Farm Fur Fin Feather

New Barn Roof!

2012-01-11T09:10:00.001-05:00

Restoration project on "the back 40"

2011-11-10T17:13:00.001-05:00

Restoration area shaded in green, an eroded "rill" originating in the woods to the south, flowing north into Canoga Creek tributary.

"Before" shot, looking north down the rill.

"After" shot, looking north down the rill from the same vantage point as above.

The future of cuisine- Charlotte at State Fair

2011-09-07T15:32:00.002-04:00

First trellis

2011-08-21T14:03:00.003-04:00

In 2002, we harvested our first grapes. At that time, our "front" field nearest the lake was planted to corn (in the background).

Now, almost 10 years later, we have installed our first trellis system, in the very spot where the above photo was taken. These two baby steps hopefully foreshadow what is to come at

Canoga Creek Farms (& Cellars).

Canoga Spring Vintage Photo

2011-06-29T13:11:00.002-04:00

Friendship Pond fish-fest

2011-06-29T13:09:00.002-04:00

Baggin' Peaks! Cascade & Porter

2011-05-13T12:36:00.000-04:00

First Brook Trout caught at Canoga Farm

2011-05-08T12:33:00.000-04:00

The Great Flood of 2011

2011-04-30T09:02:00.000-04:00

Spring Wildflowers!

2011-04-28T11:58:00.000-04:00

Canoga Creek Clean-up

2011-03-29T08:39:00.004-04:00

http://kuneytown.blogspot.com/2011/03/canoga-creek-clean-up-success.html

No Hunting

2011-01-30T11:18:00.004-05:00

I spent some time with the family, celebrating my 40th birthday, in my favorite Adirondacks area, the Moose River drainage. This time, we were focused on the North Branch, based at Big Moose Lake's famous Big Moose Inn. We enjoyed some truly fantastic family downhill skiing at McCauley Mountain, and also some first -class backcountry touring in the Pigeon Lake Wilderness Area. While in the woods, we came across this novel scene of the game in the Adirondacks.

Two Brown Dogs

2011-01-07T14:10:00.003-05:00

I saw it all in a moment, the conflict, the struggle, the dialectic of dominance. The goose were felled, they hit the field. Two brown dogs were dispatched to subdue and retrieve them, from two different places, from two different persons, of two different tribes. One dog, unbridled in his aggression and accustomed to encountering little resistance, menaced the other, of arguably more truculent stock but considerably more trained and of better manners, over a goose which lie dead or dying on the field. In a flash, teeth were bared and the dogs hurled themselves into each other, growling and snarling and biting and struggling. This spectacle against the snow sprinkled with blood slowed down to a slow-motion ballet and soundtrack, mildly horrifying and intriguing at once, and seemed to go on for an eternity. I felt myself become fascinated and recognized the detached viewing and floating feeling of combat of any kind. It ended, with both dogs standing over the undecided but decidedly contested goose. Neither dog retrieved the goose, or accomplished the superficial objective,but both succeeded in their ultimate calling of asserting dominance and establishing order, by either victory, defeat, or a draw. A sublime experience, and applicable by extrapolation in profound and disturbing ways. I felt the familiar shiver of feeling the ghost of Hobbes and Burke passing over me as I walked onto the plain and retrieved the goose. I crossed the gap in the hedge, and unceremoniously tossed the contested goose into the other tribe's pile.

2011-01-06T17:59:00.011-05:00

I was asked once to comment on why I hunt, and I said: I for one don't hunt to prove anything, but to get back to an elusive something. Thanks to this landscape, and unconditional friendships that solidify within them, I always feel a level of fulfillment, of being "at my limit" in the satiated sense. I am proud of my farm, and my hunting, and my friends. Viva la Canoga.

Perhaps I was wrong, perhaps there is proving. Perhaps the "hero of every hunting story" problem that Rich described is a reaction to the fear of not being a hero in any story at all. Perhaps hunting helps us prove that we can be heroes, through mastery and persistence. Perhaps, when the noise of "constructive criticism" and the onslaught of suspicion by even your closest allies that you really are illegitimate, a fraud, a fake, an imposter and interloper, becomes almost deafening, perhaps it is then that the proof, the antithesis, the null hypothesis, is in the well placed shot and all that went in to it and becomes of it. The irony is that perhaps that cannot be shared or truly appreciated except for by a very few.

In these cases, I defer to the good sense of dogs. Here are a few pics of Nick and Brant doing what they do.

Finale buck

2011-01-01T22:19:00.009-05:00

Despite the twists and turns of 2010, I am able to reflect upon my big game season with some measure of satisfaction. On my last successful hunt of the 2010 big game season I was able to take a nice coyote and a buck that is easily my second best ever. This in a year that was supposed to be a wash for me, a year that I had written off as a loss, given my injuries in the pre-season. I ended up the year with an antlerless archery tag filled, a buck and a doe tag filled during the shotgun season, and a buck on a muzzleloader tag.

The buck pictured here represents a very memorable shot. I had killed the coyote only about 30 minutes earlier and was debating about ending my hunt when I noticed motion about 150 yards away in a ravine. After a few minutes of watching, I was able to pick out the shape of a doe, who became more visible with time and focus. She was intent on something in the opposite direction of my stand location, and the wind was in my favor. I watched her for over 30 minutes, sometimes laying down, other times standing up with ears pricked forward, twitching her tail. A buck?

After another 15 minutes of this I decided, seeing no other deer, to climb down and try to stalk the doe by creeping to the edge of the ravine and pulling off an ambush shot. I didn't want to take such a long shot on a doe. As I was descending the tree, I kept looking at the doe in the gully, but as I got lower and the angle of view changed, she went out of sight. Then, I caught a burst of motion and the shape of a deer raced by from right to left in the ravine. They're moving...change of plan!

I raced back up the tree, thinking better of my ambush plan, and hoping they would move towards me and offer me a shot. As I reclaimed my position in the tree stand, and brought the binoculars to my eyes, I could see two deer. I looked at them through the binoculars. They were bunched up now, both looking intently away from me, oblivious of my presence over a football field away. Then, out of the right side of my field of vision through the binoculars emerged an antler, which kept growing until I saw a large neck and attached to the body of a very healthy buck in full rut. It was so vivid and clear against the snow, and yet I dropped the binoculars, not trusting the data coming in. I raised them again... he was big bodied, his tines reached beyond his eye in profile and he was beyond the ears... "a shooter," I breathed, dropping the binoculars and raising the gun to asses the situation through a scope.

The shot was no chip-shot, plus 150 yards, down hill, lots of trees and brush. I had two possible openings two shoot through if the buck cooperated. It would have to be perfect. PERFECT. I debated momentarily about taking the shot at all, and then the voice of reason, the one I have grown to trust in deer season told me "you see one shooter per season-- two if you are really lucky... if you have a make-able shot, take it." So the shot was makeable, I told my self, so I'll take it.

The buck was busy sniffing and twitching his tail while I was snuggling up to the seat and the tree on my hang-on tree stand, trying to find a rock-steady rest. As I settled in, kneeling on the platform and using the seat to stabilize, he stepped into the better of my two openings. He was quartering toward me, presenting a thin window at vitals with a sharp down angle, but I felt good on my rest. He stopped. I focused on a quarter-sized patch of fur slightly forward of his front right shoulder. At that angle I'd hit vitals and perhaps break the shoulder, anchoring him. I prepared to commence the squeeze. As I began the exhale and the oh-so-gentle squeeze I vaguely noticed him move his head downward to lick his front left leg and his left hind quarters. The shot. A cartwheel through the scope and smoke. Did I hit his antlers when he moved his head? Still looking through the scope, and not moving an inch, I began to be able to see four legs straight up in the air quivering, and then they became still and listed to the right. Deer down. Was it my buck? Did I hit him in the head or antlers? Did a different deer step in front of the shot? Many questions were racing through my mind.

I regained my seat in the tree stand to compose myself, reloading and checking back every few seconds to confirm that the downed animal was not going to regain consciousness and scamper off (as happened the year before out of the same stand... see the "snorkel deer"). I checked my watch, to begin the agonizing but obligatory 30 minute wait. After 15 minutes, and many, many confirmations with scope and binoculars, I was certain of the presence of antlers and that the deer was dead. I descended the stand and slowly made my way to the downed deer. As I reached him, the two does he was with burst from some brush on my right and bounded away. I worried for a moment that that was a sign that the buck was still alive, but when I reached him, the bullet wound(s) told another story. As the buck had turned his head to lick his left side, the bullet neatly severed his spine, then entered his chest cavity and lodged in the upper portion of his heart. He died instantly.

I hefted the antlers in my hand. I was very aware of the feeling that was washing over me, of a kind of relief mixed with remorse, the beginning and ending, the victory and the end of the struggle. He was a nice buck. One to be proud of. I have only one bigger, but not better. This buck came with much effort, after many trials and barriers, and after a difficult previous season. This buck was a gift to mark a turning point for me, a leaving behind and a striving ahead. The season finale-and a beginning.

On hunting whitetails, Koller once said:

"If we must kill them,let it be quickly and cleanly, without excuses. Paradoxical though it may seem, a sportsman, to enjoy his sport, must kill that which he admires. He must posses it, fondle it, show it to his friends; and to possess he must kill. No one can object to this, for it is the way of nature; but in the name of this mother of all wild things, it should be a sudden, painless death."

Cagey's Alligator Gumbo

2010-12-10T13:59:00.000-05:00

Cagey’s Alligator Gumbo

Bow-hunting for alligators in in some states is legal and fun. Thanks to Barry for the alligator meat used in this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 pounds alligator meat, cut in thin strips approx. 1"long x 1/4"thick
3/4 pound butter
1/2 cup green onions, chopped
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 stalks celery, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

½ cup of fresh sliced mushrooms

1/2 cup red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 large cans stewed tomatoes ( I like yellow)
1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

½ cup of Kentucky bourbon

Pinch of brown sugar

Directions:
Sauté onions, garlic, peppers, carrots, mushrooms and celery in butter until soft in a cast iron dutch oven. Add other ingredients and simmer for 10 minutes covered. Lightly brown alligator strips with olive oil, bourbon, and seasonings in a cast iron skillet. Remove alligator meat from pan and reduce mixings. Add alligator meat and reduction sauce to pot and allow to cook over low heat until tender (approximately 1 hour). If gravy is too thick, add a little hot water. Serve over rice with hot buttered cornbread on the side.

