Doc

Truly, there is no other version of trust, love and caring than the bond between a human and their dog. It just does not exist to that level between any other two individuals. Even from one human toward another, it can never rival that unconditional purity of devotion that a dog has toward its owner. It is truly hard to have that suddenly end. In fact it has been so difficult in the past that my wife and I have decided not to have pets ever again to get that attached to. It really gets to be that painful when they leave.

I think I will not publicly list my firearms. Call me paranoid, but it just occurred to me that so far there is no such listing publicly disclosed, and I think I'll just keep it that way.

Right now I have two thermometers that say it is -16 degrees out there. That's not wind-chill, that's actual temperature. I am sure that before daybreak, it will drop some more. When temperatures start with that nonsense, the only outdoors that I do is to scamper from the house to the car and that only happens when I really need to head out town to get some necessary essentials. As far as what's going on out in the woods, that is limited to me sitting on the couch sympathizing with all the poor critters that have to try to survive in those brutal temperatures. You know how they are always telling you to be sure to bring all pets indoors? Well unfortunately the woods-critters (other than those that have underground accommodations) just have to tough it out. And I am sure there are some that won't be making it. But, I figure humans are on a slightly higher level of development, and as long as I have protection against that kind of brutal weather, I guess I will take advantage of it and stay where I belong. Indoors! .... lol.

Ok, it's finally on, and it works good. Just a real quiet dull thump. I served up the string where contact is made, with monofilament. It all came back to me just what a pain that stuff is to work with. It's like trying to use spring wire for serving .... lol. First thing I had to do was to get on the net a refresh my memory on that serving knot. It's been a while. sure does work slick but the mono put some challenge into trying to work with old stiff gnarly fingers....Ha-ha-ha.

I do wonder how the DEC gets a handle on winter kill. I mean everything is based on harvest numbers of the season just gone by, but what happens if those numbers are screwed with by a long, ugly winter that happens after all the numbers are tallied and massaged and written down. I really don't know. perhaps it will take a season or two to account for winter kill. By the way, don't be looking for winter-kill in February. Most deer can make it this far even if they are in horrible shape. But come March and April time frame, if the winter stretches beyond normal, it could be a very nasty situation. It generally is a brutal winter, followed by a very prolonged winter after fat reserves are depleted that does in a bunch of them. With around 2 feet of snow that seems to be permanent, the deer are chewing through body fat reserves, with nothing available to replenish nutrition. Time will tell.

Yup ..... That's what I would need. Snakes can't climb up into those things can they?

I remember that. I was glued to the TV set, and I don't even like hockey. But it was a very exciting thing.

"Turn in your arms" and remember, when the home invaders are breaking down your door and seconds count, the police are only minutes away (if you're lucky)...... "The government will take care of you".

So now when this bill gets an appropriate boot, will we begin hearing about such things as "assault machetes". Perhaps one that has a two handed grip, with a serrated blade, maybe those of a black color. Isn't that the way those things are done? Make the general populace threatened and scared and concerned until they begin to demand that these implements are a scourge to the safety of all citizens. Encourage the media to sensationalize all incidents that involve machetes, until it is believed that assault machetes are used daily in all kinds of heinous crimes? Sorry but all that is really no more ridiculous than this bill to ban machetes....lol. Assault machetes ...... don't be surprised.....ha-ha-ha.

Duck identification has always been something that has confounded me and is probably one of the main things that has kept me out of waterfowl hunting. One laying on the ground next to me is not really a big trick to identify, but flying in, silhouetted against a gray sky, with colors being indistinguishable always seemed like a bit of black magic to me ..... lol. Maybe the O.P. might find books or videos of duck identification in the sky to be something useful. I probably would. Are there such things?

Surprisingly, we get into the same thing in hunting topics, and sometimes even worse. How about we learn how to converse in a civil fashion instead of curtailing topic selections? Asking a bit much ....eh?

Lol ..... wait until the day an escaped female cat bumps into an escaped male. Ha-ha-ha-ha .... my goodness, a breeding population of mountain lions. What is with these jerks that want a mountain lion for a pet?

Yes, I can understand some trust issues when you're talking about any government body or agency. But I think in this case they are simply admitting that they blew it and didn't allocate adequate time for the process. That in itself is quite amazing that they would ever admit to being wrong about anything.......lol. That might even be a first!

I would like to do it to if somebody would invent snake-bite boots that zip up over my head. I can't imagine tramping around in the tall grass in snake infested swamps and fields. I did see a rig used down there that would take care of my snake problems. It was some kind of truck-thing that had the hunters sitting about 8' up in the air. That might do it .... lol.

My take from the article was that they wanted an adequate amount of time to properly conduct and analyze public input on the ideas. With the publishing times being a set amount of time, the only way to shorten up the cycle time would be to short-circuit the public inputting activity. I am quite happy that they are not willing to do that.

Frankly, it is getting to be irritating to see just about every thread here being turned into name-calling, flame wars. Is that really the only way that you people know of to respond on a forum? Is this really what your personalities consist of? Relax a bit and try some civility.

I would suggest that you simply plan on working out with the compound on April 15th regardless of what happens with crossbows. Don't look at using a bow during bow season as being some kind of penalty.

We have 2' of snow and ugly cold temperatures, and the deer are not moving very much. No tracks across lawn, or any sign of visits to the bird feeder which has been a daily thing prior to this last storm and cold-snap. I have no clue where they are and what they are doing because since this last storm and cold-snap, I haven't been moving around very much either ..... lol.

Have you had a chance to eat any of the pig-meat. I have heard two different opinions on wild hog meat, and was just wondering what your opinion is.

I was just sitting here reading about "Winter Camping" while listening to the wind howling outdoors and knowing that the temperature is -8 degrees. Guess I'll move on to another topic now....lol.

I would think the best way to handle x-bow hunter safety training would be to include the mechanics of crossbow shooting into the existing bowhunter training classes, and require that course to hunt with a crossbow. That way they get familiar with the way broadheads work, where to aim for most effective killing with a broadhead, and other features of killing through hemorrhaging/cutting rather than impact killing. Much of the hunting procedures would apply, and the limitations could be taught. The problem with adding more unique, weapons-specific courses, is that there is a lot of repetition, and huge amounts of time required for each one. When you start stacking up 3 or 4 of these courses, the time required gets darn near prohibitive and no doubt discourages a lot of participation. Think about it ..... firearms courses, bowhunting course, trapping courses, now add in a new x-bow course. Pretty soon somebody will be coming up with a fishing course ..... lol. Enough, already.

Rimfire reloading: http://22lrreloader.com/design-details/

Throwing the baby out with the bath water

Sounds like all the deer season restrictions and other tinkering and bending to public pressure groups is being put off for another year. According to the most recent issue of NYON, the DEC has announced a postponement due to time. So these concessions and allowing the NYS hunters run the deer management programs will have to wait for another year.

Yeah, we have had some heated discussions on this site regarding this subject. I'm not sure what causes people to lose their minds over this, but must say there are a lot of good reasons and logic involved in doubting, since no one over all these decades has produced any tangible evidence (no remains, no provable documented photos, none having ever been killed on the highway or anywhere else, no documented scat, etc.,etc.). So there probably is no reason to believe rumors or doctored photos, or other claims. The only thing that has to be allowed is the possibility of a single wandering cat passing through, or some domesticated mountain lion that has escaped or purposely turned loose. When you ask about mountain lions in NYS, you really have to ask only about a breeding population, since that really is what people are trying to get at. I have to say that logically, it is highly unlikely