Doc

The last time I saw a crow picking away at a maggot infested purple, runny, oozing, hairless, stinking, deer carcass, I kind of made a promise that that was one critter that I will not be eating.

Pa can do whatever it wants, but paying bounties has been illegal since 1971 in NYS Figure11-0531 of NYS Environmental Conservation Law: Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter or any other law, rule or regulation to the contrary, on and after July 1,1971, it shall be unlawful for any department or division of this state or any political subdivision thereof to pay bounties on the taking of wildlife except when the state Department of Health, or any local health authorities, determine that a type or class of animals constitute a health hazard as carriers or potential carriers of disease. So unless you can prove that coyotes are a health risk, don't be expecting any bounties to be offered by the government simply to help out the deer herd.

There seems to be some misunderstanding that deer numbers are impossible to control. It really doesn't take EAB or any of the fancy abbreviation brain-farts. All it really takes is to convert some portion of regular gun season to doe only, and you can eliminate all the deer you want to. And I am quite sure that the DEC is preparing a plan to justify whatever the financial interests of the state are lobbying for.

Who can blame the landowners for converting their primary assets to cash. In the case of farmers their land is their retirement investment. With so many of the farm kids opting for other more lucrative occupations, when it comes time for the farmers to enjoy their golden years, they have only one fund to tap into and cash out and it's a red-hot one. And the smaller the parcels sold, the higher the price per acre. It certainly is no mystery why they sell. And today with autos being so reliable, and the highway system built for 55+ MPH, commuting from rural areas is no longer any big deal. Also even though land prices keep inching up, they are still far lower than acreage near the cities. So the city folks are still being lured out into the country to create the home of their dreams. I can't see how anyone can place blame, it's just a natural evolution of land use. It's just the reality of excess population and the "American Dream".

I'm ready to be heading toward summer. What a long winter this has been (and it just started). Just the other day, we had a dusting of snow (of all things). And the temperature was below freezing (if you can imagine that). I can't take it anymore I tell ya. I'm scratching and digging for anything that makes me think it will get better.

There was a time when rural people were mostly hard working farmers who's honesty was not to be questioned. Many deals and agreements were established with only a handshake and nobody worried about it because a man's word was his bond. Well times have changed and not necessarily for the better. Many of the rural residents are uprooted city dwellers most of whom moved out to the country for good legitimate reasons. However, along with this migration from the city came some who see the country as refuge from their past, and a new easier place to ply some rather unsavory lifestyles, from crack houses to meth plants to lifestyles of burglary and such. When I was a kid, we didn't even know where the key to the house was. Didn't need it. Today, I feel that every building on the place needs to be kept locked and I even lock the car while it is in our own driveway. A shotgun sits on the wall above the bed, and every lock on the house doors has a deadbolt accompanying it. Yup, times are much different, and neighbors are looked at a bit differently these days and with an eye of distrust and suspicion. And once in a while that distrust and suspicion turns out to be warranted.

Soon we will encounter the day with the least number of daylight hours. Each day will seem longer. Of course they are still 24 hours and not really "longer". It just means that means that the number of hours of daylight will soon be increasing. We're heading for summer .... right? Check it out...... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/12061231/When-is-the-shortest-day-of-the-year-the-winter-solstice-2015.html "The December solstice happens at the same instant for all of us, everywhere on Earth. This year the solstice occurs on Tuesday December 22nd at 04:49 GMT (Universal time) with the sun rising over Stonehenge in Wiltshire at 08:04."

I do believe that not only are we losing elbow room, but wildlife suffers with the crazy way that we are over-running the land with development and over-acquisition per person. Not only are there more of us, but we each have learned to take up a bigger footprint on the land. I watch the woods stripped with lawn, macadam and concrete taking its place, and I have to wonder where all the critters will go that used to live there. Well, some will modify their behaviors to live among us, and there will be conflicts that will fall on the DEC to combat. I do think the DEC may be looking down the road and are seeing diminishing hunter numbers and participation, along with increasing deer/human conflicts due to human expansion into natures animal habitat, and with financial interest getting ever more noisy and influential. Perhaps all that accounts for some of the recent panicky acts that look like clumsy attempts at eradication. They are trying to figure out how to control growing herds with shrinking habitat and fewer, and less motivated hunters and how to placate the political forces of the financial interests impacted by deer. I believe that is why they look at bow seasons as wasted harvesting time that has to be severely modified to use more efficient weapons and more drastic harvesting mentalities and methods. I think they are not interested in granting hunters the luxury of challenge anymore. They want that time slot filled with activities aimed at more efficient ways of eliminating the vermin (deer).

Yeah, telling the story of that hunt probably wouldn't really impress anyone ..... lol.

The problem is that the deer might be found by another hunter and he may tag it resulting in a harvested deer gets counted twice.