An Odd Season- Deer Opener

2010-11-20T20:03:00.015-05:00

I wasn't expecting to hunt this year. I had injured my arm in a fall from my tree-stand in the off season, in August, as I was repairing a deer stand and making it "safe." One of the metal screw-in steps, the top most step, snapped and left me a free fall, interrupted by a grab of a step which caused me to burst and tear my right biceps tendon, but, kept me from breaking my neck or back. When I caught myself, my body swung back toward the tree like a pendulum, and I slammed into a lower screw-in step, which I am lucky did not manage to completely pierce my torso. I lived through this, but was told by my doctor to expect a surgery and a long painful recovery.

I won't go into great detail about my travels to Asia and the various forms of traditional healing that I sought out while there on business. It suffices to say that I returned home, the archery season in full swing, healed, at least enough to hunt. A second opinion from an arm specialist confirmed this, and I used my jet lag to arise early and provide the family with a wild turkey for thanksgiving. The turkey fell to the big side-by-side 10 gauge. I missed the first shot, but made a satisfying second wing shot and relished the thud of a big turkey falling from the sky. My 2010 season was underway. The picture here is a classic and comedic capture of me patiently explaining to my loving wife that taking pictures is not very hard.

I turned my attention to the archery deer season, managing to hunt almost every day of the nearly three weeks remaining of the season, for at least an hour or two. I saw surprisingly few deer during that time, but did see 2 different "shooters," one of which I confronted at about 15 yards head on, but was never afforded a reasonable shot. That buck was later killed on the first day of gun season, today, by my neighbor. I was able to take an antlerless deer as the season closed, a memorable shot from a tree stand down by the lake on a beautiful misty evening.

Saturday was the opening day of the firearms deer season. At around 7:30 am, I missed a moving buck, a very wide and thick 6 pointer, at about 90 yards in cover. This buck was just hammering on a small button buck, literally kicking his can all over the place. I watched this big old buck throw the little feller into the air with his antlers, chase him down, and pin him to the forest floor. When the shot (80 yards or so, moving- high winds) finally, briefly, presented itself, I was surprised and frustrated by the miss. The day's frustration continued with continued heavy winds, and the hunting pressure from neighboring farms, as it seemed every time I got settled into a new location, within an hour bright orange blobs could be seen in my upwind scent cones.

I finally decided to finish the opener in a newly installed, safe, two person ladder stand in the "square wood" otherwise known as the "hickory lot." This stand has a great view to the east and the south east of two large fields and a hedgerow. As I entered the little grove to climb into the stand, I kicked up two deer, but I could only hear them and see their tails. About an hour later, two deer, does, appeared at the end of the large field I was hunting over, out of range. They were feeding relatively comfortably on the clover. I watched them for quite awhile through the Nikon BDC scope mounted on my Ithaca Deerslayer II. They finally drifted out of the field and into the gully. Ten minutes later, another doe appeared, this one moving more purposefully toward the gate at the far southeast corner of the field. After 5 minutes, another deer appeared- the big 6 pointer.

The wind was blowing from the West, from behind me, to the field and the deer. I had not noticed any of the three does from minutes earlier obviously "scent" or "wind" me. However, as I had an aerosol can of "Buck Bomb" given to me, I thought I 'd see how well it works by spraying some in the air and hoped it would drift down wind to the buck and lure him my way. I sprayed, and within a minute, the buck could be seen scenting the air, nose high, in my direction. He immediately began to move towards me, closing the 300 yards step by step.

At about 150 yards, the buck veered slightly left (south) and was concealed by the thin hedgerow that runs perpendicular to the line of woods where I was positioned. The sun was setting, a big full moon was peaking in and out of the clouds. I assumed the buck was marching toward me. Five minutes, ten minutes, twenty minutes elapsed. No buck. I resigned myself to the fact that he had been dissatisfied with something and lured elsewhere. I packed up by satchel, slung the gun over my head and shoulder behind me, and prepared to descend from stand. Just as I extended my foot to step down to the first rung, I heard leaves crunching steadily, from behind the hedgerow where I had been expecting the buck. "It's him!" I nearly said out loud. "Better late than never." I clumsily removed my gun, knocking my hat off in the process. I settled in to a shooting position and tried to calm my nerves.

The bright moon and lingering sunset gave decent light, which was improved by the light-gathering qualities of my scope. I watched the end of the hedgerow intently. The sound of shuffling leaves grew louder . I could see feet, legs. The deer paused. Head movement. I could see an antler. "It's him!" I thought again, almost out loud. He was hanging back, sniffing. I needed two steps for a 15 yard shot at vitals, broadside. He took ones step, still partially obscured by the tangly brush of the Buckthorn and other hedgerow miscellany. As he bobbed his head I could make out his profile, tall antlers, points, some thickness... he stepped again. A clear shot at vitals. Bang. The Hornady SST was on its way.

He jumped straight up, and then went running. I shot four more times at him running, later learning that three of these running shots connected. The final shot downed him in the middle of my field, out about 150 yards. It was done. I descended the ladder, slightly shaky and well adrenalized, was smiling as I walked up to the big buck... but he got smaller as I approached. I stopped, paused... "that's a different buck" I said aloud. I walked closer, knelt over him, gently took the tall but juvenile antler, and chuckled softly. "Sorry boy- a case of mistaken identity" I said.

Apparently the original big 6 point deer, when concealed by the hedgerow, was met by the smaller 8 point 1 and 1/2 year old buck. Whatever transpired, time elapsed, and one buck went one way, one buck went my way. The smaller one went my way and is now headed towards the sausage maker.

I believe this is the same buck as pictured below from pre-archery October trail camera shots. He was supposed to benefit from QDM. Instead he fell victim to classic buck lust and "eager orange" as I call it. I have been struggling with that since the kill, but have resolved to be thankful and move on, perhaps wiser. In any case, as I have been told, you can't eat antlers. He'll be tasty. I will remember him for what he is and isn't, and for the Opening Day hunt under a full moon that I wasn't going to get to experience, but did.

Day two of the opener dawned sunny and with little wind. I set up in the second of my three two-person tree stands, the one that faces south down in the gully. I set Rich up in the "Quickie" stand that overlooks "The Bedroom," a deer bedding area that has traditionally held big bucks every year. My goal was to fill the first of my 2 DMPs (the second is for a different WMU). At 7:30 am, I filled that tag with a nice, neat, single 50 yard chip shot that anchored the deer in her tracks. In the picture, the white spot in the center is the doe's belly. There will be feasting.

Canoga Creek Plumes

2010-10-08T10:15:00.004-04:00

We recently had a rain event that featured more than 4 inches of rain in significantly less than 24 hours. Check out these pictures (Courtesy of Bill Hecht) of the mouth of Canoga Creek:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~springport/pictures339/sept2010filght2/index.htm

Common Blue Violet

2010-07-28T12:34:00.000-04:00

http://plants.usda.gov/java/profile?symbol=VISO

Canoga Creek Conservancy recognized by EPA

2010-07-07T14:03:00.001-04:00

8 plus pound Laker- Cayuga Lake on Father's Day

2010-06-20T11:45:00.001-04:00

Caught 3 nice Lake Trout and a few small Land-locked Salmon with George today on a great Father's Day fishing outing on the north end of Cayuga Lake!

ADK Spring 2010 Vacation

2010-06-07T16:24:00.003-04:00

Wild Geranium

2010-06-03T20:33:00.005-04:00

Geranium maculatum

Podophyllum peltatum (May Apple) Wildflower in bloom

2010-05-20T11:45:00.005-04:00

These Podophyllum peltatum (May Apple) wildflowers are abundant in our gully, and I dare say more broadly in the Canoga Creek watershed. This year, they flowered in the first week of May.

8lbs 5oz 26 inch Brown Trout on Cayuga

2010-05-02T11:35:00.002-04:00

Caught while trolling with planer boards (ie "Top-Lining) near Dean's Cove at about 7:00 AM. Water temp 41 degrees F.

Annual Cayuga Lake Spring Pickerel Fest

2010-04-11T13:49:00.004-04:00

Captain George piloted the Miss Lizzy out of Dean's Cove this morning for the annual Cayuga Lake Spring pickerel fest. Our intent is to catch brown trout, but there is always the risk of running into the chain pickerel. That was our fate today. Pictures above of a couple of the more than 20 good sized pickerel we caught and released.

Meadow at Dawn

2010-04-01T13:30:00.000-04:00

Steelhead Fishing Spring 2010

2010-03-29T18:27:00.004-04:00

Tried my luck on the Lake Ontario Tribs before the April 1st trout opener. Fished Sterling Creek a few times, Allens and Irondequoit, and Red Creek. Had the best luck on Sterling.

Canoga Creek Stocked

2010-03-25T22:40:00.000-04:00

Cayuga Lake Ice Fishing 2010

2010-02-22T12:46:00.005-05:00

More Summer memories... 2009 BWCA

2010-02-08T12:56:00.006-05:00

There is a shot of a Coy-wolf in this video, taken near the Sawbill entrance to the BWCA. For more on coy-wolf issues, see here.

January Full Moon

2010-02-02T09:33:00.003-05:00

Water Levels on Cayuga Lake

2010-01-20T22:56:00.000-05:00

We recently had a thaw here, the so-called "January thaw," which made it easy to see the mudflat left when the water levels are so drastically lowered on Cayuga Lake in the winter. It can't be good for the underside of the usually floating marsh to be high and dry like that, subject to the vagaries of wind, freezing, etc.

Here are normal water levels and "managed" water levels...

Normal levels above, managed below, same vantage point.

Remembering summer...

2010-01-11T16:56:00.004-05:00

Available on YouTube here.

A Hunter's Prayer

2009-12-10T09:59:00.000-05:00

Dear God, we thank you...

We thank You for this day and for the reasons we are brought together:
For the wild and noble game that we love - and hunt,
and for the energy, courage and boundless love of our dogs,
and for the cold winds and bending sage, and for the rains that pelt man and beast alike.

And for the beautiful guns left by good men long forgotten - who also shared our passion.
And for the paradox of a hunter's life in which he is destined to be misunderstood because
he is compelled to kill a few of what he loves most.

And for the dark and ancient land with all its secrets, for the friends who last a lifetime and
for the awful knowledge that we pass through this life but once - and by this we are humbled and feel your presence.

Amen.

Charles M. Rucker

The Bittersweet Buck and the Struggle with the Sublime

2009-12-08T11:19:00.014-05:00

(A true story--Dec 2009)

"I am in mourning, and am in pain" I realized, while sitting in a treestand overlooking a favorite field, pondering the merits, or the futility, of hunting a territory that had recently experienced the reduction of its deer herd by one magnificent 10 pt buck.

