Doc

I believe that last year was the first year of charging for applications in recent years. I think I remember a bunch of years back when you had to send in a check with the permit application. But then we were talking some very different numbers of permits that they wanted to dump out there too.

Ha-ha .... Would that be called a "Bait Plot"?

What a tubby critter. He sure has been eating well.

I think that it is impossible to pull every deer from neighboring properties simply by creating specialized food sources. Without high fences, deer do meander around for reasons other than food. But yes, it does always amaze me how these confrontations and cross-allegations seem to arise out of all these modern-day attempts at manipulating herds. Somehow, none of that nonsense feels like it has or should have anything to do with hunting. But like I said that is just personal feelings and opinion and is different for each hunter.

So are we saying that we should form policy based on evidence that even the best science cannot define?

Ha-ha.....I had no intention of taking on the whole food-plot contingent of this forum....lol. But I am simply trying to explain the personal doubts that I have about this whole concept of creating conditions better than your neighbor's strictly for the purpose of drawing his deer away from him and onto your own protected property. It is simply a mindset and motivation that just doesn't sit well with me. I am not starting a campaign to outlaw food plots ....lol. It is a personal reaction to the process and an explanation of why, even if I did have the space, time and money, I probably wouldn't personally get involved with it. I probably should explain a hunting mindset that I have grown up with that says that I hunt the deer (or whatever) exactly as I find them and do not condition them to accommodate my hunting. I view them as wild critters that I study and learn and then hunt without treating them in any way as livestock. That philosophy is not for everyone, but it is the way that I approach my hunting. By not getting into the business of conditioning my prey, I also extend that same potential to my neighbors without forcing them to take defensive moves to keep a huntable population on their properties. It is another one of those personal ethics things that we were just talking about in another thread ..... not for everybody, but a personal code that rattles around in my own brain.

37 years of testing, and only two confirmed cases from bullet fragments in the entire study, and that involving only one species. What other conclusion is one to draw? Birdshot is the overwhelming cause and remedial action has been taken for that. Bullet fragments show up as basically statistical noise. I repeat: "The chart does not make a very strong case against lead bullets".

Is it really a coincidence that DMP applications fall at the same time that they start charging for that application? The fact that they are surprised is what I find shocking. The government has made an art out of diminishing certain public behaviors via taxation (cigarettes, booze, gas, etc.). So why be surprised that this kind of taxation of DMP applications is having the same result.

It was a great question.

Interesting and seemingly accurate analysis of the chart. The chart does not make a very strong case against lead bullets.

Not sure of the relevance of your question. My own property is really quite small and barring letting people hunt in my yard, I already allow several hunters access to my property in accordance with practicality and safety, and privacy. I have to say that you would be very disappointed if you were to just hunt my land .... lol. So if your intent is to imply that I try to corral deer on my own property for hunting reasons, the answer is no I do not. However, yes you are absolutely welcome to hunt the very same state land that I and who knows how many others already hunt. The same deer that I hunt, you are also welcome to hunt. I do not try to hoard any of them nor can I.

Good question. To me ethics as we normally use the word is a personal judgment within a personal code of right and wrong, not to be confused with legality or societal codes. I know that there are organizations (medical, legal, other professions, etc.) that establish a code of ethics to rule behavior of members of their group. That makes the word take on a different aspect for them and may not always agree with their own personal code of ethics. But for me, the word is more of the self-guidance end of the definition. That means that my definition allows for what is ethically correct for one may not to be necessarily ethically correct for another. It would be interesting to see how the dictionary version stacks up against my own version ..... lol.

Of course there is no legal or criminal act, but if that is the intent, to intentionally draw deer off a neighboring hunter's property and if it is successful, it is the mindset that I am talking about, regardless of whether it is a cake walk or not. It could be that some people work very hard at screwing a neighbor.....lol. But then that's just the way I see it, and I would not really like to have it done to me. I guess we all see things differently when it comes to how we relate to each other. Fortunately, there is not much likelihood where I am, so it is not something that I have to worry about.

