Backyard Upstate NY

[QM3steve]

Just a quick pic from my UPSTATE NY home.

[melody1181]

Neat pic!! The only wildlife we get in our backyard are skunks

[MarineAO]

OH, Look Dinner just Arrived........

[Tina]

That isa great pic.. I do miss that from Indiana.. I use to be liv with woods all around me and in the winter the deer would walk up into my front yard..
love ya
Your Friend and God Bless,
Tina

[1CAVCCO15MED]

Is that the famous yellow snow in the bottom of the picture? I've heard of that.

[SparrowHawk62]

Nice, pic. Looks like a doe with a yearling.
How many foots of snow do you have in the back 40?

About a foot in mine..

[QM3steve]

The yellow snow is for the turkeys. I haven't seen one here yet. The deer just keep eating it first...dang.

I believe you're right about the doe. The pic is deceiving for the one in the background though. I'll keep my camera set for the yearling. He/she's real fluffy. Looks more like someone blewdry its fur. There are about 10-15 that come this close.

We have about 14" total. Expected to get another 3-6 tonight.

[SparrowHawk62]

Watch out there QM3! You are in the land of the liberal!
What you're doing is a crime in New York State. (Well, kinda)

January 25, 2005

Costly consequences for feeding the deer

By Victor Whitman
Times Herald-Record
vwhitman@th-record.com

Yulan ? Klendin Kirby taps his thick fingers hard on his kitchen table and his gravely voice grumbles at the thought of the trouble he's in.
"It ain't right," says the barrel-chested man with the soft, watery eyes.
What got Kirby in trouble is something he's done all his life.
After the first heavy snowfall late in December, the 75-year-old grabbed a bushel of alfalfa, and spread it in the woods behind his property so the deer wouldn't starve.
On Jan. 7, he got a ticket ? for feeding deer.
Kirby says he knew there's a ban on feeding.
But he did it anyway.
"I think it's a crime that they are letting the deer herd starve to death," he said.
That's a common attitude in western Sullivan County, where all the talk is not about casinos, but the lousy deer-hunting season. There's a widespread feeling the deer population has been decimated by over hunting and predators, and that starvation is getting the rest.
The ban on feeding is so unpopular that many folks are ignoring it, said Jack Danchak, the president of the Sullivan County Sportsmen Federation.
"People are not going to sit back and watch them starve," said Danchak, who lives just across the Delaware River in Wayne County, Pennsylvania, where there is no feeding ban.
Danchak says he already has 30 deer on his property.
"What does that tell you? They are hungry," he said.
But the New York state Department of Environmental Conservation has no plans to change the rules ? in fact, wildlife officers are enforcing the feeding ban regulation more stringently by issuing tickets rather than warnings, said Chuck Dente, a DEC wildlife biologist based in Albany.
"We're just trying to be proactive and trying not to allow any chronic wasting disease in the state," he said.
Kirby's case has stirred up local hunters, said Kirby's neighbor Pete Lilholt, Sullivan's commissioner of public works.
Kirby is well-known in the town of Highland, where he's always lived.
"He wouldn't hurt a flea on a dog's back," Lilholt said.
Folks say the worst curse word he's ever uttered is 'gosh' and 'golly.' He's had two tickets in his life, one for driving without a license plate and once for speeding some 30 years ago. A large crowd is expected to attend his hearing in the Highland town court on Feb. 2.
Sullivan County Legislator Kathy LaBuda said she heard about Kirby's case, and decided to push the Legislature to pass a resolution urging the DEC to lift the feeding ban.
Kirby calls the ticket "all nonsense."
He figures he's fed deer for 60 years on the family property, where his dad build a two-room house 80 years ago.
Most of all he can't understand why he shouldn't feed the deer. He said the DEC once encouraged the clubs to feed them. Now its freezing cold and more than a foot of snow is on the ground. "They're getting awfully hungry," he said.

Why DEC says feeding the deer is bad idea:

Promotes the spread of chronic wasting disease. Deer are concentrated in one place for long periods. CWD is most likely transmitted by direct contact, or indirectly through contact with waste, food, urine and feces that accumulate at the feeding sight. Other diseases, such as bovine tuberculosis, can be spread.
Causes more deer to survive than the natural habitat can support.
Damages the surrounding environment. Deer will consume natural food, overgraze around the feeding site.
Can harm the deer. Feeding is often done in open areas where deer are exposed to cold winds, causing them to lose body heat and forcing them to consume more calories.
Some feed isn't suitable, causing digestive problems.
Increases the number of deer-vehicle accidents and nuisance problems around homes and farms.

Here's what you can't do:

Use feeders or put out any deer food, such as corn or alfalfa.

Here's what you can do:

Cut trees and brush, making the tops of trees and brush accessible to deer. Cutting can only be done on private land with the landowner's permission. This is considered a lower risk to transmitting disease because the feed is not concentrated in one location and the food is not replaced.

What's the penalty:

A violation punishable by a fine of up to $250 and 15 days in jail for each day of the offense. Multiple offenses may result in the revocation of hunting, fishing and/or trapping privileges for up to five years.

Source: Department of Environmental Conservation

Victor Whitman

[QM3steve]

Ouch. That'll put a dent in the wallet. I need more turkeys then.

[Bernadette]

Awww I sure miss this scene. Upstate NY - nothing like it!!