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Right now there is a war against hunting and hunters. And DEC seems to be on the wrong side.

What...in the middle of the night?

Hey everyone. Please take a minute to give this article a read. I just posted this tonight and it discusses my thoughts on hunting. How hunting is the future for all game animals, regardless of why you choose to hunt... http://www.adirondackbowhunters.com/2015/08/06/we-are-hunters-2/

WHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT.... you gotta be chittin' me! First I've head of this. I think you're full of it!

I was working a booth at a Hunting Expo, an Anti came up and said. "If we ban or make hunting harder You'll have no use for your Gun in NY either". So I think the red tape is just that to make people lose interest in hunting or give up. You have to admit they are coming at us from every angle, Anti Hunting & Anti gun Groups. Or it could just be the DEC is just Screwed up, either way we pay.

Ha-ha-ha .... why don't we just see exactly how screwed up we can make things. The ideas keep getting screwier and screwier. However, I will say that such a thought could easily be something hatched by the DEC. That is kind of the way they are thinking these days. I know the gun hunters would be all for it. It seems that lately that season time slot is the envy of everybody in hunting these days and there is no shortage of people looking to push bowhunters out of it or glom onto it for themselves .... lol. And that thought always seems to come with the blessing of the DEC these days.

G-Man, let me ask a really obvious question. Not just to you, but to ALL the people talking about these changes.... They say that the changes were for population control, correct? They want to kill off a certain percentage of Does in some areas, correct? Why early bow season then?? They could make opening day of gun season Doe only and kill more Doe in 1 day then bow hunters could kill in an entire season. Bow hunters are such a tiny, tiny portion of deer kills, it makes no sense. I just won't hunt the first 2 weeks. The 15 or so people in my bow hunting circle said the same thing. This regulation will not change the amount of deer that are killed, it will just alter when they are killed. Next year the DEC will come up with another set of reactive hairbrain ideas that won't work. We are all just cogs in their revenue machine.

Thats not exactly a true statement. I agree that hunting is a form of population control, but that is secondary. Nature has its own population control. Without hunters (we have only been around for a couple hundred years), nature would balance its own populations as it did hundreds of years ago. What everyone is forgetting, and the MAIN reason for hunting / fishing season's and license sales is the revenue they receive off of it. This is #1. There is no close second. If it weren't for us outdoorsman, wildlife programs, including endagered species protection, parks, preserves, forestry, species studies, etc, etc,etc, etc, etc. would not exist. God knows that our bankrupt state can't fund the DEC. They can't even fund our welfare system for humans, let alone animals.

For christs sake. Better wether for aging gun hunters? Did you really just write that? Try pulling a 70lb bow back in December when you've been sitting for hours I need a deer within 30 yards. You need 300. I need the rut to even maybe get a chance. Ridiculous the entitlement the gun only hunter wants. Don't forget almost all us bow hunters use a gun too.

Nope, I believe you hit the nail on the head. Sounds like they want more control, surprise? Soon it will be the home of the Free and Brave but in Russia. They will have more "Freedom" than any American. What will you do when they start putting camera's in you area to "Protect people". Our society seems to not want freedom and would rather have more government control over all our lives. Or maybe I am the one who is a conspiracy theorist? One thing is for sure we are going in the wrong direction and NY seems to want to lead the pack.

Yeah...., definitely don't forget the rubbers,lol Gonna be a long weekend alone in the woods with your buddy and you never know what's gonna happen! You guys could stumble upon a tribe of naked bush bimbos infected with HIV and have to fiddle fudge your way out of a bad situation,lol

No. We set up a system that protects your rights, assumes your innocence, requires a preponderance of proof and allows a person some legal recourse if they happen to become a victim of the system that might morph into a gun grabbing scheme. That's the way the criminal justice system currently works for violent criminals. Why would we do less for people accused of mental incompetence by the very government that has a vested interest in seeing people disarmed?

I like the mohawk haircut on your boy. If you are ever in a pinch for a broom you can just turn him over and sweep away! LOL

Decided to cut out of work a few minutes early yesterday and take the kids fishing with my buddy down at Conesus Lake. Had a great time. My son caught a mess of sunfish, and learned how to cast by himself. My daughter learned how to fish with lures and had a great time throwing topwater. I caught a few largemouth under the docks and a couple on topwater. It was a fun evening, but now the kids insist that I have to get a boat lol.

Bow hunters have tried for a long time to get the Oct. 1 st. opening date in the Southern Zone . Do you rely think they would want it pushed behind Rifle season, especialy the elders of them.

