It was about 8 p.m. in August not long ago when shots rang out in a nearby field as I stood chatting with friends on the porch of their rural home.

"I didn't think you were supposed to hunt after dark," said the homeowner, a Bronx-born newcomer to the Southern Tier. "I know that they're hunting because I saw them loading deer into their trucks after shooting at night."

No, they weren't supposed to be hunting at night. For that matter, they were not supposed to be hunting at all in August.

I made a call to the state's law enforcement hotline, outlined the situation to the Environmental Conservation Officer who called me back, and a later patrol netted a couple of local ne'er-do-wells who'd developed a business trafficking in off-season venison.

A similar call by a concerned citizen in Broome County last month resulted in a Kirkwood man being charged with poaching two black bears while hunting over bait with a bow and arrow.

One 250-pound boar was recovered and the other wounded bear was not. The alleged poacher was charged with six offenses and faces a December trial date.

Often the only way to catch or curb poaching is by a citizen's willingness to get involved and supply information. Reports can be made, anonymously if you'd like, by calling (800) 847-7332 or by calling an ECO directly.

Tompkins County ECOs Jim Milewski (283-1494) and Osman Eisenberg (564-9458) can be contacted at their home offices (telephone numbers of other ECOs are in local phone books and on the DEC website -- www.dec.ny.gov -- under regulations and enforcement). When they are on patrol, they can be contacted through their dispatcher at (877) 457-5680.

Stiffer penalties

I'm not a big fan of the Boone & Crockett scoring system for big game animals for many reasons, including a personal distaste for keeping score in hunting and thus affording "trophy" status to animals.

But I can't argue with the increasing use of the system to whack poachers with heavier sentences and fines.

Pennsylvania, Idaho, Montana and Ohio now use all or parts of the Boone and Crockett scoring system for wildlife law enforcement. The states use Boone & Crockett scores to calculate restitution values of illegally taken game.

In Ohio, restitution for poaching a 200-inch class buck has risen from $400 (which many poachers would see as worth the gamble) to $17,000.

The score of a big mule deer poached in Idaho turned the act into a severe civil penalty of more than $3,100.

Life vests mandatory

Guide/tournament angler John Hahn suggested a reminder to readers that New York's new boating law that requires a life jacket went into effect Nov. 1.

Walleye anglers, canoeists, kayakers, waterfowl hunters, trappers, etc. are afloat at this time of year. The US Coast Guard approved personal flotation device must be worn at all times while boating in the winter months.

Repeal license?

It seems that a downstate Democrat senator has drafted legislation that would repeal the state's new salt water fishing license and replace it with a free angler registration.

Of course, nothing in this world is truly free, so the bill would require the DEC to spend funds to create registration, which -- given the state of the budget -- would likely come from the Conservation Fund.

That would essentially mean that hunters, trappers and freshwater anglers would have their license money spent on a program, the sole purpose of which is to relieve saltwater anglers of the need to pay for a license when they go fishing.

Apparently the senator didn't realize that not having any state involvement in the salt water fisheries would turn all control off-shore fishing grounds over to the Feds-- which was the grounds on which the saltwater license was created.

When the legislature initiated the saltwater licenses, the DEC only charged $5 (both resident and non-resident) for a one-day version. It's $15 for the same right to fish in the state's fresh water.

Cayuga Lake fishing

More trout and salmon are coming into the tributaries with each rainfall. Fish are fairly heavy in Fall Creek and are just reaching Taughannock and Salmon Creeks. Anglers trolling flashers, spoons or flies off cannonballs are finding trout and salmon anywhere from 10 to 100 feet down. Shore anglers continue to sporadically take lakers on floating jig heads. Perch fishing continues to be good (8-15 feet of water with live bait) at the north end.