Doc

What the heck is the attraction? We used to make syrup in big tubs over an open fire. We sat up all night boiling and watching the fire and the syrup, waiting for just the right time to pour it off and finish it on the stove inside. We were all into it the wife, the kids, and myself. It was just absolutely fascinating. We always had to try to get it as thick as possible without having it turn into rock candy, which happened a couple of times. It was so fascinating that I came very close to buying a small evaporator. I still get the urge to do it. I guess it has something to do with providing for ourselves from the wild. Maybe even some of the same basic motivation as hunting. I don't know, but I don't know a lot of people who had the resources that hasn't made some syrup at one time or another.

Oh Damn! What is wrong with that boy? Old Nuge keeps shooting himself in the foot.

I guess I'll have to see the harvest numbers next time to see what season I would go after if I wanted to get the biggest bang for the buck, but I still believe that would be the regular gun season. So if I had what I thought was a serious plan for population control, I think I know where I would implement it.

And yet with the CTFs, it is indeed the "public" that is coming up with harvest targets. On the other hand, should deer management be left up to land-owners? Kind of like a wide open, do-your-own-thing, system of landowners managing the wildlife as they see fit. We could probably argue that concept forever, but to me, there is something unsettling about every neighbor shooting whatever he pleases as the deer wander across his yard or field or pokes it's nose through his line of posted signs. I really don't think that is a viable system of managing a transitory public resource either.

It seems that we all have our own favorite little boondoggles that we want to add to deer hunting. In reality, most of these are simply ineffectual, unnecessary complications that are easily thwarted, and rendered useless. Buck hunters who do not want to shoot does will in fact remain buck hunters who do not shoot does no matter what kinds of pop-management schemes that we concoct. But one thing is fairly certain. No serious population control is going to depend on seasons like archery or muzzle-loader for success. If the DEC is serious about knocking down herd sizes, then there is no reason for not going straight for the one season that has a chance of having a substantial impact, and that would be the regular gun season. You want to wipe out a substantial percentage of does, turn on a "doe-only day" or three at the outset of the regular gun season and you will see the woods run red and the herd will be butchered down to a level that will satisfy even the most rabid of anti-deer special interest groups. Never mind this pussy-footing around with bowhunters and muzzleloaders. Go for the gold and put all those gun-hunters to work for you. They'll wack-em and stack-em for you, and really put the "hunt" back into hunting.

I have no claim to credibility when it comes to smoking or ingesting pot, but I suspect that it really shares a lot of the same health risks as tobacco, as well as has a list of dangerous chemical and side effects of it's own. My guess is that we have heard on radio, TV and newsprint much more about the health risks of what is affectionately called "Big Tobacco" (anything being billed as evil has the word 'big' emphasized before it....lol) than anyone has heard about in terms of health risks of pot. It just hasn't reached the level of usage that has turned on the fanatics yet. But I do remember a time when the hazards of cigarette smoke was unknown, or ignored, or down-played too. So whether the comparison of nicotine with the chemical contents of pot are something that can be legitimately compared, I'll leave that up those that are more qualified to judge, but it still seems very hypocritical to be condemning one while government gets actively involved with the distribution and marketing of the other.

I understand that. The deer get the same pass in my lawn areas. Still, great view for a front yard.

Well, with antlerless permits all over the place, and consignments and such, I would imagine that with an EAB rule in effect the first day of the season, each hunter would sit down and fill out one of their tags as having successfully taken a doe. Maybe even before they ever step foot outside to hunt. So the "buck hunters" continue to be "buck hunters" anyway. All they have to do is to make sure they have an antlerless tag somewhere around to fill out first.

The problem is that if we have a shortfall in the quality of DEC personnel, the solution isn't to turn the asylum over to the inmates. They (DEC) still have the authority and responsibility and are the ones collecting the tax funded pay checks. So, I simply ask that they do the job we pay them for without dispersing accountability to laymen. If there is a problem with that, then maybe that should be exposed to the public for a remedy.

And so society is hell-bent to eliminate cigarettes, but promoting smoking joints. We've come long way America. The stoners of the 60's are having their effect now.

That Cuddeback does take some nice pics. I love that last one. The birds...the backdrop..... everything just perfect. What a great painting that would make!

I seem to recall the Victor Blue Devils having some kind of big problem over some kind of satanist worship fiasco or something regarding that monicker a decade or two ago. I can't recall the outcome, and couldn't really say whether they wound up changing the name or not, but they were all wrapped up in that kind of controversy. People do have the darndest things to get all excited about. Never mind the failing quality of education, and other social distractions, plaguing our school systems. But lets all get into every piece of meaningless crap that we can distract ourselves from real issues with. The world really is going off the deep end ..... lol.

