Show Notes
In this episode, Angelo and Chris talk about what they are doing to finish getting ready for the upcoming hunting season. Both give updates on last minute tips that may help take gear and tactics to the next level. The conversation covers topics such as concealed carry laws, scouting, gear modifications, and arrow builds. They also discuss topics such as transportation tags, waterfowl hunting, bear hunting, antler restrictions, and changes in license requirements. They also touch on ethical considerations and the importance of following regulations to preserve hunting privileges. Getting caught up on home state and out of state regulations is also a must.
The Boys CAN’T WAIT for Opening Day. Some people will be getting into the woods for the first time this week. Making sure all your gear is in working order and organized for that first sit must not be overlooked. Good Luck to all of those who will be going out.
The Wing and Tails Boys skim through all the most relevant changes to the hunting regulations in all of the North Eastern states including New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Maine and Vermont. From Pennsylvania to Maine make sure you know all your laws and are keeping within the guidelines. Some changes may be specific to a location you hunt. The season is upon us. Let’s have a great season and learn and grow together.
Show Transcript
Chris (00:00)
What is going on, ladies and gentlemen, thanks for joining us here on another podcast. I'm Chris and we are the wing and tail boys. On today's episode, we're going to be talking about some of the new regs that we've come across in the Northeast that we think could be interesting to you, as well as some housekeeping things. What have we done over the last week and what do we have left to do leading up into the season? Before we get into that, I want to give a big shout out to one of our partners, Kevin Creeley. He is on the Sportsman's Empire Network.
Angelo (00:04)
And I'm Angelo.
Chris (00:28)
with us and he was kind enough to invite us onto a podcast with him. just yesterday we actually recorded it. His podcast is the mid Atlantic outdoorsman. You can find that on, the sportsman's empire. You can also find that on Instagram mid underscore Atlantic underscore outdoorsman E N. If you go back, I'm not quite sure when he's going to release that podcast, but if you go back and listen, we covered all types of things, anything from food plottings, preseason prep.
post -season prep, in -season scouting, and a whole lot more. Just to give you a little teaser, Kevin is coming up and he's gonna be deer hunting the Northeast for the first time ever this year. So we really gave him some pointers of what we think would be some great ways to get into it and get started. Moving on, we wanna thank our viewers, our listeners for any reviews that you've left and any reviews that you will leave in the future. They really, really help us out. They let us know what you like to hear, what you're not really feeling.
And they also help us out with the search engines and all that great stuff. So anything you could put in there, we'd really appreciate it. And coming into the season, we want to encourage you guys to send us any video picture of success stories, anything you got, you can send us an email. You can send that to either wingandtale .chris at gmail .com or wingandtale .angelo at gmail .com.
And lastly, we want to remind you about our 2024 hunting season challenge, the Tri -State Tri -Fecta. If you are someone that hunts multiple states, this challenge is for you. It's really a friendly challenge. Right now we haven't really come up with any awards or prizes or anything like that. It's really just...
Angelo (02:09)
more people get involved we might start tossing some out.
Chris (02:12)
We might, you know what, maybe we should put a number on that. You know, if we get enough people joining in, you know, maybe we make a marker to hit on that. We should, I don't know, we could talk about that.
Angelo (02:19)
If we get 500 people to commit to our challenge, which is a big ask, but we got a long season ahead of us. If we can get everybody to just donate $1 to enter into our challenge, we'll pay for the mount on the person who's got the nicest buck. That might be somewhere we could start. That might be, and I'll chuck in the first 10 bucks. So we really only need 490.
Chris (02:38)
Okay, I get with that.
490. Okay.
Angelo (02:50)
So let's see, mean, the 500, that could go somewhere. It could go somewhere.
Chris (02:53)
Okay, coming in hot. I love it. I love it. Just a refresher for any of you who forgot or didn't listen to the previous podcast. The Tri -State Tri -Facto is just a simple challenge. We're challenging you to shoot a deer in any of the three states you hunt. For us, the name comes from the Tri -State area, which is New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and they are the three primary states that we're going to be hunting this year.
We kind of came up with that. was just a friendly little thing between Angelo and I, and we quickly decided that we thought it was something our listeners could enjoy with us as well. So that is hashtag tri -state trifecta. Put that in, mention us, call us out. We are at Wing and Tail on Instagram. Hashtag Wing and Tail boys, hashtag Wing and Tail, hashtag commitment breeds success. Anything else there to notify our listeners about Angelo?
Angelo (03:46)
I think that's it as far as some of the housekeeping things we got going on. know again, just if you have time to just leave us one of the reviews and let us know what you guys are into, what you guys want to hear, what you guys have liked that you heard so far. And then please if you have any information that you want to send us, send it to us. If you have any pictures of you with any of the animals you were able to harvest this year, send them out. We'll feature you on the channel. Let everybody know that you're a faithful listener and we want to give you a shout out. And if you're able to...
compete in this challenge even if you just want to do it just for you to be a part of the channel just to be a part of the channel and grow with the community just send that in and you know if you have any footage let us know we might even be able to put you in a little snippet and have your own little clip in one of our videos coming up either on the podcast or the YouTube channel
Chris (04:34)
Yeah, that would be great. You know, getting our listeners, our community involved and get them together. You know, in this day and age, everything is done. feels like through a computer screen, whether it's a meeting, I mean, even us, we're meeting through, you know, via computer. And it's just nice to get out and kind of shake hands and talk to people face to face. So anytime we could do that, if you're in the Tri -State area and you would like to maybe get together with us for a hunt this year, I don't know about you, Andrew, but I think that'd be something pretty cool. You know, even if it's just to get out and help a new hunter.
maybe even record a hunt for somebody. Just anything that we can do to interact with our listeners and our viewers. I I'm all for it. What do you think, Edge?
Angelo (05:10)
Yes, that's great. One thing that I actually have lined up that kind of goes along with that. There's a guy, Brian, that's a buddy of mine from a club that I'm in. One of the clubs that I have, we have an agreement with some local towns that need some help culling some deer. So we have a contract with the town that we're going to be helping out this year. And we need to help cull the deer herd. The coyotes are really bad over there too. So we're going to be helping them out.
We donate a lot of the meat that goes to hunters for the hungry. So we're helping out in the charity and the community as well, giving back to some of the families that are under special needs or underprivileged or for whatever reason it is, if they fall on hard times, we want to help them out. So that's something that we're contributing to, especially early season before we kind of get into the thick of it before November hits. So we're definitely going to be doing that. If anybody's interested in donating, you can let me know too. If you're in the Tri -State area, I can get you hooked up.
and we can get some meals out to some people. But Brian is actually a 60 year old man and he is just now hunting. This is going to be his second year hunting. He's new to hunting. so we're going to, you know, there's never a time that's too late for you to start something that you, know, a hobby of yours. So we're actually going to take him out. We're going to take him to the property that we're going to be hunting this year. Him and I are going to be in the same lot.
We're going to go on a scouting journey tomorrow. We're going to look for access onto the property and maybe do a little bit of scouting there, see if we can't pick up on a little bit of deer sign, coach Brian up a little bit, kind of give him some pointers on how to find deer. Right now he's kind of just limited to, he went and picked up a trail camera for himself, put out a couple things to try to attract deer to his camera. And he's kind of taken a little bit of an inventory of what's near him. So.
We're going to give him a little bit more experience, kind of coach him up a little bit, see if we can't get him to step a little bit further into the woods to kind of get a little bit better deer quality. And he can help out not only himself, but he can help out the community and we can keep doing stuff like that. So that's, you know, what I've got coming up in the immediate future. Also on the YouTube front, I've got a, I've got a couple of videos planned. I've got a DIY target assembly video that I have. It's going to be a target build.
Something that's pretty low cost something I think people might be able to get their Hands on and be able to shoot out in their backyard or whatever it is You could shoot you just about anything into it and it's gonna be durable. It's gonna last a pretty pretty long time You don't have to break the bank doing that What else you got coming up? Yeah. Yeah keep an eye out
Chris (07:35)
Keep an eye out for that. Coming up, I'm in a little bit of a tight spot this year. And to be honest with you, it's something that just about every podcast about filming has warned me about. And I thought I was good enough and I wasn't. Unfortunately, my camera is finally outperforming my computer. I'm a Mac guy through and through. Love them. They work great when they work, but they age out at a certain time.
The MacBook Pro that I'm using is a 2014 or 2013 model, if I'm not mistaken. So it is just about at the end of its life and about a month ago, pretty much the last video I posted on YouTube, this computer stopped really being able to handle the entire editing process. So right now I'm in a position where I could do one of three things. I can either recruit Angelo to help me with the editing, which we might be leading that way. You and I kind of talked about that a little bit. I can choose to reduce.
the quality of the videos or I can try to just record the big things, know, the actual hunts and the B -roll and stuff like that and maybe put the YouTube channel like that, the how -to videos and stuff like that on the back burner. I really don't want to. Like I said, my hands are just a little tight as far as those videos are concerned. However, the positive side of it is I got a micro four thirds camera and for anyone, I'm not a camera guy. So I'm gonna do the best I can about.
