Doc

Depending on where you are hunting, there may come a time when you may be dependent on using your rifle for signaling. We don't go out expecting to get lost or hurt, in areas without accessible phone towers, but sometimes things don't go per plan. So, those people who seem to be packing more ammo than necessary might just be glad they have it some day.

There has been so many times that I have been made aware of a hunters presence simply because of a flash of orange. In almost every case, that orange alerted me that a hunter was coming my way long before I could even recognize them a person. I have also moved on from a stand location because that orange told me that we were hunting too close to each other to be a safe situation. That sort of thing happens all the time. But also, I have approached guys that were dressed in full camo and got right next to them before realizing there was somebody there. There is no doubt in my mind that hunter orange is a highly effective safety feature in gun season ..... Highly effective! There is no doubt in my mind that it is unreasonable to even question that. It is important to be seen by other hunters, and as far as I can imagine, there is no situation where the hunter orange is a liability unless you are a poacher or a trespasser. Will blaze orange stop bullets? ..... absolutely not, but the likelihood that it will keep that bullet from being launched in the first place is pretty darned high. No, blaze orange does not improve the mentality of anyone. It just gives them a chance of knowing there is a hunter over there. Nothing else in the woods can do that for you. No other safety feature can do this for you, and if you still get shot, then somebody should open an investigation as to whether it really is a homicide.

I've heard the same nonsense theorized about coyote introduction .... lol. And if anyone ever gets to display proof of such activities by the DEC, then by all means, lets see it. But if anyone is simply posing the theoretical possibility, I guess I won't get emotionally distraught like I have seen some people react .... lol.

Well, of course no one wants to see these kinds of stories, and for the most part most dogs are harmless lovable creatures and do not deserve destruction merely for romping through the woods. But I have seen another side of these pets when they are owned and handled irresponsibly. I have seen the results of dogs getting into sheep and running from one to another just doing enough damage to kill one before moving on to the next. I also have witnessed a deer torn apart by two dogs in our front yard until I broke up the carnage. I tracked the deer the following morning and found it dead, finally succumbing to dozens of bites to the flanks suffered over an obvious long distance. I performed a mercy killing on a buck that had huge chunks of meat torn out of its rump to the point where it couldn't even get up to escape. It was a pretty pathetic sight. I have heard people who were moving to the country thinking out loud about finally having a place where their dogs could run free. I have owned dogs, and so I feel as strongly as anyone about enjoying loving companion animals that are responsibly cared for and controlled. But I am also aware that not everyone accepts that responsibility. I'm not sure that any of that was the case in this situation, but I am just reminding everyone that pet ownership does carry some pretty heavy responsibility that I hope everyone is as passionate about as they are about this guy that in my opinion used very poor judgment. As important as it is to make an example of this guy, I also think that those that do not control their pets should be dealt with equally harshly.

It is strange how mountain lion topics can bring on such emotional responses. I have seen some responses that get downright personally offended that anyone would even raise the possibilities. I often wonder what causes that. I tend to have an open mind on the subject, understanding that the odds against local mountain lion observations (pictorial or other wise) are quite unlikely, but never impossible.

Ha-ha-ha ...... Typo! I'm old, but not that old.

Wait until the full reports come out that list the wounding incidents. I knew that we have been having it too easy for too long and too much was being made of the years when we have been able to brag about how safe recent years have been. It seems like maybe we have gotten a bit complacent.

Sometimes it takes a law to clearly make a statement about how important blaze orange is as a safety item. Leaving things as they are almost implies that the state thinks that not wearing blaze orange is ok with them which leaves all of their statements on the subject go over with just a wink and a nod, and no real commitment. Perhaps there is some merit to allowing Darwin's principles to take out these mental rejects. But that ignores the fact that someone is left behind to anguish over what amounts to "suicide by hunter".

You don't suppose that occasionally God finds himself on the side of the deer, do you?

