Doc

Can you imagine an attack by those little packages of energy. I would think they could turn you into little ribbons of meat in nothing flat. I always worry about rabies getting into the coyote population too. Just another thing to let your mind dwell on while you are walking to your bow stand in the pitch dark with nothing but a quiver full of arrows and a bow (which are useless in the dark) ...... lol.

6/25/16 Tomatoes are looking good with some blossoms already Potato plants are up to 20" tall Broccoli plants are just starting to form heads. Peppers are budding up to blossom Spinach is harvested and eaten Squash & cucumber plants are up and looking good. Head lettuce is struggling but alive. Leaf lettuce is about ready to use. Carrots & parsnips are up and looking good Real late on planting peas ... That was an after-thought. Not up yet.

This year is probably one of the best for gardens that we have had in a long time. BUT!.... beware of the stinking drought that is underway. For those of us that do not have water sources near the garden, things may go bad in a hurry. Right now I am carrying water from the little pond behind the barn. But the water level there is going down real fast and it may be dry before too long.

Actually, infra-red studies would make some sense in areas where there are anomalies that need closer study for verification. Also, occasional spot checks via localized aerial surveys could be useful for verification of their regular statistical estimation methods. Nobody could question the application of statistics, if there was periodic spot verification done periodically. It could serve as a guard against statistical creep, or just plain erroneous application of the statistical processes.

You people are being distracted by "old business". The crossbow proponents already have crammed themselves into the bow season ...... They saw a season that was created for bows and wanted to grab a piece of that and did. But what is slipping around the corner without a whole lot of notice is the fact that now the DEC is championing several versions of also cramming firearms into bow seasons. We knew that would happen right? The precedent has been set now and on goes the evolution of bow season into an "any weapon season". Already they are warning us of wanting muzzleloaders shoved into bow season in specific WMUs. Each precedent begets the next. Way back when compounds were shoved into bow seasons, some of the old-timers that warned that the compound was just the beginning, were also shouted down, and over-run. Amazingly, they were exactly right and the compound became the precedent for crossbows. And amazingly every one today tries to convince themselves and others that crossbows for some reason are the end of the evolution of bow season. Well, the DEC is wasting no time capitalizing on this "creeping incrementalism". The opportunities and precedents for firearms encroachments are already being used. But the crossbow enthusiasts are so focused on their part of the evolution that they can't be bothered with the next phases. Ha.... perhaps the crossbow proponents are even heavily in favor of the introduction of firearms. Why wouldn't they?

Ben Franklin had it right, and in these days of terrorist activities and the temptation to scrap the Constitution as we run around in circles, panicked, and desperate for governmental protections, we would do well not to forget his words: "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

I still don't see where you are making the connection between packing for self defense and illegal poaching activity. Why are you trying to do that? Of course you can come on here and malign anyone you want, but when it is done for no reason, I think you can expect a little bit of flack for it.

I take precautions when heading out into tick infested areas to try to avoid encounters with Lyme disease bearing ticks. That's got nothing to do with any kind of "muscles". It just seems to make sense. If people want to use the same notion of preventative defense by being armed against any potential danger, I have no problem with that. And I don't call that kind of thinking "looking for trouble". Why would you assume that?

Well unfortunately, they are not using any financial incentives anywhere in NYS one way or another. I am convinced that if you want people to harvest does, you do not do it by starting to charge them for the opportunity. Even in the areas that are not in the super high deer density WMUs, they are still issuing permits in most areas And I am assuming that the intent is to have hunters use them to help manage the population. The idea even in these less populated areas still is to have tags in hunters pockets allowing doe harvest opportunities rather than sitting in a database as an unissued opportunity.

One thing is for sure. It is far better to carry a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not be carrying. I believe that was the whole point of Eddie's post. It never occurred to me to take it any other way nor is there really any reason to.

I have the perfect setup if I could just find a few minutes to spare. The barn is up on an elevated pad right next to the garden (20 feet away) and is maybe 5' higher that the garden. I need to hook up a rain barrel to the barn gutters and set up a gravity feed system to the garden. Ha-ha.... just another addition to a long, long, long list of "things to do when I get time".

I just checked Stark Brothers Nurseries. They have 4 varieties and they are all out of stock. I've got a spot where they might make a pretty good addition to my fruit trees some day. It's funny you never see them in grocery stores or fruit stands. At least, I haven't.

Is it likely? ....... Probably not. Is it possible? ...... http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/10/29/canada.singer.killed/ By the way, has anyone ever heard of coyotes getting rabies? I haven't, but I wonder when the woods is full of canines, is a rabies outbreak in the coyote population possible? Some of those puppies get pretty big, and are probably something I wouldn't want to have to wrestle with.

Not to get your thread too far off topic, but what exactly is a mulberry. I looked on Google and they showed something that I have never seen before. Do they grow wild in this area or is it something you planted? Are they good to eat? I have an area that I would like to put in some more fruit, and I'm always interested in stuff that's not all that common.

