Doc

I am thinking that you are going at it all wrong. Buy a solar electric fencer, and fence off the baited area with several strands of electric fence. That will even keep bears out and any other critters if done right. No need for shooting or having to spend valuable time on site policing what comes into the area. Wild critters and tame ones learn a healthy respect for electricity and they never have any lapses of memory regarding that kind of shocking experience ..... lol. Remember that you are dealing with something that has wings and can come in from above with no contact, but the ground dwellers have no such ability.

Ok, so maybe it's time to put this thread back to the context that it started out at. Unless I missed it, this guy never said anything about hunting at that distance. He was not promoting that nor did I see where anyone here ever proposed that as any kind of a reasonable hunting shot. I looked at it all as a shooting exhibition (and a damn impressive one at that). Maybe he should have stated somewhere in the video that the shots he was making were not intended to represent something that can or should be attempted for hunting situations in order to keep impressionable new-comers from thinking otherwise. But when you look at it from the standpoint that was intended, the video is a very entertaining exhibition of crossbow shooting skill. One thing it does highlight is the repeatability of that weapon when placed into the proper hands.

Now, take a normal scope-sighted horizontal crossbow, shot prone, and sporting a bipod, and maybe that shooting might not be quite as impressive. That would be fun to try.

There was a heated jacket that I wanted for archery hunting. Tried to get it at Sears, but they wouldn't let me try it on so I told them to stuff it. So I went to Runnings in Canandaigua and Dewalt makes one and they had them on display so I could actually try one on. The salesman turned it on so I could check out the heat. It works out well, and should allow me to get out with the bow in the colder part of the season without dressing up like the Michelin Man. Stay warm and nothing interfering with my shooting form. Anyway, that became one of my Christmas presents. Oh and that day only they happened to have a 25% off sale. $157 ... coat....charger...battery.

Actually, the deer in our area have developed little short circling escapes late in the hunting season. Unless the pressure is horrendous (which it is not), I have found that the deer tend to not run headlong through the woods anymore than they have to. They figure out that the farther they run, the more hunters they encounter. So I wouldn't worry too much about running the population out of the area by simply walking through and making scouting observations. That kind of light pressure means almost nothing compared with what they encountered during the two opening days of the season. That was traumatic .... lol. By now they have learned a few skills regarding avoiding people without heading for the next county.

Tracking is an age-old hunting method, but you do run the risk of basically putting on a drive for other hunters if you are bumping the deer too often. But then any kind of movement like still hunting runs that risk. However, it is interesting right now at this time of year to get out there and learn what you can. Tracking never gets any easier than when the snows on the ground. And learning what everything you see means, can be a hell of an education in deer patterns, habits and movements.

Ok, so does will walk along dribbling too .... I didn't know that. These dribblers (I came across 4 of them) were dripping straight brown urine, or at least that was the color when I got there. I saw some of the one-spot puddles that were yellow or quite red and those were single spots that were a couple inches in diameter. This kind of stuff is interesting, and that's why I started this thread. We don't spend a lot of time on sign reading and interpretation. These are things that would be good on some of these hunting videos and TV shows if they really were interested in putting on quality shows. Ah, but that's another topic .... lol.

You would think ..... lol. It all just points up the kinds of pressures these TV hunter-heroes are put under to produce. To them apparently it is no longer hunting, but just another job that has to meet the bottom line in terms of productivity. It is a shame that they have bastardized the sport to that extent, but this is not an isolated event and it shows how people react to peer pressure and how peer recognition and acceptance can drive perfectly normal people to do exceptionally bad things to achieve that. When we start measuring hunting success in inches of antler, this is a natural outfall of that mentality. Those participants are at fault, but likely some of the fault lies with the viewers who promote this sort of exploitation in the name of cash and hero-worship.

It's not really the emotional reactions that count. I mean hope and encouragement are great things but it really is a science that has yet to withstand the scrutiny of further research. yes, we do hope that it turns out to be something that can have positive results in the bigger picture as it develops.

This is a pretty good time of year to make your population size assessments. Tracks in the snow don't lie. Take a hike.

Learn to pattern hunters. Guys move from the parking lots into what they consider their favorite areas and they do so with consistently repetitive movements throughout the seasons every year. Certain trails and easier climbs and paths around obstructions (multi-flora rose .... lol) will funnel hunter movements into repetitive annual patterns of movement from parking lots to stands and back. Knowing likely spots where deer will be just before daybreak, and what the likely deer escape routes from those areas when hunters jump them can put you into a very repetitive and predictable annual locations of some very productive spots.