"When a quality buck is taken on a QDM area, the pride can be shared by all property hunters because it was they who produced it by allowing it to reach the older age classes which are necessary for large bodies and antlers." That's what they say. Problem was, I felt considerably less pride and palpably more of some wicked brew of remorse, envy, and despair.

I had scouted this buck in the off season, he and his larger pal. I had muffed a tough straight down archery opportunity on him; had stalked him almost to success, only to be blown out in one case by a nearby coyote bedded down, and in another by the presentation of two unethical shots (a doe and a smaller buck directly behind in one, a silhouetted target on a ridge the next). I jumped him and chose not to take a "Texas heart shot," moments later trying a longer shot through brush to no avail. I had had my encounters, had had my chances, and had come up short.

It was the last weekend of shotgun season. It was time to "push the gully" and shoot a doe or two, or perhaps get a shot at one of the big boys (there is no shooting small bucks here during gun season). I knew there was a risk that one of these wall-hangers would pop out and be taken by one of my friends and fellow hunters rather than me, but I was willing to suffer that, or so I thought.

We went over the rules of the hunt; I assigned Gary, a relatively "green" hunter, to the prime stand covering the northern most outlet of the gully- we'd push it from the south. Other hunters were posted on the other escape routes.

The push yielded a few does, but they squirted out into a field with buildings as a backdrop...no shot. Two small bucks came out of the thicket to the west, but were undersized and no shots were fired. The drive was coming to an end, when Dave, in a stand on the other side of the gully motioned to Eric that there was a good size buck hiding in a large Beech tree top that was down and laying across the creek in the gully. As Eric pushed into the thick cover, the buck jumped, but hugged the ground and low-crawled like a rabbit. He hadn't gone far, but seemed to disappear. Eric stomped around in the brush, and finally the buck had held for as long as he could, exploding out from under a log up the east side of the gully right up the switch back trail towards Gary. A shot rang out. Only one.

It took me much longer to reach Gary and the downed deer than Eric, as I was on the other side of the gully. While I was en route, the buck had laid down in the open pasture east of the gully for awhile, but had bolted as the hunters approached to finish it off. A volley of shots was heard and the buck was down for good. Pictures were taken of that trophy, with my woods as a back drop, in the back of my truck, but not with my proud face or slightly shaking hands wrapped around that perfect 10 point rack. He'd score 130 easy, probably better.

That was yesterday. I spent all night tossing and turning about Gary's success, uncomfortable with my unresolved and confused feelings about it. This morning's sit in the stand felt like a work-out, a forced exertion rather than a joy or pleasure. I watched a single red leaf float to the ground. A doe passed within range but I was uninterested in killing her. I thought about how shocked Gary seemed, how unaware he seemed of what he had done, and then how he gradually looked relieved and quite happy as the adrenaline was replaced by a sense of completion and accomplishment. The doe looked over her shoulder. I thought about how Gary shook my hand and told me privately that this was his first big buck, about the gratitude he exhibited in his facial expression and in his simple words. "Thanks so much Keith." The doe took two steps and looked back again. I thought about the sick feeling I had when I saw the buck on the ground, those antlers I had studied with binoculars, from tree stands, even at full draw at 6 yards below me. The doe bolted at the sound of a grunt, and a 6 point yearling came out of the thicket, chasing her. I raised my gun and followed the buck's shoulder. "Boom," I whispered.... but did not fire. "Nice shot Gary."

A Canoga Creek Thanksgiving VII

2009-11-30T11:25:00.007-05:00

For more photos, go here.

Some recipes from the menu below can be found here.

The story of the squirrel featured in one of the appetizers can be found here.

Becoming a Lefty: A Bow Hunting Story

2009-11-22T19:18:00.016-05:00

I lost the vision in my right eye when I was serving as an infantry officer in the Kentucky National Guard, back in the early nineties. Seems I was specially selected to be a victim, a target of reprisals for the aggressive counter-drug operations we were involved in. In the end, my right eye doesn't work so good-- the rest of the story is irrelevant to the one I am telling now.

With the loss of vision in my right eye came the loss of my ability to shoot a gun, or a bow, right-handed. Try as I might, it was ineffectual. One late summer day, a good friend took me to a shooting range, where he was regaling me with the enthusiasm he had for side by side shotguns. He offered me the gun to "take it for a spin" and predictably, I could hit nothing. The orange clay disks floated away unharmed to land in the grass, like small Frisbees. Then, he encouraged me to try it left handed. I did, and I hit the first target launched, and many thereafter. From that day forward, the shooting sports have been left handed affairs for me.

Somewhere along the way, I realized that the archery set up my wife had given me for an anniversary gift, was worthless to a left-eyed, left handed shooter. I let it go in an auction, and with it went, for over ten years, any thought of bow-hunting.

I spent a decade becoming a lefty. My first shotguns, LC Smith side by sides, became my friends. Their flat sight plane and straight, no cast stocks allowed me to find success despite the awkwardness. Over time, I became a side by side purist, both for aesthetic and practical reasons. Then, I entered into the realms of big game hunting, still using a side by side 12 gauge. As time passed, the big game hunting began to occupy more and more of my thoughts, until I reached the point, last year, of considering attempting to shoot a left handed bow. I wanted to enjoy closer, more frequent buck sightings, and I wanted to have a chance at them before the orange army descended upon every nook and cranny of Canoga-land. So, on a whim, I searched Ebay for left-handed bows, and to my surprise, found a full set up for under a 100 dollars. I bid, and promptly won. Must not be a great market for ten year old left-handed bows.

After a once over, some fitting, and some upgrades, I was ready to fling arrows. Within a few weeks I was passably accurate, and I entered the archery fray, two weeks into the 2008 season. I hunted hard, missed a few deer, wounded a buck (that I eventually recovered in gun season, luckily) and finally found success as the season was closing, taking a young antlerless deer from a treestand at 30 yards. I was hooked. I spent the summer thinking of bow-hunting, strategizing optimal stand placement, and completing broad-head comparisons. By the time this fall season (2009) rolled around, I had upgraded to carbon arrows, had made the move to retractable broad-heads, and was using illuminated nocks. All of this makes my Browning Bridger II a reasonable example of a late 2oth century bow.

Though I missed the first few days of the 2009 archery season (due to travel), I still managed to hunt all but 6 days of the season, if only for an hour on some days. As October came to a close, I began to see an upswing in buck movement around the farm. I was seeing multiple bucks, a 4 pointer, a 6 pointer, a 7 pointer, a big 8 pointer, and a monster 10 point buck. The biggest buck made a point of chasing does in open fields near my stand, no matter where I was located or in what field. He seemed comfortable 150 yards from any cover that I found myself in. Until one windy morning, a morning I almost passed on. At the last minute, I decided to give it a go and was in my stand about a half hour before sunrise. The wind made it difficult to hear anything but the sounds of leaves falling. Within minutes of settling in, the big 10 pointer snuck in behind me. As I slowly rose to get my bow and face the right direction, he covered the few feet from the opening in the thicket to the tree I was in, and began smelling the climbing steps on the tree and licking the air. He was right below my feet, and he was huge. The wind was making him nervous, as was my scent, and I could see he was twitching his tail. He would bolt in a moment. I drew and positioned the shot, straight down. It felt awkward and uncomfortable. All I could see was brown in the peep sight. I opened both eyes to get the precise aim point, and let it fly. Unfortunately, I neglected to check for clearance of my arrow, and the fletching of the arrow hit the trunk of the tree and the tree-stand as it passed, sending the arrow 3 inches off course, completely missing the buck and spooking him. As he ran, and my heart sunk, I saw that he was the biggest deer I have ever seen.

It was difficult to recover from that failure. I was sick about it for days. I sat in the stand the next few mornings, more out of penance than passionate optimism. All I could think was that I had probably just messed up the buck of a lifetime. As I related the story to friends, all were sympathetic and empathetic, and all encouraged me to keep sight of the goal--to shoot a buck, any buck, this season. My personal goal was to shoot a buck that was "four on a side" and beyond the ears. I kept hunting, haunted by the one I missed, the one that got a way.

One morning I hunted a favorite stand, "The Cedar Tree." I have successfully bagged at least one buck and a few other deer, plus two coyotes, out of this tree (with a gun), which overlooks a small, hidden, ten acre field near the gulley. The stand itself is blended nicely in the cedar's branches and needles. There is a fence directly below, the field to the right (north) and a mowed lane way through a dense thicket to the left (south). The sun rises behind you in this stand, which is optimal. This particular morning was cloudy and gloomy, and there was not a lot of activity. I had missed a doe out of this tree a few days earlier. The deer can be heard running or trotting towards the cedar tree over the left shoulder, in the laneway. One must stand and draw immediately as the deer will enter the window for shooting quickly. As soon as the deer is visible in the opening, one must make a sound to startle and stop the deer for the shot. There is only a second or two to shoot. It is a little more than 20 yards. On the doe I missed, I aimed low on the 20 yard pin and missed her clean underneath.

On this morning, I sat thinking about my missed buck, and my missed doe out of the Cedar Tree. I was consoling myself as best I could, and had resolved to play and replay the misses in my head until I knew what errors I had committed, and learned how not to repeat them. At about 8:15, as I was mulling this, I heard over my left shoulder the same sound I heard a few days earlier...a deer coming up the trail. Like last time, I stood and drew. The deer emerged in the shot opening and it was a buck! I stopped him in the window with a vocalization, and in a split second saw four points and some mass, let the sight pin rise a bit, and let it fly. I saw the arrow hit the buck, right in the shoulder. He leaped straight up in the air, double kicked like a bronco, and I watched the arrow pop out and fall to the ground as he scampered off to the south. I stood for a moment with my mouth open, brow furrowed. I couldn't believe it. I heard the buck snort, and he sounded like he was only a hundred yards into the thicket.

I thought better of the tried-and-true strategy of sitting for 30 minutes after the shot before descending, and I quickly climbed down to look at my arrow. The arrow had meat on it, but no blood, and there was hair but no blood on the ground. I heard the buck snort again. I was kneeling down, peering into the brush where the noises were coming from. I realized that the wind was out of the west, so he wasn't winding me. I also realized that I had another stand that I could get to and at least halve the distance to where I thought this buck was now, perhaps lucking into another opportunity. It was a long shot, but the wind was in my favor. If it didn't work out, I would have to come back to the spot where the arrow came out and begin a search for any further sign.

