Doc

Lol ..... We certainly do get pre-occupied with the subject of what other guys are shooting. We worry about AR. We worry about buck age, and now we are concerned with the family structure of what we shoot.....lol. Oh, I guess it all makes good conversation, as long as we don't start trying to apply ethics and morals and all that unnecessary judgment that often comes along with such discussion. Keep your harvests in-season, and shoot what you want and what is legal, and enjoy your hunt. And try not to pay a whole lot of attention to those that would try to dictate what you are supposed to be shooting.

You know, I have had more years when coyotes were not even resident in our area than years when they were. I got along just fine without them. I don't have any love affair with nature's little puppy dogs. They are simply something else to hunt and I have no problem with people engaging in legal hunting of a species that sits at the top of their food chain with no other controls but disease and cars. I am a believer that population control is good game management. It doesn't even bother me when they hold local coyote harvest contests, and guys come in with piles of them. Like I say, life was great before they got here, and it would be fine if they were wiped out again too. I simply don't care. Shoot the damned things if you want. Wipe them out if you can. It just doesn't matter.

I got blown out of the woods today. No problem with bugs, they were no where's around. Unfortunately I can say the same thing about the deer. I think they were hugging the ground to keep from blowing away. If I go out in the wind, I probably should take a helmet with me. The acorns are trying to knock me out.

By the time hunting season rolls around, fawns may still be nursing, but should not be dependent on milk. I will say that every time they keep shoving hunting seasons ahead, I have to wonder if they aren't getting into a timeframe where late fawns might begin to get into jeopardy when you take out the mother. But, you may not always have a choice. The fawns are not always with the doe. You may take a doe that you thought was barren, only to find that she was nursing. The only way to avoid that scenario is to not take any does. That's not a choice that I would be making.

One thing I never could do with a straight face was to try to convince people that I hunt to control deer populations. I do not go out with a mindset that today I am going to engage in population control. My hunting has to do with putting away some venison, and with matching wits with what I consider one of the more formidable competitors of the woods. And there is also an attitude of a self-sufficiency, heritage and cultural element to my hunting. But while population control is not a motivator, it definitely is a by-product of what I consider my natural predatory set of genetics. And I completely consider man to be part of the meat-eating predatory members of the animal kingdom. I don't apologize for that and I don't pretend that I hunt as some benevolent act of conservation. Conservation is simply a natural outcome of my recreational hunting. But it doesn't do any harm to explain the beneficial aspects of hunting and what the negative consequences are if there were no hunters as long as you don't rely 100% on that aspect for changing minds. People can see right through that.

Didn't see anything this morning and with these leaves coming down like rain, ground sign is getting hard to spot. I'm heading back out in a few minutes and cover some more area. Sure is quiet walking in these wet leaves.

What I find frustrating are those who shrug their shoulders and say, "Yup it is a vote buying scheme but as long as I am a recipient it's ok". Apparently we have some Cuomo apologists who are content to justify any kind of corrupt campaign practices. And then back up that justification by pointing to another liberal who allegedly did the same thing. Apparently as long as there is a precedent for dirty politics, it is therefore ok from now until forever. Sorry, but you can't simply drape a "family oriented" label over corrupt campaign practices and call that ok. There is nothing "family oriented" about voter bribery. And I am still trying to figure out why those that have kids feel that they alone have been the victims of over taxation. There seems to be some selective memory going on about the per child income tax credits that I personally have not seen in a good many years, and some people never have seen at all. I have no problem with people accepting the taxpayer funded bribe money that Cuomo insists on shoving their way, as long as you don't try to concoct some wacky justification for it.

I received an e-mail from Canada that had an interesting take on a few issues. A little creative editing to Americanize the message, turned out that the ironies pointed out for Canada apply equally to the U.S. These three statements tell you a lot about our government and our culture: 1. We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. Funny how that works. 2. We constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run out of money. How come we never hear about welfare running out of money? What's interesting is the first group "worked for" their money, but the second didn't. 3. The Welfare Dept. is proud to be distributing this year the greatest amount of free money ever. Meanwhile, the various departments of natural Resources across the country, ask us "Please Do Not Feed the Animals." The stated reason for this policy is because "The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not learn to take care of themselves." That ends Today's Lesson On Irony

Anti-hunters are a peculiar breed who like to believe that they are a super evolved, enlightened, superior version of humanity who have risen above the barbaric level of the low-brow hunting version of humanity. Just like any other pretentious person, they have concocted this self-deluded vision of themselves as being examples of the very best that humanity has to offer. Things like logic and cold facts really will not change their needed views of self-importance. So I seldom engage them in these kinds of discussions. Their mindset will never be changed because it would involve them admitting that this concocted self image has been totally off the mark. That is not likely to happen. Their entire personality is based on that delusion.

I have seen more people wearing blaze orange in small-game season in recent years. I think they are the smart ones. In fact I am considering adding some blaze orange to my bowhunting clothing.

Yeah, I have seen kids basically grow up without a father simply because of more dedication to work than their own family. I know that you can really get caught up in that sort of mentality where you think your whole life is measured by what happens at work. But when you reach my age, and get a chance to look back at your life, some perspective comes to light. When you tally up what that feeling of self-importance has cost you to lose, you start realizing that your family has gone through a lot of events and changes and growth that went right on by without notice. Somewhere along the line some sense of balance has to be applied, or you will get up one morning and wonder where the hell life went, and what exactly happened while you placed all measures of importance on the job alone.