Deer are not pheasants. I have never taken a running shot at a deer.....never. I don't criticize those who can successfully do so, but in my case I know better. As Clint Eastwood would say, A man has to know his limitations". Another benefit of still hunting, is that if you are truly trying to spot that tine-tip or tail flicker, or other telltale signs of deer, you get a very specific and detailed picture of everything that is in front of you. That includes deer as well as any source of potential danger ahead. When I come across another hunter, my focus immediately changes from deer hunting to watching what that other hunter is doing and I am in high alert defensive mode. But the point is that it should never be assume that a still-hunter is anymore at risk or poses anymore risk than somebody hunting in any other style. When I finally get off stand, nothing occurs that changes my attitude about safety.

From 1882 to 2010 I kept complete records of every hunting trip and every hunting trip for both bow and gun. I kept it in a huge Excel spreadsheet so I could do math analysis on where the deer were, what genders, dates, what stands, wind directions, wind speeds (in generic terms), temperatures (In generic terms), weather conditions (clear, rain, snow, overcast, etc).general areas (uphill, downhill, side hill), entry directions, exit directions, deer reactions, hunter reactions, results, hunting style (standing, still hunting, scouting). Actual headings: LOG NUMBER DATE LOCATION NUMBER OF DEER SIGHTED TIME WEATHER TEMP WIND DIR WIND VELOCITY ENTRY DIR EXIT DIR HUNTER ACTION RESULTS HNTG STYLE HUNTER BUCKS (QTY) DOES (QTY) UNIDENT IFIED (QTY) SAW A BUCK 0=NO 1=YES SAW A DOE 0=NO 1=YES SAW AN UNIDENT 0=NO 1=YES LOC CODE STAND NO CLOSEST STAND MODAY UPHILL DOWNHILL REMARKS YEAR from all this data, I could analyze what times of year that deer movement became concentrated in valley bottoms vs. hill tops, what stands were the most productive given specific weather and wind directions, What areas were traditionally rut areas. So I had 28 years of comprehensive data on the herd in my area. It also serves as a very detailed hunting diary. What was the down-side?.... the analysis side was good only for short numbers of years. Today, none of this hunting area looks anything like it did when the database began. Open fields have turned into brushlots and even young maple thickets. A major ice storm totally destroyed patterns and trails. There was no details of food source changes and availabilities. Land use has dramatically changed with the advent of mountain biking trails blanketing the state land parts of the hunting area. Hikers and biker have placed unrelenting spring, fall and summer pressure changing patterns and deer usage. The bottom line is that the longer you keep the base, the less predictive value that it has. But still it has great value for providing detailed memories of years of hunting. It was fun!

Something to think about when saying things like "always id your target and what is in the foreground and background". When clubs set up public shooting ranges, their interpretation of target id and background and foreground safety is to bulldoze up earthen backstops, and clear all vegetation and obstructions before and beyond the targets all the way to the earthen backstops. There is a defined shooting line and an area where no one should be when someone is ready to shoot. There is signage and sometimes even fencing in an effort to control human traffic to ensure that the shooters have damned good certainty that they really are sure of the target and safe visual conditions of the foreground and background. They truly understand and abide by those basic safety features before the first trigger is pulled there. Ok, so now think about the average hunting shot selection at a deer...... Shots that you have personally taken so many times in the past. Likely there is no earthen backstop unless purely by coincidence the land naturally rises behind the deer. No clearing of foreground and background. In fact most likely it is littered with fallen logs, trees and bushes. There is no defined shooting line or area where other hunters have been told not to be. Now consider the lack of a blaze orange law such that people can be concealed in total camo in line with the deer that you are about to shoot (and we all have seen those convincing camo ads that show how effective camo can be). The point is that it really sounds good when we talk about knowing what is in the foreground and background before you shoot. But unless you always hunt on an organized cleared and back-stopped shooting range, no one really abides by those rules. And without blaze orange being worn or mandated, you are not even putting the odds in favor of something ugly not happening in those kinds of uncontrolled circumstances. Just thought I would enter a little reality into the discussion.

