My column from The News Journal on January 19, 2012.

Delaware's 4-H Shooting Sports Program volunteer instructor George Bonniwell shows a young hunter how to range deer from a tree stand.

Although the number of Delaware hunting licenses issued to Delaware residents in 2010 was nearly 35 percent less than in the mid-1970s, the state has seen an uptick in the number of annual hunting licenses issued over the past several years.

Delaware’s strong deer and migratory waterfowl populations entice hunters to hunt the First State, but youth hunting programs are ensuring Delaware’s hunting traditions stay alive.

Through Delaware’s 4-H Shooting Sports Program, a youth development and education program emphasizing positive youth-adult interaction, peer leadership, and development of essential life skills, young people learn the disciplines of safe shooting and wildlife management. The program is open to kids 8 to 18 and is sponsored by the Cooperative Extension Service of the University of Delaware and Delaware State University.

The program encourages participation in natural resource and science programs by exposing participants to related content through shooting, hunting and other activities. It also complements state-sponsored hunter education programs by teaching safe and responsible use of firearms and archery equipment, sound decision making, self-discipline and concentration.

As part of the 4-H Shooting Sports Program, participants attend classroom and field activities, including waterfowl, small game and deer hunting events.

A 4-H Shooting Sports Program deer hunting event was held Jan. 7 on a Middletown-area farm. Following an on-site luncheon, kids 12-18 were teamed with adult mentors for an antlerless deer control hunt.

Delaware 4-H Shooting Sports Coordinator Jim Kemble viewed the event as valuable for developing life skills and strengthening families.

“We are serving an audience that really needs to be served,” Kemble said. “The hunt is really a family outreach event geared toward fun and camaraderie, with the added benefit of possibly bagging a deer.”

Derek DeBloois, 15, of Magnolia, participated in the hunt and harvested two female deer. As a junior instructor in the shooting sports program, he attributed his success to the shooting instruction he received from 4-H and the program’s volunteer hunting mentors.

“I learned different shooting positions and firearms safety from 4-H,” said DeBloois, “and the mentors were very important in [contributing] to our success in harvesting animals.”

Although classroom instruction is an important part of hunting education, there is nothing like live hunting action.

Justin Mabrey, 12, of Hartly, participated in the hunt and encountered multiple deer.

“With the [4-H] deer hunting I’ve actually been able to shoot deer, and any other time I haven’t been able to,” said Mabrey.

He explained how his hunting mentor helped him judge the distance the deer were from his stand before he shot and taught him how to determine button bucks from does.

Girls and boys participated in the hunt, but boys outnumbered girls five to one. Katelynn Norvell, 15, of Smyrna, recognized the small number of female participants.

“We need more females willing to participate. [They] need to realize that [hunting] is not just killing. It’s management of wildlife,” said Norvell. “Even though I didn’t have a chance to harvest a deer this time, it doesn’t mean I won’t try again.”

Hunt coordinator, farm manager and 4-H volunteer instructor Tom Thornton said he enjoys helping out with the youth deer hunts.

“The best part of the whole program is when all the kids come in after the hunt and share the stories they have,” Thornton said. “They’ll talk about this for weeks, and when we run into kids a year or two down the road, they’re still talking about the experience they had here.”

Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting available in Apple iBookstore, Amazon.com Kindle Store, and Barnes & Noble NOOK Book Store

WILMINGTON, DE — January 24, 2012 —Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting (Second Edition), published in paperback format in 2010,  is now available for digital purchase and download from leading eBook stores, including Apple iBookstore, Amazon.com Kindle Store, and Barnes & Noble NOOK Book Store.

Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting (Second Edition) provides an in-depth look at hunting in Delaware and the surrounding region. Author and Delaware native Steven M. Kendus uses his hunting wisdom, experience, and research to preserve Delaware’s hunting legacy by sharing history, tactics, locations, tips, and tricks associated with Delaware hunting. Hunting The First State discusses common game species such as white-tailed deer, Canada geese, and ducks, but it also offers insight into Delaware coyotes, wild turkeys, red foxes, woodcocks, quail, snow geese, crows, rabbits, and more.