Kind of describing what it is. A full frame camera you could just say is a really big aperture. It's got a really big lens opening. It allows in the most amount of light. What I have is a micro four thirds lens or a micro four thirds camera, which is a little bit smaller. I have a Lumix GH5. All the reviews and all the people I've talked to said it was a phenomenal recording camera. And it is, it takes great video, but it's not the greatest in low light conditions. And on the positive side, this past weekend, I spent a lot of time watching multiple different videos
going into the camera, figuring out the settings and actually finding something that improves the light quality in low light conditions. Now the trade off a little bit here is that, you know, it's gonna be a little bit more grainy. It's more artificial light than it is natural light, but I'd rather have a little bit of a grainy video and still be able to get that shot in low light conditions than to not be able to get the shot on camera at all. You know, so that's kind of the sticky situation I'm in right now.
Like I've said in a couple other podcasts, I just started a new job now. So once I get a couple of paychecks coming in, I should be able to square myself up and be able to upgrade that stuff. But other than that, I mean, everything else for the most part is kind of positive. You the food plots are coming in. Okay. You know, they're not the best we've had. They're not the worst we've had, but the deer are hammering them every night. Now we have deer on our field. And I really think it's because of the work I did this past weekend. I'm a firm believer, especially on my private property in.
Once I hit that month until the season starts, I'm really not trying to go into the woods anymore. Summer scouting to me doesn't affect deer. I've had deer stare at me as I'm walking by and they don't move, they don't do anything. So this past week, we're in New York, the season doesn't start until October 1st. And this past weekend, Labor Day weekend, I got out and finally sprayed a product that I've been dying to talk to everybody about and I just remembered it. So I'm go off on a little tangent here.
But the product is called Antler Grow. And if anyone knows the regs in New York right now, because of CWD, they're just not allowing baiting. In the past they did, and now they're not allowing baiting. I was under the impression that it's throughout the entire state. I've heard recently that it's only in certain areas of the state, but that's neither here nor there. The beautiful thing about this Antler Grow product is that it has the same
micronutrients that are in like a mineral lick. They're just in liquid form. And the laws recognize food plots separately from mineral sites or baiting sites. So a workaround for anyone in New York or in any other states where you're not allowed to bait or put out mineral, you could use something like the antler grow that has all these micronutrients, spray them on the plants and the deer getting the same nutrients that they would through a mineral site.
but now they're getting it through these plants that you're spraying. Typically, obviously, if you want to grow the antlers, you want to put this stuff in in the spring, but it can also be a great attractant and just also a great way to help your plants grow. So it's really like a threefold. You're attracting deer, you're helping grow the antlers in the spring, and you're helping your food plots grow with the nutrients, those micronutrients that may not be in your soil. Right now, they are not like an official partner of this podcast.
But we are in the works. They were kind enough to send me some products to test out. I've been looking at them for, for a very, very long time, reached out to the owner. And I mean, it was almost like an immediate response, helped me out with whatever I had. And so far so good since, since I think it was Friday that I sprayed the food plots since Sunday morning, it rained pretty much all day Saturday, but since Sunday morning, we have had a bachelor group of five or six bucks ranging from a year and a half old.
to our oldest, you what I think is a five or six year old buck. So I sprayed this stuff. Now the deer are coming in. I mean, one test isn't enough to prove something, but I would say our initial observations are that this stuff is working really great and I hope it continues into October.
Angelo (13:03)
Yeah, that's great. mean, that's a good piece of information, you know, for anyone who's got a little bit of land that they're able to manage. mean, if you're not able to bait, definitely look into this product. It's not something that, you know, might affect your deer herd, you know, but you might be able to get some deer coming in that maybe you didn't know were in your area and you can kind of take a little bit better of an inventory. One of the other things too that we were talking about, I know that one of the videos that we had posted in the past couple of weeks, we talked about our gear.
and some of the maintenance that we were doing to our gear. And I know that we, I don't know if we posted a video that went along with that podcast. It might've just been the audio file. I think that might've even been one of our very first podcasts. We were talking about some of the things that we, we did to our gear. And one of the things that you had mentioned that one time is you had your sticks that you made the eighters. You were going to maybe make them shorter. I know, I think you mentioned that you actually pulled that off. One of the things that I really liked that you had,
Chris (13:42)
Mm
Angelo (14:00)
shown me was the XOP holsters that you were using that were helping you climb the tree. That was one of the things that I actually implemented. So I don't have the XOP holster with me, but on my sticks here I have the button that goes with it. So you can see here this little button here. It's got this flat part here that would just sit into the holster on your hip and it just sits on your side and you're able to climb the tree with that.
This is something that I put on here and I tried climbing my tree and I'll tell you what, I actually love it. XOP's got a great product in that. I did have to do a little bit of DIYing with it. The screws were just not long enough for my setup. My sticks are a little bit thicker. I think it's made basically just for their sticks, which I think are a little bit thinner. So, I mean, it can be done. There's very easy to go. I just went to Home Depot, spent like, I don't know, three bucks on a screw and a...
and a nut, so that was something that was working. Another thing is you had, that's it, but you had, so your sticks had straps and my sticks have ropes, which I thought was weird when I first got them, but with this cinching system that these, and to be honest with you, I actually don't even know, these are muddy sticks. Just go with muddy, I'm guessing that's just a single name. I have to check on that, I can get you guys back. But this little cinching system,
Chris (14:55)
Three bucks on a nut, huh?
Angelo (15:20)
I'll tell you what, I love it. I get up and down the tree and like you've mentioned, I think we talked about it with Kevin a little bit yesterday. I'm up in the tree very fast. The only thing is I was limited in what I could do because I was using unsafe practices to get up in my tree that fast. I wasn't strapped in. I was kind of getting this stuff set up. And one of the things that I really wanted to focus on is safety, obviously.
Chris (15:26)
He's a monkey.
Angelo (15:46)
I get into my trees when I do hunt in the morning. I'm in there very early and I don't get out of my tree till it's dark and I don't want to have any accidents when I'm climbing in a tree. We definitely want to be safe first. So one of the other things I saw that you did was you took a string, an elastic string, and you had fastened it to the end of your strap and you were able to hook it into your steps so that you weren't having them dangle all over. I kind of went a little crazy here. I got these clamps.
I got an extra bungee cord that I had laying around. I was able to kind of cut it and make it work. But now, you know, for me, I had these sticks all strapped together and then I would cinch it down so that I would have them locked together. The only thing is it was forcing me to have to carry them in my hands all the way to my stand, which having them in one hand and my bow in the other, you know, by the time I get there, my arms are so fatigued. It was really hard for me to even hold the bow up.
So I needed to fix that. So now what I can do is because I have this rope situation figured out, I can get two sticks and I get each of them, each bundle of two fastened to either side of my backpack. It works perfect. I can walk in that weights down on my back and I can get to my stand. And then once I'm in my stand again, that XOP product is real handy. I think there may or may not be some other things, but this is seamless and it's 10 bucks for the kit for two sticks.
I usually set up my first stick right on the ground, I don't need it for that. And my second stick I usually also set it up right from the ground so I don't need it for that. And right now I'm running a four stick setup so I really only need it on two and they send you two for ten bucks. In my opinion you can't beat it if you're saddle hunting. Even if you're a mobile hunter where you're just using sticks and a hang on, I really honestly think that if you're climbing up, you want to go up one time, you can really benefit from this product.
Chris (17:28)
So.
Yeah, now for those listeners who aren't following along on the video, let me just clarify. What Angel was saying is, before he got this system or these new upgrades basically, for lack of better way to put it, what he was doing was stacking his four sticks, one on top of the other, and then taking all four ropes and just pretty much wrapping them around the sticks to just hold them in place, and then holding the top stick and walking into the woods with them that way.
Angelo (18:07)
horrible. Absolutely horrible.
Chris (18:09)
And then also to paint a picture for you of what he did with his ropes. For me, what I did was I took an, basically I took an elastic, long elastic cord, cut it down to size, tied a loop on one side, a loop on both sides actually, and then tied a knot into the end of my stick rope. That's how I made mine. And I just used that elastic to secure my string.
Angelo (18:30)
I would have loved to do that. The only thing is the elastic band that you had and the elastic band that I found, it was different diameters. And this one, because I found that the bungee cord was the same thickness, I was able to get these little clamps here and they really just clamped it together perfectly. They do not move. I do need to get a little bit of camo tape on that though. That is not going to stay that way before we get into the woods opening day.
Chris (18:33)
Yeah.
Black Sharpie, paint over it with Black Sharpie. It's a quick fix for you.