I have to wonder what would ever make anyone think that members of a school would ever call themselves something that they truly felt had negative meanings? Does that make any sense? I mean if people used certain terms to be hurtful, and identified these words with demeaning definitions, would they really want to go around calling themselves those same words?

That was funny!

I would have to say that I do not have any experience hunting most of the species on the chart, But will say that most of what I have read, pretty much agrees with the chart.

Speaking of "Number 2", that is another that sits right near the top of my list of pet peeves. Why is it that when I finally arrive at my stand in the morning, thee ugly gurgling sounds start in my gut announcing that sure enough a trip off into the woods is imminent?

And of course we have to wonder why if a doe-only restriction is the plan that will be the salvation of deer management, how come it is not a part of the more effective harvesting season that they have to work with ...... The regular gun season. Oh I know. The level of heat that they would have to absorb from harassing gun hunters like that would be hard to handle, but the more minority seasons are easier to steamroll over. Yeah it may not be anywhere as effective as applying it to regular gun season, but it is a whole lot politically easier to jam down the throats of bowhunters and muzzleloaders than trying to deal with the larger majority of deer hunters.

I really don't want to be on one of these CTFs. What I want is for the DEC to do the job we pay them for and make the educated decisions that they are responsible for making. If they want to canvass all the various lobbying groups, fine. But the bottom line is that they are the trained and educated game managers and biologists. Make use of that damn expensive education and keep all the opinion mongers and special interest people away from game management targets and decisions.

Ha-ha-ha ..... great list and needs to be expanded. One of my pet peeves is the obligatory story told by my wife of all the deer feeding in our yard while I was hunting about 2 hours away at the top of our hill. The damned deer know the instant I am out of sight heading up the hill. Sure, you say, why don't you hunt down below around your yard. The answer is simple. When I do that nothing shows up, but my brother-in-law always stops by on his way out telling me that I should have been up on the hill in my stand when all the deer were milling around it. ....... If it weren't for bad luck I'd have no luck at all .... lol.

Frankly, my favorites were the Hopalong Cassidy, Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, Zorro, and other westerns of that era where you never saw a drop of blood. In fact most of these guys were noted "hand-shooters" that shot the gun out of the bad-guys hand, or they would leave their gun holstered and take their chances with a fist fight (which they always won) .... lol. Realism and fact based portrayal? .... not hardly, but always great messages of good triumphing over evil. But then we got all sophisticated and decided that it's the gore and gruesome images that had to be viewed in order to be "entertaining". So today I saw the movie "The Gunman" that was just dripping with blood and gore. We had guys being ripped apart with knives, and another graphic portrayal of the back of a guy's head coming off. and a whole bunch of other carnage that was up close and personal, displayed on the screen. Actually kind of typical of today's gunplay flicks. The only "entertainment" programs that are even more graphic are the jillions of C.S.I. shows that now flood the airwaves. Love those compulsory autopsy table scenes that have the corpse disemboweled with the chest cavity jacked open to get that perfect camera shot. Or the decomposed slurry of rotted human remains that are pored out and hand sorted through at the crime labs. And then the Coroner wandering around with a tray full of human organs. That is what is required to keep us entertained today. Each program trying to out-gross the one before it. And how about all those TV programs like "Criminal Minds" that highlight the details of demented human torture scenes, with each one trying to shock us more with new ways to torture people to death. Aren't those special, and all in the name of entertainment. And then we all sit around confused about the idea that there are more and more kids with absolutely no value of human life and suffering. I wonder where they get such attitudes from? I guess we're just too "sophisticated" to go back to the "hand shooters" ....eh?

You can attach any story to any gun that you want to dream up. There is no requirement that any of it has any truth involved. Shame on those customers (who may have been as fake as the gun store) for being so gullible as to believe a yarn spun by the supposed clerk.

I'm not sure about the exact connection between browser history and the ads that are displayed. I have an almost constant ad off to the side about "edge" products which are vehicle parts. I haven't ever researched anything that relates to vehicle products either directly or implied. So I have no idea where that would come from if they are basing it on browsing history. Also there is another ad about American express platinum card. Again there is no history on this computer that has anything to do with credit cards, American Express or any other kind. So I am a bit skeptical of the statements about any of this being based on sites visited or even a rough pattern of site history.

I just had to have Time Warner reboot my modem. It's been screwed up since last night. So, I just got access to the internet. I'm Ba-a-a-a-ck

Being a favorite American pastime, it could apply to anything anyone needs to feel offended by.

You mean chicken, pork, and beef does not come from the garden in those Styrofoam packages with cellophane? Huh! ..... How about that.