Doc

Actually, these shows have become non-stop infomercials as the peddle one product after another. Even the hunting parts of the program are being blended with close-ups of various logos, and special attention to listing and labeling each miniscule item and gadget used during the hunt. Its never anything instructive or anything that adds to the story being portrayed on the show ...... just blatant, unabashed advertising. I can't even say that they are even clever about it anymore as the hawk their wares. But then that's where the money and desperation come from that drive these illegalities that are becoming common-place in the headlines, and making hunters in general look like unprincipled outlaws killing animals at any cost and without restraint. It's not the sort of thing that will strengthen hunting as more and more hunters drop out in disgust.

Every year it gets harder and harder to shop for me ..... so says wifey. And she is right. when I want something I just go out and get it. And now I have reached the point where I have everything that I want or need. I think the only answer is gift cards.

Gee, there ought to be a law. What's that you say? Such action already has layers and layers of laws to cover those sorts of reckless acts involving firearms. But that doesn't matter. Following the logic of anti-gun fanatics the only solution is to keep passing variations of the same laws until magically it all stops.

I love that last sentence. That puts it all in real perspective.

One big difference between the ostrich/emu/llama farms and the deer farms is that in one case it is legitimate market forces that might cause their demise and in this case it is the government putting them out of business based on some rather questionable science (more like a hunch)...... Unless there is some major break-thru in the research on CWD that I am not aware of.

Oh, there's no question about it. Someone has leaked a copy of the syllabus out to the deer population, and has supplied them with calendars and wristwatches. Anyone who doubts that, just check my front lawn on the day following the close of the season. If there are deer grazing there, it will not be the first time that has happened. That doesn't bother me so much as the thumbing of the noses and the raspberries. Last year one of them gave me the hoof. That was uncalled for.

Yeah, Sunday ends it for me. Anything that has made it through the major part of the gauntlet so far deserves to make it the rest of the way. Have at it guys, but leave some seed for next year....lol.

Apparently the DEC is convinced that bowhunters are reacting to a perceived deer shortage, as they believe that bowhunters are fighting this problem by shooting bucks only, and are not doing their part at wiping out the deer herd through doe harvests. Hence the punitive measures taken by the DEC this year on bowhunters. So apparently the DEC feels that there is a protective reaction going on among the ranks of bowhunters. That is why bowhunters were punished this year with an antlerless only chunk of the bowseason.

And on and on it goes as one celebrity after another gets arrested for game violations. Imagine the pressure-cooker stress of having to produce a successful show every week. It provides a pretty urgent motive for stretching, bending and breaking game laws, doesn't it? We all know that hunting is seldom that easy week after week don't we. It is obvious that something has to give somewhere.

So, is the new DEC ruling against using hunters to control feral hog populations working? Has the fact that hunters have been banned from dispersing hogs so that the DEC can successfully hunt or trap them been working? How many hogs has the DEC removed from the landscape. Where are the numbers? How many man-hours has the DEC devoted to the control of this invasive species? ....... Any??? Is the plan for eradication really working? Where's the story? How about it NYON, any plans for an investigative report to follow up on this story? Just wondering.

Actually, the overwhelming preponderance of responses on this site says that members are not seeing anywhere near as many deer as in the past. And then there are a handful of people (damn few) that for whatever reason seem to have fallen into pockets of decent population. Now that is not a very scientific survey by any stretch of the imagination, but it does seem to be saying something contrary to what the DEC is trying to sell. I will say that the membership of this site probably represent some of the more serious and dedicated hunters, and it seems inconceivable to me that they all of sudden got stupid and are unable to interpret what they are seeing and hearing. I do see the DEC as having a motive for making their management practices look successful. I do not see much of a motive for hunters to band together to paint a bogus picture of the reduced herds in their areas. It seems a bit arrogant to try to impugn the abilities of so many hunters to understand what they are actually witnessing in their hunting areas. I know it makes all feel all warm and fuzzy and completely full of ourselves to imply that if you don't hunt in the center of over-populated areas, there just has to be something lacking in your hunting abilities. That warm and fuzzy feeling is usually very short lived.....lol.

It would be interesting to see how all that money is apportioned across the wide responsibilities of the DEC. I know when we think of the DEC, we picture all kinds of fish and wildlife management. However, monitoring pollution and all the other environmental policing, investigations and records keeping are likely no small percentage of all that income.