Angelo (18:57)
Yeah, I could do that too, but you know what? I'd rather get the tape on there just in case, God forbid, one of those ropes kind of dangle a little bit and they bang into the step or they bang into my anything else that's metal. It's just, it's let's just nip that in the bud before you see.
Chris (19:03)
Mm -hmm. Mm -hmm.
The other thing I will say is by Angelo using the bungee cord that he's using, he kept the hook on the end of the bungee cord so that hook can clip into the step, which the issue I had was my loop was too tight around my step and I was having a hard time pulling it off. So that's something I'm gonna look into fixing this week going into, well, we have nine days left until the season. Tomorrow morning makes nine mornings until our New Jersey season opener.
Angelo (19:18)
yeah.
Chris (19:40)
minimal time left to do the things we have to do. Yeah. Now to touch on what Angelo was saying about my Aiders, I actually love using the Aiders, but I love anything DIY. If you go back and listen to the podcast we recorded with Kevin last night, I talked about the same thing. There's just something about making something yourself and using it to find success. I I taught myself how to play guitar back in the day. It's just, there's just something about doing it yourself, right?
Angelo (19:43)
Yeah, I'm up against it.
Chris (20:08)
So I made my own aiders. made a three step aider for my first stick and then a one step aider for my second stick. And basically what that does is that gives me two plus more double sticks, you know, as far as the extra, the extra length goes. So that just gives me the opportunity to get a little higher. I'm short, man. I'm real short. think maybe I have a 17 inch step if I'm lucky, you know, so I need anything I can to get the, to get the height.
Last year I used triple steps, know, sticks that had three steps on them and they were just too heavy, too cumbersome. They stuck out from my platform that I was walking in with and I just didn't, I didn't like them. wasn't crazy about it. Not to mention, and this is nothing against XOP, but on the double sticks, I could take the top single step and the bottom single step off and replace them with double steps, which I did. Now I have double, double steps, but on the triple steps, you cannot remove the middle step.
maybe now I could actually, cause I figured out how to remove the other one, but at the time I did it, I didn't know how to do it. And now I much prefer the double sticks because they're lighter, they're shorter, they're lighter, they're easier to pack in the, the, the profile of them fits inside of my, my hang on. I put my hang on on my back. use the XOP shelf to sit my backpack on and I just carry everything in like that. So if everything can stay within the profile of that platform.
Then I don't have to worry about catching sticks or branches or anything like that. When I'm walking in, I don't even think the tree stand comes up over my head. And if it does, it's only like maybe four inches. So on that, on that level, we're, we're pretty good. staying on the topic of gear, I don't want to get too, too far into like, you know, different kinds of arrow builds and which one you prefer over whatever. We're going to talk about that in the future. maybe an episode or two dedicated specifically to building arrows, but.
If you could give us a quick rundown of the arrow you are going into the season with, what does it look like?
said, actually, funny you asked.
Angelo (22:10)
Same arrows I used last year. Gold tip.
Gold Tip Hunter 300. This is discontinued. I've got seven left. They're built differently. I have four of one build. That's my heavy build. That's the build that I'm going to be continuing to use this year. And I have three of a lighter build, depending on what I'm doing. So the first beginning part of the season, I'm going to be using my heavy build.
And then once we kind of get the leaves off the trees and there might be some ability to shoot a little bit further, I'm going to retune my bow and I will be shooting my three leftover lighter arrows.
Chris (22:53)
Awesome. And our goal this year is for you to have to buy new arrows by the end of the hunting season. If you have to buy new arrows, it's been a great year.
Angelo (22:59)
Hey, listen. Hey, listen. I mean, if I don't have to buy new arrows, it's also been a great year because I haven't, I've been lucky enough to find them, but because they're so heavy, pass through, pass through. So, you know, I've also got a miss in there, so that helps too. But yeah, I mean, we've been lucky enough so far to have close shots and.
Chris (23:14)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Angelo (23:25)
one clean miss so we've been able to retrieve our arrows every time.
Chris (23:29)
Okay, now I'm going into the season using what is known as an Aero Concept 1 .0 build. It's not quite a heavy build, it's not quite a light build. It's more, I would call it a balanced build. As close as you can get to 8 % FOC, not to get crazy with the whole FOC conversation, but that 8 % FOC is what I'm looking for. 412 grains, light and knock on the back end. And I'm going into the season using a fixed blade, single bevel, three blade broadhead.
Like I said, I don't want to get any more specific than that because we're going to have a nice little conversation about that down the road. But that's what I'm going into the season with. Last I clocked it, we were right around 280 feet per second, 280 feet per second on a 410, 415 grain arrow. I mean, that's bright in the money sweet spot for me.
Angelo (24:19)
That's cool, I just actually got an update from trail camera over at the area where we're going to be hunting and...
That's unfortunate. So pretty nice deer there, but the area we're going to be hunting is an eight point limit and this looks like it's a seven pointer. So unless he's got a little growing left in him, he's going to be for next year. Anyway.
Chris (24:31)
That's unfortunate.
Okay. So on that, on that topic, have the season starting next week. As we're recording this episode, it is September 4th. I am finally, and to me, this seems late. The only place I have cameras out is in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. I'm going old school, woodsmanship, tracking, scouting on, you know, on site, find the hot signs, sit on it, whatever. Up in New York, we finally started seeing deer shed their velvet.
Unfortunately, I have not been fortunate enough to get any of those pictures where you know, you see velvet hanging and, you know, the red, you know, the, you know, the blood vessels exposed. I, we haven't seen that, but what we have seen is, know, we'll see a deer. I saw a deer, let's say two days ago on camera, fuzzy antlers, velvet today found him, saw him in the food plot, that bachelor group I was telling you about. And he's hard horn and white. I'm not quite sure about our shooter. We have one shooter. Like I said, I think he's about six years old, give or take a year. And.
It looks like he's still in velvet. Again, it's really hard to tell from the pictures, but we're getting there, man. I'm hoping when I get up there next time that I start to see some fresh rub sign and scrapes on.
Angelo (25:55)
Yeah, we'll see. I pulled over on the side of the road. think it was two days ago now. And I told you there was a deer that had just gotten hit probably that morning or the night before. And he was still full velvet. So, you know, we still got 10. Yeah, like you said, nine days on the ninth morning will be in the woods. So we'll hopefully see. I mean, it would be really cool to have one with a little bit of velvet still on it. Maybe has some hanging off that make for some great pictures.
Chris (26:05)
Mm -hmm.
Angelo (26:24)
Anyway, so I know we wanted to talk on some of these regulations. So talking about the deer, let's talk about the different things that we can have. So specifically in New Jersey, there's a couple things. That's where I'm at. I'm going to touch on them. I'm just going to go in order. So one of the things is New Jersey's got laws now that they just passed for concealed carry. Anybody who's got a concealed carry permit is allowed to carry a pistol with them. New law amended.
Chris (26:50)
while hunting, they're allowed to carry it while they're hunting.
Angelo (26:52)
So new law amended, it looks like it was proposed in 2023 and passed, authorizes the carrying of a handgun while hunting if the handgun is legally owned and the person in possession of that has a valid New Jersey concealed carry permit. Handguns are still not legal for taking, attempting to take wildlife. States that you must have your concealed, I'm sorry, yeah.
you must have your concealed carry permit on your person while carrying a handgun. So you are able to take that into the woods with you. You are not able to draw it unless it's a life threatening situation and you must have your concealed carry permit with you. Another thing that we have for this year. Yeah, yeah, go ahead.
Chris (27:33)
Okay. No, on that topic real quick. Sorry. Same, same topic in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania, for those of you who don't know is a constitutional Carrie state. Anyone is allowed to open Carrie. it's been brought to my attention to be honest with you. I haven't looked into it yet simply because I still have another month until the season starts. When I went to college and I was, you know, bird hunting with my dog, that's the real, that's the original reason I got my pistol. And back then,
The open carry laws pretty much stated that you can open carry anywhere, anytime, you know, other than federal, federal buildings and blah, blah, blah. So I didn't worry about getting a concealed carry or anything when I was here, cause I was allowed to open carry it. Now I think they've changed that law. You either need a concealed carry permit in Pennsylvania to carry your pistol while hunting, or you can have what is called a sportsman's carry permit. And that allows you to, to carry concealed it while you're hunting, fishing, trapping, or dog training.
You know, so that's not a that's not an open across, you know blanket concealed carry permit But that is something that will allow you to use it when most people want it I mean, that's personally why I got it my pistol in the first place anyway to use for safety when I was hunting So for those of you who are maybe like me, you know, that's the only place you want to use it Just make sure you get yourself that sportsman's carry if you're gonna be in, Pennsylvania
Angelo (28:50)
Yeah, that's good info. I also saw this year, looks like New Jersey is starting a tagging process, right? So you're going to have a transportation tag. It says here in the book, do not move the deer until you fill out a deer transportation tag. And you must attach this to the deer in zones where two deer may be taken at a time. Each deer must have its own transportation tag with the following information.