Ok .... Something I noticed the other day while I was wandering the hills. Urine patterns: Several times there was a line of urine drops along the trail. Was that definitely a buck. Do does ever dribble along the trail for yards and yards. I found one that was dribbling (quite heavily) for about 25 or 30 yards. Is it possible that a doe could or would do this? I did find some other urine deposits in the snow that obviously were doe. You could see the tracks along side the urine marks that looked pretty positive that they were squatting. But those long dribblers kind of made me bring the question here.

No question about it, the guy has skills. Ha-ha... I guess it ain't bragging if you can do it ....lol.

A couple of things kind of jumped out at me with that video First of all, the guy was shooting off-hand. No bipods, or prone shooting positions or anything like that. I did hear a pretty good wind going on too. That is some pretty darn good shooting. On the negative side, what a frickin racket that thing makes. I would guess that you would be looking for deaf deer if you're going to use it for deer hunting. That is something that has to be designed out of that contraption. What we don't know is whether the consistency is because of the weapon, or is this guy a product of a whole lot of practice and raw talent. I know that every time you see one of these videos, you will hear people pipe up, "Well, you can do that with a real bow too". But the fact is that 95% of all archers can't shoot that accurate and consistently at 100 yards or anywhere near that with a regular bow. Nobody is telling you how much or how little practice this guy has been doing to get to that proficiency. So I or anybody else knows whether that thing is a superior weapon to a regular bow. So is it a display of a deadly new style of weapon, or a display of a very talented shooter? We don't know. I know a lot of people who couldn't do that with their shotgun, off-hand ..... lol.

Ok people, let's gather up some info about deer tracks. We all figure we know a few facts about what deer tracks might reveal. We think some track-clues tell us the gender of the deer. There may be certain features that you look for to separate a certain deer from others when a deer you are trailing intermingles with other deer. There make be other things about tracks that mean something to you. Let's hear what you have learned over the years about reading deer tracks. You guys that trail & stalk your deer as a hunting technique should have a lot of tips.

Some times we take ourselves a bit too seriously. It's a shame because life is way too short to cheat ourselves out of our own portion of it. In order to get myself re-centered, I often ask myself, just what will people think of my accomplishments 100 years from now. The answer always comes back that unless my name is printed on money, they likely won't even know who the hell I was. So I might as well make sure there is always time for me and my family because there's no 2nd go around on this thing called life. Keep the priorities all in the proper order.

Happy Birthday youngster .... lol.

There is one outstanding advantage for ground standing. It is way more exciting to meet your prey, eyeball-to-eyeball on their own terms. When you are standing on the ground a deer walks by so close you could almost reach out and touch it, gender, size, and scores all become secondary as that experience alone tops just about everything else in hunting whether it is some monster buck, or a fawn.

Ha-ha.... it's depressing to see all these people that have better looking and bigger "camps" than my "house".

It could be that we are once again over-generalizing. We are assuming that all of the state needs herd cutting. We get those old blinders on and judge everything from what we see in our own narrow local perspective and experience. Herd size for the entire state means nothing. All it means is that it is too high in some areas and too low in other areas. You need a local population control that is geared to local conditions. So what are you going to do, establish a different season length for each WMU? It is so discouraging to hear every response to every issue as one of these one-size-fits-all solutions. You do not establish balanced herds with statewide regs. Antlerless permits are the only way to address local-ish herd size needs. That's the system that was designed to be flexible by area, habitat and local conditions.

One of our bigger plates loaded with a few slices of glazed ham, mashed potatoes, squash, frozen corn, some slices of good rye bread w/ REAL BUTTER. And maybe some applesauce. Top that all off with a good strong cup of coffee. Follow all that up with any kind of pie and then it's nap time.

Powerful stuff that deserves a second and third reading.

Well, maybe it was the point you were trying to make, that's ok, and for that... you're welcome. But be sure not to miss the part where I said, "I don't see it as something that should be made illegal". I'm not sure where you stand on that point, but it may be an important distinction between where I stand on the issue and where you do. There are a lot of things that I think are bad ideas, but that do not rise to the level of requiring legal restrictions.

It really makes you wonder who sells more worthless crap to try to pry your money out of your pocket ..... The archery equipment industry or the fishing lure manufacturers ..... lol. But you know, these guys will make a pile of money. They're just capitalizing on those that have to have the latest and the greatest .... lol.

I didn't see where anyone asked, so I will: Will you be shooting with a sight or instinctive?