Doc

So, they want to regulate hunting right out of existence. Who really cares. People are in love with their ideas of a new regulation every day with their ARs, and their EAB, and their one-buck rules and all the variations of those restrictions and whole list of others. Every time an issue comes up the first thought in those simplistic minds is, There ought to be a law, or lets pass another regulation. One answer fits all .... lol..... more laws. Well, one glance across the desk at those copies of NYS Environmental Conservation Law books tells me that there likely is no one person, including all the enforcement agencies that know and understand all those volumes of rules and regulations governing our sport. There is something disconcerting about understanding the likelihood that every time I go hunting, I am most likely, unknowingly, violating who-knows-how-many laws buried in those books, and enforced by arbitrary opinion in most cases. So if along with a whole bunch of other reasons, people are opting out of hunting because everybody's solution to every problem is to pass another damn law, I guess I am not surprised, and probably not really all that far behind them.

Ha-ha-ha .... Don't just worry about chicken. Hell most of our veggies are coming from countries where the people picking them hate our guts. I hate to think of what they are doing on our food before it gets shipped here.... lol.

We just changed insurance companies, and they are the ones who pay our YMCA bill, so I went in to change the company for billing, and I could hardly find a parking spot. This New Years resolution stuff seems to have centered on exercise ..... lol. Apparently there's a lot of people that decided they need a fitness activity this year.

I guess to put it a bit more bluntly, we have probably heard enough about your personal problems with your deer farm and the government, and trying not to sound too heartless, in the words of Rhett Butler, "Frankly, I don't give a damn".

Tell you what ..... I have yet to find any constitutional guarantees that place deer farming anywhere near the importance and status of the 2nd Amendment. We have real issues to be concerned about. I can't be concerned about every guy that feels picked on. There simply are not enough hours in a day to worry about your pet peeves for more than maybe 4 and a half minutes or so. Sorry, it just doesn't sit too high on my list of priorities. As a quick glance across the top of this issue, I would say that it is illogical that the government would arbitrarily single out your business for a crusade of harassment. And that quick glance along the top of the issue is much more attention than I ever would have believed I would spend on deer farms.

Ha-ha .... you are welcome to try. Sure the state over taxes, and over regulates, but they do need tax money .....even yours. There are times when you truly sound a bit paranoid. That's not a malicious slam, but simply an observation. I kind of doubt the world really is out to get you......lol..... but maybe in your case and your deer farm they are for some reason making an exception. But I doubt it.

I can take a lot of cold, but let's keep the snow levels down. I don't have to plow "cold", and cold is not likely to make me get stuck .... lol. However, sometimes the cold gets that darn lake effect machine working, and we get the snow along with it.

I gave up on wood heat quite a few years ago. I found it to be quite dirty. Furniture always had a layer of dust regardless of how often they were cleaned. I also noticed the import of some wood eating bugs with some of the older wood that came in. And then there was the mess of taking the ashes out. But the thing that finally caused me to end it was the day we were sitting watching TV when I heard a "Whump" and looked over and saw glowing coals laying all over the floor that had been blown out through the damper by some kind of explosion inside the stove. That had us scampering around there trying to police up these hot coals. The hardwood floors over there still have the burn marks. What would have happened if we had not been home? I don't need that sort of thing. My Brother-in-law also had a raging chimney fire. Fortunately it happened while they were home and they got the fire trucks in before it caught any of the structure on fire. That was just dumb-luck too because they spend a lot of time away from home. On the plus side, I will say that it was the most comfortable heat going. And like somebody already mentioned, the exercise was great.

No, I have no more interest in the subject beyond questioning motives for twisting and slanting what. I will leave the causes and cures and assessments of CWD to those biologists trained in the field, and will forgo trying to second guess them or ascribe some kind of conspiracy theory. I simply was curious as to what possible motives the state would have for lying, and trying to drive a business out of the state. I still have not heard one that really makes any sense. I think they have a lot more motive for protecting businesses. They too have a profit motive, and cash does not come from businesses drummed out of the state.

Thanks all for the birthday wishes. It was a great year, and I am looking forward to the next one.

So, no coyotes were ever actually spotted. That brings to mind a question of whether these could have been a pack of feral or neighborhood dogs. I once broke up a dog pack (three dogs) attack on a deer in our front yard that had the same results. The deer was in a situation where dogs were circling the deer taking bites out. Unfortunately, it was dark out and I never did see the extent of the damage. I chased the dogs off, and the deer immediately limped a few feet into the thicket and was never seen again. Blood in the snow the next day looked pretty bad, but I tracked it for quite a ways, and it didn't seem to be even slowing up. But the point is that dog tracks and coyote tracks in deep snow look pretty identical. And dogs tend to lose interest after causing some major damage, because they are not in it for the food, just the chase. That would explain why there was no more attack going on. Just wondering if that could have been a possibility and coyotes were getting blamed for something done by man's best friend. It sure wouldn't be the first time.

I hate to get into this goofy discussion, but one question keeps rolling around in my head. One question that I haven't heard any answer to. I understand that deer farm owners have a definite stake in this issue, and it is a profit-motive driven stake. There certainly is plenty of reason to bend facts and slant whatever to try to justify their position. So it is reasonable to scrutinize any info coming from that side of the fence and view it all with a very suspicious eye. What I have not yet heard is any logical explanation of is why the state or any of its agencies would maliciously go after a legal tax-paying industry by using bogus information and trumped up data and studies and false research. What are they supposedly getting out of lying? What's the motive? Is there a motive?