Obviously your name, harvest date, season information, all that stuff you guys can find in the digest. This is a picture here. If you're able to see in the video of the transportation tags, you can cut them out. You can find them online on the website. You can print them out for yourself. You must have them with you. You cannot take the deer out of the woods unless you have it on your deer. So you might need to bring, this is page 29 on the digest. You could find the transportation tag.
Chris (29:38)
What page of the digest is that on?
Angelo (29:45)
And it also has a supplemental harvest log. You must keep a log in case anybody ever wants to question you about that. Also here, major changes for the 2024 -25 season. Brandt bag limits. You're talking about people who are into the migratory birds. Your brandt bag limit has now been reduced to one bird. Hunters should carefully check season dates for brandt while duck hunting. So that is something that you want to keep a...
Chris (30:12)
Guys
Angelo (30:15)
lie out for if you're hunting the waterfowl in New Jersey.
Chris (30:19)
Yeah. And, and hopefully we get an opportunity. We've been talking about waterfowl being something that we really, really want to get into. was fortunate enough to get invited by our cousin, Joey last year. I went on a nice bird hunting trip with him or a duck trip with him down in South Jersey. And I realized real quickly how important it is to be able to identify the birds you're shooting at on the wing, especially when you have a bird where you're only allowed to shoot one a day. You got to make sure you know what you're shooting at because telling a game warden you didn't know, or you didn't, you couldn't recognize it isn't, isn't an excuse.
You know, so if you are new to bird hunting or duck hunting, specifically waterfowl, make sure you either do a lot of practice identifying birds before the season starts, or just make sure you go with someone who's knowledgeable. Someone maybe who's been doing it a little while is able to identify birds on the wing who can help you as you go, as you get started.
Angelo (31:08)
Yeah, and if you're unsure, you're better off not taking the shot. As much as I would like to say harvest and have fun, we got to make sure that we're following the rules. We don't want to lose our privileges. This is something that we need to make sure that we're able to keep for ourselves because we provide for ourselves and our families by hunting. And the last thing we want is to lose that privilege over one duck. So we definitely don't want to do that.
Chris (31:11)
100%, always.
Angelo (31:31)
Moving forward, Pennsylvania regulations for black bear. The October muzzleloader season will be shortened to three days to reduce the harvest rates on female bears and thereby hopefully promoting the stabilization of the bear population.
For those people who want bears, mean, that's a good thing. For the people who are hating the fact that there are so many bears, that might not be something that you're thrilled about. for hunters, that's what we care about. We care about the ability for these populations to be healthy. We don't just want to decimate them. We want to make sure that they're healthy. That's the whole point of having the fish and game wildlife regulations. We're here to...
manage these populations and we definitely don't want to lose out on these populations for future generations. just be aware of that. If you weren't aware now you are and just make sure that you are following the regulations in your state. Some of these things might already be put in place in your state so make sure that you're checking the regulations. We're just going over new standout regulations that have been added to the different states in the Northeast. So if you're in the Northeast you're going to want to stick around New Jersey.
Chris (32:18)
For sure.
Angelo (32:41)
You might have to rewind.
Chris (32:42)
Something to point out to bear hunting in New York. I don't have the exact dates in front of me. If you have them in front of you, maybe you can add them in here at the end. But New York opens sometime in September. An early season rifle season or firearm season for bear. Okay. So it opens this weekend. I think it runs for the three weeks of September. So you can go in the woods now and rifle hunt. I'm gonna be honest with you. I have a bear that is on our...
Angelo (32:50)
Not quick enough.
this weekend, this weekend. Yeah, yeah, bears this weekend, the seventh.
Chris (33:08)
family property that is probably pushing close to a state limit. This thing's a freaking, yeah, I would say he's a horse, but that would be an understatement. The fucking thing's Okay, but being that we're managing the property for deer, the last thing I wanna do is go into our property before I can hunt the deer and start shooting off a rifle. The nice thing is in New York, you were allowed one bear on the season and I'm pretty sure that you're able to shoot it.
Angelo (33:11)
Check into.
Chris (33:34)
Anything at any time of the year if you are out deer hunting and you are legally deer hunting and you have your bear permit You can shoot that bear with the bow during both season rifle during rifle season muzzleloader during muzzleloader season and so on you get one bear Now as far as Jersey's concerned, I know I think it was last year. They had a short archery season for bear and then I think
Angelo (33:54)
The last, yeah, so it's seven days. The first three days are archery only or the first four days are archery only. And then the second half of the week you're allowed to use your Muscle Loader.
Chris (34:04)
Okay, you know, so that's nice. That's kind of something that's been on and off in New Jersey over, would say what the last decade, 15 years, you know, we get the bear hunt for a couple of years and then we lose the bear hunt for a couple of years. And I think over the last maybe four years, give or take is when they started messing around with the, with the idea of having a bow season for bear and a firearm season for bear. If I'm not mistaken originally, it was only during six day shotgun. Is that correct?
Angelo (34:32)
I couldn't tell you actually right now off the top of my head.
Chris (34:35)
Okay. I think if I'm not, if I'm not, and I mean, I'm going back over 10 years now, to be honest with you. Yeah, absolutely. And, and last year, unfortunately I'm going to share the story because I think it's important for us to be aware of the good and the bad going on in our industry, because hopefully we can continue to do the good and maybe help some people fix the bad in the, in the town I worked in last year, someone decided that it would be a really great idea to shoot three cubs and a mother bear because
Angelo (34:40)
It's in New Jersey specifically it's been a hot topic, sensitive topic.
Chris (35:04)
They were just hanging around their house and they didn't like it. So they shot them, they left them in the woods, they didn't recover them. Absolutely disgusting. And the game wardens found them. They filed whatever charges they had to. And for a short period of time, I'm pretty sure the season was, they said they were gonna stop the bear hunt for the year. And then last minute, I think they reinstated it. But I mean, just an awful story, guys. I mean, we're here to share the community. The woods are for everybody, the animals are for everybody.
We get it, bears can be intrusive at times, but you know, do your due diligence. If you live in the woods, put your food away, put your garbage away, you know, do what you can to not encourage them to come.
Angelo (35:42)
Just for your own cleanliness too. It's not just about the bears, right? You don't want to attract the bears, but you don't want to attract any rodents, you don't want to attract any other unwanted pests. But just for your own cleanliness, let's clean up. Same thing like when you're hiking. If you bring it in, take it out.
Chris (35:56)
Sure. And you know, I guess what I'm getting at is practice ethical habits, do the right thing. You know, don't, you know, like Angela said, whatever you bring in, take it out, leave the woods with more than you brought in whenever you can and just respect the, the privilege that we have, because at the end of the day, this isn't a right. And if we take advantage of it, we're going to lose more of the privileges than, than we gain. just something to keep in mind as we, you know, as we move forward.
Angelo (36:24)
Exactly. All right, let's move forward. Let's touch on some more stuff from Pennsylvania. In the Wildlife Management Units 4A, 4D, 5A, an extended firearm season for antlerless deer will be held from January 2nd to January 20th, running concurrently with the final two weeks of the flintlock and late archery seasons. Chronic wasting disease is present in these areas and extended seasons are being offered to help meet the deer harvest goals there.
Okay, so that's something that we want to do to try to help out in those areas. If you live in those areas, if you are a hunter in those areas, try to contribute to these extended seasons when you can. Try to help out, get the deer numbers down. If there are going to be people hunting in those areas, you don't want to have that chronic wasting disease get out of hand. We want to try to terminate that when we can. You know, lot of people, know, January to January 20th, you're freezing your butt off to go in there and hunt an undesirable deer, but it's going to help be for the better good.
Chris (37:16)
Yeah.
And mad respect to those of you going out and hunting with flintlock. I have heard so many horror stories of the powder getting wet, the flint getting wet, the gun not firing. For any of you who have had those heartbreaks and keep getting out and hitting the ground with your flintlock, props.
Angelo (37:37)
Yeah, I wouldn't be able to stand for that. I did have a cap not go off on my muzzleloader, so I don't know. I think we just need to be able to hunt with rifles in New Jersey. Let's come on. Anyway, yeah, come on already. But anyway, wild turkey fall season length will be increased in unit 11 wildlife. I'm sorry. In 11 wildlife management units, 5A.
Chris (37:46)
Hmm? Eh?
Yeah, Jersey, you listening? Right, foes.
Angelo (38:06)
which was previously closed to fall hunting will be opened for a three day season. Season length will be reduced in wildlife management unit 3D and 4C. So increase in 11 units and it looks like a 5A which was previously closed will be open for a shortened season and then you'll have a reduced season in 3D and 4C. So two units are getting shafted there, but 11, 12 actually are going to see some increases, which is great.
