Mountain Hunting

Reader Contribution by Ryan Trapini
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“I’m going hunting in the mountains.” It just sounds right, doesn’t it? For years people from the Hudson Valley left their homes, packed a bag and a gun, and headed for the hills of northern Ulster County to hunt. The mountains offered an opportunity for hunters to pursue their game unencumbered over thousands of wooded acres. Each hollow or clove felt as his own to discover, explore, and pursue deer wherever they might go; after all the Hudson Valley had few deer back then. Say what!

It’s difficult to imagine that areas like Westchester and Dutchess Counties had few deer at one time. A good portion of the valley had been cleared for agriculture (and homes) until the 1970s, after which many of the farms had been abandoned. Older photos from the 19th Century show the Rondout and Wallkill Valleys from Mohonk Mountain House as a landscape mostly resembling portions of Iowa. The only trees that existed were near homesteads or following a stream. The land had been cleared to provide growing space for a contiguous tiny canopy used to feed domestic animals. Grass provided growing space for sheep and cows leaving few leftovers for undomesticated life-forms; namely wildlife.

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