Would my dog count as a "permitted weapon" in this contest? She got the one under the house yesterday!

I'm now hunting out of heated blinds...not a problem....I just wouldn't have any deer to shoot...for they would all be nocturnal here by then.

Stubby. The permit allocation numbers are NOT the desires take numbers. They factor in that not every hunter is successful and issue more permits than they believe will be filled. They just never divulge their mystery formula

My wife and I had spray foam insulation done on the house we built last year. Best decision we made for the home. Had our furnace set at 62 all winter and walked around in shorts and a tshirt. No cold drafts felt at all. Even with all the snow we got last winter we did not have 1 icicle on the house. Last week when it was in the upper 80's we didn't even turn the A/C on and it never got above 72 in the house. It is pricey to install but the savings on your fuel bill will be well worth it. With the big push on energy efficiency etc I think they should make it mandatory in all new home construction.

Exactly what I was trying to imply. I always stand up when I originally see the deer and position my body for the shot opportunity, slow and deliberate movements. As deer approaches, bow is then raised. When deer is about to step into opening where I can shoot, bow is then drawn slowly, straight back. Since I'm a dinosaur, my hold time is in the 20-30sec max time frame. Works for me! One final semi-related issue with hold time. For a newbie, lets start out with shots on a standing deer & not take shots at one that's walking. A gut shot disaster waiting to happen! If the deer doesn't stop, make him/her stop with some sort of noise. I made a blat with my mouth, which sounds more like a sheep or calf than a deer, but it works. How loud? Loud enough to get their attention, but not so loud it startles them and puts them on alert. May have to make sounds multiple times, each one somewhat louder until you get their attention. Oh yeah, then there's buck fever. Going to let you experience that for yourself and not try to explain it.

Lets revisit this wolf reintroduction storyline 20 years from now when the single attraction at Yellowstone are the geysers! Assuming they won't be viewed as so cute or beneficial when they've established a significant population, killed or driven off all the deer, elk, moose & buffalo and then migrated to more populated regions, huntable areas or ranch lands. Anyone else think there might have been a logical reason there was a bounty on them decades ago??? At least in NA, they are the true definition of a natural born killer, esp in packs!

I also pulled a card from one of my cams. Got a bunch of yearling and 2 1/2 year olds. The last 2 pics on the card, from this morning were of this guy. Im pretty sure this is Hooks, but need a head on shot to be sure. He is a 4 year old this year, and the backline and belly look about right for that. He always has his brows. Im not sure how much more growing he has, but he fits my bill for a mature buck. I passed on him 3 times as a 2 1/2 and had a 10 yard encounter with him last year during bow season. Hopefully this year he gives me a shot.

Leaving in the morning for a weekend at camp/deer camp. No four wheeler this trip, I have to replace the connector on my trailer. Still looking forward to the tent and cot, scouting, canned beef and canned taters for lunch tomorrow, Mountain House Chili-Mac for dinner, a few cold beers, and just being in the woods! Saturday, up before dawn, boil water, quick cup of coffee, then sit for a few hours watching a swamp. 9am BF break. More coffee and some corned beef hash. Walking the back ridge and re-working natural ground blinds. Lunch about 1pm, Hormel beef stew! Afternoon cutting wood to dry for deer camp. Just to be safe, maybe setting up the tarp over the tent as Sunday is calling for rain. Adjust natural blind near camp, Mountain House Spaghetti for dinner, then more cold beers and a couple rounds of chess. Yeah, no fancy steak meals on this trip, too much work to get done in daylight hours. In two weeks, bacon wrapped steak, fire cooked baked taters, and corn on the cob.

This is true; in the long term things would swing back and forth then balance out. But the long term- in terms of ecology- is not within a human lifespan. Sometimes it is not within many generations. If we (admittedly, selfishly) want to conserve what we have and not let things get worse before they get better, management is important. Humanity has altered enough natural processes through habitat destruction and fragmentation, predator loss (I know we have yotes by the handful now, but trust me it's still a very different picture than predation 300 years ago), invasive species, logging of yesteryear, agriculture, etc. We're talking about a lot more than overpopulated deer eating ornamental flowers and gardens in the suburbs. Overbrowsing of native species is already a problem in some areas, and long-term will change the forest ecosystems for centuries (Not that we haven't already). Add in the invasive species that are quick to take over deer-disturbed areas (that deer seem to ignore) and our ecosystems change even more rapidly. In time... centuries, yes, it would balance. Animals would adapt or get wiped out. Same with plants (which are an important part of the conservation picture but are often overlooked). Earth has gone through countless cycles like this. Selfishly, I want it to slow down (for, we have artificially accelerated it!) so that more species have time to adapt, and that future generations of people can enjoy some of the things I do. Anyhow I don't want to debate much, just wanted to toss in some cents. Hunters were the original conservationists, and I think to continue being conservationists is important to our future, both as hunters as well as nature-lovers.