Chris (38:34)
Awesome.
Angelo (38:34)
Last thing in Pennsylvania, fur bearers wildlife management unit 2D will be open to bobcat hunting and trapping. That's going to be interesting. Also, the fisher trapping season will be increased by one week in all WMUs, so wildlife management units open to fisher harvest. This will allow concurrent fisher and bobcat trapping seasons. Cool. We can't do that in New Jersey. Wish we could. I saw a beautiful bobcat two years ago. Had an amazing coat on it. Thick, beautiful.
Happy to see that they're coming back a little bit. Again, we would love to have these numbers of these different species fluctuating, but also healthy. And if that can come back, that'd be great. That'd be awesome to see in the woods. I'd love a nice bobcat sighting.
Chris (39:20)
yeah, they're beautiful.
Angelo (39:22)
New York regulations this is going to affect you a little bit the paper used for sporting license and carcasses tagged have now been changed from special stock Valeron to plain paper this change allows hunters to receive their licenses and tags through email and Will allow them to print in their own home So for any pretty people who are hating to have to go out and buy your licenses you can now get them at your house in New York Legislation yeah
Chris (39:41)
Mm -hmm.
Also, speaking on licenses, I don't remember if it's New York or New Jersey. I want to say it's New York because New Jersey really doesn't ever give us anything. But I think in New York this year starting, you do not have to have your license on your back. Double check that. don't remember if it's New York. Spoiler alert! Is it New York though? I right?
Angelo (40:01)
We're getting there. We're getting there. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. I don't believe it's New York. I think that that's already in place in New York. It might have already been put in place. So just double check in New York. That might be something that they're talking about. It might be something that's already in place. Could have been put in place last year. That might be why it's fresh in your mind. But just keep that. Yeah, that's a good one. That's going to be on here for sure. Legislation passed.
Chris (40:14)
Okay.
Angelo (40:30)
I really can't even believe this. Legislation has been passed that removes the requirement for hunters to wear a back tag while hunting anywhere in New York State. That is funny. And that was not planned. That was, I literally am still shocked. I almost like, was trying to find that on the paper. I didn't even look at the very next thing I was about to read. That is great. So yeah, so no more back tags, which is amazing because how many times you walk through a thick area and you turn around and your tags gone.
Chris (40:42)
Got it.
That's amazing.
Angelo (41:00)
That sucks. And then not only do you have to replace your tag, but you've got to replace your beautiful tag holder and you probably ripped your jacket if that's the case too. So.
Chris (41:09)
That's probably why they did it though, if they switched the paper. But if they switched the paper...
Angelo (41:11)
Well, if someone comes up to you and you're a game warden, if you need to see my documentation, I'd be happy to present it to you. If you could just wait one second.
Chris (41:19)
For sure. But the fact is the old paper that they had, it was almost like glossy, whatever material that you read off of. Yeah, Valero, there it is, a gas station, if you will. But it was waterproof. If you got it wet, it didn't matter because you dried it it was good to go. But now they're made out of paper. If they require you to keep a tag on your back and it's made out of paper and it gets wet, now they forcefully made you ruin your tag. So I guess it was out of necessity that they took it off your back.
Angelo (41:26)
Valeron. That's what they say it is. Yeah, stock Valeron.
Yeah, sounds good. 2023 -2024 legislation passed that allowed the use of rifles to hunt big game in Onondaga County. If I'm saying that incorrectly, I'm sorry. The law expires October 1st, 2025. So make sure that you keep an eye out for the deer and bear hunting regulations for that county.
because it could go back to the way it was after 2025. Maybe they keep it, who knows. Depending on what we do, if you are going to be hunting with your rifle in those areas, do it responsibly so that we can continue to hunt in those areas. If no one's been able to hunt with rifles in those areas, we can almost guarantee there's going to be some pretty good animals in those areas. So if we do the right thing, we might be able to continue to hunt those areas. For a map of legal hunt, for a legal...
Sorry, for a map of legal hunting implements for big game hunting by county. can visit the New York website. You can find all the information you need there. Anything else on New York for you?
Chris (42:48)
not that I know of, no. I really like, just, just a touch on it. really like what New York's doing. They have a, I'm not sure if it's across the whole state or not. think I always thought it was three points on one side or better across the whole state, but I listened to a podcast recently where a native of New York said that in his area, it wasn't. So who am I to question that, you know? but I really liked the idea of the state's doing this and
I'm a little disappointed in New Jersey, simply in the fact that we had a, we had a survey come out this past year where it asked anyone who had purchased a license to go through the questionnaire and answer questions based on how they liked the regulations and what they would change if they could, you know, specific questions. And one of the things on there was the antler restrictions. Do you like them? Have you had to pass up deer that you would have shot? it, how do I, I don't want to sound like I'm
I'm being rude to like newer hunters or younger hunters. think there should be an exception in there for, for younger people or newer hunters or whatever the case is to spark that interest. But just about, I don't want to say just about everyone, but a lot of hunters out there, they're looking for a nice deer that they can cut, that they can take home and be proud of. And New Jersey is thinking about removing that antler restriction. And the truth is having an antler restriction allows deer to get a little bit older.
maybe it allows a deer one more year, right? Instead of shooting that fourth deer, that fourth buck, it needs one more year to become a six pointer. And now it goes out that year and breeds four to eight doe or whatever it is. So it gives them one more year to increase the deer population and sustain things. Nevermind the trophy aspect of it, which I'm all for it. I'm all for shooting mature deer. think that in the idea of
herd management concept. The idea is shoot the older mature deer who have lived, they've reproduced, they're coming to the end of their life cycle, kill off the older deer, let the younger ones grow and that's how you sustain a population.
Angelo (44:54)
Yeah, I mean that's a smart thing and I don't want to be selfish either in some of the things that I say but you know one of the things too about the mature deer, some of the older deer they are more susceptible to death in the winter months, they're more susceptible to disease. We want to keep those down so you know it's not like we're saying hey you got to wait till they're nine years old. We're just saying hey you know let's just keep a three point point restriction. I think that's reasonable. I don't think it has to be four point restriction.
We definitely want the deer numbers to increase, but what we have to realize, and this is one of the things, I don't want to go on too much of a tangent here, but the people who are making these regulations, they're trying to please both sides. And one of the things that you can't do is please both sides. You're going to have people who say, I don't want the antler restriction. I want to be able to hunt whatever I want. I want to be able to put meat in my freezer. I only have a certain amount of days to hunt. I want to shoot whatever I see. And that's that.
Then you've got people who are trophy hunters who are not really affected by it because they're not shooting a six pointer or four corn anyway. But the thing that they don't realize is what they're trying to do is they're trying to say, we want to open the limitations so that people can hunt more deer because the deer numbers are getting out of control. But they're not getting out of control where people can hunt. That's the issue. The deer are going into the private property areas. They're going into these areas where they know they can be kept out of harm's way, which I don't blame them.
And that's part of the game. But the thing is, the people are saying, hey, there's more deer than I've ever seen. We've to do something about it. They put these restrictions on the hunters, and then the hunters are having restrictions. And all it does is increase the deer in their areas. Because the hunters, maybe they are able to harvest a couple more deer. But now you've got less area for these deer to go because, you know,
They're safe over where they're at. Maybe a couple deer get pushed into public land, but then they're instantly harvested. So, you know, that's just going to make for unpleasant experiences for hunters. But that's just that's just what I want to say.
Chris (46:47)
I mean, we all know that deer are going to make their way into places where they're not bothered. And we know that deer aren't always going to be bothered by people. They're going to be bothered by people that are affecting them. How do I put this? Okay, so we have a park in the town where we're from, where you can literally go and walk through the park and be within four yards of a giant buck. Why?
because they see people walking by all day, every day. They're never bothered by them and they get used to it. Right. So these deer have
Angelo (47:23)
Not to cut you off, sorry. I have footage from the Grand Canyon when I went with my wife on a cross -country road trip a couple years ago. And I've got pictures of me standing next to bull elk. Like I could be leaning on their shoulder if I wanted to. I didn't want to touch them. It's a whole nother argument. You don't want to interfere with wildlife. I mean, I literally could have put my arm on the deer and leaned on it and just while it was eating and just did not care. It really is, know, it's unbelievable.
Chris (47:50)
Exactly. mean, they're eating people's hostas. They're eating people's plants. They have these protected woods where people are there. People are allowed to recreate, but they're not allowed to hunt. So like you're saying, these deer are moving into these places where they're not able to hunt. And never mind being able to hunt, not being able to hunt, whatever. To me, my argument has always been, and you can call me silly if you want, but my argument has always been no parent should hit a deer taking their kids to school. It shouldn't happen. It shouldn't happen as regularly as it does.