This fatality reminds me of the time a bunch of years ago that a guy walked up to me to talk, and had his gun cradled in the elbow of his arm with the barrel pointed at my knees. I flipped out all over him and told him to get the hell away from me. Then there was the guy who rested the muzzle of his shotgun on top of his boot. And then there was friend brought down by my Canadian brother-in-law who lagged behind as we were going up to the targets while we were sighting in the shotguns. Imagine the shock and surprise when the damned gun went off behind us. He was doing some foolish thing with his gun while we were in front of him and the gun went off. I pointed to the hill across the valley, and told him that was were he was going to be hunting. I wasn't kidding either. I really didn't want to be in the same county as this bozo. There have been other episodes over the years that simply convinced me that the woods are full of idiots. I think I really am amazed that the numbers of accidents isn't higher than it is.

Yes, in NYS you do have the right to be an absolute idiot. And I have certainly seen a pile of them out in the woods including a few dressed completely in camo (complete with face paint) hunting opening day on a very intensely pressured chunk of state land. It really makes you wonder what camouflaged idiot is hunkered down in the woods behind that deer you are about to shoot at. He's doing his best to ensure that you never find out until the final scream. I know what a terrible imposition and tremendously dire encroachment on your rights that a mandatory blaze orange law would be for you. Why that is just plain dictatorial isn't it?.....lol. Arguing against blaze orange based on legal rights is just damn foolishness. I'll tell you what it makes me real nervous is to be hunting around someone who thinks so little of their life and hunting safety. It makes me wonder how much disregard they have for my life and safety.

You really can have a huge variation in weight between fawns. There is such a long fawning season due to when the does are impregnated during the previous rut, that some fawns get a huge head start on others. Also male fawns seem to be significant bigger as a general rule. I wouldn't even try to come up with an average figure.

In a "cut bean field"?????? ..................Really?

Three hunting fatalities this year. Sounds like the numbers are reversed from what was the trend before this year. I hope people don't start equating this with all the changes to rifle in the southern tier counties. Relative to this report, I really am shocked that a person could be mistaken for a deer in a wide open cut bean field. And they still are calling it a hunting accident? I'm thinking they would call it a hunting accident even if she was tied up.

I am looking at this $1800 figure, and to me that is more than I would ever be willing to pay for unmanaged land. Since you were applying sweat exchange rather than cash, I suspect that you might be feeling the same way as I do. I also suspect that cash offers for hunting privilege is becoming the way of doing business these days. People are realizing that they have equity that is only a liability unless they can get some cash out of it to help pay the taxes, and looking for some cash payback is not completely unreasonable. What was unreasonable was the way that they handled it. But as long as you have people with deep pockets running around willing to create bidding wars over hunting land, you will always have this kind of risk. The suggestion to learn how to have success on public lands is not really a bad one. Yes there are drawbacks with state land (some real, most imagined), but I have never had state land sold out from under me, or paid exorbitant amounts of lease money just to step foot on it.

What a shame! They could have at last told you that they were looking for cash and gave you a chance to retain hunting rights. Some people have no honor and their word isn't worth a whole lot.

It is kind of hard to understand what goes through the mind of someone mistaking a person for a deer. Yes logically it can't be done, but there are a lot of hunting weirdness that can happen. Think back to some of the things that people have done when struck with buck fever. I have heard of them absolutely freezing and not being able to move. I have heard of people who get so excited that they empty out there gun into the dirt in front of them. Not everything that happens out there is logical. People think they see things that they really don't. Some get excited beyond their ability to control their senses and actions. And the more pressure we put on ourselves to get a deer, the more some of these weird things that occur. Stir in some questionable lighting and maybe the victim not taking advantage of adequate amounts of blaze orange (or none at all) and before you know it, you have a "perfect storm" of events that can cause some of the most bizarre happenings imaginable. None of that is offered as an excuse, but it does explain how some totally unbelievable and illogical things can occur. Another thing that I noticed in the article is that we also are responsible for "filling in the blanks" too. Other than the headline, there is nothing that explains what the shooter "saw". His statement was that he "heard" what he thought was a deer. So we are envisioning looking at a hunter and morphing that into a picture of a deer. The fact is that the guy was more likely seeing bits and pieces and his mind was putting the picture together for him. Still not a blameless situation, but not a physical impossibility as the scenario where the guy is looking at a man and seeing a deer.