I still have to get caught up on my fall clean-up and maintenance. So scouting has taken a hit this year. Any time I get in the woods during this early part of the season will probably be on the crappiest days that are not suitable for anything else. Also, I will be doing something that has never been all that effective. That would be a combination of still-hunting, and scouting. I really was unprepared this year, and in the future will have to figure a new schedule with this new early start to the bowhunting. Who the hell ever said that retirement was a time of kicking back and relaxing? ..... lol. I have less time than when I was working.

Of course I understand what your point is. I was made very well educated in the nuts and bolts of the free OT game while I was still employed. There was a time when promotions were based on expertise and knowledge and ability to actually perform at the next level. It was not based on how many hours they can scam out of you. There never was a column on my performance appraisal that tallied up how many hours of free OT that any employee worked. There are some like myself who might be suspicious of the abilities of those that cannot complete their work within the regular proscribed hours. Our performance appraisals related to how well you did your job, not on who works the most free time. To me that is just a measure of how easily you are manipulated, and not a measure of dedication or ability. Some of the most brilliant employees do not require extra hours to complete their tasks. They have learned how to be smart and efficient at their job. You mentioned working smarter and not harder. Well those that frequently require OT are not necessarily abiding by that philosophy. To me excessive levels of OT (mandatory or otherwise) are simply indications of poor management. And when it becomes a way of life as with some corporations, I believe that it goes beyond simple inadequate management of people and tasks and begins to represent intentional employee abuse.

Kind of reminds you that the most treasured things are those that don't come all that easy.

Yeah a little dab behind each ear and you're ready to go.

Yeah, he probably would walk over and rip into it like a cardboard box and eat the contents.

There really always has been only one thing that would get me into work. It has nothing to do with making a name or climbing a ladder or some wonderful title, or a position of status. Quite simply, the motivator for me has always been money. Not the promise of money off in the future, but money paid for work accomplished. So when somebody told me that I would perform extra work but with no extra compensation, that didn't happen very often. And when it did happen, they were not dealing with a happy satisfied employee. So the bottom line is that old saying, "you get what you pay for" really does apply. Terms of work shouldn't be based on how much free time they can scam out of you. If that is their M.O. then it probably is a shyster outfit that I wouldn't want to work for anyway.

Ha-ha, and you can target shoot for hours before season with it and still have a shoulder left. With my old 12 ga. deerslayer, I was always hoping and praying that my 3 to 5 practice shots every year showed good groups so I didn't have to do any sight changes. Damn, I remember some years when something must have moved the scope. It wasn't long before I started getting into a flinch situation wit the pounding, and had to go through way too many shots with that shoulder mangler. Now practice is fun.

Hey, there is some good news! congrats on the early success. Heck, now you can get out and do some small game hunting ..... lol.

I'm not sure ho or why a thread called "Posted Signs" is not completely turned toward coyote control .... lol, but I'll play along. It seems to me that in our area, the coyote is at the top of his food chain with only disease to control their numbers. Certainly Mother Nature knows how to do a very good job of controlling populations, but it is not always the most kind or humane way of doing business. Fortunately, one of the legitimate purposes for hunting /trapping of animals is to help control populations. More hunting/trapping....more control. There is nothing healthy about leaving the residents of the top end of the food chain to a lingering fate of disease or starvation. We don't do that to deer, and it probably is even more important not to do that to coyotes. So if there are those that want to thin the coyote population a bit, more power to them. They are performing a legitimate wild game management activity.

Yup, I'm sure that is a possibility. Also, all you need is for some anti to start a campaign against any attempts to implement rifles, and they can influence Town Supervisors. So anyone looking to get a supervisor to champion a rifle bill had better be sure to have all the local rod and gun clubs and as many hunters as possible across the county on board for counter arguments to offset any mouthy antis.

You know practice doesn't have to be hundreds of shots. I don't spend a lot of time up on the range at any one practice session. I find that the best results are about 20 arrows every other night. I used to get into these marathon shooting sessions, and all I ever accomplished was getting fatigued and starting to build in poor shooting form. Time really shouldn't be a limiter unless you have to travel to get to a range. It doesn't take a lot of time to step out back and fire off 10 or 20 arrows.

My solution would be to take as many quality pictures as possible and wave bye-bye as he kept on walking. I don't need some stroke or heart attack over a bear that I'm not even sure I could eat. I say that because I have already done the stroke thing, and I have never tasted bear meat and don't even know if I would like it. A man's gotta know his limitations .... lol.

Unpaid mandatory overtime is pure and simple slavery. No, that's not meant to be funny, it is a simple fact. I never minded putting extra free hours to get the job done, when it was MY idea. Mandatory overtime decrees without overtime compensation always caused me to dig my heels in and resist. Sometimes I relented because extra time really was required to finish a project. I think there came a time when I saw all this as a scam and a way of screwing employees. I always had a pact with industry, "I won't screw you if you don't screw me". They didn't live up to their end of that pact. That was when I started thinking about early retirement. The downsizing frenzy was simply a way to remove cost via abusing the employees who were left. And then the mandatory uncompensated overtime was to make up for the bodies that had been kicked out. I grabbed a package and bailed. Enough time in the cotton fields .... I'm a free man! No more competing with all those overseas people who we cheerfully gave all our technology to and who have no problem turning their lives over to corporations for a few cents per day. I'm out of that game.

No drag-rag success stories? I thought we would be loaded with them. I had that one undeniable success story with a drag rag, and that was using Tink's off the shelf stuff. But I haven't had it work since. Of course, when using a drag-rag, you do have to go where a buck is likely to cross your trail (during that particular hunting session). But, I did see some potential with that one episode. I was just curious what other people's experiences were. So far it doesn't sound like a lot of people have had a lot of luck with that stinky stuff. I know there are people who claim wild success with artificial scrapes using drip tubes and other procedures. haven't tried it myself yet so I have no personal experiences with that tactic.