“EBook reading devices are everywhere,” said Author Steven M. Kendus. “Hunters are increasingly turning to technology to assist them in the field, and many are favoring iPads, Kindles, and NOOKs over traditional books. After speaking with several ‘old-school’ hunters who received eReaders as holiday gifts, I was convinced that Hunting The First State had to be made available via the major eBook stores.”

Hunting The First State includes more than thirty-five photos of wildlife harvested in Delaware and the surrounding areas and includes techniques, locations, tactics, and folklore from Kendus and some of Delaware’s most successful hunters.

Digital downloads of Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting (Second Edition) are available immediately in the Apple iBookstore, Amazon.com Kindle Store, and Barnes & Noble NOOK Book Store from $8.99.

The Delaware hunting seasons are almost over. As usual, I have been trying to cram in as many hunts as possible (which leaves me little time to post hunt updates). Here’s a chance to catch up. Details of my past 4 weeks of hunts are listed below.

12/28/2011 – Duck hunted a private pond with no success. As soon as I walked into the pond before dawn, about 25 ducks flew out — all before shooting time. None came back. I tried the pond again in the evening and saw nothing. As an added bonus, I stepped in the deepest hole while walking out and flooded my waders.

12/30/2011 – Had a great pheasant hunt at Meadowview Preserve in New Jersey. Two neighbors, one of my daughters, my vizsla Gus, and I went on a stocked pheasant hunt in 60-degree weather. Weird weather for the end of December, but we had a nice hunt. We harvested 12 of the 16 stocked pheasants.

Great Pheasant Hunt at New Jersey's Meadowview Preserve

12/31/3011 – Curt Barkus, Gabriella, and I went on our last Delaware woodcock hunt of the season. What a great day it was! Gus pointed 3 woodcocks, and we harvested two. What’s more, Gabriella harvested her first woodcock — ever! Beautiful!

Steven and Gabriella Kendus with Gabriella's First Delaware Woodcock

1/7/2012 – I had the privilege of covering a 4-H Shooting Sports youth hunt. Literally, I saw about 100 deer. I will provide details in an upcoming post.

1/14/2012 – Since the Maryland woodcock season is still open, I purchased a Maryland license and hunted woodcocks with Curt Barkus. Within one hour of our bitter cold morning hunt, Gus got Curt his limit of 3 birds. We pushed on for 3 more hours, and I harvest one woodcock.

Curt Barkus with his first woodcock of the 2011-2012 season

1/16/2012  – Paul Quigley, Curt Barkus, and I hunted woodcocks in Maryland. It was even more cold than the previous hunt. We hunted hard and Got Paul his first two woodcocks in several years.

Paul Quigley and Steven M. Kendus with Quigley's First Woodcock of the 2011-2012 Season

1/21/2012 – Hunted deer in a snow, sleet, and freezing rain storm. I braved the elements for a morning hunt. While I could take the weather, my bow couldn’t. Ice from the freezing rain encased my bow, quiver, and arrows, so I left the woods by 8:30 AM.

Here is my column from The News Journal on January 5, 2012.

As I begin planning my 2012 hunting- and fishing-related activities, I can’t help looking back at 2011, a year that showed the unpredictable power of Mother Nature, the positive effects of wildlife conservation efforts, the much-needed preservation and sharing of hunting and fishing traditions and the common-sense progress toward hunting law reform.

The 2010-11 late deer, small game and waterfowl seasons were affected by heavy snow and bitter cold in the first weeks of 2011. While the snow and cold helped deer hunters hunting near food sources, the harsh weather hastened the southward migration of ducks, geese, woodcocks and other game birds, causing many hunters to put their guns away early.

