Get to Know: Mattress by Appointmentby Melanie Lekocevic / March 25, 2022Related Posts
Late season deer hunting opportunities
Even though the deer hunting season has ended in much of the northern zone, there are still many opportunities to fill your deer tags through special and extended seasons in the southern zone. These include:
• The Holiday Deer Hunt, which is an extension of the late bow and muzzleloader season and runs from Dec. 26, through Jan. 1.
• The bowhunting season for deer continues in Westchester County until Dec. 31.
• The January Firearms Season in Suffolk County is open Jan. 1-31.
• The special Deer Management Focus Area Season for antlerless deer in central Tompkins County is open Jan. 14-31, 2023.
Although for many motivation to continue hunting may be waning, the late season can provide excellent deer hunting opportunities.
Deer tend to be concentrated around late season food sources such as standing corn or soybeans or areas with abundant early successional or evergreen vegetation, making them more visible and predictable during shooting hours. Leaf cover is absent, making deer easier to see, especially when backdropped by a blanket of snow. Snow in itself opens up the opportunity to practice deer hunting tactics such as tracking or still hunting, which can be very effective.
Hunters who have already filled their freezers should also remember that there are numerous opportunities to donate venison to those in need or share it with friends and family. Every late season deer hunter has at least one tag for antlerless deer. Unfilled bow/muzzleloader and regular season tags as well as unfilled deer management permits can also be used for antlerless deer during the late bow/muzzleloader season and Holiday Hunt.
It’s also important to remember that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation manages deer populations through the harvest of antlerless deer. Harvesting antlerless deer during the late season is a great way to assist DEC in reaching its deer management goals while expanding your hunting skills and sharing the hunting tradition with others through the gift of generosity.
CodeRED coming to town
By Melanie Lekocevic
Capital Region Independent Media
COEYMANS — The CodeRED emergency alert system is coming to Coeymans.
The town board first proposed purchasing the mass notification system in July as a way of alerting residents to emergencies in the town.
The board announced at its Thursday meeting that the system is going into effect and residents can begin signing up this week. Town Supervisor George McHugh and Town Councilwoman Linda Bruno were absent from the meeting. Deputy Town Supervisor Daniel Baker conducted the meeting in McHugh’s absence.
“CodeRED is a townwide emergency-type management system that if there is a flood or a road that is closed or a tree is down or if there is an accident on [Route] 144, you can sign up and get alerts to your cellphone, your landline or your computer, if you choose,” Baker explained.
Residents can sign up for the service, which is free, on the town website at www.coeymans.org. For those who need assistance registering online, beginning this week residents can call the town supervisor’s office and town clerk’s office and they will help them out.
“You can go on our homepage at coeymans.org and in the middle of the page, there is a link so you can go on and sign up manually,” Town Clerk Candace McHugh said. “For people who don’t want to do it that way or maybe aren’t computer savvy, give us a call.”
The Code Red alert system has been implemented in nearby communities, including the village of Coxsackie and the town of Saugerties.
The administrators of the system will be Emergency Manager Bill Bruno, Highway Superintendent Daniel Baker, Town Clerk Candace McHugh and Town Supervisor George McHugh.
“We will have the ability to put messages out there so if there is a highway issue, if there is a tree down and the road is closed, or if there is an automobile accident, a message will come across whatever device you checked,” Baker said. “It’s a good way to get emergency messages and public messages out to the residents.”
When registering for the service, you can select texting, emailing or landline calls to receive your alerts.
“You can do land lines so if there are people who don’t use cellphones or computers, they can still get an alert about any emergency that we have,” Candace McHugh said. “We are going to try very hard to keep it just to emergencies so it’s not a lot of messages, but only the ones that are important for you to hear.”
Town officials will go to Senior Projects of Ravena at dinnertime Thursday to help people sign up and will attend similar events to assist people with registering for the service, she said.
The Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk school district uses a similar alert system for families with children in the schools, Baker said.
“It’s very similar to what the RCS schools use when there is a snow day or if the buses are running late, we get a text message,” Baker said. “I think it works pretty good.”
Town Councilwoman Marisa Tutay asked how residents will be notified of the service’s availability.
“Bill Bruno brought that up as well,” Baker responded. “We expect it will get going slowly in the beginning until more and more people find out by word of mouth. We will also put it on the town’s Facebook page to encourage people to sign up. We will take it slow and see how it goes.”
The cost of the system to the town is roughly $4,000 a year, George McHugh said in July. There is no cost to residents to sign up.
For assistance with registering, call the town clerk’s office at 518-756-6006 ext. 3 or the town supervisor’s office at 518-756-6006 ext. 2.