I tend to say exactly what I feel whether it is politically correct or not. I didn't like the guy when he was alive and in a position to undermine our state government, nothing happened after he was out of office that changed my thoughts about him, and now that he is gone, as we all will be someday, it is not now time to become some kind of hypocrite and pretend to have fond memories of him now. And by the way, my attitude toward Andy won't be changing the day he leaves this earth either, and I likely will not be saying anything pleasant about him either.

Far better for the state and the people in it if his demise had happened prior to the devil-spawned idiot-boy that he fathered.

That's the problem.... when you finally find the perfect boot, they go out of production and you have to start all over. Footwear is kind of an individualized kind of thing, that is why I will never "mail-order" shoes or boots. I have to try them on. There will be a lot of hours spent in them and they had better fit absolutely perfectly. When it comes to hiking or work boots, I always look for real solid leather that can be doped up to be waterproof. I also want real stitching (Not molded rubber that "looks" like stitching). My choices for hiking boots may run considerably heavier than others prefer, but when I pay well over $100 for footwear, durability and longevity are very high on my priorities. I have a pair of hiking/work boots that are going into something like their 10th - 15th year with no sign of breaking down at all. I wear them constantly, and the only sign of their age is that the tread is now about 3/4 of what it was when they were new. They have been broken in now to fit my feet perfectly. That is a level of comfort that can't be bought in a new boot. That's why I won't buy any new ones.

That would be an interesting study. Has anyone done it? ...... Time of day that hunting accidents/fatalities actually happen .... who knows what conclusions might spring out? It is truly amazing how little data is available on causes of hunting accidents in any state (including NYS) relating to any of the specific safety concerns. I'm not even sure if NYS intends to keep stats on weapons used in gun related hunting incidents.

If it wasn't for the danger of eating up all the profits, a Dunkin Donuts store would be perfect ........ Or maybe a subway restaurant. I spend all my time in those two places anyway, might as well make some money off it.

About the only potential safety-negative of opening up counties to rifles that I can see is that rifles do promote longer shots that shotgun shooters would never think of even trying. Longer shots generally can mean reduced clarity of vision, more potential for not recognizing people or objects behind the target and flatter trajectory that extends the reach of ill advised shot-direction. As I look out my dining room window, and look across the 300 yards to the next hedgerow across the field, I am reminded that a shotgunner shooting from that far hedgerow really would have to be aiming yards above any deer to have his slug even make it to the house. It's not really a very realistic shot to even attempt with a shotgun. Many of the rifles being used out there would make a deer near the house a tempting target for hunters posted in that far hedgerow. One thing I know for sure is that for many, maybe even most, of the calibers used out there, the capability for the bullet to reach the house is really not in question. So yes, rifle usage has opened up some additional capability for the house to be hit. So, am I cowering in my basement throughout the season. Not hardly. There is an awful lot of maybes, probablys, possiblys, involved in all of the above, and they all ignore the fact that my house is a huge visible structure even at 300 yards, that someone has to be completely wacked out to be shooting at. Can it happen? ... yes. And I could get killed by a meteor fragment too ..... lol. Let the issue be settled by the stats. Unless we have a sudden influx of crazy people, the stats will mirror other counties that have had the rifle laws for years, and the sky really won't fall just in our county.

Does a string-stop dampen bow noise or increase it?

Well, in my area, we have almost the whole next week of snow-free weather (depending on where you live). Even with the colder temps, there sure is a lot of thigs that can still be done with bare ground. On the other hand, I don't really like yote hunting without a snow background to assist spotting incoming critters. Also, I have some brush pile burning that I would like to do. I never do that without snow.

It's one thing to be concerned, and quite another to be able to do anything about it. We still have the same guy allocating resources that we had before the election. We didn't do our job of booting the idiot out, so now along with many, many other legislative problems our options are eliminated as far as I can see.

Ha-ha-ha... Isn't that the normal story when we go grouse hunting ..... got a shot at a grouse.....lol. Tough little targets. Great fun anyway ...... when you have some around to shoot at.

The "thrill of the chase" is an individual thing. The predatory nature of hunting takes many different forms. It is only one component of why most hunt, but I don't think there is anything very competitive in it except as regards the competition with the prey.

Thanks for the tip. In the past, whenever the temperature/cold wind got to a certain point during bow season I had to start piling on the clothes to the point where shooting form, string clearance, and everything just went to hell. So anything I can do to cut the bulk will help immensely. But yes, there will have to be something over this because it really is just a jacket even though it is heated.

That "thrill of the chase" reason, is all about the true predatory nature of man that we all like to hide and disassociate with. But the fact is that humans are predators and we do like the chase part of the hunt. And yes, there is a lethal component to it all also. We don't do "catch & release". There is a finality to what we do, and it is just as natural to us as it is to any of nature's predators. As much as we try to flee our natural instincts and pretend that we are not part of nature's systems and balances, there are always going to be our little core minority of hunters who choose honesty and refuse to pretend that we are something we are not.