And from what I just saw, it looks like no rain until next Tuesday for western New York. I hope everybody has better watering systems for their gardens than I do. I have to get it from a pond and carry it over to the garden in sprinkling buckets. And also I just put in a section of grass. There is no watering for that. That's at the mercy of the weather.

No, they don't want to, but didn't they back off on the cost of license fees increases just recently? You know, some times you gotta do what you gotta do. Especially if what you did in the past was stupid. It has to be undone. And even the DEC is capable of understanding that ..... sometimes.

Yes, I can see the logic in having some controls on weapons. I don't really want people to have grenade launchers at their disposal. I guess I am against personal suitcase nukes, and bazookas probably would not be a real good thing to have easily obtainable. Fully automatic weapons have been illegal without special permits for decades and probably rightfully so. So yes, the discussion has to take place about where that line needs to be drawn? Is it anything that can take a life that needs to be banned? Do we use criteria that involves perception or appearance as the place to draw the line? Tell me the functional difference between any currently legal semi-auto hunting/target rifle and an AR-15 that does not involve arbitrary perception or visual bias. So are we ready to make all semi auto weapons illegal? How about pump actions next? Lever actions? Where do you draw the line? Because the argument against AR style rifles while ignoring any semi-auto hunting rifle just doesn't make sense or certainly is not consistent. You can call these AR style rifles anything you want .... weapons of war, assault rifles, black rifles, but none of that makes them anymore of a weapon of murder than your dad's old semi-auto hunting rifle. Those are emotional descriptions that reflect how you feel about cosmetic design. Is that where we draw the line on constitutional issues, cosmetics and perceptions? Not in my mind.

I'm still confused as to why they started charging for antlerless permits in the first place. You have a process that needs hunter cooperation as a major, crucial, part of the management process, and you add in a new fee, coincidentally at a time when control of herds is starting to slip out of their hands. Now really, does that sound like a decision made by competent game managers? I don't want a refund in certain WMUs. Get rid of this stupid dis-incentive completely, statewide. It was a dumb counter-productive idea to start with. Undo it!

As I recall, there was a fee back in the olden days for the party permits, and that did get dropped with no particular problem when they went to individual antlerless deer permits. But it sure is ridiculous to add on a fee and then out the other side of their mouths they start whining about not being able to get hunters to take them. As I said, the government has learned that if they want to stop or discourage an activity, just tax it. That's fine but don't turn around and cry about how they can't get hunters to shoot does. By the way, issuing the tags up front (oct 1st) is a good idea as well. See, they really haven't put a whole lot of thought into solutions for what they are calling a problem. Instead, they continue to come up with bogus schemes for cramming firearms into bow seasons. That's their real motive. I am sure that if they wanted to, they could figure out ways to darn-near eliminate almost all the deer if they had to without resorting to goofy doe only harvests in bow season and other hair-brained schemes.

Actually, there is no reason to be charging hunters for something you need them to do. It just doesn't make sense. If you want to discourage a behavior, tax it. That's kind of a time tested government tactic. Why they want to apply that tactic to taking does, is a mystery to me.

Sure, make tags easy to get, as many as you want, and none of this charging for them if they are really serious about having a problem. There is a serious credibility problem when they continue to throw up road blocks to getting permits. The fact is if they have some serious areas that are a real problem, make the permits something you can copy off the internet. That is something that might even get some of the landowners who have their property locked up starting to get with the doe harvesting solution. That would not necessarily be the total solution, but it would be a couple of steps in the right direction. And for cripes sake, make it good for gun season where results can actually be expected. This playing around with bow season only is just a goofy half-hearted lip service (window dressing) to the problem. Is there a problem or not? Are they really looking for a solution or not? If so, act like it. Look, when farmers have a problem with deer numbers, they don't play games with bow season. They accept the problem and they aggressively go at it with firearm nuisance permits. I assume they get results too. They don't say, "This is a problem that only bowhunters must solve." They go after it in a credible way (whether we like it or not) and reduce problem populations as though they really have serious intentions of doing so.

Yup. Comes up fine. One of those pics looks real familiar. The one that has the buck working an overhead limb along-side what looks like an old roadway (date=11/7/14). was that ever posted here before? The only thing is that the picture that I think I have seen here before didn't have the deer there. At least that's how I seem to remember it.

Years ago, I had a bear Whitetail Hunter where the string broke. That's when I realized that the string tension was all that held the limbs in. I still remember that loud whirring sound as the top limb went by my ear.

If there are WMUs that have deer crawling all over each other, just drop the requirement for doe tags. I mean, what's with all these bogus plans and schemes. Just declare open season on does. No bag limit. You'll see the herd reduced in a hurry, and then everybody will be happy.

Has anybody heard how it happened that 7 people went over a falls at the same time? I'm trying to picture how that could happen.