Late-summer fishing was adversely affected by the winds, rain and runoff of Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee. In contrast, a rare October nor’easter led to successful early-season duck harvests for hunters who braved the rain, sleet, snow and wind that drove southward-bound ducks to Delaware’s waterways.

Although the Delaware duck season started out with promise, Mother Nature’s unpredictability surfaced again with above-average fall and winter temperatures from New England through the mid-Atlantic, seemingly slowing down the 2011 fall and winter migrations of ducks and geese. With 40-degree temperature swings over the past several days, it looks like Mother Nature’s bizarre grip will hold us for at least the first part of 2012.

The Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife celebrated a significant milestone in 2011: 100 years of wildlife conservation.

Some hunters disagree with certain seasons, regulations or enforcement techniques. But let’s face it, without the conservation efforts of the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife, hunting and fishing as we know it would not exist. Since October 1911, the Delaware Division of Fish and Wildlife (formerly the Board of Game and Fish Commissioners) has worked to establish hunting and fishing licenses, protect game species, re-introduce game species to Delaware, procure and preserve hunting and fishing lands and waterways, promote hunting and boating safety, and provide game donations to Delaware residents in need.

Many Delaware hunters and fishermen attempt to share their sporting traditions with others, and in 2011 I witnessed firsthand the positive effects of that.

My effort to share Delaware outdoors traditions ultimately begins with my family and friends, but it quickly spreads via my writings, speaking engagements and volunteer positions with various conservation organizations.

As a result of my involvement with Delaware’s hunting and fishing communities, I spent many hours afield with young people in 2011. I accompanied young hunters and anglers on their first hunts and fishing excursions, and I saw their (and their parents’) reactions when they harvested their first game or caught their first fish. The reactions reinforced the need to share the hunting and fishing traditions with more young people, and I encourage you all to do so in 2012.

Another noteworthy event of 2011 was the passing of a law that allows Delaware sportsmen to hunt on Sundays on private commercial hunting preserves. The law gives commercial game preserves the opportunity to compete with hunting preserves in neighboring states where Sunday hunting is allowed.

Although the new law limits Sunday hunting to commercial preserves, it provides hope for those of us who want to see overall reform of Delaware’s law that bans regular Sunday hunting. Perhaps 2012 is the year in which the law banning regular Sunday hunting in Delaware is lifted.

Mel Toponce with a Delaware Woodcock

Outdoors writer Mel Toponce joined me for a day-after-Christmas Delaware woodcock hunt. Mel, author of many hunting articles for various outdoors magazines and owner of Toponce Ranches (California), has hunted woodcocks from Canada to Louisiana, but today was his first time pursuing timberdoodles in the First State.

Mel is visiting family on the East Coast for the holidays, so he drove up from Virginia to meet me in Smyrna, Delaware. I picked him up around 7:30 AM, and we were in woodcock fields by 8:00 AM.

Mel, my vizsla Gus, and I walked my trusted woodcock spots with little success. Gus found no birds in the first two sapling fields we visited, but the third field proved to be the charm. Several flooded areas surrounded the third field, and I could tell after my first boggy step that there were woodcocks among the saplings. With woodcock splash (droppings) marking the ground, it was only a matter of minutes before Gus locked up on the first doodle.

Mel walked to Gus, and the first bird flushed. Mel dropped him with his second shot. I marked where the bird fell and made my way toward it. Gus and Mel also headed toward the downed bird. As they walked toward the fields edge, I saw another woodcock flush. Astoundingly, he landed mere feet from the location of the downed bird.

I called Gus and Mel over. As Gus approached the live bird, the doodle flushed. Mel swung on him and missed with two shots. As woodcock typically do, it only flew about 40 yards and pitched back into the sapling thicket. After retrieving the downed bird, we made our way toward the second bird.

Gus located and pointed the doodle, and Mel went in for the shot. Gus held the point for at least 3 minutes before Mel was able to flush it. The woodcock flew up, and Mel dropped him with one perfectly placed shot.