You know, so if you, if you're living in a town or an area where there's a high deer population, you don't have enough woods to sustain those deer and they're literally walking the streets of your town. Then they need to, there needs to be a compromise. There needs to be something where they open up that forest for a specific weekend or maybe a span of three or four weekends where, know, you're only allowed to archery hunt and they close off the, they close off the park for those, you know, those weekends, those, those, those weekends in a row or whatever the case may be.
But I mean, our family lives in Fort Lee and anyone who lives in New Jersey, you know, Fort Lee is right across the water from the Hudson into New York City. All right. And my uncle is seeing deer bigger in Fort Lee than he sees in his, in the woods. I don't know if anyone knows Fort Lee, there isn't an area where there's more, there's a cluster bigger than five trees in any one place. Where the heck are these deer going?
Angelo (49:11)
Yeah, I mean, along the Hudson, they do have a small park there that kind of runs down. I mean, there's a ton of deer in there. But I mean, yeah, you're right. I mean, they're inside the city limits. They're hanging out in small little clusters of trees wherever they can. They're eating people's gardens. They're eating people's stuff. Anyway, we're getting too much on tangent there. But yeah, I mean, yeah, it is what it is. I mean, that's just the truth. So there are some states making some changes. We're trying to highlight some of those changes. Some of them are good. Some of them are bad. We'll talk about it.
Chris (49:26)
Sorry, yeah, I got a little hot there.
Angelo (49:38)
One of the other states I have here in Rhode Island regulation, new law bars the use of manmade or natural barriers intended to prevent animals from fleeing the confined area of a hunt in Rhode Island. Private lands set up as hunting or shooting preserves or game branches are included under the law. The legislation also states no species of animal may be imported or captured for use in captive hunting.
So it looks like they're taking away deer farms in Rhode Island. I don't know if that's going to mean they have to take their fences down. But if they do, there's going to be some big boys on the loose. There is going to be in Rhode Island. So if you are able to hunt in some of those pockets, you might find a pretty big deer there. I don't know how that's going to, I don't know if they're going to let those deer go into any Boone and Crockett record books, if they can find out that they were originally farmed. But that'll be interesting to keep an eye on.
Chris (50:09)
eye fences.
Monsters! Yuck!
Unicorn.
You know, that brings up a good point. And we didn't, we haven't even talked about this before that that brings up a pretty big ethical question, right? Cause let's say you go hunting, you go to Rhode Island and let's just say you don't know about this regulation and you're just out in the woods hunting. And all of a sudden this big,
Angelo (50:49)
You should always be up to date on your state's regulations, by the way, for the listeners to see. But this is the hypothetical situation. Because our listeners are always up to date on their regulations.
Chris (50:52)
Right. But yeah, yeah, 100%. Yeah, there's a hypothetical situation. Yeah. But like, this is like, this is something like, how do I even put it? Like, this is such like a specific thing. Like if you're not a rancher or a deer farm owner, this isn't like a regulation that's going to jump out to you is basically what I'm getting at. You know what I mean? But anyway, if you're in the woods, Rhode Island, you're hunting, you didn't know about this. And all of sudden you see this slammer non -typical come out.
Angelo (51:14)
of course.
Chris (51:22)
Right? You're innocent. You're an innocent hunter that didn't know any better. You shoot this animal and because it was released from a place you didn't know about it. You know what I mean? So I get it. It's not fair to the other hunters who hunted real wild animals, but at the same rate, it's not that hunters fault that that a deer that was raised came to him.
Angelo (51:43)
I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. have my deer inside. It's a non -typical deer. It's got somewhere between 17 and 21 points. It's pretty gnarly. It's got some pretty jacked up stuff going on. Great story, great story. My father hunted it a couple of years in the past, had shot it with the muzzleloader, injured it. A lot of times when the deer's injured, that's why they grow the funky tines. It was not entered into the New Jersey.
Chris (51:55)
It's got a double main beam, doesn't it?
Angelo (52:11)
non -typical hall of fame, guess you can call it. I don't know what they call those record books because it did not have even so this is the weirdest thing. It's the stupidest thing in the world. I'm so annoyed but it really doesn't bother me. It still has to be typical. So the non -typical stores based off of how
Chris (52:14)
record book yet. Yep.
He's annoyed but it doesn't bother him.
Angelo (52:32)
They're really just looking for stickers, right? In order for you to score a huge non -typical score, what they really want is like a mainframe 10 or 12 or whatever, you know, 14 pointer, 16 pointer, and then they want like a couple stickers coming off or a drop tine. That's what they want. It's BS in my opinion. You want to talk about a funky looking non -typical deer and you want to talk about has mass and size, you got to find a way to score them better.
I don't even I'm not even saying for my benefit. I don't even care It's you know, it's years in the past, but you've got to find a way to better score It's just got to be total mass. I mean have a different category for the real freaky guys out there anyway moving on Vermont regulations and this is no specific order I'm just going with kind of the shortest ones first and then we'll hit these last ones No more than four deer per year. Only one may be a legal buck
Chris (53:12)
Yeah
Angelo (53:25)
Youth and novice hunters can take two legal bucks. to be young again. Provided one, I mean, provided one is taken in the youth season. So it's not like you just, you know what I mean? So it's like you have your youth season, you can shoot a buck and then you're participating in the regular season, you get an additional buck. They're trying to incentivize the new hunters. I like it.
Chris (53:30)
You see what I'm saying though? That's what I'm talking about.
Okay, okay.
Right, what I was getting.
Yeah, what I was getting at was what I was saying earlier, how Jersey should keep an antler restriction, but have an exception for novice hunters or youth hunters. That is what they're doing. You said that was Vermont, right? You know, I love that. Give them one little extra little carrot. Give them another reason to get out there.
Angelo (53:58)
Yes, Vermont.
I mean it sucks though because it looks like they're limiting how many deer people are able to shoot so as much as it's nice to have that it's not like everyone was able to shoot one and now they're just adding for the kids. It looks like it they're limiting it and I'd have to double check and I'm mad that I didn't. No more than four deer per year sounds like to me that they're limiting so it sounds like they're shutting that down.
Chris (54:21)
Yeah, not I will say this. Now some, some States are definitely better at this, but your bag limits are meant to be. And if I'm not mistaken, most States do it this way. Your bag limits are set based on how many hunters you have and how many, and what the deer population looks like. What, what I hope that a lot of hunters already know, but I'll go ahead and share it anyway, is that the whole purpose that we're allowed to hunt any animal.
whether it is small game, big game, whatever the case is, because they're overpopulated. And we are out there hunting. Yes, we're providing for our family. Yes, some of us go out there to trophy hunt. Yes, it's an adrenaline rush. It's a sport for us. All of those things are true and valid reasons to be a hunter. But the main purpose of hunting, and we cannot lose sight of this, is meant for population control.
The only reason we're out there is for population control. So in a state like Vermont, where maybe they're starting to limit the number of deer, the total number of deer that people are about to shoot, I would venture to guess that it's because the population is starting to drop slightly and they want to get ahead of it before they end up with a population crisis. I don't know any specifics. I'm just pointing out that the states do change the bag limits based on the deer population and the number of hunters out
Angelo (55:29)
Yeah.
Yeah, so again in Vermont, person shall not intentionally or knowingly kill a covered wild animal and intentionally or knowingly fail to make a reasonable effort to retrieve it. Covered wild animals include moose, deer, bear, turkey, gray squirrels, snowshoe hare, cottontail rabbits, game birds, crows, fur bears. The covered wild animal must be processed as food or fur.
hide or feathers. I'm hoping they're not excluding meat if you're just a fur hunter. I would hope that the person who is hunting or trapping for fur is also using the meat. I'm not going to judge anyone though for what their tactics are, but you know that's just speaking from what I feel. Or if they're used for taxidermy. So in that wording, technically what it sounds like is
Chris (56:24)
Yeah, speaking on bear, I did, sorry.
Angelo (56:32)
You're not allowed to knowingly kill an animal unless you have the intentions to use the fur, use the feathers, use it to hide, or use it for taxidermy. So to be honest, it almost sounds like you can kind of skirt it. You can just kill a deer if you're trophy hunting and you don't have to use the meat as long as you're going to have it taxidermied. Not really crazy about that. Just to finish this off and then we'll get your thoughts. I know you have something to say. Coyotes that are taken by lawful means other than trapping.
Chris (56:51)
Right, which is a, yeah me either. Yeah, yep.
Angelo (56:59)
and are retrieved and disposed of legally are expected from these required uses. A coyote or its parts or parts of the other covered animals may not be left along public right of way or highway on posted property without landowner permission or where otherwise prohibited. So what they're saying is you harvest an animal you must take the entire animal out of the woods if you're not going to harvest the meat.
That's your prerogative, I guess, but you have to dispose of it properly. You can't just dump it anywhere you want. If it's something that's good to eat, I would hope that you would eat it. If not, it seems like you cannot take a coyote just to kill it. have to use one of these process. I'm sorry. One of these outcomes, it has to be processed for food. You have to use the fur in some way and the hide in some way. Obviously, a coyote doesn't have feathers.
or has to be taxidermy.