I hustled to the other stand, the "Y-Tree" stand (where I had missed the 1o pointer!) and was up and in within 5 minutes. I had just nocked an arrow and had put down my face mask when I felt that feeling you get when someone is staring at you. I slowly turned my head to the right, and there was a buck. I couldn't believe my eyes. He was 30 yards away, facing me head on, looking in the direction of the tree, but not up. He must have heard the commotion, and was investigating. He took a few steps in my direction and I could see a slight limp. Then, he turned to lick his right shoulder. I could see it was bleeding. Miraculously, this was my buck!

He would take a few steps, and turn to lick his wound. Each time he turned, I would prepare a littel more for the shot. I stood and froze. I turned sideways and froze. I widened my feet and steadied and froze; each time he would look back at the base of the tree after licking his wound, but not up at me. I looked hard at his antlers; they were an interesting brown shade, thicker than I expected at the bases, but not as wide as I would have liked. Just out to the ears, and seven, not eight points. I felt a little disappointed, but then realized that I had yet to bring this buck into possession! I debated drawing the next time he turned his head, worrying that he would present me only a frontal shot and then proceed to walk right under me without ever presenting a shot. But, since he was already at 20 yards, I decided to gamble, and when he turned, I drew. He seemed vaguely aware that something moved, and he flicked his ear. Then, like he read my mind, he turned broadside and presented a perfect shot opportunity. I let an arrow fly at the buck, the second arrow in the span of ten minutes. Rare, if not unheard of. The shot looked great. I saw the arrow go in, not too far back, and felt that the shot was good.

Normally, it would have been time to savor a good shot. But, things had really not been going my way the last few days, and rather than feeling victorious, I felt anxious, worried that this, too, would end up in disappointment. I forced myself to wait 30 minutes, replaying the entire sequence. The shot was good. The arrow was in two thirds of the way as the buck ran off, to the south east. Finally, it was time to find out what had happened. I climbed down slowly, quietly. I walked slowly to the point of the shot. Hair and blood, good. There was a good trail to follow. Easy tracking. So, I went slowly, thoroughly, and was gaining confidence. The buck seemed to be traveling basically south, and there was a good track and blood.

After about 1/4 of a mile, there was a heavier patch of red, and there I found the arrow, broken off. The broad-head was still in the buck, cutting with every step. I felt sure I'd find the buck soon. It had now been an hour since I shot the second arrow... 9:30 am. I followed on, using the arrow as a pointer, tracking well still, but noticeably less blood on the trail. Continuing south, I passed through the deep side gully where the turkeys often roost. The buck scrambled up the other side, and here the tracking was easier. I kept resisting the urge to rush ahead. Just follow the sign, I kept telling myself.

Following the southward trail, I came into the Hoster farm field, this year in corn. The buck skirted the eastern edge of the field, still traveling southerly, along the Van Riper farm boundary. The tracking was getting harder now. Where before there was lots to follow, now there just drops, spaced out over a few yards. The buck veered out of the field and into Van Riper's thicket. Here, I lost the trail for about 15 minutes. Finally, on my hands and knees, I found a drop, and then another, on a leaf. He had made a hard right back into the Hoster field.

He seemed to linger in the corner, where there was a fresh scrape. I wondered if perhaps it was his? Then, his trail was lost to me. I spent 2o more minutes trying to find any sign. After many false starts down "hunch" paths, I happened down the right one and picked the blood trail back up, 15 yards from the last sign. I was getting worried now, and more anxious. The buck's trail took me down into a spur draw, a familiar place for bedding does. This was fitful tracking...here a sign, then a puzzle. It was slow going. I looked at my watch- 11:15 AM. I looked ahead, and there was a large splash. As I began to step towards it, up jumped the buck, bounding away to the west and out of the draw. He crossed the little freshet and I could see that the flow of red had picked back up with his sudden exertion. He was angling south west, headed towards the row of pines.

As soon as I reached the pines I knew I was in trouble. The russet bed of pine duff beneath the boughs left little to contrast with the red, and the fine needles move and roll, covering the blood droplets. I spent an hour in this stretch, on hands and knees yet again, scouring the pine needle bed for any indication of direction. I lay pine cones in a line, and after a while a general direction emerged. He had cut due west. I projected my line and exited the pines to the field edge, to the corn. Here, about waist high, was a splash. Eureka!

I learned that in corn or blond grasses, it is better to track kneeling or squatting down, so you can see the red ahead on the sides of the stalks and connect the dots. It is much more difficult to see from above. I went along this way for some time, following the corn and the trail. He had exited the draw and was working his way into the wind following a grassy drainage rill in the middle of the corn field. As I worked along, I noticed that the splashes were very wet. I slowed way down and peered ahead as I stepped...a few steps and around a corner I could see the antlers through the grass, at an intersection of grassy drainage ways. I crouched low and observed the buck. He was panting, laying down but head up. He had positioned himself to be able to observe his back track. At that moment the buck seemed bigger than before to me, and I wanted him more, too. I looked at my watch. It was noon. I decided to just wait, to back off and let him stay here, having already bumped him off a bed once.

No sooner had I made that decision, then the buck rose and turned, heading west. I nocked an arrow and attempted a shot, but the corn was to thick. Off he went, flag high. At this point, I could not understand how this deer was still going. It seemed he had lost a lot of blood, he had been arrowed twice, and he had covered a lot of ground, bedding down twice. In other places, I saw in the spoor that he was wounded in vitals, certainly. I felt a mixture of awe and respect for his toughness, all the while fretting that I might have just pushed him too hard and sent him out of my area, never to be found.

The tracking seemed to get easier. The buck was crashing ahead now, breaking down corn stalks and leaving good sign. The ground was wet and the mud was heavy in the drainage. I felt that the resistance of the corn and footing must surely be wearing the noble beast down. Yet, we were at the end of the corn field to the west! I began to be aware of panicked thoughts. The little patch of woods he had made for was an island in a mostly plowed field, nearly impossible to track him in. If he continued on, he would have to cross that field and then a road, and then he will have gotten the upper hand on me. I was thinking this as I crawled under the overhanging buckthorn at the field edge, the shrubby barrier to the island of woods.

The trail seemed obvious. He ducked under the branches there and then...where? The trail vanished. I was losing my ability to be patient. It was nearly 1 pm. I searched in circles in the island woods. At one point, a doe came racing by, low to the ground like a track star. It was unnerving. I found one more splash of blood, waist high on a pole size tree. It seemed the buck was wobbling, but I couldn't make sense of the direction of travel. Many more circles later, I decided to give it a break- to return home and eat something, have some coffee, and seek advice and assistance. I needed to back off.

I spent lunch brooding, making my wife miserable. After the telling of the saga she asked,"You do this for fun, right?" sarcastically. She was right... the whole thing is an obsession; significantly more emotion is invested than a mere pastime requires. She looked at me, silently. I felt her taking pity on me. She said "you'll find him."

I called some hunting buddies (Eric and George) for a consultation. After the telling, they both seemed optimistic that we'd find the deer. George shared his opinion about how long one should wait after the shot. We agreed to meet at 3:30 pm and search. When 3:30 finally arrived, it was raining. So much for a blood trail. We drove around to the back of the farm, and split up. We walked toward the island woods slowly, checking for any tracks or other sign, from the west. The thought was, it would be better to push him back into the corn than out the west side and into the plowed field. As we entered the woods, George and his son joined the search. Eric was pushing in from the west, and I was pinching from the south, while George was pinching from the North. We met in the middle, I pointed to the area where the deer entered the woods, and George's son squinted off into the brush. "What's that?" Eric replied "That's a dead deer."

The buck had turned in, to the North, and died. When I left the chase, I was no more than fifty yards from him. At a little after 4:00 pm, I finished what I had begun at a little after 8 that morning. Hefting the antlers, I felt immense admiration for the courageous and tough 7 point buck, and for all his brethren.

The wound on the shoulder was surprisingly deep and severe, given that the arrow bounced out. It was not, however, a mortal blow. The second arrow struck true, but because the buck was slightly quartering away as I shot, the arrow merely clipped the lower left lung, as opposed to hitting both lungs or heart. Then, the arrow hit liver and upper stomach. A mortal blow, but not instant.

In the end, I am pleased with my first left-handed archery buck. It was hard fought, and hard won. And the hero of the story is the buck.

Canoga Marsh Youth Pheasant Hunt

2009-10-27T13:30:00.003-04:00

The Canoga Creek farm and Conservancy was the host of the Kuneytown Youth Pheasant Hunt this year, and a good time was had by all. Click on the picture for the full story.

Bounties of Autumn

2009-10-04T20:40:00.008-04:00

On a recent squirrel hunt with my daughters, we were lucky to find some Chicken of the Woods (Laetiporus sulphureus)! What a find! This particular specimen was found on an Oak tree on the east side of our gully. Yes, and we manged two squirrels as well.

Fall round up time... some thoughts on cattle

2009-09-28T10:13:00.002-04:00

"Moving cattle is a simple exercise in puttin' yourself where you don't want them to go. I know that and the horse knows that. As for the cow, previous experience with branding irons and vet needles teels her not much good can come from us gettin' too close. There are those who would say that cows are a stupid lot. They'd be wrong. Cows simply bear a single-minded focus on what they want and are not terribly tolerant of of those who wish to interfere. Actually sounds like some people I know, but the difference is, the cow is at least honest about it. People will lie to you and tell you they are going one way when they're actually going the other. A cow on the other hand will never lie. Never did meet a dishonest cow."

-Anonymous

Cleveland Bay/Thoroughbred Cross Filly for Sale

2009-08-25T23:09:00.009-04:00

Meet Wicca, a 2 year old Cleveland Bay Thoroughbred cross (sporthorse) filly. She is smart, very friendly, and eager to learn. Beautiful lines, rare pedigree, and no bad habits. For sale now.

Percheron/Thoroughbred Cross for sale

2009-08-16T11:49:00.007-04:00

Meet "Sir Cole" -- a nine year old gelding, Percheron-thoroughbred cross. He stands 17.2 hands, is "green broke" to ride and drive, but still needs finishing. He stands beautifully for the farrier and the vet, cross-ties, and loves attention. Smart, quick-learner, but willful and big enough to require a steady, consistent regimen overseen by an experienced horse person.

A day 's harvest in the garden

2009-08-05T21:40:00.000-04:00

Tidball family reunion 2009

2009-07-28T15:46:00.000-04:00

Seneca Lake Lake Trout

2009-07-12T14:17:00.002-04:00

Just a bit over ten lbs... caught on a beautiful July summer morning.

