Doc

I'll bet there are some biologists down in PA that could answer your question with real credibility. They have done considerable radio transmitter work down there with deer. As far as anecdotal guesses, probably wouldn't put a whole lot of credibility in those.

I think there is an awful lot about deer behavior during the bedding (or hiding) times that is not commonly known about deer behavior. We have a tendency to view these things simply as things that deer always do under certain conditions and at defined times of day. I think a lot of it is far more random than we think. It would be interesting to see a lot more study of the bedding behaviors, timing and purposes and locations.

Tenderloins, rib meat, and internal organs (heart, liver etc.) are the only meat items that are at risk. Rinse all that internal stuff off thoroughly and it should be alright unless the arrow has driven stomach contents and acids into and through any of these items.

What I am seeing is that the number of bowhunters are increasing, and the number of gun hunters are decreasing. And the changes are significant. Not only are gun hunter numbers diminishing but their dedication and endurance is diminishing. We have a lot of 1/2 day hunters, and a lot of 1 or 2 day hunters that tire of the activity real quick. At least that is the way it is in my Ontario County hunting area.

Well folks, I am on the back side of my hunting life and physical abilities, and all this talk about challenge and such takes on a little different meaning for me now. Right now, any deer that will get close enough during the limited hours and my diminishing abilities to climb these hills, has made itself a target (one point, a dozen points or no points at all). I am no longer out there to impress anybody but myself, and the only challenge that I am accepting anymore is to be able to continue to participate.....lol. It is no longer necessary for me to measure my worth by inches of antler. I'll just see how many more years I can still get to the deer, and I'll let the selections and harvests come out to be whatever opportunities I am lucky enough to encounter.

No shortage of acorns there. The only thing that would be better from a deer hunting standpoint would be if they were white oak acorns and they were within shooting range of your hunting stand (The leaves on the ground indicate they are red oaks). In my hunting area, this this year's acorn crop is just right. Not every oak is producing this year, and if you find one that is dropping a good localized concentration of acorns like you are showing in your picture, it is a good deer, turkey, and squirrel magnet. Make that white oaks, and you have a super-magnet.

I hunt in one of those areas where the DEC doesn't want you to be picky. We've got too many deer, and anyone who holds out for a trophy is considered scum. The word is, "shoot every antlerless deer that you see". They are to be considered vermin and if you are a trophy hunter, you are some kind of anti-conservation creep that refuses to do your part for the environment. Of course that is only their attitude if you are a bowhunter. Lol .... I am over-exaggerating, of course. But I do get the impression that they don't want to hear about this waiting for the "big one" stuff. Not in this WMU anyway.

It is an interesting dilemma when it comes to trying to force an interest that a kid hasn't already developed. When you have to resort to special incentives, gimmicks, and tricks, I truly have to question the "staying-power" of the results. The most successful recruitment programs to me are not those that consist of a couple of days out of the year. The recruitment of my two sons came from a year around interest in all things outdoors. Camping, hiking, and just a constant barrage of all outdoor and nature inspired activity right through all of their childhood. Their rabid dedication and fanatic interest that even exceeds my own did not come from some trick creation and softened up representation of what hunting is all about. I must say that it didn't even come from the kills or successes. They were already heavily addicted to hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits before they were ever old enough to participate. There was no cajoling or nagging required to get them off the couch. It all came about as a natural outgrowth of a whole lifetime of all kinds of outdoor adventures. It was a total outdoor family culture that made hunting enthusiasm a natural lifetime activity. There is no special hunt that will create enthusiasm when the child's only exposure to nature is the sun coming through the window onto the couch. It is a lifestyle that is part of their upbringing. There is too much thinking today that the only parental effort to create interest in hunting is a few days of a special hunt. Along with other family oriented activities, hunting is also succumbing to the age of shortcuts and quick fixes. Raising a hunter is a lifetime activity not just relegated to a few days of concocted mis-representation of what hunting is all about. A special season is a great additional entertainment for a kid that was likely already going to be a hunter anyway. But I would be careful about expecting that one activity to create a hunter where there wasn't already one developed and waiting from a lifetime of outdoor activity and enthusiasm.

How times have changed. Back when I was turned onto hunting, I did it because I had a real interest in it. I cut my teeth on small game until I was old enough to play the big leagues. Today we have to whine at kids and create special opportunities, and give them unrealistic attitudes and hunting conditions just to get them off the couch and away from their electronic gadgets. I know that my introduction to deer hunting included the camaraderie of all the hunting community, the uncles and friends and brothers and neighbors, where I was also introduced to the hunting camp mentality that introduced the youth of the day to the entire hunting experience. Nobody had to do anything special created to involve myself and all my friends into what was then a natural activity. I have no idea whether all this creation of fantasy hunting conditions is the right way to go, but as I said, times have changed. An activity that kids used to rabidly look forward to in years gone by, now perhaps does actually require cajoling, fakery, and creation of unrealistic versions of what hunting will consist of when they reach the magic age of adulthood. Is it the magic bullet that will re-kindle universal attitude change in our youth toward a lifetime of hunting? I have my doubts, but then I'm no expert either. At times I think we are trying to keep hunting alive without understanding and recognizing and encouraging the cultural forces that made hunting work as viable and natural activity in the past.

I always wonder why I spent all that money buying all those other bows that I have hanging on the wall. I can't say that any of those purchases ever got me any more deer than that lumbering old clunky Whitetail Hunter. I got into NFAA tournament shooting, and of course you can't shoot tournament without all the latest stuff .... right? .....lol.

Great video! It looks a whole lot more easy there than it is in NYS. I didn't really see many single coyotes like you see around here.

