New York has a new state law that will ban some hunting competitions starting in November. The law, which Governor Kathy Hochul signed last month, will make it illegal to hunt animals like rabbits, squirrels, coyotes and crows in organized tournaments. Fishing competitions and contests for popular game animals like white-tailed deer, bears and turkeys will be exempt from the law.
A press release from Hochul's office said the law will protect wildlife while preserving hunting and fishing traditions.
"The law specifically helps prevent the taking of significant numbers of animals, often coyotes, crows, squirrels and rabbits, in contests held for prizes and entertainment rather than the targeted management of wildlife populations," the release said.
Small local hunting clubs in the North Country and other rural parts of the state often hold hunting derbies to raise money. Jason Coller, president of the Norfolk Rod and Gun Club in northern St. Lawrence County, said the club's rabbit hunt is one of its major annual fundraisers. He said entry fees help keep the lights on so the club can offer cheap programs to the local community, like kids' archery.
About a hundred people, including a couple dozen kids, attended the club's rabbit and squirrel hunt on Jan. 6 — the last competition of its kind that the club will be allowed to host. The derby was held in memory of Herb Moore, a hunter education instructor from Degrasse who died of cancer last year. His widow Bonnie Moore said her husband had always wanted to organize a squirrel hunt.
"He just loved to be outdoors and he loved to get kids involved," Moore said.
Moore said small game derbies can be a first step for young hunters.
"I think it's a very big starting point. If we could continue this, I think it would be great," she said.
All kinds of different hunting competitions happen around the country, except in the nine other states that already limit them. Some competitions award prizes for the largest animal or the most animals.
Others, like the Jan. 6 one in Norfolk, enter people in a prize raffle if they can shoot just one animal. Prizes lay on a folding table — a ladder stand; a gift card for a bale of alfalfa to attract deer. The top prize for an adult with a rabbit was $150 cash. Twelve-year-old Gabby Haggett shot a squirrel and won a scope. She said she'd take it out into the woods around her family's farm.
"I like to go out there and just bring my gun and see what I can find out there so then dad'll let me have his scope while I go out. It's like a telescope, kind of, just smaller, and then you can see far away like up in the tree or something," she said.
Adam Wilson ran the prize raffle. "Unfortunately, with our illustrious governor, this is probably gonna be the last event like this we're able to do," Wilson said.
Coller, the president of the Norfolk Rod and Gun Club, said the new law will force lots of hunting clubs to find other fundraisers.
"We're gonna adapt and overcome different legislations and then follow all the rules we're supposed to," he said.
Coller is not in favor of the law, but he said he understands why it was made and that its goal is conservation.
He said competitions may sometimes entice people to kill animals they wouldn't have otherwise.
"Do I think there's gonna be wasteful killing?" Coller said. "If you go out to your back bird feeder in a back road and you decide to kill that squirrel to come in and get a prize, sure. Would you have left the squirrel alone? Probably."
But most of the time, he said, hunters don't waste animals.
"They're generally going to find some way to put that game into a crock pot or in a frying pan. So, it's not wasteful. A lot of these guys are going to be hunting anyway," he said.
State Assemblymember Deborah Glick sponsored the new law. She said it's the state's responsibility to protect natural resources.
"These contests result in the wasteful slaughter of large numbers of a particular species in an area," Glick said.
Glick stressed that the law will not affect the regular hunting of individuals. As for introducing kids to hunting, Glick pointed out that as of last year, New Yorkers as young as 12 can get hunting licenses and learn.
"Nothing in this bill prevents people from hunting under the regulations that exist from the Department of Environmental Conservation, and so, for those who augment their family's food supply, nothing in this prevents that," Glick said.