ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Conservation officers say they'e ticketed more than 70 people for illegal hunting in eastern New York since late October.

Many of the offenses involved "deer jacking," shooting deer at night using lights, and some included using bait to attract deer or bears.

Some of the hunters also face misdemeanor charges involving weapons violations, taking does without permits or hunting out of season.

In one case, two men were charged after one got out of a car and fired at a decoy deer set up off a road in Fulton County. They were ticketed for having a loaded weapon in a vehicle and firing over a public highway.

The enforcement push by the Department of Environmental Conservation ranged from the Adirondacks to the Mohawk Valley and Capital Region.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is reviewing the status of the eastern small-footed and northern long-eared bats to see if they warrant federal protection.

The status review announced Tuesday was launched after the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group, filed a petition asking for Endangered Species Act designation for the bats and their habitat.

The wildlife agency says the bats have declined because of habitat destruction, disturbance of hibernation and breeding roosts, and white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease that has killed more than a million bats since its discovery in 2006.

The eastern small-footed bat is found from eastern Canada and New England south to Alabama and Georgia and west to Oklahoma. Northern long-eared bats live across the eastern and north-central United States and Canada.

(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)