that my brother or I bagged. Everyone got a taste. I'd like to relive that memory again this year.
Perhaps my enthusiasm for grouse hunting this winter lies in the fact that I've added another gun to my collection. I always hunted small game with a 16-gauge Mossberg shotgun, and when I discovered an Ithaca Deerslayer (Model 37 lightweight) for sale last spring I pounced on it. The bonus was that this shotgun happened to be a 16-gauge for which my partiality of lead to my purchase. It is a fine bird gun with a good pattern. The clay pigeons I've busted with it at the local shooting range attest to that. Now we'll hopefully see how I do with it on the real thing, in this case the ruffed grouse.
Two years ago on the last day of deer season, I was passing through the Village of Tupper Lake on my way home from my brother's deer camp in Cranberry Lake. Just two days earlier the lake was a tranquil body of water. On this day it had a sheet of ice on it and much to my surprise, a half-dozen anglers, likely out there jigging for perch.
Another one of my childhood holiday memories is that of my uncle taking my two brothers and I ice fishing on Lake Champlain on Christmas Eve day. As I recall, there was plenty of ice and plenty of jack-perch, which my uncle was a master at getting on tip-ups. But here we were three weeks before Christmas and already some guys were out there fishing.
Early ice is often a very productive time to fish but it also can be dangerous. If you venture out there, remember the fact that we've had an extremely warm autumn and that it's going to take some time for water temperatures to cool down in terms of the entire body of water.
People ask me all the time at what point the ice is safe and my answer is always "never." (I know, that sounds profound.) Each body of water has its own unique characteristics in terms of depth, current, springs, inlets or outlets and so on. Before you go out, study lake maps like you would a topographical map and be mindful of areas that could pose problems, not just about where the fish will be. Please be safe.
Back to the hunting arena, another favorite early winter activity of mine is to do some gun cleaning. I usually sit down on a Sunday near the wood stove with a good football game and a cold beer and thoroughly clean just about every gun I own. It's just another one of those seasonal traditions.
Whatever you do during this post-deer season or holiday season, please enjoy it. Being an outdoors person is a year-round deal. Happy Holidays.
Dan Ladd is the author of "Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks," outdoors editor for the Glens Falls Chronicle, columnist for Outdoors Magazine and contributor to New York Outdoor News. Contact him at www.adkhunter.com.
