Doc

Ok, it passed the sniff-test, it passed the taste test, and the only thing wrong is the camera's interpretation of color, given that the lighting may not have been the best in the world. Enjoy your venison. The only thing that I don't trust is the color interpretation of your camera.

That is true his opinion would have been much brighter, but then it would still be only his opinion (one data point) Instead it sounds like he spent his day canvassing the area and getting many combined opinions and many observations in more than one location. That is the problem, we each judge the day only based on what we individually observe in our hunting spot and then imagine that that is representative of a much larger area. This guy at least got away from his stand and tried to look area wide at what he and many others were seeing. I guess as outdoor editor, that is probably part of his job. I know that you will find individual differences in opinions, but this is the only attempt that I am aware of where someone actually tried to go out and gather observations from many parts of 8N and compile an area-wide report. I'll be honest, I have no idea whether this guy's observations, contacts, and conclusions are correct, but I will say that his article has a lot better chance of having it right than your opinion or mine. I did not spend the day traveling miles and interviewing many hunters throughout the WMU as he apparently did. Probably none of us did either. For what it's worth, my wife's report of the near empty state parking lots on her way to town does tend to agree with what he was saying.

I held a position in our town government public communications for quite a few years. I spent a lot of time working hand in glove with all of the town officials, and I know that they treat every public contact as a potential vote and are more than willing to look into questions from constituents if those constituents at least make the effort to question them. Those that start off their search for information by asking some hunting forum members about an unidentified specific parcel of land owned by an unidentified town is indeed funny. Maybe more funny-peculiar than funny-ha,ha. But at any rate, I told you where the answer resides, you have the option of following up on the advice or not. If you have a bunch of yo-yos running your town, that is a problem you probably should address at the next election. But since they are the keepers of town business, it seems pretty obvious that that is the very first place where you should be looking for the answer instead of fishing for advice as to why you should not be contacting them.

Regarding whether Lisenbee was out hunting or not, I started wondering where he would have gotten a wider and more accurate opinion of how things really went on that opening day. Would he have had a more credible opinion if he had spent the day sitting at the base of a tree, or by driving around the area talking to different hunters in different locations. I suspect there is a lot that can be learned strictly from looking at state land parking lots, and the usual places where hunters park along roadsides. Perhaps spending time on the phone talking to those who had been out hunting is more valuable than just sitting in the middle of the woods somewhere imagining what is going on. I have no idea how credible his observations are. I only know that his procedure for gathering info is a whole lot more likely to be closer to the truth than mine would be from a rather isolated spot in the middle of the hill. Of course the real poll or survey will be accumulated in Albany when they massage the harvest numbers, but I have a feeling that what he indicated in this article will likely be supported by the harvest numbers. Certainly there will be pockets where various factors will show completely different results, but I have a feeling that his area-wide survey is telling a pretty accurate story of what is happening to hunting.

Well here's what the Canandaigua Messenger's outdoor editor's opinion of the opener in an area centering on WMU 8N. He did a much more thorough job of gathering info and opinions than I have, but for what it is worth, I have to say that in my little area of 8N, I have to agree with what he found. http://www.callingducks.com/newsfeed_item.aspx?ID=92531 It is interesting that 8N is one of the primary WMUs that the DEC has claimed is over-run with deer.

Ha-ha-ha ..... It sounds like you are asking us to give you permission to hunt there. Sorry .... the only place you can get permission is from officials of the town. If you are concerned about their word being any good, ask for written permission. At least you will have evidence of attempting to do the right thing. Town governments have legal representation that they may call on if the question of legality is a tough one. However, you cannot just out of hand assume you are going to get a bogus answer. Of course don't be asking the cleaning lady or the town historian....lol.

My guess is that just like any town possessions, permission has to be obtained before use. I would inquire at the Town Hall, asking the town supervisor or the Town Clerk or some other appropriate individual and try to get written permission. If you don't, sure as hell some animal rights wacko resident will be more than happy to make an issue of your hunting there and you could get dragged into an ugly public controversy. Another way to look at it is to consider it to be like any land that is not posted. It is still considered land that is not to be trespassed on without some authorization ........ posted or not.

One thing that I can't recall ever doing was going out for an afternoon target session with slugs using any of my shotguns (all 12 ga.). It just isn't fun pounding my shoulder to pieces. So I have had my .270 for only two years, and have already put way more rounds through that than I have my old 12 ga. Deerslayer that I bought in 1969 (owned 46 years). Which means that I am already much more familiar with the .270 performance. I shoot that just for fun. Also, I am guessing that it is a lot cheaper to shoot .270, since I can reload the rifle bullets but not the slugs. So all of this stuff translates to better accuracy and ease of shooting and actually turning the shooting of the .270 into a recreational activity. I hate to say it but likely the Ithaca Deerslayer will become a loaner gun or simply a decoration in the gun cabinet. The other shotguns are already relegated to small game.

Thanks for the tip. I didn't know that. I see Sta-bil does make an ethanol treatment product, but the regular Sta-bil makes no claims about doing anything for ethanol effects. I need to do something about that.

I guess I am not keeping up with the latest deer hunting methods, but this is one that I have never heard of before. And actually, I suspect that when using this method it probably is not really all that bad when you don't find any blood.