Spring fields

2009-06-01T11:19:00.000-04:00

Friday Fishing Outing

2009-05-23T07:08:00.008-04:00

Today the whole family went on a fishing outing on the "Rough Draft." Problem was, with the recent rains and my being away on travel, the battery had been depleted by running the auto bilge pump. So we weren't going far. Undaunted, we commenced fishing from our moored boat, rather resignedly and unenthusiastically at first. Soon, however, we were having a ball! The pictures tell the story. We caught 7 bass and 1 bullhead. The bullhead was especially important because it was Charlotte's first fish caught all on her own, from cast to landed.

Spring Trolling

2009-04-14T13:53:00.007-04:00

Got a chance to get out on the lake to fish the northern end. We launched from Cayuga State Park. Trolled from the mouth of Canoga Creek south to Garnsey's Cove and back...about a five hour tour.

To date, the Brown trout I caught is the "furthest north" Salmonid I have landed in the lake proper. We were directly out from Red Jacket Yacht Club, about 200 yards from shore, in water about 39-40 degrees F.

Many pickerel were caught, some large, and one large northern pike. It was a great fishing outing.

Grass is Good

2009-03-08T23:26:00.001-04:00

I was recently forwarded this link to a story in the Auburn Citizen newspaper, covering a Cayuga Lake Watershed Network sponsored meeting on the many benefits of grass. Check it out.

Beavers have arrived

2009-02-23T10:00:00.006-05:00

Last fall while deer hunting in our gully, subtle signs of newly arrived beaver (or perhaps just passing through) were observed. A small beech sapling "skinned" and spear-like, floating in the creek; a handful of chomped off dogwood and poplar in the flats near the creek.

The beaver sign came up in a conversation around the dinner table, replete with recollections from my childhood in Minnesota. Throughout the winter, the possibility of beavers on our farm has generated considerable excitement among our budding naturalists Charlotte and Victoria.

So, with the thaw and resulting loss of snow, combined with a growing case of cabin-fever, we decided on an exploration. We tracked to the creek, built a fire as a kind of central rallying point (quite a challenge in the soggy conditions!), and had a brief discussion about beavers and their habits. I set it up so that the children were in charge of locating evidence, and then building a case, that beavers actually were taking up residence in our gully. My what a ruckus... shrieking over here on the discovery of a Carpinus caroliniana all chewed up, whooping and hollering over there upon locating a perfectly preserved set of tracks. "Daddy, over here!" when the beginning of a damn was discovered, and also the holes in the bank that we all hypothesize serve as quarters for the new beaver family as they continue work on impounding our creek. What a blast.

It was interesting to me that the preferred food did seem to be Carpinus caroliniana, followed by Fagus grandifolia, despite the presence of poplar and willow relatively near by.

I have posted a few pictures, and will continue to update the status of our beavers.

Bluebird Day

2009-02-09T10:57:00.005-05:00

We have had quite a thaw in the last few days... the ice on the lake is showing signs of its inevitable demise. The snow is losing its grip on our fields, our pastures, and today I heard, then saw, a blue bird. The most simple kind of hope is found in the song of a late winter bird on a sunny day.

New Imagery of Canoga Marsh Project

2009-01-30T09:00:00.003-05:00

Before and after...

Winter Dawn

2009-01-21T17:22:00.000-05:00

Seneca Saddle Club 4H Christmas Party

2008-12-22T00:36:00.021-05:00

Muzzle-loader Fox

2008-12-15T21:14:00.004-05:00

We've had a thaw here in the land of Canoga Creek. All the snow melted away in the last 24 hours and the creek is swollen and chocolaty. I thought perhaps the break in the weather would get the deer moving and slipped away from the toil of work to hunt the last few hours of daylight. The ground was moist and quiet, with that springy pungency not expected until April. There was an eerie mist in the gully, but no deer.

I amused myself by observing the squirrels on the hill beside me, chasing, and was just remarking to myself at how quiet their movements were in these damp conditions when a flash of yellow and a snarling sound interrupted my rodent reverie. What's this? A nice red bushy-tailed fox, and me with a loaded gun, albeit somewhat atavistic. How interesting...

I shot the fox with my New England Firearms "Sidekick" .50 cal muzzle-loaded rifle.
I have big plans for the pelt, which is in perfect shape.

Thanksgiving 2008

2008-12-13T10:20:00.007-05:00

We were blessed to have a crowd of good friends for Thanksgiving this year. The Tantillo/Tarlow family joined us, as did the Stedman/Nolen family, the Winchell/Perkins family, and the Parks family. We had 10 adults and 8 children for dinner! The menu and some pics below.

Pheasant Hunt

2008-12-05T09:14:00.001-05:00

The Pheasant Hunt
By Victoria Tidball and Danielle Riegel

We were in a car riding toward the one and only pheasant field. We were very excited. Then we stopped and got our gear ready to go, and went. Miss, the dog, was also excited. The breeze was cold and the thorns scratched us terribly and in pain we went on. Right away our Dad shot one. It's head was blown off. Then we saw another across the field. We ran after it. Miss was ahead of the gang. We missed the shot. We went along and found a bird nest. It was too high. We kept walking. Our Dads were walking in the woods as we were walking in the field. We walked towards the car. And all of a sudden another pheasant came out of the bushes. Our dads tried to shoot it. Then we went home. That was our trip. The end.

Deer Opener (gun) 2008

2008-11-16T18:49:00.012-05:00

An interesting 11 point buck. Just under 13 inch inside spread. My thought was that I had shot a 2 1/2 year old male who had some antler issues...he passed the 4 points on a side test, but turns out that, after DEC aging, he is only a 1 & 1/2 year old male! Shame...he would have been incredible as a 3 & 1/2. Still, a gift on a tough rainy opener, and memorable.

He will be tender and tasty.

We are officially "Bear Territory" now...

2008-11-01T11:15:00.000-04:00

Southern Zone Bear Units Added

New regulations expand bear hunting to 13 additional Wildlife Management Units (WMUs), which include parts of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Erie, Wyoming, Genesee, Monroe, Livingston, Wayne, Ontario, Seneca, Yates, Steuben, Schuyler, Tompkins, Tioga, Cortland, Broome, Chenango, Madison, Onondaga, Oneida and Otsego counties.

The new regulations are effective immediately and will allow hunters to pursue bears in these areas during the bowhunting, regular, and muzzleloading bear seasons in the Southern Zone. An updated map of New York's bear hunting seasons is available on DEC's Black Bear Hunting Seasons web page. A map and boundary descriptions of WMU locations can be found on DEC's Wildlife Management Units web page. Details of the specific changes for the Southern Bear Range are included in the complete press release on this topic.

Bear hunting areas in the Southern Zone have been expanded to better manage the growing bear population in that area.

"In recent years, the bear population in central and western New York has grown in number and expanded in distribution," DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said. "Hunting is an important component of a comprehensive bear-management program that also emphasizes safety, education efforts and responses to individual problem bears. Expanding the bear hunting area is a continuation of efforts to manage bear population growth and range expansion."

Fall Turkey

2008-10-20T23:02:00.009-04:00

My daughter Charlotte, who is six years old, wanted her first hunt badly; so rather than chase squirrels, I opted for a fall turkey hunt, given Thanksgiving is just around the proverbial corner. We headed for our woods, down to "the gully," where a logging road cuts down one side of the gully and up the other, switch-backing on the western side. Many of the leaves from maples, tulip poplar, beech and oak are already down, which makes for crunchy walking. On the other hand, everything walking in the woods is crunching, so if one listens long and hard enough, one can eventually blend in and be relatively unnoticed. This is especially true if there are 3 foot berms on each side of the logging road.

So Charlotte and I were still-hunting along the logging road in the gully, and before too long, we could hear rustling in the leaves that sounded too big and vigorous to be a squirrel. We stopped and knelt, conferencing in a whisper about the sounds. Could it be turkeys digging through the leaves looking for beech nuts and acorns? Charlotte thought "maybe." So, we scratched the leaves ourselves and I did my best vocal imitation of a hen turkey. Lo and behold, a turkey answered, and we had confirmation...they were close, and it sounded like a lot of them.

I glanced at my watch after noticing the low sun casting beautiful slant-y golden light on the tops of the trees, 5:15 PM. I whispered to Charlotte that I surmised that the turkeys were headed to one of their roosting areas, a draw with big old beech trees at the bottom. I asked if she wanted to try to intercept them. She was game, so we crept along the berm, me calling, Charlotte scratching leaves.

We got to a point where the logging road was about to crest and we were going to lose our berm. We knelt again to conference, but just then, we heard a cluck, looked up , and there was turkey poking its head over the berm briefly. The rest, as they say, is history.

We hope to see the Stedman et al. family, the Tantillo et al. family, and the Winchell et al. family at Thanksgiving.

Lake Friendly Farm Award

2008-10-06T08:55:00.002-04:00

Wineries win Lake Friendly Farm Award

by Debra J. Groom / The Post-Standard
Monday September 29, 2008, 12:09 PM

Hosmer Winery, Long Point Winery, Canoga Creek Farms and Switzer Farm have received 2008 Lake Friendly Farm Award.

Farmers receive this special award when they incorporate practices that conserve and protect their local water resources. Lake-friendly farming can include tree planting along streams, conservation of wetlands and manure handling practices.

These four wineries are all located within the Cayuga Lake Watershed area -- where agriculture is very important to the community culturally, economically and ecologically.

A Midsummer Night's Eve: Cayuga Cat!

2008-07-28T13:51:00.015-04:00

My friend and colleague Jeremy Dietrich recently asked me to take his younger brother Wade and his friend and fellow graduate student Laura out on a fishing trip on the north end of Cayuga Lake. So, the crew met me at 5 pm Sunday evening for a 4 hour excursion on the "Rough Draft."

We tried a bit of trolling, but the recreational boating of the weekend had chopped up so much vegetation that it was nearly impossible. We switched to drifting and casting. Before long, Wade had boated a perch and a nice chain pickerel. Within an hour, Laura had boated a nice pickerel also, and a smaller "hammer handle."

We were drifting the navigation channel, out in front of the state park and working our way south towards Canoga Creek. Wade hooked a nicer perch, a keeper. I boated a couple of pickerel. And then, Laura hooked into a bruiser.

We watched her fight this fish. Both Jeremy and I quickly ascertained that we were clearly out of the 3-4 lb pickerel class. The tension rose, instructions were helpfully peppered at Laura...drag settings, reeling instructions, etc. Then we saw a flash of the huge fish as it bulled under the boat. She fought for long minutes more until it began to tire. Slowly she horsed it to the side of my boat. Jeremy was leaning over the edge, ready to help land it...he looked over his shoulder with a surprised look and exclaimed "Its a huge catfish!" He reached for it and it dove again. Now we were all quite engaged and invested in boating this strange and unusual Cayuga Lake trophy. After a few valiant misses, Jeremy finally managed to gill it, and hoisted above decks. It was a leviathan.

