Doc

But we still have to try. I can't in all good conscience whine about issues here on a forum and then not even participate in the when asked to offer up a simple opinion when they have solicited it. Somehow that doesn't sit too well with me. I can't really make a judgment on whether any of it will be paid attention to or not. But I sure do know that my opinion will definitely be disregarded if I don't offer it.

When I was a kid, we used to have family get-togethers very frequently through the summer. And I am not talking about just the immediate family. The yard was filled with cars and the house (a rather large farmhouse) was filled with people. Kids running everywhere. All these conversations and laughter filling every room. Then as years passed, these gatherings occurred only at major holidays. And today, my wife and I are lucky if we can corral our own kids and their families for major holiday dinners. It seems to be just a sign of the times. Families are scattered all over the globe, and many people have retreated into their own lives with only electronic implements to interface with others. Yes like the Sunday dinners after church, a lot has been lost as everyone goes deeper into their own individual worlds. Just another set of lifestyles, attitudes, and circumstances of the ever-evolving world.

Mine went out this morning.

Words to live by: "If it tastes good, spit it out."

I have a Primos trigger stick that I rigged up with a sling for carrying. It keeps the weight off the gun, and is great for still hunting. Yes, it does take time to unsling, set-up and use, but I try to avoid any hurried shots anyway. And of course, if you are hunting primarily from natural ground blinds you can leave it set up while you are on watch. Most of my ground blinds have gun rests built into whatever cover Material that the blind is made of. See below:

It can be a real cardiac test.

That is what makes it necessary that the opposition to phase three be included in the comments sent to the DEC. It may or may not do any good, but if you are opposed to any type of firearm being added into the bow season, here is another bite at the apple, and another chance to go on record as being against that growing mentality in the DEC ranks. Chances are pretty good that bowhunters did not do a very good job at registering their opposition to this phase of the deer management plan when that comment period was open before. Let's not make that same mistake again.

Was that the county of Ontario, the Township of Ontario, or the Province of Ontario? ...... lol. In the Province of Ontario, snares may be legal for rabbits when in season.

I have some personal preferences in the one knife that I carry. I don't want anything that cannot tolerate a lot of abuse. I don't want one that folds. And I don't want one that is light. If I want to cut a 1-1/2 inch sapling for a walking stick, I don't want to be limited by the size of my knife. If I want to remove a husky limb that is in my shooting lane, I don't want to be under-knifed. If I ever have to use it in a survival or defensive mode, I want it to be robust enough to handle those tasks. Yeah, I have a small jack-knife that is always in my pocket right along with the nail-clippers and coins. But that is not a "hunting knife".

I am convinced that they write laws without ever researching similar laws. Two similar laws written at different times by different people and perhaps even by different legislatures. One hand never knows what the other is doing.

Amazing talent you have there. Seems to me that you could make quite a few dollar with that as a sideline. You could pretty-much ask whatever you wanted for work of that quality.

It would be interesting if Bubba could dip into his Justice of the Peace experience and shed some light on how fines are arrived at. I have no idea, but it may even be completely arbitrary and maybe even without any guidelines. How about it Bubba? Anything to offer on what criteria sets the fine levels and why there would be such humongous disparity from one violator to the next or one township to another?

I know we are all looking for some logical reason for the low take and low sightings this year. I also know that temperature sounds like a reasonable reason. And in some cases where the temp spikes way up ( 80's, 90's), there may be reason to expect the deer to delay their movements until after dark (although I have seen plenty of exceptions to that too). But, when you actually look at the number of degrees that temps were above normal, it really is difficult to believe that a couple of degrees would make all the difference that people are hoping to be able to blame their lack of success on. And for most of the days, that's all it really was ..... a couple of degrees. There are so many different reasons for deer patterns to shift or change that insignificant slight elevations in temperature would not be the one I would blame it on. The one significant factor that I would suspect is kind of related to temperature in a way. That one is the lack of snow. It is so easy to walk right on by a bedded deer when they are not highlighted with that white background. And I know that after the first shots of the gun season, sitting tight in heavy cover is a favorite ploy of these critters .....and it works too as long as they are not silhouetted by the contrast of snow.

Aha.... that makes sense.

Bucks of that caliber are basically wimps and don't like to wander around in the daylight. So the only hope is that he has a little mental lapse during rut and makes a mistake. It does happen. Maybe that big guy will get old and senile and stumble out in front of you ..... lol. Like they say on the NYS lottery commercial, "Hey, you never know". Anyway, next year is a different season with different weather and different pressures on patterns. Maybe next year is the big year to take the big deer. Ha-ha-ha.....Isn't that something. The deer that we prize the most is a wimpy, chicken-hearted, Lilly-livered, coward, cringing and cowering in the weeds until it is dark out....lol.