Chris (57:55)
Okay, and which, I don't, how do I feel about that? I like the idea that you can't just kill something just to kill it. I don't think we're not, we're,
Angelo (58:03)
I mean, yeah, it's basically what they're coming down to. They're trying to eliminate people just either killing animals for sport, killing animals for trophies and leaving the meat in the woods, or, you know, killing animals that might be getting in your trash.
Chris (58:15)
Yeah, now I'm okay with that. I don't wanna promote the idea of we're killers. I mean, yeah, we go out, we harvest animals, but I don't know about you, Ange. Every single animal I have ever shot at, maybe with the exception of pheasant, because it happens so quickly, but every single deer I've shot at, I've had a split moment where I recognize the fact that this animal's alive, I'm about to take its life, and I owe it every ounce of everything I have.
to make the best shot I can and harvest that animal in the most humane way possible. There's always that split moment before the shot where that goes through my head, whether that's when they're walking in before I grab my bow or in the moment of the shot before I draw back, there's always that split moment. So, you know, just keep that in mind.
Angelo (59:00)
Yeah, I mean it comes down for respect to the animal, respect for the sport, respect for your hobby, right? You want to be doing it the right way, you want to give it all your, you know, you're not just going to go out and do anything half -assed. This is one thing that you definitely don't want to do, especially when you're talking about using weapons, having firearms. You want to be safe and all those things. You just don't want to be out there reckless. There are people who kind of flirt with those lines, but you know, I think we all kind of lean towards hunters, respect these animals.
probably just as much if not more than anyone else out there. So we just want to do the right thing. Speaking of which, a little insight into some of the things I have planned. This year, I'm hoping to harvest a animal and we're going to be doing a docu -series on harvesting the hide. We're going to be tanning the hide, going to be fleshing the hide, we're going to be using the buckskin or the doe skin. Who knows? You wouldn't be able to tell. I'm going to put it up on the wall, maybe get something going on here.
We're gonna try to use just about everything that we have. We're gonna try to use some of the stuff For me going forward. I don't know unless I shoot a real giant I think your amounts gonna be the way to go last year I kind of got a couple pointers on how to do it this year if we shoot anything that we're willing to display I think that we're going to try to do it ourselves So just you know another incentive to try to use everything that you have from the deer And you know, that's that
Chris (1:00:24)
That would be, yeah, you're good, yeah.
Angelo (1:00:24)
Couple other things too. Sorry to cut you off just because I thought of it real quick One of the things that we're gonna do this year too is we're gonna try to harvest a doe obviously we're gonna be hunting in this property that's got a large deer number so we're hoping that we can get Some deer on the ground early. We're gonna be using some old -school tactics I don't want to give it away here, but we're gonna be using some old -school tactics using some of the deer to go out and incentivize other deer So we're gonna be okay. I'll give it a little bit away
Chris (1:00:51)
Hmm
Angelo (1:00:51)
We're going to be doing some scrapes, mock scrapes. We're going to be creating them, but we're going to be using a little sample from the bladder from maybe a doe or a buck that we harvest. And we're going to be using the hoof to try to use the scrape and see how that works. In a different location, we're going to be doing a mock scrape and see if anyone, we're going to put some cameras on there and see if we can do a little.
comparison and then there's a couple of tricks that's the one I would give away there's a couple of the tricks that we're going to use this season so keep tuned in to kind of get some of that information for yourself.
Chris (1:01:17)
person.
It's really important, just to touch on that topic, you guys gotta look into the regulations for whatever state you hunt and make sure that it's legal to use natural scents. Like New York, for example, you are not allowed to use anything natural, it's gotta be synthetic. That even includes a deer that you've harvested and you're cutting out those glands. So just make sure that you read into the regulations of your specific state and if you're going to make mock scrapes, just make sure that it's legal to use the natural stuff.
moving forward. But I love that idea. I love the idea of comparing. love that. That's great.
Angelo (1:01:57)
Yeah, sounds good. Yeah, we're going to be doing a lot of little series like that. We're going to try to do some stuff for the younger, for the newer hunters, younger hunters. We're going to be doing, you know, how to skin, how to butcher, how to do all that stuff. We'll get it all out there and that'll be cool. Maine, Maine regular. Actually, you know what? Let's do Massachusetts. Let's not get all the way to the top. Massachusetts regulations. Archery season for deer and wild turkey season would now be open two weeks earlier.
In Wildlife Management Zones 1 and 9, this will now align with the starting date of the archery season in Zones 10 through 14. So it seems like they were holding off on people being able to get into the woods in Zones 1 through 9. You will now be able to start hunting with the other zones. I'm assuming here there's 14 zones in Massachusetts. I could be wrong.
but at least 1 -14 will be opening at the same time now. The archery season typically begins around the first week of October and ends the Saturday after Thanksgiving. So there you go, if you're in Massachusetts and you're in zones 1 -9, you can join the rest of everyone else hunting in October. Massachusetts is now part of the Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact, the IWVC for short, meaning if a hunter's license is suspended in another state,
you are not able to hunt in Massachusetts and will also be suspended in their state. if you were doing that in the past, you are out of luck. mean, hey, listen, if you did something that you shouldn't have, you should pay the price, right?
Chris (1:03:24)
I'm okay with that. I'm okay with that.
That's what I'm saying. know, like we touched on, we touched on earlier, but it's, got to work together. We got to keep giving ourselves a good name. got to show, honestly, we don't need to do anything for the hunting community. I think for the most part, the majority of the hunting community knows what they're doing and they're doing it right. We have to show the non -hunting community that we aren't just out there willy nilly, while, while Wes doing our thing. You know I mean? So, kudos to Massachusetts for stepping up on that one.
Angelo (1:03:55)
Yeah, kudos to Massachusetts. I will say that if you are in a tough spot and you're having trouble providing for your family and you're suspended in a state, I'm assuming you can visit the IWVC Interstate Wildlife Violators Compact and see which states will allow you to hunt there. I don't want to give you the ability to, but if you need help and you can't put food on the table for your family and you need to do that, also you can message me privately. The email is left earlier in the episode.
If you need help reach out, we'll try to see what we can do. We donate food to people in need. If you need some, we'll try to help you out. Two new species that have been added to the youth catch and release category of the sport fishing award program, the fall fish and the white sucker. Don't know much about it. If that's something you're into, two new species have been added to the youth catch and release category. That's good. The more they can catch, the more they can, I mean, hey, listen.
Chris (1:04:47)
White sucker, eh?
Hehehehehe
Angelo (1:04:52)
I'm guessing that they were able to be kept and now they're on the catch and release. So now that I'm kind of letting that marinate, sounds like you're kind of shafted there, but whatever, at least you caught it. You had some fun. The program runs all year and awards youth anglers with a bronze pin if the fish they catch meets the minimum weight or the length required and a gold pin if they catch the largest or the longest fish for that species. So they are willing to do something special for you because you had to release it.
Chris (1:04:55)
Right catch or release yeah
Angelo (1:05:21)
It sounds like they're not giving participation trophies to anybody. There is going to be a bronze and a gold. So try to get out there, try to get the longest fish, get yourself a gold pin. That will be a collector's item at some point. I am sure of it. After two years of success, the Share the Harvest program will continue in 2024 for Massachusetts hunters interested in donating venison to help combat food insecurities in their community. Hunters can donate a portion of their harvest.
Chris (1:05:35)
Love it.
Angelo (1:05:50)
or an entire deer, if a hunter donates a full deer, they pay the processing fees. So anybody who was looking to hunt in Massachusetts with a suspended license, it looks like you can also go straight to the state and they have things that are out there for your benefit. That is great news. Get in contact with them. They're a little bit closer. They could probably help you a little bit better than I can.
Chris (1:06:09)
Love that.
That's awesome. And Jersey, I don't know if you touched on it, Andrew. I you touched on donating food. I don't remember if you mentioned the actual organization names. I'm just going to plug it real quick. Hun, the hunters, the hunters helping the hungry. Yeah. And if any of you are located in New Jersey, Southern New Jersey, the black night bow vendors, they're out of, I think it's Jackson, New Jersey. There's a gentleman there by the name of bud. we interviewed him in the past. Unfortunately, that interview kind of got jacked up, so we weren't able to post it. However,
Angelo (1:06:21)
Yeah, I hunter for hungry, think is what I did mention. Yeah.
Chris (1:06:43)
He was one of the founding members of Haunters Helping the Hungry back in the 90s. It was an awesome program, an awesome system. They're really just trying to help people, know, absolutely, really, really be great. But yeah.
Angelo (1:06:50)
Yeah, we'll have to get them on again.
