SOMERS, N.Y. - This fall, hunters will be taking aim at deer and turkeys at Angle Fly Preserve in Somers, but they still won’t be allowed to use crossbows to do it.
Although the state has just enacted a law that allows crossbow hunting anywhere longbows are permitted, the town is sticking to its guns by continuing to prohibit crossbow use on its portion of the 564-acre nature sanctuary.
Right now, the town isn’t behind crossbow hunting at Angle Fly primarily for “safety” and other reasons, according to Supervisor Robert Scorrano.
He didn’t anticipate any legal challenges.
“We’re allowed to have our own rules and right now this (hunting) program doesn’t allow crossbows,” Scorrano explained last week.
Proponents say crossbows are more accurate, powerful, and easier to use. Opponents say those same attributes can be drawbacks.
While not inherently less safe than longbow hunting, there is a perceived danger that stems from several factors, namely that while the former requires extensive skill and training to become proficient and can be fatiguing, crossbows are more prone to causing accidental injuries because of their more mechanical nature, heavier weight, and bulkiness, which increases the risk of snagging in brush
Hunting deer with longbows – from treestands – and harvesting turkey via blinds on the ground is, and will remain, in place at Angle Fly. Shotguns are -- and will stay -- strictly verboten.
The east side of the preserve is owned by the town and county while the west side is owned by the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) holds an easement on the whole shebang.
In 2023, management of the preserve was transferred from the Somers Land Trust to the town’s Recreation Department. Earlier this year, the town named SLT President Michael Barnhardt as Angle Fly’s “conservation steward.”
It couldn’t be definitively confirmed by press time whether crossbow hunting is allowed on the DEP’s patch. Most of the hunting program has traditionally taken place on the town/county’s part of Angle Fly.
According to www.nyc.gov’s hunting and trapping page, there are designated areas on NYC land available for “bow, shotgun, rifle, handgun, and muzzleloader hunting.”
(As of Friday, Sept. 5, the website did not specifically mention crossbows.)
Hunters must have valid state licenses and follow “all applicable New York State hunting regulations,” it said.
Tracking the Shift
Last month, Gov. Kathy Hochul signed legislation revising the state’s definition of longbow to include recurve bows, compound bows, and crossbows.
It basically says that crossbows can be used anywhere that longbows can.
The bill was sponsored in the state Senate by Sen. Peter Harckham (D-40th District) and in the Assembly by Assemblymember Carrie Woerner (D-113th District).
Harckham called the law “great news for bow hunters and conservationists alike,” because it “expands access to hunting while helping control New York’s overgrown deer population, which has reached unsustainable levels in many areas.”
Woerner, whose district lies north of Albany, said she’d received many calls from constituents over the years about the bill.
Extending the hunting season in which crossbows can be used means that “game will be better managed” and older people and those with disabilities will be better able to participate in the sport they love,” she said.
Crossbow hunting also has, she noted, a “faster learning curve” so the legislation is actually helping to support hunter recruitment and “mentored hunting programs.”
Hunters – especially those upstate who’d long fought to make crossbows the equivalent of other archery equipment -- rejoiced.
The New York State Conservation Council, which represents hunters, anglers, trappers, and other “outdoor enthusiasts,” heralded the legislation as a “win for conservation” that will improve “hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation.”
The Nature Conservancy rang in on the topic too.
Congratulating the state for updating its hunting policies, the group’s policy advisor, Bill Cooke, pointed out that “half of New York’s 19 million acres of forest are struggling to grow the next generation of trees due to the state’s overabundant deer herd.”
(White-tail deer’s propensity to munch on young saplings and any foliage they can reach is devastating the so-called “understory” in Angle Fly.)
“This law is an important step forward in protecting New York’s forests and the many benefits they provide,” Cooke added.
The reaction hasn’t been all positive from within the hunting world, however.
Some traditional bow hunting groups such as New York Bowhunters, Inc. don’t consider crossbows to be “true archery equipment” because of their mechanical nature and gun-like features.
“Why don’t we just allow rifles during archery too? Crossbow is basically a shotgun. Change my mind,” one person recently posted on the state DEC’s Facebook page.
A second post complained: “Now the archery season will be filled with a bunch of gun hunters that never hunted archery season. It’s a lazy man's crutch. Don't believe, take any 10-year-old and show him how to shoot the crossbow.”
Yet another opined that they weren’t against “crossbows as a tool” because they “have a place in hunting.”
However, they argued, the “shift has real consequences” such as increasing “hunter density during archery season.”
This can lead to more “leasing pressure on private lands, which makes it harder for average hunters to find places to go,” the post said.
On public lands, it continued, “crowding and competition can lead to poorer hunting experiences and discourage long-term participation.”
What It Means
The new law states that hunters can now use a crossbow during any season, and at any place, and in any manner where longbows are allowed.
It also removes prior crossbow requirements, including minimum bolt length, limb width, overall length, and maximum draw weight.
