Doc

So what is it about turkey calling that so often attracts deer. I can remember a few times when I was squawking away on my box call, it seems like I had better luck calling deer than I did calling turkeys. What do you suppose they have going through their goaty minds when the come sneaking into a turkey call? Something to do with their common choices o food? Just simple curiosity? Something to do with fawns?

Ha-ha .... The good ol' days of hunting are not necessarily measured in deer harvest numbers. I believe that most people who use the term "Good ol' days" when talking deer hunting are talking more about the quality of the hunt than simply about how high a pile of deer they were able to get. But I do get your point that deer numbers have multiplied over the years. However keep in mind that bag limits have also increased .... significantly. Also there have been significant changes in equipment. Rifle usage has certainly increased harvest numbers over the days when a bird barrel used to double as the deer-gun of choice. Bowhunting equipment advances has placed that style of hunting into a major contributor to harvest numbers where back in the day, bow kills were not even a blip in the data. Season lengths today dwarf what we used to have particularly in the bow harvests. Also, the methods of calculating deer harvests have evolved a lot since 1954. which methods got more accurate numbers? .... Well that's an argument for another thread. The point is that there is a significant amount of "apples to oranges" comparisons that is in these numbers if you are trying to compare deer herd sizes via this data. However, just the power of observation tells you that herd sizes are larger. There shouldn't be a whole lot of arguing over that point. I don't believe that populations have risen by the percentages reflected in these harvest numbers but they certainly have risen.

Geiger & Glanton put the story out as a straight factual account and someone else came along and decided that it might sell better if he put a racial slant on it, especially in light of racial news in the headlines these days. Lol .... news media is becoming a joke. Always looking for the commercial edge, facts be damned.

Too late...... looks like Flanigan's got it. Another SAFE Act proponent leading the Republican Senate.

What the heck is it with ducks? They don't seem to have any sense when it comes to picking out nesting areas. I would have thought that they would have learned about swamps and things. Instead you see them marching across busy expressways and such with their brood of ducklings. I once saw a mallard nesting next to the front door of Arbys in Canandaigua. Every customer in and out of that place walked within 3 feet of the silly duck. And of course later on everyone in and out of the parking lot was trying to dodge all the baby ducks marching around the parking spaces.

It ain't dry no more! Saw some of the pictures of Avon last night. It seems they have a particular bridge over there that just can't seem to stay put. After last night's series of storms, I wonder what the front of my driveway looks like ..... lol. Pretty good chance it is or was under water. I also wonder what the garden looks like, or if I even have a garden now. There was some pretty heavy downpours. When it gets daylight, I'll have to check things out.

Ha-ha ..... I almost lost a pole and my entire tackle box in the canal years ago. I was fishing with my Grandpa and I had my pole propped up on the tackle box. We spent the night fishing there with worms, and I guess I fell asleep. I woke up when I herd my tackle box being dragged toward the water. The pole was being dragged in, and the reel hooked onto the tackle box and started dragging that toward the water too. I dove for the pole. felt three or four very heavy tugs before the line snapped. So your advice is spot-on with my experience.

So what's the deal with metal roofs? They don't attract lightning unless they are grounded? LOL.... I started wondering about that when I put the steel roof on the barn. Sure looks like something that lightning might find to be a good target. But it doesn't have a real good path to ground, which I guess is what lightning is looking for.

Obviously deer management is not as delicate a science as some may believe. We always describe it all in terms of perfection, but there is an awful lot of resilience to deer as a species. Management failures on our part as humans will be handled to a certain extent simply by the forces of nature and the resourceful features of the deer species themselves. That's not to say that gross mismanagement and harvest goals never have catastrophic consequences, but there is a whole lot of leeway before serious permanent damage is done. And so, in general, I would have to say that NYS seems to do a passable job of management. No, we don't have trophy deer behind every tree, and there are no guarantees to hunters, and there are highs and lows and cyclical swings, and the herd never lives up to our expectations of perfection. But, on a macro level, and given the fact that resources are finite, and in spite of the constant whining and occasional disappointments, perhaps the job really is being done to the best that all the practicalities of reality allow. Of course that will not stop me from whining and complaining, but sometimes it is useful to sit back and look at the realities of what is really happening in the world of deer management.

There may very well come the day when cops will just flat out refuse to enter certain areas even if it means their job. I wonder how the residents will feel when they are left defenseless because they failed to support the police. I will tell you right now that there are neighborhoods where I will not walk or even drive through. I doubt there is enough money anywhere that would get me to try to enforce laws there. If things continue to deteriorate, it may become impossible to find anyone that is up for the job.

I guess I missed the racial connection too. But, the article does put an answer to those who ask the question about "Why are you all so afraid of a gun registration system?". Just like so much in the government, anytime the government inserts themselves into your life, you will find yourself on the short end of some bureaucrat's power assertion, and corruption and/or personal values will be forced on you. Oh, and by the way, for those that like to bad-mouth and whine about the NRA, you might note that they are the only organization that is standing behind those whose 2nd Amendment rights are being systematically violated by the Indiana state government. For these victims, the NRA is their last line of defense. It's just one of many un-publicized and unrecognized benefits of the NRA.