Congrats Laura and Wade! Come back fishin' any time.

After picture taking and all of the fun, we fished a bit more in the channel, and then headed for the mouth of Canoga Creek for a large mouth Bass or two. But the group was pretty satiated with having caught the Channel Cat, (According to Wikipedia, realistically, a channel catfish over 20 pounds (9 kg) is a spectacular specimen, and most catfish anglers view a 10 pound (4.5 kg) fish as a very admirable catch. Furthermore the average size channel catfish an angler could expect to find in most waterways would be between 2 and 4 pounds) and our bass fishing resulted in just on beefy Rock bass, along with enjoying a good summer's eve sunset over Canoga Creek Farm and Conservancy. Stats? 5 pickerel, 2 perch, 1 rock bass, and one 30 inch, 12 pound Channel Catfish.

The Cayuga Flora

2008-07-23T13:54:00.002-04:00

I was recently contacted by Robert Meadows of the State of Delaware's Division of Fish and Wildlife. Robert is an environmental scientist who has lots of experience with wetland restoration, and also, coincidentally, some family roots in the area. He is interested in at least two very cool things...1) unraveling the mysteries of whether or not cattails are native, and 2) the study of a native Phragmites species, which I will cover shortly.

But first, Robert turned me on to this little gem:

The Cayuga Flora Part I: A Catalogue of the Phaenogamia Growing Without Cultivation in the Cayuga Lake Basin By William Russel Dudley: ""

Now, to the Phragmites... Robert inquired as to whether he could do a survey of my portion of the Canoga Marsh. He was intrigued by the fact that the above referenced Flora accounting hints that Phragmites were "abundant" in the Canoga Marsh at the time of the survey, whereas now it is a pretty mono-typical cattail marsh...what happened?

Stay tuned...

Blue for Brant!

2008-07-21T13:58:00.004-04:00

My eldest daughter Tori took 1 year old "Brant" (Chesapeake Bay Retriever ) to the county fair and won a Blue Ribbon in domestic pets! Hurray for Brant! Hu rray for TORI!!

Artemis puppies! German Shorthair Pointer party

2008-07-11T12:54:00.003-04:00

Musing on Roosevelt and Farm Land Protection

2008-07-09T13:40:00.000-04:00

It seems the greatest opponents of farm land protection are farmers. In my community, those calling themselves farmers often end up appearing a hell of a lot more like land speculators and developers, which gives rise to the following adaptation of a famous TR quote.

"Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful FARM LAND sometimes seek to champion them by saying that 'FOOD PRODUCTION belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the AGRICULTURAL heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of FARM LAND and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."

-adapted from Teddy Roosevelt’s A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open, 1916

The original quote follows:

Defenders of the short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things sometimes seek to champion them by saying the 'the game belongs to the people.' So it does; and not merely to the people now alive, but to the unborn people. The 'greatest good for the greatest number' applies to the number within the womb of time, compared to which those now alive form but an insignificant fraction. Our duty to the whole, including the unborn generations, bids us restrain an unprincipled present-day minority from wasting the heritage of these unborn generations. The movement for the conservation of wild life and the larger movement for the conservation of all our natural resources are essentially democratic in spirit, purpose, and method."

Late June Lakers and Spiny Water Fleas

2008-06-30T10:55:00.010-04:00

Capt. George Havelin and his boat, the "Miss Lizzy," found the fish yet again on Cayuga Lake.
Lake Trout were the species de jour, though we did boat one undersized landlocked Atlantic salmon.

Capt. George inquired about the globs of aquatic gunk that accumulate on the trolling lines this time of year. He called them "spinner fleas." This is an example of good dissemination of mostly correct information, though the technical name for the phenomena he is referring to is "Spiny and/or Fishhook water fleas," Bythotrephes spp and Cercopagis pengoi respectively. The range of these invasive species is highlighted in the map red below...notice the Finger Lakes region :

In case Capt. George is unavailable, there are other Finger Lakes guides.

Grassland Establishment

2008-05-22T12:39:00.004-04:00

USDA/NRCS and NYS DEC experts recently (5/20/08) assessed the warm season grassland establishment project at Canoga Creek Farm and Conservancy.

Their assessment was generally positive. They said "Overall the site looked very good as far as establishment. There was excellent wildrye throughout. There were differences in stand establishment and survival with the poorest along the Southern side of the field. The planted and/or volunteer clover which overlapped the warm season grasses is posing serious competition as well as golden rod and other broad leaf weeds. On the North and West side of the field there was some dense rows of warm season grasses... some of it had little weed competition but the farthest area to the North had an excellent stand of warm season grasses. We also noticed more little bluestem on the North side which may have been due to how the seed was planted. Most of the weeds are broadleaved so that an application of 2,4-D is possible and would improve the stand. This would be a good year to do this to insure a vigorous stand of warm season grasses which may then have a chance to maintain itself with future encroachment of broadleaf forbs."

The team also noticed the prairie cord grass and Canada blue joint that was planted by Ducks Unlimited and Cayuga Lake Watershed volunteers is still growing on the edge of the field in the wetland margin.

I am particularly intrigued/encouraged by the following in their brief report/assessment:

"On the North and West side of the field there was some dense rows of warm season grasses... some of it had a little weed competition but the farthest area to the North had an excellent stand of warm season grasses. We also noticed more little blue stem on the North side which may have been due to how the seed was planted."

The reason this is of interest to me is that the areas described on the field are not in the conservation easement area, but were planted at the same rate as the rest of the field. The difference, from a management perspective, has been that, given those areas are not in the easement and therefore not restricted as to use, I have been practicing classic "timely mowing and/or grazing"...basically taking a cutting of hay as appropriate on these areas. I am not ready to assert direct causality but think it warrants further consideration.

As I am attempting to convert my entire farm (160 acres) to organic, I am particularly interested in methods of establishing this warm season planting without the use of chemicals. Would there be interest in a scientific trial here? Half of the field hayed/mowed, half treated with chemicals? I think there may be some value in exploring this.

At any rate, I appreciated the focus being on establishing the warm season grasses first, and then managing as habitat for associated wildlife secondarily as appropriate, when there is sufficient establishment. I believe the southernmost swath of the field was not planted to warm season due to excessive rills, so what is there is predominately volunteer or drift. The upland pond and drainage areas were planted to clover for erosion control...should there be changes in these areas (also not planted to warm season grasses)?

I was also very happy to hear about the prairie cord grass and Canada blue joint survival/growth. A group of volunteers who "sweated" (sweat?) on a hot day planting will be pleased to hear of it!

For an interesting discussion of ag practices, grasslands, and birds, try here.

Woodcock 07

2008-04-30T15:07:00.001-04:00

Marsh Work

2008-04-15T23:22:00.001-04:00

Putting in some mallard condos...

More Owls

2008-04-05T23:16:00.000-04:00

While doing the annual April Wood duck box clean-out, a "different" resident was discovered...

Owl Rehab

2008-03-05T15:57:00.004-05:00

A few nights ago, my next door neighbor was driving past my house in the dark when an owl struck his mirror. The neighbor stopped to check on the owl, which was still very much alive, and picked it up out of the road to keep it from being crushed. The owl recovered in my neighbor's kitchen from what was probably similar to a concussion. The neighbor let it out an hour later. The owl flew into an apple tree, where it remained for a few minutes, and then flew off, looking healthy. Hopefully, the owl is back on the job controlling rodents.

Coyote

2008-02-25T11:56:00.001-05:00

Took this Coyote on a crisp February afternoon. Over 300 meters, trotting shot with this Remington 7 .203 rifle. Thanks to George and Ann for the push through the apple orchard thicket.

07 Bucks

2008-01-07T17:23:00.000-05:00

This hunting season, two noteworthy bucks were killed at Canoga Creek Farm & Conservancy.

In addition to these fine bucks, 1 six pointer was killed, one spike horn, one button buck, and 3 does. Deer management in progress.

GEHA - A Mauser conversion 2-shot shotgun

2007-12-25T10:37:00.003-05:00

In the early spring of 2002, when Willis Cosad was packing up the accumulated ephemera of 90 plus years of occupying what would later become Canoga Creek Farms and Conservancy, a decision was made by Willis' son, executor of the Cosad estate, to sell at auction and yard sale all the items not desired by family members. Included in this collection of odds and ends were old farm and shop equipment, including almost one hundred year old stable equipment and tack. Of course there were the expected antique furnishings, and knick knacks, but what caught my eye, especially as I envisioned myself as the new "owner" of the farm and steward of its natural resources and bounty, was an old bolt action shotgun.

I picked up the gun, and Willis' son approached. "That was Dad's goose gun," he said. "It was his favorite." Sold. Though I would have paid significantly more, I acquired the gun for $75.00.

As chance would have it, I had become friends with Nick Tooth, a gunsmith who was responsible for the intricate checkering on the wood for some of the fancy but no longer made Ithaca Classic Doubles (closed their doors in May of 2003--for a brief and incomplete history, click here)
Nick had a look at my prize and quickly pronounced that its future should be as a deer gun. We drilled for some scope mounts, mounted a red dot, and the GEHA has performed well as a big game gun.

Recently, I discovered some research on GEHA published on the web. The article, entitled GEHA, A Little-Known Prime Example of Germany Maintaining its Arms Industry Between the World Wars, sheds additional light on my "deer gun," which I thought would be worth sharing. The following is excerpted from the article: “What on earth is a GEHA?” Simply put, it’s a converted Mauser Gewehr 98 rifle bored out for a 12, 16, or 20 Gauge shotshell, with 1 shell in the magazine plus 1 in the chamber capacity. It is half-stocked, and the wood is usually military grade and was never changed from the Gewehr 98 to the GEHA. It uses a sprung, detachable bolthead that fits over the old Gewehr 98 bolthead, and also utilizes a receiver strengthener/shell deflector that was added because so much metal was removed from the original rifle action. A new trigger assembly and triggerguard were also fitted so as to be more suitable to a shotgun. For one, the triggerguard was quite beefy. For another, the trigger itself was single-stage (as opposed to the two-stage military rifle trigger of the Gewehr 98). These trigger and triggerguard features are shared by the Remo and Hard Hit Heart, the two other Mauser conversion shotguns. Another feature of these guns is that the bolt handles were bent."

