Wild Heritage Horizons

On June 21. 2023 New York State Assembly passed a bill to ban “wildlife killing contests” in New York State. The ban does not apply to contests with white-tailed deer, eastern turkey or black bear harvesting. It also does not ban fishing contests or training and trials for hunting dogs. If this bill is passed into law, it would carry a penalty of “not less than five hundred dollars ($500) nor more than two thousand dollars ($2,000)”. This proposed bill has justification that is shaky at best and only looks to impose restrictions on a very small percentage of citizens in the state. 

NYS Legislature stated “The bodies of the animals are often discarded after prizes are awarded.  Dependent young may be orphaned–left to die from starvation, predation, or exposure.” I would like to challenge anyone to show me where a hunter leaves the entirety of the harvest of their game of choice where it fell without using at least some part of the animal. There may be scraps of the animal left but if a hunter left a complete carcass out to rot, the other hunters in the competition would correct that action and make sure the wrong-doer was corrected and penalized for their actions. 

The proposed bill also states: “And in the spring of 2019, the NYSDEC reported that hunters in the state harvested an estimated 227,787 deer during the 2018-19 hunting seasons, approximately 12 percent more than the previous season.” This 12% increase in population came directly after a 5% decrease in the previous 5 years, showing a fairly cyclical trend. It is true that this data does not support coyotes affecting the deer population, but a one year increase does not show any positive shift in deer population either. The data does not show that white-tailed deer populations are increasing but rather staying fairly stagnant. The reported data shows 2014 was -2%, 2015; -15%, 2016; +5%, 2017; -5% compared to each preceding year. The Eastern Coyote is not a native species to New York and only made its way here in the last century. Deer populations may not be affected by small predators like Coyotes, Raccoons, and Foxes; Turkey, Grouse and other ground nesting bird and small game animal populations are. 

The Bill contradicts itself by stating “They [hunting contests] could also possibly jeopardize the future of hunting and affect access to private lands for all hunters.” but then one sentence later states; “Wildlife killing contests are counterproductive to modern, science-based wildlife management principles because they are ineffective and there are no studies to support claims that these contests are an effective way to control populations.” So if the contests are ineffective and that they do not control populations, essentially having no difference of an impact of non contest hunting; how are they possibly jeopardizing the future of hunting? By stating “access to private lands for all hunters” creates a misleading and confusing sentiment as hunters can not access private land without clear, explicit and personal consent from the land owner.

This ban does not disrupt an immoral or evil act that is contrary to the general population’s beliefs. Rather this bill would disrupt an activity that allows people with a similar interest to come together and share an experience that pulls at the foundations of who they are. They are able to bond over an activity that they are extremely passionate about and that they know they are doing a lot of good in doing by providing fund to the state Department of Environmental Conservation, by managing the predator populations in their local area and passing on these traditions to the next generation for them to enjoy and understand the importance of. The minimal impact of these few hunting contests should not be portrayed as a “wanton waste” of our resources as they are simply adding a layer of excitement and intrigue to legal hunting that will continue, contest or not with no change to the impact made by the hunters.