So you're basically agreeing to everything most of us are saying. It's not the hunter or the weapon not doing their job, it's the access. NY has no plan for that as far as I know.

Did you just come out of a coma ? There are 20 pages on a thread about this ...........

Is it really like shooting fish in a barrel in these places? There is a 30 acre parcel I have access to in 8f, and while there are deer there, they aren't walking past my stand every 30 min. If it's really that good on some of the other properties I wish someone would let me know I'd love to join the party. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I didn't take what you said personally so no hard feelings but I just wanted to point out that I am a meat hunter and I am bothered by this new reg still. What if the only deer I see during mz is a buck? I have to let that meat walk, and one more deer that would have been taken lives on. DEC claims this is about deer density not protecting young bucks. Last year on gun opener I sat until almost 3pm before I shot a doe, reason being it was the only doe I saw. I had 7 young bucks around but the owner has a thing about letting those guys grow up a little, his land not mine so I respect it. If I had shot a buck early I would have been back up the tree after gutting it. I shoot doe, as many as I can as it is, I didn't need Albany to punish me for it while telling me to go shoot more. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Um, that would be because in suburban locations, city or county parks, etc archery gear is better suited to dealing with safety issues with houses, buildings, etc all around than a gun is. Quiet and less disruptive to the people that live there as well. Its really the only option to get hunters in there to help with the problem rather than blow craploads of cash on sharpshooters.

I clean my rifles at the end of the season, or I only run a dry patch through if I get caught in the rain. After checking zero before the season. I do not clean them. Bullets will strike a slightly different POI from a perfectly clean bore compared to a fouled bore. The bullet pushes out powder fouling W/each shot so there will be little difference in POI W/consecutive shots. Copper will not build up fast enough to affect accuracy until a lot of bullets are put down the barrel.

Makes sense. Wolves eat or push coyotes out of the area. Every wolf hunt I've ever been on they say if you are seeing lots of coyotes hitting the bait, wolves aren't nearby Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just a quick comment since I am traveling. Spent one day in Yellowstone this week - the first time since 94. In 94 I saw many coyotes every day. I saw none this time.

Well , to add fuel to the fire , my sons and I take doe during the summer with Crop Damage Permits . I got my foot in the door when a Farmer was interviewed on tv complaining out losing thousands of dollars in crops due to deer . Many hunters look down on this but the farmer doesn't get enough deer taken . There are a few other guys who also take deer off of the guys farm fields .

Yes Grow, even in some high density areas a bowhunter can have a rough go of it some years. Bow hunting is hard. It's supposed to hard. Murphy's law was created for bow hunters. Which is one of the reasons we love it. I would think a bowhunter passing on some does during the first week or 2 of the season while trying to shoot a big buck that they've scouted should be rather inconsequential terms of deer take for the entire season. I usually pass on does for first 10 days or so hoping to surprise a big buck. This year I will likely hunt a little less the first couple weeks. And I'll leave potential big buck stands alone. but I'll still get out and try to take a doe. especially if convenient (cold weather, short drag, have time to butcher, etc.)

First I can't see how this plan will work and I'm not for it. But bowhunters don't shoot does. the percentages are lower. The DEC is giving bowhunters a chance to prove them wrong, giving them a chance before they bring in muzzleloaders for a two week season. AND HOW DO BOWHUNTERS STEP UP TO THE PLATE AND HANDLE IT?? All there is is whining and complaining and I'm not even going to hunt comments!!! Bowhunters constantly refusing to shoot does has led to this, and its going to get worse!

getting back on track , all you need is a 7.62x54R kills everything from 1 foot to 1200meters last i heard bruce jenner is missing.... photos on cartons of half n half ,,,,

