McClory: It’s firearms season for deer

The favorite time of year for most big game hunters is finally here ? firearms season for deer.We hunted opening day last Monday in Maine. The weather conditions were not the best with a morning chill that quickly turned into a warm and very windy day.Unfortunately no one in our party saw deer. As a matter of fact, we only heard two shots all day and did see one deer on the back of a truck. We attribute this to the abundance of mast crop, deer’s favorite acorns and beechnuts. Right now there is very little daytime movement because deer can literally stay in their beds and let the food fall on them. Visibility is also poor due to the leaves still on trees, and falling leaves that are covering deer sign and trails.This unseasonable warm weather last week is only a snap shot in time because fall is here and in a matter of a few days we could have freezing temperatures and snow. Until then, deer will be following different patterns of movement. My recommendation is to find a remote stand of oak or beech that hasn’t been hit hard by the deer this year.Be there when dawn breaks, or just before shooting time ends for the day, and stand downwind of the trail.Be patient, stay with it and you should be rewarded with some great action.uI hope you also got a chance to go out and play last weekend. Or did the weekend slip by without you being able to hunt or scout for the upcoming firearms deer season? Most of us are typical outdoorsmen who work hard all week long only to find ourselves overwhelmed with chores when Saturday rolls around. The raking, wood chopping, and yard clean up will have to wait until Sundays during hunting season, or for that matter postponed until after the hunting season.After all, we do wait all year for the hunting seasons! By the way, make sure you complete them before ice fishing!uSuccessful hunters may report (?check”) their harvest online using the MassFishHunt system or by going to a traditional checkstation. When reporting a harvest online, it is easiest to use a desktop computer.However, if you choose to use a mobile device for reporting, please consider the following: mobile device users should click desktop view at the bottom of the screen.If desktop view is not selected; you cannot access the Report a Harvest feature.Please note there is one caveat to this method, all deer harvested during shotgun season must be checked at a traditional check station.Online checking will not be available during this time (Dec. 1-13).Reporting deer at check stations during these two weeks allows biologists to collect valuable data needed for deer management.uThis fall, MassWildlife will be sampling the waters of the Quabbin and Wachusett Reservoirs in an ongoing effort to monitor lake trout populations. Each year, with the help of DCR and a few hardy volunteers, MassWildlife collects lake trout from the Quabbin Reservoir to examine population characteristics.This year MassWildlife will be conducting a similar effort on the Wachusett Reservoir. To capture lake trout, field crews set nets on the spawning grounds starting around sunset and check them about every 20 minutes. Captured fish are removed from the nets, placed in livewells, and length, weight, and sex are recorded.In addition, a small tag is inserted into the fish that can be used to identify the individual if caught at a later date.If that same fish is collected next year, biologists will know exactly how much growth occurred in a one-year time period.Lake trout are very slow-growing fish and traditional methods of determining age, (i.e. reading the rings on scales) do not work well.Lake trout typically spawn in late October and November when the surface water temperatures drop to or below 50?F. The spawning grounds are typically shallow, rocky waters on windy shores of the Reservoirs; spawning occurs mostly after dusk.Night sampling on big waters can be cold and icy in November, but the information it provides biologists is well worth the effort. Sampling eff