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Basswood Lodge & Hunting PreservePO Box 739 Ogdensburg, NY 13669 St. Lawrence County Phone 315-379-1528 or 315-393-4990 Fax 315-393-4940
August 18, 2010
2010 Newsletter
2010 season is off to a great start. Our early September Goose season has been booked for the last few weeks. There appears to be a lot of birds around and we have secured several new parcels to concentrate on. If you're wanting to book for 2011, I would suggest you call Nick now.
We have been out almost every day checking swamps and with a great early hatch it promises to be one of the best duck seasons with approximately 45-50 areas to hunt. The opener of Duck was booked well before July. Opening weekend starts October 2nd this year and runs thru the October 11th. Second season of duck/goose starts October 23rd and runs thru December 11th. Late season river hunts are still available for the hard core waterfowlers with our 21' duckwater boat. Most of October and early November are booked but if you call Nick, we may be able to accommodate other groups especially on weekdays.
This year we are trying a new strain of pheasant which are a little larger and almost full colored already. We raised 3,000 this year and are keeping the price of $18.50 per bird. We have several members of the River Valley Gun Dog Club with pointers and flushers to help with dog & handler. Pheasant memberships are still available, call Nick or Jeff to schedule dates. Last years holdover memberships were a big draw. Price is $17.50 per bird and you can hunt holdovers weekdays when available. There is a log book with each member's name and number of birds purchased. After each hunt just put the date, number of birds harvested and deduct from your membership.
The cover will be some of the best in years. We have a couple new fields of switch grass which are coming well; also millet, sunflowers, rye grass; sorgham as well as corn.
On the big game side, we have a large selection of high quality fallow bucks. We will be doing a doe special to get the herd down some. This is a great opportunity to take a young hunter to harvest their first big game animal as well as help us manage the numbers. We have several nice rams, along with 3 buffalo and more on the way. We have a couple of Bull Elk which I will sell (a nice 6x6, 4 year old for $2850). We will continue with our full European Boar just call for pricing.
On the down side, I had to put my 13 & 1/2 year old yellow lab, Gunner, down this year. When we started Basswood, Gunner was 7 months old when he first went out. Over the years, he was in on several thousand birds and was a loyal friend. Two years ago he was fully retired but still enjoyed keeping watch of the bird inventory out at the farm. We buried him at Basswood where he will be able to watch over the hunts forever.
For those who do not know, I am running for the 118th Assembly seat this fall. It has been a busy campaign season and will only get busier up until November 2nd. I hope to get out some this season, but will have to rely on Jeff, Nick and all the others to keep up with what has turned into our busiest season ever. Since announcing the run, we have put off the addition of the second story to the Lodge, but I do have the building permit and just waiting on the time availability. For anyone that wants to follow my campaign you can sign up on Facebook or go to www.forsytheforassembly.com. There is a donation spot, if you would like your voice heard as a sportsman to try to make a difference for New York State
September 10th & 11th we are planning a cast/blast and bash weekend as a fundraiser. We have a couple fishing guides which will take people out for walleye/bass or musky on Saturday or Sunday or perhaps even Friday, Saturday we will host one, if not two, 300 bird European shoots. Friday we are planning a band and Saturday night a pig roast and Country band. For the fishing charters, it will be first come first served. I do need to confirm by September 1st to secure guides, please RSVP with Dave or Paula @ 315-393-1528. |
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