"The GEHA was simple. It was cylinder-bored; although a few GEHA’s have been noted with fully-choked bores, they seem to be in a small minority. Frank de Haas notes one of the guns appearing in his book Bolt-Action Rifles co-authored by Dr. Wayne van Zwoll. It retained the military Gewehr 98 stock, and was a no-frills gun without any provisions for a front sling swivel (although it retained the rear swivel mount from the Gewehr 98). The hole for the Gewehr 98’s bolt takedown donut was filled with a medallion reading "GEHA" in script. It was put on the market around 1920 or 1921."

I continue to hunt with this gun today, and am planning to get further information on it, especially specifications I do not have the technology to measure or ascertain, likely with the help of Turnbull restoration, who have done minor work on the gun recently. Those details will be appended to this post. Detailed photos below.

More Geha web resources:

http://www.texastradingpost.com/militaria/geha.html

Guns Magazine May 2008 article

Firearms forum research- very thorough and complete

Tis the Season...some wildlife humor

2007-11-29T15:10:00.000-05:00

This comes from my father, a minister and my original outdoors mentor. Enjoy.

An atheist was walking through the woods.
"What majestic trees!"
"What powerful rivers!"
"What beautiful animals!"
he said to himself.

As he was walking alongside the river, he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. He turned to look. He saw a 7-foot grizzly bear charge towards him.

He ran as fast as he could up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw that the bear was closing in on him.

He looked over his shoulder again, & the bear was even closer. He tripped & fell on the ground. He rolled over to pick himself up but saw that the bear was right on top of him, reaching for him with his left paw & raising his right paw to strike him.

At that instant the Atheist cried out, "Oh my God!"

Time Stopped.
The bear froze.
The forest was silent.

As a bright light shone upon the man, a voice came out of the sky. "You deny my existence for all these years, teach others I don't exist and even credit creation to cosmic accident." "Do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer"?

The atheist looked directly into the light, "It would be hypocritical of me to suddenly ask you to treat me as a Christian now, but perhaps you could make the BEAR a Christian"?

"Very Well," said the voice.

The light went out. The sounds of the forest resumed. And the bear dropped his right paw, brought both paws together, bowed his head & spoke:

"Lord bless this food, which I am about to receive from thy bounty through Christ our Lord, Amen."

It won't be long...

2007-11-18T07:38:00.000-05:00

A Nice Archery Buck

2007-10-29T19:51:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, George H. took a beautiful 11 pt buck out of the Canoga Creek Farm & Conservancy. I won't tell George's story for him in hopes that we will hear from this future Grouser in person on the subject, but suffice it to say that this may be his best archery deer to date, and it is the second "big boy" to grace my lawn since I've been the steward of this here parcel. Hearty congratulations to George.

Woodcock 06

2007-09-01T01:03:00.000-04:00

Update on Canoga Marsh restoration

2007-08-06T21:56:00.001-04:00

Before... (with sketches of pothole locations)

After...

For a full report, go here

A New Arrival

2007-05-18T09:34:00.000-04:00

Ella, our thoroughbred, was bred to a registered Cleveland Bay stallion almost a year ago. Their lovechild is now munching grass at Canoga Creek Farm & Conservancy. Welcome "Wicca"!!

Canoga Creek Stocked!!

2007-05-01T21:52:00.001-04:00

Recently the newly reinvigorated Finger Lakes Chapter of Trout Unlimited decided to do an experimental stocking of the lovely spring creek called Canoga. Needless to say, the Canoga Creek Farm and Conservancy has been "encouraging" this action for some time now. What can I say, membership to the chapter is inexpensive and a good investment.

So, we have 200 yearling Brown trout (roughly 6 inchers) and 20 two year old brown trout (roughly 14 inchers) newly in the neighborhood. That oughta' keep me busy for awhile.

Snow Buntings

2007-03-07T10:54:00.001-05:00

Have been noticing pre-migratory flocks of Snow Buntings using the newly established grassland near the lake (you can see it in the background of the ice skating pictures below.) Amazing synchronized flock maneuvers.

For more on Snow Buntings, see http://www.birdsbybent.com/ch91-100/snobunting.html

Ice Skating

2007-02-28T12:13:00.000-05:00

Ice fishing 2007

2007-02-22T13:15:00.003-05:00

Streaker

2006-12-22T19:51:00.000-05:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0vVLrm5o-I

Piggies

2006-12-22T00:03:00.000-05:00

Photo by Harold Saltzman

A Canoga Creek Thanksgiving II

2006-11-23T06:25:00.001-05:00

23 November 2006

4:30 Cocktails

First Course Hors D’oeuvres
Pheasant in a Bramble
Petite Duck a L’orange
Fall Creek Trout Spread and Blue Corn Tortillas
Pepper Jack and Venison Stacks
Rabbit Rouge
Faisan Pate
Grouse Saut?
Cherry Goose

Wine- Swedish Hill Reserve Chardonnay (2003)

Second Course- Soup
Woodcock, Minnesota Wild Rice, and Mushroom Soup
Brie and Baguette

Third/ Main Course
Grilled Wild Turkey Breast with Horseradish Hollandaise
Farm Fresh Turkey Stuffed and Roasted Traditional
Creamed Ginger Garlic Butternut Squash
Mashed Potatoes with Garlic and Parsley
Caribbean Mashed Sweet Potato es
Green Bean Casserole
Chanterelle, Sage and Chestnut Stuffing
Corn Bread and/or Cranberry Orange Bread

Wine- Campo Lagaza, Navarra, Spain (2005)

Fourth Course
Cranberry Parks Glace

Wine- Knapp Vignoles (2005)

Fifth Course
Wild Greens with Bleu Cheese, Cranberry and Walnut Vinaigrette

Sixth Course
Homemade Apple Pie a la mode
Homemade Pumpkin Pie Cake
Homemade Chocolate Pie

Seventh Course-Digestif
Fonseca Guimaraens Vintage Port (1995)
Xocolata Picant, Artesanals La Vall D’Or (Barcelona)
La Gloria Cubana Maduro Cigar

Property Rights vs. Agland Protection

2006-11-13T17:01:00.000-05:00

“It is the policy of this state... to conserve, protect and encourage the development and improvement of agricultural land for the production of food, and other products, and also for its natural and ecological value.” Article 25AA-NYS Agriculture and Markets Law

Background
Recently in Seneca County, New York, a conflict arose between environmental sustainability proponents and property rights advocates. This in itself is in no way surprising. However, because the opposing views were both held by members of the agriculture community, a specific and well organized segment of rural society unified under Farm Bureau, a unique opportunity presents itself to better understand some of the nuances of collisions of property rights advocacy with a particular kind of sustainability and open space preservation that favors continuing agricultural practices.

By way of background, according to a 2001 USDA Economic Research Service report on development impacts on farming[1], development in agricultural districts may cause the following:
Suburban neighbors’ complaints about farm odors and chemical spraying may force farmers to turn to enterprises that produce fewer negative side effects. Some of the alternatives will be more profitable and some will be less.
Conflicts can arise between growers and new suburban neighbors over early morning noise, and increased traffic can hinder farmers’ ability to move their equipment along overcrowded rural roads being used as commuter routes.
Markets for traditional dairy products or field crops may be reduced, as milk-collection routes are curtailed and grain elevators go out of business. In some areas, farm input suppliers, machinery dealers, and other forms of agricultural support may decline.
Real estate taxes may rise as land prices rise to reflect the potential for non-farm development.
Growers may face increased pressure from water- and land-use restrictions.
Farms may face deteriorating crop yields from urban smog, theft, and vandalism.

Farm Bureau at the local and state level supported and favored passage of Article 25AA- NYS Agriculture and Markets Law, commonly called “The Ag Districts Law” and/or “The Right To Farm Law.” [2] The law declared that many of the agricultural lands in New York State are in jeopardy of being lost for any agricultural purposes, and that when nonagricultural development extends into farm areas, competition for limited land resources results. The law also registered concern over ordinances inhibiting farming, rising farm taxes, and hopes for speculative gains that discourage investments in farm improvements, often leading to the idling or conversion of potentially productive agricultural land.

The law makes it the “policy of the state to conserve, protect and encourage the development and improvement of its agricultural land for production of food and other agricultural products.” It is also the declared policy of the state to conserve and protect agricultural lands as valued natural and ecological resources which provide needed open spaces for clean air sheds, as well as for aesthetic purposes.

The legal basis of the law, it was argued at its passage, was that the constitution of the state of New York directs the legislature to provide for the protection of agricultural lands. Therefore, the law was intended to provide a locally-initiated mechanism for the protection and enhancement of New York State's agricultural land as a viable segment of the local and state economies and as an economic and environmental resource of major importance. The problem is, the law anticipated only fending off attacks from the non-farming public. As a result, the law has two major “blind spots” as we shall see shortly.

New York State Agricultural Districts Law

Sixteen different states in the U.S. have developed agricultural district programs. They allow farmers to form special areas where commercial agriculture is encouraged and protected. Participation by farmers is voluntary and in exchange for enrollment, farmers receive packages of benefits including favorable tax treatment, right-to-farm protections and shielding from infrastructure financial assessments. Some states (e.g. Pennsylvania) also make it very difficult to extend public improvements into farm areas that could cause negative impacts on agriculture.

In New York State, an agricultural district is an area containing important agricultural land that is created through petition by farmers and officially designated by a County Legislature. Under provisions of the Agricultural Districts Law as amended, an agricultural district is comprised of 500 or more acres of reasonably contiguous, viable agricultural land. Districts are reviewed every eight years to determine the current extent of agricultural land in the area and to identify whether inclusions or exclusions to the district will be made.

Agricultural District programs offer several strengths as farmland protection tools. These
include the following according to the American Farmland Trust[3] and others:
Agricultural District programs are very flexible; benefits and restrictions can be tailored to local conditions.
Agricultural Districts help stabilize the land base at low public cost.
Agricultural Districts provide multiple benefits to farmers, including tax relief, protection from local regulation and eligibility for purchase of development rights
programs. These benefits help support the economics of farming.
Agricultural Districts help create a critical mass of land to keep farming viable.
Enrollment in Agricultural Districts is voluntary, making the programs popular with farmers.
A landowner in an Agricultural District can take advantage of farmland protection
techniques that would otherwise require agricultural zoning. Such zoning can impose strict restrictions on farmland and is not part of New York's Agricultural District Law, although individual communities can opt to pursue such options as part of their own programs.

