The Wild Turkey Contributed to Thanksgiving

One of our native wildlife species historically played an important role on Thanksgiving Day. North America’s native wild turkeys were the ancestors of the Thanksgiving turkey on our dinner table. Originally found only in the wild, turkeys now exist as meat-producing domesticated derivatives -- the broad breasted white, broad breasted bronze, white Holland, bourbon red, and a host of other breeds – all of them descended from our native wild turkey.

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Fishing Report November 22 2015 Massachusetts

Cold weather in New England, seems to be eluding us for a while yet so no point in putting the boat away and enjoying the late fall fishing. Water temperatures were still around the 47 degree mark, light winds, overcast and threatening rain.

Idling around the lake searching for the schools of crappies and finding that the fish are back into their bigger schools again. Previously, the schools were broken and much more scattered all around and more difficult to locate and catch as well.

Today’s bait of choice was going to be the Salmo Fishing Lures - Chubby Darter in the size #3 which is 1.3 inches long and 1/8 oz in weight that was fished on 3 lb line. This is a go to bait for ice fishing but also works very well on the open water while vertical jigging on the side of the boat.

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Hunters Reminded to Provide Deer Teeth

The Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department is reminding hunters who harvest a deer during the November rifle season to provide a middle incisor tooth from the deer so its age can be determined.

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NH Hunting Report - November 19, 2015

Hunters have enjoyed perfect fall weather for the first week of the regular firearms deer hunt in New Hampshire. Congratulations to Jessie Tichko of Canterbury, who took a 180-pound, 8-point buck on opening day. Good luck to everyone heading afield!

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Fishing Report November 15 2015 Massachusetts

Many anglers these days, have their minds on walking on water again, as the days are getting shorter and cooler as well. But, for those that haven’t put their boats away yet, they know that the fishing is still going on with some good catches still happening.

Latest trip out, the air temperatures were at 30 degrees and the water temperatures are slowly dropping as well to 44 degrees. This particular lake the last time there the active fish were concentrated in a back cove and in 12 feet of water.

That is the area that I started this trip at and there they were still in the same location but actually a bit shallower at 10 feet deep while being suspended at 6 - 8 feet down. The schools of fish are not as massive as they had been in the past and are a bit more scattered out.

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Trout Stocked for Winter Anglers

Winter anglers in New Hampshire have had some trout stocked especially for them this fall. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department stocks trout every year during the fall months, mostly to bolster the winter ice fishery. This should translate into some exciting action for winter anglers, according to Inland Fisheries Division Chief Jason Smith.

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Fishing Report November 8 2015 Massachusetts

After having a great bite the last time to this lake for the crappies, hopes were high for another great bite on the water. Started at the location where the better fish were located and seeing that the water temperatures were still in the mid to low 50’s.

Started checking the waypoints where the schools were at and started noticing right away that today wasn’t going to be the same at all. After motoring around a bit, finally found a small school of crappies but the size of the school was quite a bit smaller.

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Fishing Report November 1 2015 Massachusetts

The use of electronics in fishing is vital right now as the pan fish are congregating in anticipation of the coming ice season. By idling around the basins of your lakes, keep your eyes glued to your graphs, as when you go over these schools of fish, the screen is going to be totally filled. Throw out a buoy marker where they are and circle back and put your Vexilar flasher to use. Once you are over them and seeing on your flasher what level of the water column they are in, it will be fish after fish being caught.

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Watch for Deer on the Roads

Motorists are advised to watch for deer crossing roadways this time of year, especially at dawn and dusk.  Deer are very active right now, as the mating season, or rut, is underway and bucks and does have their minds on other things than traffic!

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SonarPhone Tbox Mapping Capabilties

The lake waters are cooling a bit every day as the night temperatures keep going below the freezing mark. This is getting all of the ice anglers very excited for that first ice once it arrives. You have looked over all of your ice fishing equipment and figured that you are set for that first trip to the ice, but, there may be one item that you are neglecting that may put you onto more fish this winter.

We are talking about having a current lake depth map. Vexilar has come out with the SonarPhone that is allowing you to using your smart device and the Navionics application for mapping the waters that you always fish. The Navionics app on your smart device may already have a map of your fishing lake, but if you use the Sonarphone and map that lake yourself, you are going to find out that there is a lot of new information that you never knew was even there.

This is what we are currently doing right now until the ice comes. We have made a list of the lakes that we fish that have no mapping information for them. These are typically smaller waters and requires using our Jon boat for obtaining this information. By running your smart device with the Navionics app and the SonarPhone Tbox, we are creating live information about our fishable waters.

The SonarPhone Tbox is very reasonably priced but for what you get back in the form of lake depth information, you will wonder why you never started using this earlier. It is simple to use and there may only be a few more weeks left for being able to do this, so you owe it to yourself to take a look at the SonarPhone Tbox.

The examples from our mapping this past weekend, in the one picture, this is the typical Navionics map and the other is the SonarPhone overlay on the same map and as you can see the biggest difference between them.

Vermont’s Rifle Deer Season Starts Saturday, Nov. 14

Hunters are gearing up for the start of Vermont’s statewide traditionally popular 16-day rifle deer season that begins November 14 and ends Sunday, November 29.

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NH Hunting Report - November 10, 2015

The opening day of regular firearms hunting season is always a holiday for deer hunters, but this year it is doubly so, as the season opener falls on November 11, 2015, which is also Veteran’s Day.  With that in mind, hunters are encouraged to call ahead to make sure deer check stations are open; a full list of New Hampshire deer check stations, with contact information, can be found at www.huntnh.com/hunting/deer-check-stations.html. With the opening of the regular firearm season and the increasing number of hunters afield, hunters are reminded to wear blaze orange. New Hampshire has more than 59,000 licensed hunters age 16-68.

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CT DEEP Reminds Motorists to Watch for Deer this Fall

Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) Wildlife Division reminds motorists to be watchful of increased deer activity along roadways, especially during early morning and evening hours. Late October through December is the peak of the breeding season (also known as "the rut") for white-tailed deer which increases deer activity and the likelihood of deer crossing roads.

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Maine IFW Hunting Report for November 6, 2015

Despite some warmer weather, deer season is off to a strong start in southern Maine, where registration numbers at area tagging stations are strong. “Right now, we have a higher proportion of younger deer, and starting next week, we will start to see more mature bucks,” said IFW Wildlife Biologist Scott Lindsay.

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2015 Reel Fun Vermont photo contest winners announced

Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department and Vermont Department of Forests, Parks & Recreation today announced the winners of the 2015 Reel Fun Vermont photo contest, a component of the recently-created Reel Fun Vermont fishing program aimed at making fishing in Vermont State Parks more accessible to park visitors.

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2015 NH Youth Deer Hunt Weekend Results

Preliminary reports show that young hunters succeeded in harvesting 368 deer during the 2015 Youth Deer Hunt Weekend in New Hampshire, down 8% from the official 2014 total of 398. This unofficial total does not include information from all registration stations.  The 2015 total is slightly above the average since the special youth deer hunt began in 1999.

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Atlantic Herring Closure for Area 1A

Commercial fishermen will be prohibited from landing Atlantic herring taken from Management Area 1A effective 12:01 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2015, because herring harvesters are projected to reach 92% of the allowable harvest quota for the period.  The closure will remain in effect through midnight on May 31, 2016.

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