Well, it's official. The DEC and certain deer processors are telling us that all this "bad season" talk is ridiculous. The deer take is down only slightly as was predicted by the "wonder-stats" of the DEC. If we think we heard fewer shots, it is obviously a product of aging and worn-out ear-drums. If we thought we saw fewer deer, it is simply because of the failing eyesight of the aging hunter population. Even though we are all getting more experienced each year and using superior equipment every year, somehow our hunter prowess is deteriorating ..... apparently. Perhaps the processors that are claiming this to be an average to better year for them, may be some creative cherry-picking, I don't know. But according to the article in the NY Outdoor News, we don't have to worry about the reasons for fewer deer because there is no such shortage. Need further proof? Well consider that bowhunters and muzzleloaders were punished this year in some key areas for passing on does and only harvesting bucks. Obviously the DEC wouldn't do that if it wasn't true ..... right?

Yup! You would think!

Quite an interesting thread. Basically, it all says what I often have thought. Don't be picking out a spot on the wall when your trail-cam snaps pictures of monster deer. It sounds to me that whenever a deer feels like taking a hike (especially during rut) even if you've raised an award winning food plot, he's history. You need to be hoping for some other random traveling buck from somewhere else to happen to accidently stumble along in front of your bow or rifle on one of his random hikes. Once again hunting seems to be simply an accidental condition of luck to a large extent.... right?

I wonder .... Does that work on squirrels too?

Nobody ever said that those who break laws are brilliant people.

The rifle law has been in effect for three years now in our county. I was noticing that so far this year I have not heard even one of those rapid-fire 5-shot rapid fire strings of shots, that was always heard before. I think all these new deer rifles are being topped with scopes with a lot of carefully executed first shots being used. When people were saying that rifles would improve safety, I was very skeptical. But I am starting to become a believer.

Yeah, pretty soon I will be heading down to the basement and pulling a sheet off our decorated 4' artificial and carrying it upstairs to set it up on a card table and plug it in. That's all there is to it. It has been the same tradition for about a decade. I have tried a few different ways to wrestle with the Christmas tree fiasco. First we ran around the hill getting something that didn't look too scrubby. Then eventually we bought one of those chopped trees that start showing up some time in October or November (No telling exactly when it was actually cut.) Yeah the attempt to police up all the needles got old pretty quick. Ever notice how those little suckers get knitted into some kinds of carpets? And then I saw some of the artificials that you have to stare at up close for a while to tell that they are not real. That did it. I bought one that I can hold in one hand and that was it. Yeah, it is starting to look a bit beat up now, and should be replaced soon.

We have seen amazing improvements in hunting accident rates in recent years. We have credited the hunter safety programs finally kicking in, but I am really wondering if perhaps there just aren't as many hunters, and the actual discharges of weapons has significantly reduced all the crazy accident rates of the past.

I have a small first-aid kit that goes into my pack. A cigarette lighter is always in my front pocket even though I haven't smoked for years. My cell phone is also a permanent part of me. It is never turned on but is always there for emergency use (wife insists on that).

Unfortunately, I am a ground-stander (its a heights thing) hiding behind a stand, tree, blowdown, or whatever. And while I am completely hidden, that big white plume of breath comes out from behind whatever screen I have like someone waving a big white flag. That's a pretty good analogy .... lol. On those rare frosty mornings when that sort of thing is going on, I guess I might as well be waving a big white flag of surrender. Even being completely screened I have been picked off because of this. However, I will say that it is an extremely rare event, and maybe can simply be called just one of those unavoidable circumstances that make hunting ... hunting. It's just tat the original question did catch my attention because I have experienced that same thing as the OP.

I remember one season when exactly one day after the close of the gun season, 5 deer stepped out on my front lawn and began feeding in mid afternoon. I'll let you all in on a little known secret. There have been secret copies of the game syllabus and a calendar that have been stolen and distributed throughout the deer population.

I was curious to know if anyone has figured out a way to disperse it enough so it wouldn't be quite so dense and noticeable. For example, pulling the collar of your jacket up high enough so you are breathing inside of your coat. I'm not sure how practical that is or if it would even work, but maybe some tactic like that to dissipate that huge dense moving cloud of bright white when a deer is standing just a few yards away.

Well to be honest, my switchover to country was so abrupt and complete that there is a lot of that stuff that I have never heard. That whole era was also the beginning of Country Rock, and that stuff sounded a whole lot like the original rock and roll that I grew up with. And so the screechy guitars of rock and roll went off my radio, and the country rock was all I was listening to for a few decades. I'm slowly getting back into some of the more mainstream rock just now.