These strengths are accompanied by some drawbacks, however. Again, the American Farmland Trust suggests these include:
Sanctions for withdrawing land from agricultural districts may not be strong enough to discourage conversion.
Limits on non-farm development may not prevent expansion of public services such as water and sewer lines into agricultural areas. New York State's Agricultural District Law, fortunately, does address this issue with exemption from special district levies based on frontage and specific planning and notice requirements.
The benefits provided by Agricultural Districts are not always enough incentive for farmers to enroll. Owners must also pay penalties to remove themselves from a District prior to its eight-year term.
The procedure for creating agricultural districts can be lengthy and complex.

More Background-The Specifics of the Seneca County Case

As has been described above, the “Ag Districts Law” seems to protect farmers from undue persecution, and protect farmland from conversion to residential or commercial development. The perpetrators of these “attacks” upon farming are of course assumed to be non-farmers. But what happens when a farmer threatens the future of farmland by pushing to convert his farmland into residential development, and neighboring farmers want to fend off such an attack by invoking the “Ag Districts Law?”

In 2003, a local property owner in Seneca County New York, formerly a farmer, decided that he would provide for his retirement by converting his farmland into residential development lots. After hiring a surveyor and making appropriate drawings, maps, and plans, he approached the Town Planning Board for approval for a major subdivision. The Town is required to hold a Public Hearing for major subdivisions, and at this particular hearing, a significant public outcry ensued over the proposed subdivision. Concerns ranged from the loss of views and open space, to negative effects of sprawl upon neighboring farms, to environmental concerns about overloading a fragile water table with septic systems and consumption of potable water. A petition was circulated and many signatures were collected. The land owner had few people speak in favor of his project.

The town planning board, recognizing the furor of the proposed subdivision, decided to enter into the New York State Environmental Quality Review process using “rigorous” interpretations. The Board found that the environment would potentially be harmed by the major subdivision, and forwarded the opinion to the county planning board. The county, however, found that there would be no significant adverse impact of the conversion of this agricultural land. Taking into consideration the public’s concern with this project, the planning board recommended that the land owner revise his plans to only convert one lot to residential development at that time. The hope was that the planning board, which was nearing the end of writing a comprehensive plan for the town, would be in a better position in the future to deal with land use issues, especially if new zoning were adopted that would protect agricultural land within agricultural districts. In spite of the public outcry over the proposed subdivision, the single lot split was approved.

In 2006, the same farmer appeared again before the town planning board, this time to split off a second lot from his original farm, one of the seven lots proposed in the initial major subdivision proposal. Predictably, the farmer encountered the same adversity, perhaps with even more intensity. This time, the neighboring farmers attempted to invoke the “Ag Districts Law” while appealing to Farm Bureau and county agencies, setting in motion a pitched battle over the intent of agriculture protection laws and opening up new legal questions that remain unanswered.

The Arguments

Attempts to block or forestall conversion of the farm in question originally hinged on two related arguments; 1.) that by virtue of Agricultural Districts law, it was illegal, or at least in violation of both the spirit and the letter of the Agriculture Districts law, especially provisions to protect and preserve farmable land, for the Town Planning Board to approve residential development in a certified agriculture district, even if town zoning did not specifically prohibit it, and 2.) that allowing residential development in an agricultural district where neighboring farms had properly registered their concern through Agriculture Data Statements caused harms to the livelihoods of neighboring farms and violated their “rights to farm,” also protected in the Agriculture Districts Law (AML §305-a).[4]

A third, unique argument to block agriculture land conversion to residential or commercial development was also presented. This argument takes a creative “future tense” interpretation of the “Right to Farm” provision in the Ag Districts law. At issue is the future “Rights to Farm” of future farmers if current farmable land is converted to commercial development. In other words, if I am a 12 year old boy with aspirations of farming in my home county, my “Right to Farm” may be impinged upon if my opportunity to farm is foreclosed by dwindling farmable land in my community.

Arguments supporting a farmer’s inalienable right to do whatever he desires with his land were not particularly new or unique, and followed strict property rights movement rhetoric closely.

Two Blind Spots

Among the threats to agricultural land, one of the largest threats is farmers who, because of development pressures, become real estate speculators and sell their land for commercial or residential development. Despite the noble and well meaning aims of Agricultural Districts Law, it seems that an overarching “problem” with the law is that it does not anticipate conflict between and among farmers about land use decisions within the agriculture community, and therefore has two significant blind spots, which prevent the law from effectively addressing one of the largest threats to farmland.

The first “blind spot” is that there is no language in the law suggesting penalty or punitive damages for violation of Agricultural Districts Law, jurisdiction, or even guidance to municipalities on what they should do to enforce. The second is that the agricultural real estate assessment “penalty upon conversion” provision intended to be a disincentive, is so small as to be meaningless. As a result of these two blind spots, among those who have the most “agency” in terms of the threat of development, there is least enforceability or accountability.

Conclusion
The Ag Districts law limits a town or municipalities ability to restrict or regulate agriculture, but it does not limit a towns’ ability to protect agriculture, even if it protects agriculture from some farmers who want to cash out and sell their farms. Therefore, towns and municipalities should strengthen local “Right to Farm” ordinances and impose significant penalties upon farmers wishing to cash out of agricultural districts, especially if they have reaped tax savings for having been in Ag districts. These penalties could be reduced based upon selling farmers willingness to enter into other farmland preservation programs (percentage of land in easements, PDR/TDR, etc.). This kind of approach will help create locally based agricultural enhancement initiatives that provide both incentives and disincentives in efforts to protect agricultural and open space, while preserving property rights.
[1] http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/aer803/

[2] http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/AP/agservices/2004C115.pdf

[3] See: http://www.farmland.org/resources/publications/documents/NewYorkLandownerGuide.pdf
and: http://www.farmland.org/resources/reports/default.asp

[4] http://www.agmkt.state.ny.us/ap/agservices/new305/guidance.pdf

Farm Bureau 06 Resolution

2006-10-20T14:03:00.000-04:00

Whereas, 1. Farmland in Seneca County is increasingly threatened by conversion to residential development, 2. Seneca County Agriculture Enhancement Plans and NYS Ag & Markets Laws are intended to protect farmers from unplanned residential development that may harm their agricultural operations’ viability, 3. Farmers in Seneca County who have recently relied upon NYS Ag & Markets Agricultural Districts and Right to Farm laws to protect their interests have been ill served,

Be it resolved that the Seneca County Farm Bureau:

1. Calls urgently upon New York State Farm Bureau to work with NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets to re-evaluate Agricultural Districts Law and to clarify enforcement of the law and penalties for violation of these critical laws.

2. Encourages New York State Farm Bureau to create a model Local Right-to-Farm law for use by local municipalities.

3. Recommends a participatory state-wide process in which New York State Farm Bureau members can become involved in a dialogue about the tensions between, on one hand, fundamental property rights and retirement or near retirement aged farmers’ strategies to sell their land for development, and on the other hand, the need to protect dwindling farmland resources in Seneca County and across the state for future farmers.

House passes Horse Slaughter Prevention Act

2006-09-18T21:04:00.000-04:00

In a disappointing vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Farm Bureau-opposed bill, HR 503, the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act. This legislation would set a negative precedent by banning a livestock product for reasons other than food safety or public health. There has been no action on the Senate companion bill, S. 1915. Only Representatives Boehlert, Higgins, and McHugh voted “no” on this onerous bill. The remaining members of New York’s congressional delegation instead listened to emotional rhetoric from animal rights groups and supported passage of this legislation. Although animal rights activists claim that the Horse Slaughter Prevention Act is an animal welfare bill, its passage would actually be seriously detrimental to the humane care and treatment of horses. The unintended consequence of eliminating this humane euthanasia option for horses would result in leaving as many as 100,000 horses each year to neglect and abandonment.

Woodcock 05

2006-09-01T01:07:00.000-04:00

Reform Ag trade?

2006-08-31T21:41:00.000-04:00

USDA Secretary Johanns said recently "that (US Farm Trade Policy) reform is necessary because current farm supports distribute much money to relatively few large producers and for selected crops that produce relatively little revenue, thereby unintentionally raising the prices of land and capital, and discouraging young people from entering agriculture."

Huh. From this administration? Johanns for President.

For more of the story, click here

Making outlaws of us all

2006-08-25T18:30:00.000-04:00

From the ASI newsletter:

New Regs for Transporting Hay

Under the Public Health Security and Bioterrorism Preparedness and Response Act of 2002, regulations regarding the transporting of hay will go into effect in December. The new rules are designed to protect against serious threats to the food supply. The regulations relate only to transported hay that is destined to be fed to livestock entering the nation's food chain, such as beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats. All size farms are affected, but those who grow hay exclusively for use in their own livestock operation will see no change in procedures.

The regulations state that specific documentation must be kept by farmers if they sell, barter, give away or otherwise ship hay destined for use as livestock feed off the originating farm. If someone else does the hauling, the responsibility for record keeping shifts to the transporter. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers transporters to be anyone who has possession or control of an article of food for the sole purpose of transporting it by rail, road, water or air. The FDA requires that records concerning animal food be kept for one year. Currently, a standard bill of lading provides most of this information.

GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES NEW ETHANOL PRODUCTION FACILITY TO BE CONSTRUCTED AT THE SENECA ARMY DEPOT

2006-08-02T15:25:00.000-04:00

Well, we did it. This was a "sticky wicket." Turned the train around, kept it from stopping in Seneca Falls permanetly, but kept it from leaving Seneca County. Seneca County wins, Agriculture wins, and the Environment wins. Next item...

See: http://www.state.ny.us/governor/press/06/0801061.html

Grass on my mind...

2006-07-20T22:42:00.000-04:00

While making hay, I recalled a quote I read somewhere about grass and Sampson...I found it and here it is.

"I have always had real affection for grass. It seems to stand for quietness and strength. I believe that the quietness and strength of grass should be, must be permanently a part of our agriculture if this nation is to have the strength it will need in the future. A countryside shorn and stripped of thick, green grass, it seems to me, is weakened just as Sampson was. An agriculture without grass loses a primary source of strength."

- Henry A. Wallace in 1940 (quoted in H.A. Wallace Institute for Alternative Agriculture 1992:5)

For an intersting read on grass based ag, see:
http://www.cias.wisc.edu/foodshed/pubsntools/grass.htm

Soon...

2006-06-07T23:51:00.000-04:00

All Work and No Play...

2006-05-25T23:50:00.000-04:00

Mo riding roughshod over the farm work ethic... ain't she purty though?

Breaking News...

2006-05-18T21:21:00.000-04:00

We purchased two more registered angus heifers at the New York State Empire Heifer Development program sale. That brings the breeding herd size to 4 registered angus plus 5 commercial angus cross cows for a total of 9 cows plus 6 steers.