Gus pointed another timberdoodle, and I walked in to the flush him. Standing right behind Gus with my eyes into the sun, I stomped the brush and flushed the bird. The bird flew straight up, and I dropped him while the bird was no more than 6 feet from my gun barrel.

Mel, Gus, and I tried another field but found no other woodcocks and called it a day around 1:00 PM. We were both satisfied with the late-season Delaware woodcock hunt, and we may try to reconnect later this week.

If you are interested in hunting Columbian black tail deer, black bear, rio grande wild turkeys in California’s Solano and Siskiyou Counties, give Mel Toponce a call.

Two Delaware Woodcocks by Steven M. Kendus

I had a nice woodcock hunt last Saturday, December 17, 2011.

I deer hunted in the morning with no luck, so I arrived at a public woodcock hunting spot later than usual. I walked the entire field once and didn’t get a point from Gus, my vizsla. I hunted this area numerous times in the past, so I knew birds had to be present somewhere.

I walked the field again, this time paying special attention to the edges and wettest spots.

Within minutes, Gus locked on point. I stepped in and 3 woodcocks flushed from a raised patch of land in a marshy area. I dropped one with my Fox Sterlingworth 20 gauge. After Gus retrieved him, we pushed on. Gus point another lone bird on the edge of the field in a briar and honeysuckle thicket. The undergrowth was so thick, the timberdoodle couldn’t fly up, so it came straight out at my head! I ducked out of the way, and let him pass me. I drew a bead on him, and dropped him at about 25 yards. Check out the video below.

Two woodcocks in about 90 minutes wasn’t bad, so I called it a day. I will be back out this weekend.

I participated in a doe management hunt on Delaware public land on Monday, December 12.I saw a ton of deer, but came home with none.

For those of you who don’t know, this entire week is an “antlerless only” season, so only non-antlered deer can be legally harvested. Because the invited hunters on the management hunt were targeting mature does, we were encouraged to pass up doe fawns and button bucks. Here’s how my hunt went.

I arrived at my stand location about 1:30 PM. I saw my first deer — a 3-point buck — at 2:20. Around 4:00, two fawns and a mature doe came within 15 yards of me. The fawns presented easy shots, but I never had a clear shot at the big doe. I let them pass.

Around 4:30, I saw 8 deer running across the field that bordered the woods in which I was hunting. They entered the woods about 250 yards from me and made their way to me by 4:45. Now all 8 of these deer were in front of me at 20-30 yards. Wouldn’t you know it? Every one of them was a buck! There was one giant, one smaller shooter buck, and 6 little bucks.

Are you kidding me? I see does during buck season, and bucks during doe season!

Bring on the woodcock!

Be sure to check out my friends at Marblehead Flyfisher in Centreville, Delaware to pick up great gifts for the fishermen on your list. They are having an open house Saturday, December 10, 2011. Details are below.

Marblehead Flyfisher Holiday Open House

Saturday, December 10th 2011

Come join us for some food, fun, & friends. There will be raffle prizes, casting demonstrations, and all of the cool, new gear for the 2012 season.

Tube Fly tying by master tube fly designer Andrew Niethe of Spirit River

Please stop in and do a little holiday shopping, get some food and refreshments, or just hang out and say hello.

We hope to see you there.

5716 Kennett Pike, Centreville, DE

(302)654-6515

www.amarbleheadflyfisher.com
amheadflyfisher@gmail.com

Gus pointed and retrieved 36 birds on a stocked pheasant and chukar hunt

I know many of you count on reading my hunting updates to give you ideas of how things are going in the Delaware woods, fields, and waterways, but I also record my hunts on HuntingTheFirstState.com so I have a record to refer back to in future seasons. As usual at this time of year, I forget to record info about my hunts on this site.

However, I make sure I jot down hunting notes on scraps of paper and post them around my office so I can record them later. Here are my quick notes about my various woodcock, pheasant, duck, and deer hunts over the past several weeks.