Apparently everyone loves restricting harvests in all kinds of ways. Shorter seasons, AR, one buck rule, eliminate rifles, no hunting during rut, and on and on. Just love those regs and restrictions and can't get enough! But then you have the DEC that swears there is an absolute need to whack on the herd and mow them all down. Heck, they have even taken to harassing bow hunters with threats of incorporating firearms into bow season if archers don't bring the populations down all by themselves in certain areas. The point is that it appears that hunters and those that manage the herds (DEC) have entirely different objectives. Who is right? Hunters that want to place all kinds of restrictions on what you can take, shorter seasons, more disadvantaged season timing, smaller bag limits, or the DEC that wants to take all the deer out? It just seems that we are all working in opposite directions.

Back in the old days, it was those drivers that went through the thickest crap where still-hunting simply too noisy to be practical. Even trying to get through these rose-infested thickets to set up a stand is not practical without alerting every deer hunkered down in there for the day. It was the big drives that dislodged the deer out of their hidey-holes where otherwise the deer would have been content to stay until dark. So now that most of these big outfits have all dissolved, after opening morning you have the deer that are hunkered down in these impenetrable thickets for the day, and the hunters that are hunkered down for the day, and absolutely no deer moving, and the dead quiet, and boring silence of nothing going on at all. Yeah, the big drives can be a bit dangerous with some of the sloppy set-ups and execution. And I eventually got away from participating myself because I didn't always feel that some of the snap-shooting that went on were safe enough to suit me. I eventually started paying attention to where these big drives would always set up, and then I would get into a position to take advantage of the deer that always squirted out the sides of these thickets and took off up the hill. We may not have had as many deer back then, but the deer did move all day. But since the demise of the big traveling drives, I have also noted entire days going by without hearing a shot from me or anyone else in the entire valley and valleys beyond. That's not a real nice or interesting way to spend the day either.

I am of the thought that everytime you pile on more restrictions, or try to limit harvests, you lose another armful of hunters. I also believe that much of the reduction in hunter numbers comes from the relatively recent constant belittlement of the deer that people choose to take. Little by little, there is a growing number of hunters that want to get themselves involved in the business of what you need to consider as your hunting goals. The result is to take away from the enjoyment of hunting and continue to drive more hunters out of the activity. There is no excuse for belittling the harvest of another or trying to make them feel bad about the deer that they chose to take. And that is true whether you attack via personal ridicule or passing laws.

I didn't measure it, but I know it was well over a foot, and it was sloppy and like an ice cream consistency. Just right for sticking to the plow. I plow with an ATV and the plow is a manual lift, so when it gets glopped up with snow, lifting the plow gets to be a real problem. I had to plow for two days because of the way the snow came, and I'm pretty worn out. Apparently the ground is still retaining quite a lot of heat, so even though the top layer isn't too bad, the snow next to the ground is like pudding. It sure has knocked the hell out of my hunting, but I have a whole lot of people coming for Thanksgiving and I have to keep things my 1000' driveway open and create spots for for parking. It's looking good now, but it has been quite a struggle.

It's not where you have chosen to put your stand. It is all about where you are shooting. You own your land right up to the boundary or have made the arrangements to use it. There is no reason to get all upset because someone is using their land. However if they are shooting into your land, that is a willful intent to trespass. I wouldn't take to kindly to that. Of course there is nothing you can do about it until they actually step foot across the line. My concerns about how close has nothing to do with property lines. The issue of too close to me regards how close two hunters have set up to each other no matter where they are. My general rule of thumb is that I don't want to be able to see any other hunters from my stand. If I can see them, that means there is a clear path between us for a bullet to get through. That is too close! Such a situation will cause me to move even if I was there first. It has happened way too often that I have been all hunkered down and ready to hunt when another hunter comes stumbling in and plunks themselves down right next to me. That just is not necessary, but they see me, and still do it.