With the arrest of Dean Skelos, soon to be former Republican majority leader, There will be actions to choose a new NYS Senate Leader. Long Island Senator John Flanigan has been mentioned as a possible replacement Senate Leader. It has to be noted that Senator Flanigan voted for the New York SAFE Act and is not viewed as a friend of the 2nd Amendment. It might be a good time to write your state senator raising your concerns over the possible selection of this anti-2nd Amendment candidate for Senate Leader. Make your voice heard.

You meant 4' fence ..... right? ...... lol.

There! ...... That's what I would have said if I had had the brains to compose it so perfectly.

So is there any correlation between the earliness of antlers starting to form on a deer, and the larger size of the finished product later on?

Yeah, it is hard to get a credible read on the damage done by this past winter just from looking at the herds in the fields. It will take a much closer look at on-the-ground sign to make any reasonable general assessments of the herd size. Even trail cams don't always give the real overall story of an entire area. Some good intensive scouting is what is required. Right now I am too busy with spring activities to get too involved in that yet.

The one thing that the disclosure of these results will do is to quantify in hard numbers, the uselessness of tougher gun legislation. It takes it all out of the realm of emotion, and puts hard numbers to the futility of heaping worthless gun law on top of worthless gun law. The results will lend credibility in legal cases and also the bills in progress to limit or repeal the so-called Safe Act. It is also useful as some pretty strong talking points in any other campaigns against future gun control efforts. Shining the light on these things is the best way to make gains in the court of public opinion. It is always far better expose the failures of gun laws than to just let the emotional arguments against guns go unchallenged.

I once saw a sheep pasture with broken pumpkins strewn all over for the sheep to eat, and they seemed to be really liking them. Sure, sheep are not deer, but they are a bit related, and apparently the farmer thought there was enough nutrition in them for his sheep to thrive on them.

That is a nice laker. I imagine he put up a heck of a great fight. I've got to get these spring chores done and get out there myself. Time is flying by and if I'm not careful, I'll find myself sitting in the snow wondering where the hell the summer and all the great fishing went ..... again.

You know, I would call them out on that. I would like to see that part of the law in print. I don't think it exists.

It is kind of silly to complain about the way some people appear to waste their money. We have to remember that it is their money after all. I know I have spent money on things that many would consider foolish and unnecessary products. Lets face it, anything that doesn't relate to food and shelter in some way could be called foolish and wasteful spending by others. My gosh if anyone knew the total cash that I have spent on hunting products alone, they would just shake their head and call me a money-waster....lol. We all have our ways of spending our hard-earned cash, and it probably doesn't agree with everybody else's thought on frugal spending ...... so what? I say worry about your own budget, and I will worry about mine. By the way, this may all sound real good, but I do understand the lure of criticizing people for what appears to be excessive spending. And I must confess that I do it all the time. But, really when you think about it, the only opinion that really counts is that of the one who has to cough up the money.

I see that a lot of the newer ATVs have power steering. That's something that I always thought would be a darn nice feature to have. You guys that have power steering on your ATVs, how do you like it? Any drawbacks?

The peace and quiet in the woods has always been one of the things that I treasured about hunting. But today, just sit in an average NYS hunting parcel, and see how often you can hear nothing but the wind. It's getting to be a pretty scarce experience these days. You can hear chainsaws, ATVs, snowmobiles, lawn mowers, weed-eaters, leaf blowers, tractor-trailers ripping down the road, Motorcycles, dirt bikes, even airplanes going overhead, etc., etc. It is almost a constant din of sounds. The thing is that none of these "things" are to blame. It's just the mechanized, technocracy that we live in. I can no more blame these machines for noise than I can blame guns for crime. No, it's not something that I welcome, but it is something that I participate in, and have just accepted as the way of life today. Let's just hope it doesn't get too nutsy! I must say that I do wonder where it all will wind up 40 or 50 years from now. That question that Mike asked about what would it be like if every hunter owned and used an ATV kind of brought on some disturbing imaginary images. My gosh what a racket that would be ..... lol. But until that happens, I have to simply accept it all as just another sign of an active and growing society.

I was thinking the same thing as I was considering what a pain in the neck back tags can be. Most of the time I have a back-pack covering up the back of my jacket, so it may be that according to the letter of the law, pinning it to my backpack probably is breaking the law. But to the best of my ability, I try to comply with the law by keeping it visible at all times. When I get to my stand, I then pin it to the back of my jacket where I understand that it was officially intended to be displayed. Yes, it certainly is a P.I.A., and in my mind is probably a foolish requirement. But I still make the attempt to satisfy the intent of the law, not because I have to agree with the law in order to abide by it, but simply because it is the law. That probably is not quite the same thing as purposefully breaking the law, and teaching that to your kid, and then bragging about the fact. If they should drop that requirement, it sure won't break my heart....lol. But as long as the law is in place, I will honor it.

There never seems to be a shortage of reasons for a good old-fashioned riot ..... lol. It 's kind of like an instantly created mass party event. "Let's all start a party, and burn stuff and get some free goodies. And maybe beat some people up too. Just can't wait for an excuse".