Doc

My exact set-up........ a real tack-driver!

My comment was not meant to indicate a rightness or wrongness to "locking up land". It is just an observation that I and apparently many others attribute to the steady decline of hunting. And I am saying that QDM may play some additional part in that limiting of access. I personally believe in the sanctity of landowner's rights, but I do remember a time when deer hunting was not driving the posting and in fact posted signs were a bit of an oddity. At that same time, hunting as an activity was on a growth curve. It has nothing to do with politics or liberals or conservatives ..... lol. It simply is an observation. Make of that what you want, but I think some of that may have had a part in the O.P. creating this thread.

Yeah, I used to watch a show on TV called "Chasing tail" or some stupid name like that. It was about urban hunters. They had pretty good hunting there too.....lol. But I have to say that even if there was a guaranteed book-buck in it for me, I would never be found hunting in that kind of situation. It simply has to do with my own personal requirements for the hunting experience, the sights and sounds and the escape from all of the crap of civilization. Lol.... If I wanted to, I could sit in my livingroom and shoot deer in my front yard out the window if I only wanted a deer to shoot. But for me, there are some places that simply do not offer an adequate hunting experience, and I don't hunt those places. But, that's just me. I guess its a subjective thing that is simply a measure of what hunting needs to be for each individual.

Why do you assume the police cannot do any good? You would be surprised what simple interviews of neighbors can turn up. Also, your report may be another clue to a pattern that they may need to find these creeps. One of the best protections of crooks is the unwillingness of victims to report crimes. Also, as has been said earlier on this thread, a report is necessary for any stolen items that get found later on to be returned to you. If the cops get these guys, how the hell are they supposed to know that some of the stolen items are yours if you haven't turned in a report? Another tip .... If you are going to resort to cameras, make sure they are well concealed, or you will just be contributing yet another item for them to steal.

My neighbor called yesterday and said that he had three 6-point bucks in full-on battle in his front yard. So apparently there is some natural rattling going on out there right now.

Well first of all I am thankful that I have never come across a bowhunter that was wearing "just nothing at all except a hat" ..... lol. Serious answer to your question ....... Whiskers. I have had a beard and a moustache since 1972 that always did a good job of covering my face. Only one problem with that ..... as the years have gone on, it has turned pretty darn white. As far as I can tell, it doesn't seem to be a problem though. I think it may not be as important as it is made out to be unless you are wobbling your head around constantly. Movement is what catches their eye, and I keep everything nice and slow while on stand. Likely, they will catch the motion of my drawing arm long before they see anything stationary on my face. It may be that camouflage is highly over-rated. From what I've seen during gun season, wearing solid flashy blaze orange, I have gotten away with all kinds of things without being picked off .... that is, until I make some fast movement. And it is the fast movement that has burned me even when I am wearing camo.

So, how are you going to handle it yourself without winding up in the slammer yourself?

Well, I hope no one is shocked to find out that our laws have become so complex that we all likely break several everyday without even realizing it. That is one of the reasons for my opposition to a lot of this constant nonsense about filling the law books even further every time somebody gets a brain-fart and thinks they have the next round of laws that will save the deer herd. Fact is that I would love to see the environmental conservation laws weeded out a bunch so people would have at least a slight chance of actually reading and understanding the laws that govern hunting, fishing, and trapping ad in fact every facet of our lives. Yup, your darned right there will be a bunch of people illegally bow hunting bucks in those few select areas. It may not be fully justified that hunters would be unaware of it, but realistically, we know that it will slip by a bunch of people. Yes, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse", but anyone who thinks that they have the entire contents of the volumes of laws committed to memory is a bit deluded. And if this "doe only" fiasco slips by a bunch of hunters, I can certainly see how that could happen and I fully expect that will happen.

Will hunting primarily become an activity of the rich? ..... Probably. A glance at some of the other areas of the world seems to indicate that ownership of large contiguous chunks of land eventually settle into the hands of fewer and fewer people, and those people generally find a way to capitalize from their holdings. Nope, it won't happen in my lifetime, although I have seen the beginnings of it. I have personally watched a lot of acreage go behind high fence. I have seen people desperately locking up their land and maintaining hunting privileges strictly for themselves, and those that they choose to allow on their land. How much is due to QDM in whole or in part? .... I think logic kind of tells you that there has to be some effect. Is the lack of land access apart of the demise of hunting and a problem for the recruitment and maintenance of the hunter population? ...... I don't think there are many who will argue that fact. So, again back to the original point of the thread, some of all this has to be factored into whether you believe that "QDM is ruining deer hunting". My opinion is that the QDM mentality is just one of many factors all pointing in the same direction. That direction is that deer can only survive if humans take the reins and treat them like an agricultural endeavor. That endeavor can only succeed if the land is locked up and protected against all unregulated or uncontrolled outsiders. Where does that mentality lead when taken to an extreme? ..... That is yet to be seen, but those paying attention to some of the initial indicators might rightfully see some troubling signs. And perhaps that is part of what touched off the original poster's outburst.