I have been discussing hunting in Germany with my Brother-in-law from Canada who visited Germany a while back, and it piqued my interest as to how other countries handle some of the problems that we face in hunting and game management. Doing a bit of internet research, I came across an article that lays out a strange system that is way different from anything that I could even imagine. Yes it's a rather lengthy article, but amazing in the description of a system of hunting in Bavaria where hunters do the game management and actually have some pretty heavy legal responsibilities in doing so. You all might want to have a peek at it. Who knows, it may be something that we will see here someday. http://fwp.mt.gov/mtoutdoors/HTML/articles/2003/HuntingGermany.htm

Generally speaking, almost all broadheads will do what they are supposed to do as long as you have your bow tuned for them, and they are consistently going where you intend them to go, and you have your form properly developed and under control, and you take only high percentage shots. So really it is more about the shooter than the broadhead.

If you put a bullet through one of those collars, are you financially responsible for the damage?

The NYS business interests regarding deer management have taken precedence over all aspects of deer management. Oh yes they have thrown in some random words about forest regeneration and habitat, but this document as far as I have been able to determine is really all about satisfying the squeakiest wheels who claim wildlife management must now be conducted with their interests in the forefront. Business now is the primary influence in establishing deer densities. They started it all with the implementation of Citizen Task Forces in the 90s to establish allowable deer densities according to business needs and wants. And now they are expanding that principle with USDA and Federal fish and game intervention and institutionalizing it all within the DEC.

Sure he wants the antlers, but he didn't seal the deal did he? He came up way short and didn't really earn them. The guy who found them wants the antlers too, and has more right to them as far as I am concerned. The first guy lost his claim when he turned around and went home. After that, the whole carcass, antlers and all, became just another remnant laying in the woods rotting, to be found and claimed by whoever comes along.

Our numbers have been real low in recent years. I would really feel bad if I was to kill one.

Would that be Canadice?

BUT ........ All that may be true for appliances and such, but I have not forgotten back when it was rare to see a car that had 100,000 miles on it. I remember when the guy at Grossmans put that pallet of shingles down through the bed of my Ford pick-up because all that was left there was the paint. I remember when almost every vehicle on the road had those rusty lace rocker-panels. Remember the cars of the 70's. I used to see a lot of duct tape and baling wire. Yeah, the quality is pretty darn good on some things. It seems like quality can be a just a marketing buzzword depending on what part of the cycle you happen to be living in. Look at all those Ford 8Ns that still are in use today. Those people understood quality back then. And then they figured out how to cheapen things up. Remember how Japanese products were synonymous with crap? And then it was the Japanese who kicked our butt with their emphasis on quality and eventually were teaching the concept back to us. Emphasis on quality is an ever-changing mindset. And unfortunately household appliances seem to be on the downside of quality today.

Is there really anything more exciting than standing on the ground, eyeball to eyeball with a deer (any deer), knowing that the slightest screw-up will lose the opportunity for you? I have had deer so close on the ground that I could have reached out and touch them. Now that is some exciting stuff that will get that old heart racing ..... lol. And then there is the fact that you have to get the bow up, drawn and sighted all of this without him seeing you or any o that movement .... right there on his level. Man it doesn't get much more intense than that. And that all sums up the very reason I am out there with the stupid bow. There are no guarantees right up to the point where you roll him over to star the gutting. "Intense" .... Yeah, that's the right word.

Ok, I cannot comment on all of this until all 157 pages are read. I'll be back. Scanning the material, it looks like an all-out war on deer is being launched in NYS. The effort to eliminate deer in NYS is now not only the agenda of the DEC, but also the USDA and the Department of fish and wildlife along with all of the interests of the Citizen Task Forces. This ain't a good time to be a whitetail .... lol.

They have a small book of excuses that they keep for years when the harvest is down. They will just fish around in there and find one that they believe everyone will swallow .... lol. Sorry, I guess I'm just getting old and cynical, but I have seen a lot of these "stories".

They are trying their hardest to change that little feature of bowhunting as much as possible .... lol.

Not to mention that the critters would have had their way with the carcass (including the cape).

Well, the dispute is not over the cape. It is the antlers that the hunter #2 took home. If the original hunter wants the cape, it is probably still there rotting away.....lol. But of course, even that would not be available if it were not for the fact that hunter #2 actually found it. The thing for hunter #1 to do is to be satisfied that he even found out the fate of the deer that he shot and lost and let the antler collector add his find to his collection without harassment.

The grass does always seem greener on the other side of the fence doesn't it? .... lol. Yes, I can jump in my car and drive all over the nation or maybe even Canada to find a few extra inches of bone, or I can step out my back door and climb the hill and try to take the best animal available right there. Heck, if all I am interested in is something to hang on the wall, I can pony up the bucks to head for one of these guaranteed canned hunt kind of places where they provide genetically constructed build-a-buck trophies, and put all those Ohio or whatever bucks to shame. Is the easiest hunt the best for everyone? Apparently to the author of this article it is. Sorry, but I think I am intelligent to figure out the hunting area that best suits all of my needs and wants. I don't need someone else to figure out what kind of hunt that I need and what I am supposed to be setting as goals and measures of success.