Turkey and Walleye Season Open This Weekend

May is a great month with weather improving, trout fishing getting better, and people getting outdoors. Locally the two popular seasons of spring turkey hunting and walleye fishing open on May 1 and May 2, respectively. Despite the weather forecast and the limitations of health restrictions due to COVID-19, sportsmen are eagerly looking forward to this weekend.

Turkey Season Opens: In our excitement let’s be sure to not forget the basics of safety and turkey hunting strategy. The same rules of social distancing and avoiding other hunters still apply. For safety purposes be sure to never wear anything red, white, and blue. These are the colors of a gobbler’s head when it becomes excited.

When you are calling find a large tree wider than your back to sit against. Not only does it give you support, but it protects you from possible accidental shots from behind. And it also gives you a little more protection from coyotes or bobcats mistaking you for a turkey and pouncing on you from behind.

As they constantly say, “talk, don’t stalk.” Not only is your best bet calling a turkey in to you but it keeps you and other hunters from being in harm’s way. You will not successfully stalk or sneak in on a gobbler; you will only spook them away. But most importantly by “stalking” what you think are turkeys calling you are probably moving in on another hunter calling in a bird. This is unethical and unsafe.

Some basics tips that we often forget in our excitement are to make sure and get to our area in the dark, and possibly travel through cover. Even in the grey light before dawn when you are completely dressed in camo, a turkey perched on a roost high in a hardwood tree can spot the grey shadow moving across the field and his brain registers that as potential danger.

Make sure you get situated, put up a decoy, and get seated before you start calling. Too often we call and are surprised by the answer of a gobble nearby before we set up. Especially in the early season when there is lack of foliage a turkey can spot you and your movements if you are too close.

If you get a response to your calls be sure to get in position and get your gun set up on your knee before the turkey gets close. Their fantastic eyesight will pick up the slightest motion so be ready and make any slight movements only when they turn the other way or their vision is blocked by brush, etc.

Although some veteran hunters are very successful with the “run and gun” technique, most hunters will be better off by staying put, especially if they are sure that turkeys are in the vicinity. Remember that they can hear you at least one quarter mile away and even in early season many toms do not gobble much on the roost these days.

Even in early season many toms will come back to that area later in the morning when the real hens have left him.

It is also a decision on how much to call or how aggressively to call. Each bird is an individual and responds differently. Lots of veteran hunters are good enough to change calls and excite the tom enough to come to the caller. But the average hunter is probably better off by calling less. Answer the calls the gobbler makes and perhaps change your cadence or even the call you are using. When the gobbler is approaching switch to some soft clucks and purrs and be patient.

If you have not been able to treat your boots and pants legs with permethrin, spray them with insect repellent for temporary deterrent to ticks. Have some repellent spray or your Thermacell device to keep away mosquitoes or possibly blackflies.

Anglers Look Forward To Walleye Opener

This Saturday, May 2, will be the opening of walleye and pike season, an event that is eagerly anticipated by many anglers. Many local anglers will concentrate on walleye, a fish that is prized for eating.

And most anglers will focus their efforts on Oneida Lake which is arguably the best walleye fishery in the state. Remember that state boat launches are open but anglers are reminded to use the rules for social distancing.

Typically, a lot of anglers will be up the tributaries like Fish Creek hoping to find remaining walleye. The majority of walleye, perhaps as many as 80%, spawn in the lake along deeper shoals. Shackleton Shoals or similar areas have a spawning area with fish holding depths ranging from 8 to 30 feet deep close by the shoal.

Once you find the depth they are biting at you can then go to your favorite spots at that depth. How deep is the question. Remember you don't need to just find fish, but you need to find fish that are actively biting. Some veteran anglers advise that if you find fish in shallow 8-10 foot depths on shoals you can cast a worm harness with a ¼ ounce to ½ ounce weight a foot ahead of it. Use just one hook, half a worm, and a couple of beads. Red colored beads work great and use either a gold or silver size 4 willowleaf blade.

Several veteran anglers think the fish might be everywhere and perhaps they will. Jigs or sonars are the way to go most anywhere from 10 feet and deeper. There will probably the normal herd of boats that fish the post spawn areas out in front of the Canal and the Oneida Creek bar from 10 to 15 ft. If that does not produce action, be prepared to travel until you find cooperative fish.

Anglers are eager because of the estimate of a million legal sized walleye in the lake this year and the success that anglers had last season and over the winter while ice fishing. Of course, angler’s success depends on many factors, including the availability of natural baitfish.

The Oneida Lake walleye hatchery at Constantia usually nets over 20,000 fish each spring to gather the eggs to stock Oneida Lake and other waters around the state but this year the egg collection and stocking was curtailed due to the pandemic. This would not affect this year but possibly will in three years, dependent on many other factors including growth of smaller fish and natural reproduction.

Statistics show that only about eight percent of all the eggs walleye lay in Oneida Lake and tributaries will successfully hatch. By contrast over 90 percent of the eggs gathered and fertilized will hatch. The hatchery typically stocks 150 to 180 million fry back in Oneida Lake. But even less than one percent of those survive to reach adult size. Think about that. If even one percent survived there would be one and a half million more adult walleye in Oneida Lake in a few years!

SHORT CASTS

DEC Conservation Camps

The DEC recently announced that as of this week, it is planning for the summer youth camps to be open. The DEC will follow the NYS Dept. of Health recommendations for opening the residential camps when guidance becomes available. They will share information to make sure the public stays informed.

At this point the DEC is working on protocols with the intent that the camps will operate this summer.

The DEC will continue to assess the situation and contact parents or guardians by mail if there is any modification to the camps program or if it is cancelled. Any parent or guardian who wishes to cancel an existing reservation may do so and receive a full refund. Please note that refunds will be by check and not as a reimbursement to your credit card.

For questions about the DEC summer camps, contact them by email at educationcamp@dec.ny.gov. or you can continue to check for updates at the DEC Summer Camps web page w w w.dec.ny.gov/ education/29html.

Olympus Landscape Guide

Can you use a little help with your photography skills? Most of us can use some. Check the Olympus Landscape Guide at olympus@ email.olympusamerica.com for 27 pages of very helpful information. Yes, there are ads, but most of the material will give you advice on composition, lighting, and much more. You do not need to own an Olympus camera to benefit from all these many helpful suggestions.

Live Animal Cams Parade magazine has selected what it considers to be the best of animal cams. Check Parade.com/cams for 25 interesting live cams to give you, or the kids, a change of pace. They range from raptors like eagle or osprey nests, kittens, puppies, and lots of zoo animals. There is even a live cam of sloths, although as you might expect there isn’t a lot of action there.