You know, it is a given that there are some places in this world that just aren't practical to hunt. The simple solution is to hunt elsewhere. There are places that I used to hunt that now have houses, dirt bikes, screaming children and barking dogs. I adapted and moved on to quieter areas.

Oh sure, next thing that will be thrown at is that it will come off so dry that they will close the woods because of fire concerns.....lol.

Well, thinking back to the original outburst, I do have to wonder if this craze to apply QDM, and to individually manage acreage for whatever motives, may be aggravating the hunting access problem, and if so, could the initial statement of thread actually have some validity. Think about it, One of the things inherent in QDM, or any of these self-management activities is that absolute control of hunting pressure and practices has to b in place. To me that means locking up some land with limits on how many hunters can have access. Think about it. Anyone know of any wide open land where the owner is trying to apply any sort of deer management and allows free and unlimited access for hunting. Right or wrong, it does seem like access is impacted by QDM.

One thing that they never seem to talk about much is whether the early muzzleloader season will be chopped off if the deer population gets down to more suitable levels. In other words, will this become another season that they can shuffle around from one year to another as required so no one will be able to plan on it being there or not? I'll bet that once implemented, it will never go away. As far as where such a season may wind up, I believe that just like the big DEC push a decade ago, the intent is to make the early muzzleloader season eventually apply state wide. That's what they were talking about when they wanted it before, and there's no reason to think that they have changed their minds on that goal. I am sure that they are looking to set precedents for future expansion.

Of course none of us are capable of dispensing medical advice over the internet, and when it comes to your eyes, I would be careful about a lot of "wait-and-see" kinds of cures.....lol. Two days of symptoms kind of raises a flag for me. All eye damage will eventually heal, but you always have to wonder if the surfaces of the eye will heal the way they should. It's all kind of required to be a bit precise in order to work right. I think what I am saying is that if there is any doubt, get it looked at.

Dock jumping ...... Check it out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dock_jumping You may have a winner.

I believe that every lawmaking or regulation-making agency (DEC included) should designate a certain amount of their time and resources toward grabbing a handful of laws and regulations each year and re-certifying them as making sense, not being redundant with other similar laws, and re-evaluating whether they should exist or be stricken from the books. My gosh ... we are buried in laws, most of which few understand or even know about. I am convinced that we daily break laws without even knowing it. We are totally buried under laws that are poorly written, and hidden deep inside of volumes and volumes of law books that damn few, even in the legal profession, are familiar with. And then we are told that ignorance of the law is no excuse.

That is some great news!

That last picture looks like your dog is taking a leisurely stroll on top of the water. Now that is quite a dog. I have seen competitions where the distance dogs can jump is measured. I think your dog would do pretty good at one of those contests.

Does pretty much look like other does, so it is possible to be counting the same deer over and over. Especially since they like using the same trails over and over. So getting a reliable count can be kind of tricky in terms of using trail cams for population guestimates. Also, a change in ag crops, or natural food sources as the year goes on can make it seem like all the deer have disappeared, Also, too much attention to the cams can change movements and patterns.

A quick look around the area shows that the flooding and constant rains earlier in the year really messed up a lot of the corn crop. It could be that farmers have decided that all a lot of this year's crop is good for is silage.

Was there ever any doubt? The early muzzleloader season has always been a goal of the DEC. The resistance to it was very heavy back when they first tried it. So now they want to set up a situation where it looks like they have no other choice. It has nothing to do with harvesting more does. And it's a good thing for them too because the result of this charade is likely to be exactly the opposite. Or at least that's what they are hoping. The failure of this fiasco is what they will be using as their urgent need to install an early muzzleloader season. Yes, it will begin in certain select areas until the resistance has its back broken (practically there already) and then they will roll it out to other areas.

I once had a deer follow a drag from where I gutted it all the way down the hill to my back-yard. On my way home the next day, I took the same trail back home and there was a very good sized track in the snow all the way home. That drag was a bit more than a mile long. Apparently blood and guts didn't bother that deer any.

I'm not sure, but it sounds like it could be alien dissections.

When I come across things like that I take it down to the driveway entrance and place it within easy view of the road (no signs required). Generally it will be gone in 3 or 4 hours.

I have built and maintained hundreds of arrows over the years for myself, the kids, and friends. So I had to buy a Jo Jan multi-fletcher so I could knock out a pile of arrows in a real hurry. The Jo Jan does the job. http://www.jojan.net/ A multi-fletcher was not optional for me ..... lol.