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Oh Deer! Fall Can Be A Dangerous Driving Season

If you live in deer country, you know that autumn can be a dangerous season to be on the road. It’s when deer-vehicle collisions peak. In many areas, it’s not if you hit a deer, it’s when. Over the last 30 years I’ve hit six deer. I completely totaled one car and suffered more than $3,000 in damage to another. And in two other incidents deer actually hit my car after I had stopped, and they did not. Fortunately, my passengers and I escaped injury in each of these collisions, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates that one million ...

Afternoon Autumn Air

A note… …to the air of Oct. 12 in the mid-afternoon. You are here. Finally. I forget that I miss you, that you fill me with gratitude. Carrying the scent of fading leaves, low sunshine, and the inaugural biting night of autumn, you wrap the season I’ve been waiting for into one ...

Walking Browns Creek Tributary Forest Preserve

Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of co-leading a leisurely fall foliage walk at the Chautauqua Watershed Conservancy’s beautiful Browns Creek Tributary Forest Preserve, located at 5014 Walker Road near Bemus Point. My dear friend and co-leader was land donor, retired biology ...

The Biological Basis For Deer Hunting

According to statistics from the Fish and Wildlife Service, hunters purchased 11.5 million hunting licenses in 2016. Of those, about 80 percent (approximately 9,000,000) were for big game species, mostly deer. As a result, hunters spent more than $25 billion to finance their activities. Clearly hunting is big business, but can it be justified biologically? Since deer hunting is by far the biggest part of the puzzle, let’s focus on that. Sustaining populations subjected to hunting pressure requires species capable of rapid and consistent reproduction. Deer qualify. For more than 100 ...

Apple Everything

‘Tis the season for scenic drives and rambling hikes. For pumpkin spice and apple flavored everything. For harvesting the fruits of the growing season. But, in this region dominated by eastern deciduous forests, nothing represents fall more so then the trees. The spectacular color ...

Some Experiences Will Never Get Old

As far as I’m concerned, kayaking the Chadakoin River never gets old. Whenever I take a journey down the outlet of Chautauqua Lake, the river is different, and I never know what or who I will see on my adventure. Somehow, this summer got away from me, but I finally got to paddle the ...