11/17 New Jersey Woodcock and Snipe Hunt – I headed to New Jersey public land with my vizsla Gus to hunt woodcocks and snipes before work. Gus pointed and flushed several woodcock in one public hunting field, but I just couldn’t get shots through the thick brush. I then went to another public location that typically holds snipes. Gus and I found no snipes, but I somehow managed to lose the controller to Gus’ e-collar from my lanyard. I spent 40 minutes walking the field until I found it.

11/19 New Jersey Woodcock Hunt – I hunted woodcock on New Jersey public ground with daughter, my friend John, and his son. Gus pointed about 7 birds. John shot 2, and I shot 1. Again the cover was so thick in areas that we couldn’t get good shots.

11/21 Delaware Duck Hunt – I hunted a private Delaware pond with my friend Bill on Monday 11/21. The fog was extremely dense around first light, so we couldn’t see birds, and I am sure they couldn’t see our pond, let alone our decoys. We heard some shooting, and after about 90 minutes, a pair of wood ducks buzzed our blind. They flew over our heads, and we lost sight of them. About 20 seconds later, the two wood ducks dropped in from my left on the edge of the wood line. I fired at the lead duck, and ended up dropping both with one shot. Not wanting to push my luck, I packed up and headed to work.

11/24 Delaware Deer Hunt – I bowhunted deer on Thanksgiving morning in North Wilmington and saw nothing.

11/25 Delaware Woodcock Hunt – I brought my neighbor’s 22-year old son Sean on his first woodcock on Friday 11/25. Gus pointed several birds, and Sean got a couple shots that were close misses. I bagged one woodcock.

11/25 Delaware Deer Hunt – I hunted deer with my bow in North Wilmington. Saw nothing but 2 red foxes.

11/26 Stocked Pheasant and Chukar Hunt (with bonus woodcock) – My daughter, six others, and I hunted stocked pheasant and chukars over Gus. Gus had his best day of all time. He pointed and retrieved 36 birds (yes, 36), and got every hunter a limit. After the stocked bird hunt, my daughter, my friend Bill, Bill’s son, and I drove to a Delaware public hunting spot for a quick woodcock hunt. I arrived later in the day than normal, and the birds moved to the edge of the woods and into think briars. Gus pointed two woodcocks, and we harvested one.

11/26 Delaware Deer Hunt – Went to Greenville with the bow. Six does came into the meadow about 10 minutes before the end of shooting time, but none came closer than 100 yards.

Meet Hunting The First State Author and Pickup the Perfect Holiday Gift for the Hunter on Your List

Kendus will be signing books at Atlantic Books in Dover, Delaware on December 4, 2011 from 11:00 AM - 1:00 PM

Just in time for the holiday season, Steven M. Kendus, author of Hunting The First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting, will be signing copies of his book at Atlantic Books at 1159 North Du Pont Highway, Dover, Delaware, on Sunday, December 4, 2011 from 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM. Books will be available for purchase.

The second edition of Hunting The First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting provides an in-depth look at hunting in Delaware and the surrounding region. Author, hunting and outdoors columnist, and Delaware native Steven M. Kendus uses his hunting wisdom, experience, and research to preserve Delaware’s hunting legacy by sharing important history, tactics, locations, tips, and tricks associated with Delaware hunting.
Hunting The First State provides insight, statistics, reader-submitted photos, and first-hand accounts of hunting in Delaware. Hunting The First State discusses common game species such as white-tailed deer, Canada geese, and ducks, but it also offers insight into Delaware coyotes, wild turkeys, red foxes, woodcocks, quail, snow geese, crows, rabbits, and more.

“I love signing copies of Hunting The First State around Christmastime because I know many of them will be given as gifts,” says Author Steven M. Kendus. “Giving the hunter on your list a book about Delaware hunting is cool enough on its own, but giving a personalized copy is even more special,” says Kendus.

See www.HuntingTheFirstState.com for additional details about Hunting the First State: A Guide to Delaware Hunting (Second Edition).