Here's 2 record book wolves that my dad laid out to rest. Over 30 full days hunting over several years before finally getting a shot. Like I said previously, they are no match for hunters. Even trappers with snares in Canada struggle with catching wolves. They'd rather starve to death than come near a human Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don't draw till I have a shot and my hold is less than 10 seconds. Slow movement is key if you have to raise or lower your bow to draw it your pulling to much weight and. Your rapid draw is what the deer sees or you must draw early and hold waiting for shot, that is bad for shoulders Esp rotator cuff, you should be able to hold your bow out at arms legnth and use a push pull method to draw, using your bow as a screen between you and the animal. This results in a slow quiet draw with minimal movement, too many time I watch people raise the bow draw, then try and put kisser button in the corner of mouth,and then settle in to aim way to much movement for hunting!!! a push pull method pulls the string to your anchor point and aim point in one motion and you can shoot instantly. Lower your poundage take a slow draw and see how effective it is in the woods, you can be a great shot and have little drop with a high poundage bow, but you give up a lot and learn to depend on longer shots to connect, I'd rather shoot closer deer ( learn woodsmanship movement especially) I don't miss at 10 yards...

1st two weeks doe only will throw it all into a tail wind. Bucks will breed only at night and sit tight during the day. They will know something is up when their lady friends are being targeted for abuse. They won't come out to defend but just will sit there and watch the slaughter from the thicket. But…….when we are done with our duty as conservationist to cull the herd they will come out…….seeking and searching for the leftovers, even a yearling will do. There won't be much left so bucks might just retire with the old-timers on the porch and talk about how it was back in the day….Happy hunting!

I can't answer fully either. Vertical bow, rifle & ML'er. I shoot a doe/fawn when I want UNLESS I stumble onto a blood trail like I did last year during gun season. A 165gr 30 cal bullet (from the 300WSM) to the back of a suffering button buck's head was the least I could do for the little guy. The bastard that didn't track him out should have his nuts twisted off........but I digress. Ultimately filling the freezer is the goal, toss in a decent (or not) buck and I'm fat & happy.

I have much respect for Charlie A. as a photographer, outdoorsman and writer. As far as his rut predictions go, I have found them to be hit or miss. Much more reliable, is tha calendar dates of November first to the fourteenth as the best two weeks to be in the deer woods for the rut. You can expect anything to happen at anytime, during those two weeks year in and year out.

You must be talking 'bout poachers right? Last I checked, guys moving into areas killing deer on properties that they weren't welcome on were considered trespassing poachers. Yes, that does make things more difficult for a landowner or region when you look at it that way. Someone like yourself threatening to reconsider what dmu's they hunt is not an issue seeing you likely already have access and approval. It won't change much in the grand scheme of things. My comment of gunners grinning for the moment was only directed towards the divide that has recently come about between the two implements.(gun and bow) There is a separation there, and some are failing to see this will have an impact on ALL hunters in the end whether they realize it or not right now by fueling this separation. The whole "it doesn't pertain to me" will one day soon..... so wipe that smirk off your face before someone wipes it off for ya. (DEC)

About 1/3 of projects I'm involved with get sprayed.......sometimes open,sometimes closed. I'd ask around and see what you can do for a better quote. One thing in common is the prices are all over the place and vary by 40% or more for the exact same project.

Should be ,vertical,crossbow and rifle shotgun muzzleloader option.

I did my whole house with it when I built in 2006, it's expensive but we'll worth it in savings, I use to heat a 1000 ft trailer and would go thru 3000 gal of propane just for the winter, I now heat a 3000 sq ft house and use 1000,for the year including all my hot water and cooking. It's 2 to 4x more in. Cost but doubles the insulation value vs regular fiberglass. I recommend it

All I know is what I see and What in over 20 years I have seen is a growth in both body and rack with the ever increasing farming...I also know illegal or not and I can't say legally for sure..but know all the same... guys around me are putting out minerals big time....But the biggest increase has come with the growth of soybean and alfalfa plantings by the big dairy farmers and the very large local crop farmer he does beans...peas ..beets...and grains which he always over seeds with clover. This use to be potato country but the crop farmers sold most of his potato equipment and now does these other crops and is big into rotational and cover cropping.

Shot three woodchucks the other day. Skinned, cleaned, cut up and in the freezer. Seems like as quick as I fill in the holes, a new chuck moves in.

I think I need to raise this cam. A good example of a non brushed in cam, too close to a trail:

I have issues usually in the summer months with cams. I try to avoid grassy areas with weeds because they always seem to trigger the cam and all I get are pictures of weeds. Good article though! I made some simple adjustable screw mounts for higher angled mounting to trees but never honestly used them because it was a pain to screw it into a tree or bring a drill. I do have to admit, I don't buy into the whole scent thing. If I only go into the woods once every month or two, I don't see it being an issue, but that's just me.