There is no way that I could list all the crap that I have bought over the years. I have drawers full of sights, arrow rests, releases, stabilizers, finger-guards, arm guards and all kinds of gizmos and go-fasters. I also have a wall full of bows (11 of them) that were all high end bows in their day. Also, I have an assortment of arrows that I cannot get both of my hands around. We're talking thousands of dollars. I used to be one to chase every fad going. Then one day I realized that the first compound that I ever owned had taken more deer than any of the bows that followed. The old Bear Whitetail Hunter with wheels everywhere and eccentrics and steel cable and those heavy old indestructible epoxy limbs that you could use as a pry-bar, actually killed more deer and just as dead as any of the abandoned bows hanging on the wall that I bought after the fever began and I started thinking I could buy guarantees.....lol. I put an end to buying archery equipment since then but I can't bring myself to throw out any of the trinkets that fill those drawers. They're all are memory joggers of the glory-years of my bow-hunting and shooting.

I haven't paid-to-hunt in decades. The last one was back in the 1980s when four of us did a do-it-yourself canoe/camping moose hunt up in Shining Tree Ontario, Canada. My share was somewhere around $500 and we all had quite a bit of moose meat to divvy up. Now, I open up the back door and start hunting my way up the hill. That doesn't cost me a whole lot.

It's just an abbreviated version of my last name.

It's awful early yet. Bowhunters got all excited when the start of bow got pushed up to Oct 1st, but I really wonder how many are really out there in force yet. I know my hunting has been kind of half-hearted. The heat is still here so a lot of my stands have been spent with that trickle of sweat working its way down my back. And then there is the bugs, which in a normal wet year would be so much worse. I'm not in love with deer hunting when all the leaves are still on. I don't like being surprised. Also, there has to be some time devoted to all the fall chores around home. Just like spring, fall is a very demanding time of year. So, I go out when I feel like it and think that I have all the winterizing jobs under control. I have a feeling that I am not alone in all of the complications added to the earlier start. Weather is starting to calm down a bit, so maybe I and others will start to hunt a little harder and boost up the take a bit.

When I was a lot younger, I can remember sitting on stand with the wind-whipped rain dripping off my beak, and the cheap old insufficient clothes completely soaked through. Today my personal comfort takes precedence over my hunting fanaticism ..... lol. Regarding recovery problems due to heavy, steady rains, I have had some first hand experience with that that seldom has ended happily. Right now I am listening to rain splattering on the house roof that I know full well would eliminate a blood trail completely in a very short time. I have always been told that a hunter should wait at least a half hour before taking to the trail even on hits that you feel rather good about. Well, if it is raining anywhere near what I am listening to right now, 1/2 hour would be enough to make "first blood" nearly impossible to find. So, when I combine that fact with my discomfort, the decision is made for me.

There's an old saying that goes something like this: "Good fences make good neighbors". Perhaps that can be amended to say "Good posted signs make good neighbors". The idea being that in rural areas with large land parcels, sometimes the landowners don't even know where their boundaries really are. Sometimes they need to be shown. I don't know what your claim to the land is or what your relationship is with the landowner, but you might ask him if you could post it for him. Most guys would love to have you do it for them.

Logic and reason and fact have little to do with the kind of imaginations a person can get spooked by when they are in total darkness in the middle of the woods with a weapon that even in the best of conditions are not great for emergency self-defense ...... lol.

So as your walking to your stand in the pitch dark with nothing but a bow and a few arrows for defense, this story will keep your mind busy. Every leaf that crunches or twig that you hear snap will instantly fill your mind with images of a slobbering, crazed, rabid coyote, with its drooling jaws snapping and ripping your face off. Ha-ha-ha-ha..... I already get those images even without reading this story. It used to be that my favorite scary thought in the dark was walking between a sow black bear and her cubs. Now I've got some variation in my panic in the darkness when I hear that twig snap. I may go back to treestands just to get the heck up in the air.....lol.

Occasionally we get these little reminders that hopefully we live through without anything too serious and permanent happening. Emergency communications is always a good idea. Since my stroke 16 years ago, I never am without my phone. That's not just my idea, but something my wife insists on. It can be a dangerous place out there. A little preparation for the unexpected is always a good idea. Here's hoping you mend up well and quickly so the whole season isn't lost.

My beard used to have a purpose of serving as facial camo. That doesn't work anymore because it is white now. It actually draws attention in the woods instead of helping me blend in .... lol.

I agree. Yes there are some slams against hunters that are uncalled for, but I suppose it does lend credibility to the main message that is reaching the public. At least they know it is not a hunter sponsored bit of propaganda. Interesting, and yes it is an under-utilized means of putting a better face on hunting throughout those that are on the fence.

I guess, always living out in the sticks, I have been destined to never rub elbows with the rich and famous. Probably I wouldn't recognize most of them anyways if I just ran into them in a casual situation. However, I have seen a few C&W music stars (Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings and Merle Haggard) on stage at concerts, and then there was the Dick Clark road show where he hosted a whole pile of R&R stars & groups back in the late 60's. And then there was the Everly Brothers concert out in Canandaigua. Sitting in the audience of those concerts were about as close as I've ever gotten to any kind of celebrities.

I quit on 2/18/08. Of course it took a stroke to finally provide enough motivation. Yup, full recovery on the stroke, but it did scare the hell out of me. But I have to say that there are time even now when I would like to light up. I have heard some other ex-smokers say the same thing.

I've been hiding behind my beard and mustache since the bow season of 1972. I'll probably take it to the grave ..... lol. I suppose if I ever shaved it off, I would have to re-introduce myself to everybody. I don't think I even want to know what's under there. I know there is an extra chin hiding there that wasn't there back in '72.