Alright, let's you know, we're running a little long. It's getting long -winded. So let's wrap this up here. The program in 2023 was very successful. More than 750 pounds of venison was donated in just the first half of the hunting season, able to make more for 3000 meals for people in the Massachusetts area, which is phenomenal to hear. Maine, your last but not least, deer baiting is forbidden from June 1st to December 15th. So if you were baiting, you are not able to
Chris (1:06:56)
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Wow.
Angelo (1:07:24)
bait anymore from June to December 15th. So if you were trying to get them conditioned in this off season, you're no longer able to do that and you're not able to do that until the winter. And this actually touches on something not to get off. I know I just said, let's hurry this up. But one of the things that I was talking, I think we mentioned it with Kevin. I know I mentioned it with Brian. We're going to talk about it maybe tomorrow in the video that we're doing in the new area.
Chris (1:07:28)
really long
Angelo (1:07:49)
We're able to bait in the area where we're hunting in these inside city limits. It's going to give us an edge up to try to harvest some deer to get the numbers down in this area where it's a problem. The area surrounding the public is not allowed to bait. So there are special situations where you can. But there are times where people are putting bait out. Most of the time it's going to be carbohydrates. A lot of times it's corn.
And there are parts of the season where deer will eat the corn, but to their own detriment. You can injure the deer's stomach lining by providing them with food that is not normally accessible to them at that time of the year. Right now they're eating a lot of very light woody browse, but mostly broadleaf, greenleaf vegetation. So we are going to be waiting till look about mid December.
in Maine to be able to provide them with those carbohydrates, which is I'm assuming most people are going to be providing them with corn and stuff like that to bait. So that's just something for people who are able to bait. Just be mindful of what you're giving them. could, and you're also, you're dumping it in piles, this can help spread chronic wasting disease where deer go into these bait pits and they're swapping saliva and it's a real big issue. So make sure you're doing it responsibly.
Hunting using dogs, snares, traps, or certain weapons like air guns is now against the law in main. So that sucks, but You still are able to get out there with other means so just try to hone your skills on there But if you're using dogs, snares, traps, or air guns You're no longer able to do that. With proper permission, antlerless game is permitted. So I'm guessing main
was having some issues with the antlerless population, but it looks like with proper permissions, antlerless game is now permitted. So find out in your area where that is and participate. Transporting without the required tag and registration is prohibited. We touched on that in New Jersey. They're now introducing transportation tags. Maine has introduced them and they're now saying that it is illegal to transportate without the registration of a tagged deer.
Driving deer at night is not allowed. Okay, so if you're out with your buddies and you have an idea that you want to start pushing deer around at night, illegal. Legal hours for big game like deer are now from one half hour before sunrise to one half hour after sunset. We have that here in our state. I was assuming that that was something that was the same for all states. It does not seem that that is
The case legal hours for big game hunting like deer in Maine is now I would hope extended to one half hour before sunrise and one half hour after sunset or maybe kind of Meshing the two that we just read together They may or may not have been allowing night hunting that is no longer allowed So now you have been restricted to one half hour before sunrise or one half hour sunset One of those is true
Chris (1:10:54)
And real quick guys.
Angelo (1:10:54)
You either got shafted or you got a little extra time.
Chris (1:10:57)
Yeah, real quick, when it comes to the legal shooting light, just because it's legal to take a shot doesn't mean it's always the best idea to take that shot. If you can't, if it's too dark, whether it's early in the morning or later in the evening, you're in the last 10, 15 minutes of legal shooting light. If you can't physically pick out a specific spot on a deer to shoot at, what I'm getting at is if you're just shooting at a silhouette or a black blob in the woods, that's just not an ethical shot. not, that's just not in my opinion.
Again, just my opinion, not a shot that you should be taking. The last thing we want to do is injure a deer, wounded deer, not be able to recover it. So just make sure you're making, you know, ethical shots and good choices when you're out
Angelo (1:11:39)
Yeah, of course. We're running out of light here. Even as low light situation in my shed here, my workspace, wing and tail headquarters. All right, legal hours for big game. already talked about that. Exceptions are made for coyote, fox, raccoon, and migratory birds. So you could still get out there a little bit earlier, a little bit later, depending on the species you're hunting. Big game hunting off the table. Taking raccoons at night is allowed during open seasons from sunset to sunrise.
Chris (1:11:43)
Yeah.
Angelo (1:12:07)
using a 22 caliber or smaller firearm and accompanied by a dog. So I don't know if you were able to use a bigger caliber or a smaller caliber and now you are able to use 22 caliber. So that'll pretty much do it for all our regulations, things that are added for all our states. If you learned something there, let us know what has affected you down in the comments or leave a review. Let us know what you guys have learned, if anything.
Maybe there's something that you want to add that I did not mention. I'd love to know it so we can inform everybody.
Chris (1:12:40)
maybe I, maybe I miss it. We've, we've touched on a lot of states here. Did we touch on New Hampshire? Are the, or are there, okay. Great.
Angelo (1:12:44)
New Hampshire, nothing new. Just probably nothing new. this is just a new segment. New Hampshire is just letting it roll.
Chris (1:12:51)
Okay. If, if I happen to make it to a fourth state this year, which I think is going to be pushing it probably isn't going to happen. But if I do New Hampshire would be the state to I'm going to go to. lived there for a couple of years. I got some friends that live out there. They've been hunting the last, you know, for, for a while, they got some spots picked out. So if I happen to be lucky enough, fortunate enough, God willing that I'm able to limit out or at least shoot a few deer early in the tri state, New Hampshire is that extra state that I'm going to be going to.
real quick, and I hate that I waited, I hate that I forgot to say this earlier, but when I was talking about New York bear regs, everyone who's bear hunting should know this. But if you don't know this in New York, it is illegal to shoot, I believe it's definitely illegal to shoot cubs. is illegal to shoot a mother with a cub, but if I'm not mistaken, I think it's illegal to shoot two bear, a bear, if there's two bear together, because one of them could be a cub or a mother with a cub.
So if you're out bear hunting, especially early season in the thicker woods, keep that in mind. Just be safe, know what's around, know your shot and beyond. Follow those golden rules of shooting anything and just make sure you don't get yourself in trouble by accident.
Angelo (1:14:03)
Yeah, for sure. Make sure that you are up to date on all the regulations and the states that you intend to hunt. Make sure that you are very informed because the game wardens, you know, they can be a little strict and they're not going to say,
You didn't read the regulations? No problem. So they can be a little annoyed if you don't know the regulations. So definitely know them. But that's it for this episode. We just wanted to give you guys a little bit of update on what's going on with us and then update you for the season. Make sure that you're able to get your stuff in order. Make sure that you can make any changes to your hunting strategies or hunting plans based on any information you just heard here today. If you haven't yet, please go down, leave us a review. Let us know what you heard, if you liked it.
Chris (1:14:18)
Yeah.
Angelo (1:14:45)
We're hoping you liked it. If you stayed to this long, I would assume that you liked it or you fell asleep. So sorry that we put you to sleep. But yes, please leave us five star reviews. We also mentioned Kevin, go out and look at the Mid -Atlantic Outdoorsman. Look at his podcast. Look out for YouTube videos coming from the Wing and Tail Outdoors. Stay tuned for another Wing and Tail Boys podcast coming to you every Thursday. Do we know what time that they post it or is it just every Thursday?
Chris (1:15:10)
So they post, if I'm not mistaken, I don't know exactly, cause I have to wake up at four 15 every day for work. And when I'm in the shower, the podcast post. So I don't know if they post at five. think it's, I want to say it's 5 a I could be wrong, but by the time you're in your car on your way to, to work, that podcast is going to, is going to post. if, if you, if you made it this, if you made it this far, I want to give you a little Easter egg. Normally we don't do this.
Angelo (1:15:30)
Alright, perfect, so...
Chris (1:15:35)
But the next podcast is going to be our last podcast before our New Jersey season opener, which is also the first state that opens where we're going to be hunting. And in that next podcast, we're going to be. Well, for, for bear. Yeah. Yeah, you are correct. specifically speaking on deer here, but we're going to be talking about what our opening day or our plan is going to look like from the night before losing sleep all the way into, the post hunt driving home. So make sure you don't miss out on that.
Angelo (1:15:46)
Well, technically New York's open next week for Bayer, but...
Chris (1:16:05)
For all of you that have cabin fever, I know I do. I've been losing sleep for a month. It might be just the last thing you need two days before the season starts to kind of get you over that.
Angelo (1:16:14)
Yeah, I can't wait to get out there. So we'll see you guys next week. Thanks for everybody who listened. Thanks for everybody who contributed. Thanks for everybody who's nice enough to leave a review for us, hopefully five star. And we'll catch you on the next one. Peace.
Chris (1:16:16)
Yeah.
Yep, success is just a commitment away. Ladies and gentlemen, thanks a lot. We'll see you next week. See you.
Angelo (1:16:33)
Awesome.