I look at charging anything for doe permit applications in a different way. I don't really care whether it is an easy expenditure for me? That really isn't even an relevant issue. The fact is that the government has proven over and over that the way to modify individual behavior is to tax it. It really doesn't matter how much. Just the fact that they have in fact taxed doe hunting in any amount will have the effect of diminishing the activity. It is an example of the DEC talking out of both sides of their mouths by trying to convince us that not enough does are being taken while taxing the activity at the same time.

What the hell is that monster in the background in pictures 2 and 3? It looks like he has a Christmas tree on his head. Maybe you had better start planning on that critter for next year. Maybe get some stand locations picked out. That deer should not go ignored.

Oh man! I really don't like that deer's reaction to the camera. But it doesn't look like he is reacting to the camera going off. It has already turned and is taking off before the camera actually went off. What do you think? ..... scent spooked it or what?

Ha-ha ..... leave it to me to step in and break up this love-fest. I do have objections that go beyond the mere standard of legality. When the DEC steps in and lays muzzleloaders all over the bow season, I will be the one that everyone calls "selfish" or "elitist" or all the other favorite emotionally-charged buzzwords that are so popular for those that choose to stick up for the preservation of bow season. Yes, shortly we may very well find that firearms have been legalized for bow season, it already has been done in the Northern Zone. Shame on me, but I will not speak well of that perfectly legal DEC maneuver and I will not be a supporter.

I believe the average is somewhere around $25 for local coyotes. And according to the article, the DNR is looking at $25 for the bounty, which then makes you wonder how if they are getting that same amount for coyotes through fur prices, how is this equal bounty an incentive to hunt coyotes. The only answer is if they can come up with a process that marks the pelt and then it is handed back to the hunter for fur sales. Then the hunter/trapper gets double the money or $50 ..... $25 (avg) for the sale of the pelt and $25 for the bounty. Perhaps that would provide an incentive for people to get out there and try to harvest some coyotes. This is an aspect of the bounty law that may not be public yet and perhaps not even thought of yet, but could be the determining actor as to whether it would work or not.

I carry a military Kabar style knife whenever I head up into the woods. It does a good job of gutting deer (even splitting pelvic bones if wanted), to even skinning squirrels. It is virtually unbreakable. It can almost double as a machete for hacking limbs. It is probably the most perfect knife steel I have ever found that can easily be sharpened but yet holds an edge even through abuse and misuse. The only modification was made for safety after cutting a finger, was to grind off the sharp edge that they put on the top of the blade. Working elbow deep in the body cavity of deer, it is not nice to have that extra, unnecessary cutting edge in there.

I wish I could dispute any of that with any kind of conviction, but it is true that our individual vote is so diluted, that it is almost meaningless. And if you want an exercise in futility, try being a Conservative in NYS. Your vote pretty much has been relegated to a very quiet protest. On the other hand, if you don't participate in the system, I would have to say that you really have no business offering up any political opinions. It would seem that by opting out of the system of voting that we have, you are pretty much forfeiting whatever credibility that your opinion might have ever had. I have no answers, but I will say that occasionally I do see some surprising changes and political results that just simply were not supposed to have happened. Those are the little victories that tell me not to give up yet, and to keep on trying to use the system. The alternatives to that are too terrible to even contemplate.

BSH- That may be a spot (or somewhere nearby) to check out for sheds. All that pushing and shoving might just loosen up some antlers, or knock them off right there. Wouldn't it be great if you got a picture showing one of the antlers flying off ....Lol. One in a million odds, but it sure would be a great picture.

Let's not assume that the warm weather was the reason that harvests were down. It may or may not be the case, but I have not seen any credible proof that deer react any differently in weather that is 3 or 4 degrees warmer than normal. Lets face whatever temperature records that have been broken were only broken by a couple of degrees, and on only a few days, so lets keep all this stuff in relative perspective. Were those couple of degrees enough to drive the feeding and the rut and daytime movements into a nocturnal state like we have never seen before? Maybe, but I doubt it. I have done plenty of bowhunting in my short sleeved shirts many years. Also, I am reminded of all the states that are south of us with a whole lot warmer temperatures than we have ever seen here. Do they have to hunt only at night because all the deer are waiting until then to move about?.....No.

That is a question that I have been wondering about. The answer will come from the details of the proposal in terms of what the taker is allowed to do with the hide after collection of the bounty. If they are able to claim the bounty and also sell the hide then in affect they will receive $50 for each coyote, which would double the incentive. If the state takes possession of the hide, then they better tack on something more than initially proposed if they want to motivate any new hunters. But again, it all depends on the details, which may put me into the "Not in favor" column. It has to incent hunters to get out there or save your money, PA.