State land hunting has become the victim of rumors, old wives tales, and just plain BS in general regarding safety. The word is that state land is all shot out and that all the crazies hunt there (as if privately owned land automatically makes all the hunters there any more safety conscious). It is also assumed that all state land is more over-run by hunters than private land and a decent buck cannot be found there. That story has been sold completely, and people totally have swallowed it. Well all that may be true in some public hunting lands, but where I hunt (8N), I am over on state land being bored to death, feeling kind of lonely listening to some crazy shooting across the road on private land where guys are filling the air with lead. It sounds like they are all clustered around one ravine shooting at each other, and even though it is some of this mystical "private land", you couldn't pay me to walk over there and hunt. Yes, I do remember when it seemed like there was a guy behind every tree over on the state land. And maybe that did pose some kind of potential risk although in all the decades that I have been hunting there, there has never been a single shooting incident. But anyways, we could use a bit more pressure to keep the deer on their feet. But it seems that everyone is absolutely convinced that all state land is a "no-man's land" and those that step foot on it will likely be killed before they get out of the parking lot. Ignorance rules!

I'll be honest, I did a lot of butchering over the years, and frankly, I am just tired of it. I don't see it as a fun project, in fact it really is a pain. So, I am not so poor that I can't pay a little bit to let someone else do it for me. I got a good processor, and have had no complaints in the few years that I have been using him.

There is something about being able to pick the particular hair on the deer that I intend to hit that adds an element of confidence. Well that's a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the idea. I just like the precision. However, I can understand that there are probably a lot of guys who have a lot of experience and confidence in their shotguns. Also, in our case the rifle law is relatively new. It is very possible that a lot of people may have just invested a pile of money in a new shotgun, and they are not willing to turn around and buy some new rifle now as well. My big thing is that I got tired of turning my shoulder into hamburger every time I wanted to do some shooting with my deer gun. I don't like that and now I don't have to put up with it anymore.

Quote: "I have been seeing loads of deer in the field just before dark driving by." So, when these deer went driving by just before dark, what exactly were they driving?

If a deer shows up and I have a tag for it, I take it. I have been burned thinking I can always get a doe whenever I want. Most of the time it turns out that after opening day, all the deer go into some unknown underground cavern never to be seen again until after the season is long over.

I've lost my "sneak"! I just spent over 3 hours going through the best hidey-hole that we've got. It was one of the few times that I have had a sustained perfect in-my-face wind direction. Managed to miss all the twigs with my clumsy feet, and still at the far end, I got picked off by a couple of huge deer. Maybe I just can't see anymore .... ha-ha-ha. I'm staying out of there until we get some snow so the critters stick out better. Actually, there was a bit more shooting than I have heard on recent Thanksgiving Days. Must have been the nice weather.

Quote: "How do you walk?" Generally I move from one loudly snapped twig to the next.

I'm sitting here listening to the wind howling out there (what a surprise that is .... lol). Sounds like great day to still-hunt. Got a steady south wind, and I have a few good ways to work with that.

I knew it was going to be another quit day when I only heard 3 illegal shots before sunrise. There was another thing that I paid particular attention to. Since the law was changed allowing rifles, I have not heard one of those rapid-fire, 5-shot, volleys. Something about the switch-over to rifles has eliminated that nonsense here. I'm guessing it is the higher powered scopes that people usually put on their deer rifles these days. They make it hard to re-acquire the target or even think you are re-acquiring the target.

It is kind of scary that so many people are running around out there dressed in camo during gun season. I have heard all kinds of attempts at justifying such nonsense, but have yet to see one that justified risking life and limb over a deer. Also, unless you are in dead flat country, being 20' in the air in a tree stand is no protection either. Aside from the obvious benefits to your health and welfare, I find it useful to be seen, to keep people from accidently setting up too close for safety, or in ways that cut deer off from approaching my stand. How important is that deer anyway. Is it worth having an arm or leg blown into a shattered mess of clots and bone fragments, or worse? Are you really that desperate to get a deer. Not trying to be a jerk or anything, but I have to say, that's not dedication to the hunt, it's basic stupidity when you consider what's at stake.

Drives: very effective hunting method that can be fun. I participated in a lot of drives in my early years, and then I decided that my hunting was not going to be a "team activity". I have changed in recent years to consider my deer hunting to be an individual activity that measures only my individual abilities as a hunter. That is just a personal approach to my hunting, and not an indictment of those that participate in organized drives. I will say that our drives used to be a lot of fun, and we took a whole lot of deer, and we definitely moved a lot of deer that would have stayed bedded in the thick stuff for the whole day. So even those people quietly sitting in the woods got their portions of the deer that otherwise would not have even been seen.

We all have our ideas of what should go into what season. Unfortunately while a lot of these opinions may make perfect sense, it must be remembered that very few NYS legal decisions are based on any kind of sense and reasoning. The fact is that those that make the most noise get things the way they want them. And those that want to invade bowseason with all kinds of weapons are the ones making the noise now. So when it is said that muzzleloaders will eventually be included in bow season, you can pretty much take that to the bank. The DEC is pushing it and so, it will happen eventually, whether it goes bang or not or whether it makes sense or not, or whether it is "clear and simple" or not, is irrelevant...... lol. And over the long haul, I do not expect it to end with muzzleloaders.

Yet another good reason for posted signs. They are boundary markers that can avoid these kinds of disputes.

Each weapon has it's time. Now it is time for you to exact your revenge on all those deer that were just out of bow-range .... Ha-ha-ha. Enjoy whatever season that is put in front of you. My nice new rifle also has its fun aspects. I enjoy it all. As Fred Bear used to say, "Be a two-season hunter". The old guy had it right.

Work???? ..... Work????? ....... Oh yes, I remember that now. I used to do that every day for all those decades. Ah, but life is good now .... Ha-ha-ha.