However, all crossbows are required to have a working “safety” feature and have a minimum peak draw weight of 100 pounds.
To hunt deer and bear with them in New York state, hunters must obtain both a hunting license and a “crossbow hunting privilege.”
The law requires crossbow usage to be taught in bow hunter safety courses. Certifications can be obtained by either passing an online or in-person course.
It also adds minimum setback distances in the name of public safety.
This means that crossbows can’t be used within 500 feet of homes, farm structures, schools, playgrounds, churches, factories, or other occupied buildings in Westchester, Nassau, and Suffolk counties.
Angle Fly’s regulations already contain the same setback rules for bow hunters.
Other counties may adopt these restrictions by passing local laws.
Angle Fly
Angle Fly is named for the last natural brook trout spawning stream in Westchester.
It offers more than 10 miles of trails for hiking, cross-country skiing, and snowshoeing. Its woodlands, wetlands, and fields are habitat for many wildlife species.
Fishing and traditional bow hunting are allowed with valid permits and tight regulations and rules govern exactly who can participate as well as when and under what conditions.
Hunters in preserve’s wildlife management program undergo safety training and are apprised of the importance of “sharing the preserve with hikers,” Angle Fly’s website says.
Anthony Bambach, who is the program’s current lead, couldn’t be reached for comment.
Deer hunters work from treestands while turkey hunters may be in blinds on the ground.
Deer hunting season runs from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. The state imposes restrictions on the number of deer that may be taken. Turkeys can be hunted during the spring and the fall. There are different bag limits each year.
(Hunting at Angle Fly is restricted to deer and turkey except for falconers holding a valid NYSDEC falconry license and pursuing small game in the appropriate season.)
The main advantages of hunting from a treestand includes having a wider field of vision and better concealment because deer typically are looking down. It’s also safer because if the hunter misses their intended target, the ground will provide a safe backstop for their bullet or arrow.
Crossbow bolts may be more powerful, but traditional arrows can go longer distances.
With hunters, the preferred method is to kill their prey immediately and no one disagrees that crossbows, being more powerful, do improve the odds.
“You don’t want a deer running around with an arrow sticking out of it,” said Somers Land Trust Vice President Bob MacGregor.
Rhinoceros Creek
Hunting, fishing, camping, and other activities at Crane-Beshar Rhinoceros Creek Reservation require the written approval of the Somers Land Trust, the nonprofit, all volunteer organization that owns the 115-acre open space off Route 100.
The trust has not allowed crossbow hunting there and is not about to change its mind, MacGregor said.
There is a limited bow hunting program in place and those that participate have been specifically selected and assigned, he explained.
According to MacGregor, the majority of hunters at Rhinoceros Creek are police officers, or conservation advocated.
“They’re very knowledgeable and trustworthy,” he said.
Hunting Grounds
Westchester County allows bow hunting of deer, from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31, in sections of Muscoot Farm and Lasdon Park and Arboretum in Somers, Ward Pound Ridge Reservation in Cross River (Lewisboro), Mountain Lakes Park in North Salem, Hilltop Hanover Farm in Yorktown Heights, and John E. Hand Bald Mountain Park in Yorktown (to select, assigned hunters).
It could not be determined by press time if any of these places already allow – or will now allow – crossbow usage.
Keeping Deer in Check
Because white-tail deer reproduce quickly , a herd can double in size in two years if left unchecked.
Recreational hunting serves, Angle Fly hunting management folks said, “as an important and cost-effective tool” for correcting this “imbalance.”
Killing coyotes, however, is forbidden because they’re the deer’s only remaining natural predator in the region. Bobcat sometimes kill deer, but they prefer small prey such as squirrels and rabbits.
Coyotes go after sick, wounded, and young deer, which helps keep maintain “a healthy deer population” while not directly competing with hunters, it said.
Deer will wolf down as much foliage as they can reach.
Their constant nibbling take a toll on saplings that are nipped off as soon as they sprout.
This so-called over-browsing can devastate a forest’s understory where these saplings compete for a chance to replace large mature trees that have died from disease or were felled by storms.
Without an understory, the forest can’t regenerate and that has a trickle-down effect on wildlife as other species lose valuable habitat.
A degraded understory also gives invasive vines and shrubs the chance to rush in to fill the opening instead of a maple or oak, it said.
(Deer prefer to chow down on native trees and shrubs.)
The purpose of the town and county acquiring the land for Angle Fly -- saving it from a proposed condominium development -- was to “protect its biodiversity and secure opportunities for outdoor recreation.”
Hunters can help by providing the preserve with vital information on the number and location of deer there and also on how wildlife in general is faring.
For More Information
For more information about the crossbow changes, call the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s Division of Fish and Wildlife Bureau at (518) 402-8883 or email it at www.wildlife@dec.ny.gov.
A Q&A can be found on at www.dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/hunting.
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