I have to wonder exactly what you would do with the hide, head, and leftovers of the carcass. It would be pretty embarrassing if an ECO came knocking on the front door asking about the fresh ribcage that some neighborhood dog dragged out onto your driveway ..... lol.

The store is in the same plaza as the movie theater along routes 5 & 20 just across the Canandaigua/Hopewell line. If you remember where the old Walmart was located, that is the building that they took over. They are a lot like Tractor supply with many of the same items. They also have outdoor products. They also have a good supply of hardware. Some lawn and snow-removal products, even a little bit of food. It looks like somebody wanted to have a store that sells everything. I wasn't completely in love with the prices. They were pretty standard prices with quite a few items running on the high side and some slightly lower than I've seen elsewhere. Those were just the few things that I am familiar with. They are not a bargain store, but probably the best place to go if you want something you can't find anywhere else. It's a real interesting place to walk around. They had no problem filling up that old Walmart store ...... It's huge!

A bad day at camp is still better than a good day at work ..... lol. Did you get any good cam-pictures?

While I think 911 and the victims of that atrocity must always be remembered, I am also ready to say the same thing about atrocity and victims of Oklahoma City terrorism which have been forgotten by many and seems to have some apologists that would like to push it out of the American consciousness completely. Mis-characterize the act if you feel there is some value in that, but I will always be here to set the record straight and give all terror victims the remembrance that they are due.

I'm still waiting for summer to start....lol. One good thing is that all the worrying I was doing about sweating to death and swatting mosquitos come the October 1st bow season opener, may not really be a problem this year if this colder weather continues on into fall and winter. Ha-ha-ha .... Instead the problem may be struggling around in a couple feet of snow.....lol.

And if you think a phase II Safe Act is the end, think again.

I know the extra poundage shoots nice and flat, but for me, I have been dropping the poundage down to 55# just to maybe add a few more miles on those tired old shoulders, back and arm joints. I have had some light problems, that I do blame on shooting my old pro-line at 75# for so long. That was done for a series of moose hunting trips and I kept doing that long after the moose hunting was done with. I don't really believe I needed that poundage for moose or for the deer hunting. I was just beating myself up for no good reason.

I'm not sure what difference time has to do with whether of not there is such a thing as domestic terrorism. Or maybe your point is that the deaths of those people don't count because it has been a few years. Whatever your point is, it still remains that the victims of domestic terrorism should never be forgotten, just like those of 911 and other victims of other terrorism events around the world. Time can ease the pain, but never is an excuse for not remembering the horror and the victims of the events.

I seem to remember 2-1/2 pounds per complete turn also, but my info is for a 15 year old bow, and I wouldn't guarantee it today. That would be just a rule of thumb anyway, and may vary from bow to bow in terms of real numbers. Best way is to buy a bow-scale and dial that sucker into exactly where you want it.

Glad you've got resolution to the problem. As I suspected, 99% of the time, such radical problems are not the fault of equipment.

Don't be trying to put words in my mouth. The definition of terrorist is in the dictionary and is very specific. Use the language right, and you won't have to worry about those who don't. And by the way, those that would belittle the events of the Oklahoma bombing as not being an act of terror should remember that 168 innocent people were killed, from age 3 to 73, with three pregnant women, and 19 children involved, and 680 other people injured. 324 buildings over a 16 block area were damaged, and it was all done over some wacked-out ideological differences with the U.S. government. Now, anyone who refuses to call that terrorism, had better look up the definition of the word because it was a classic version of terrorism in every sense of the word.

I'm not surprised by this. If Cuomo and his gun-banning cohorts (Let's not be forgetting them) get re-elected, why on earth would they think there is anything stopping them from doing whatever they want with our guns? We know what they want to do. Without the threat to their holding office, what else would motivate them not to go full-steam-ahead with whatever gun controls they can conjure up. I have been warning about this kind of thing ever since the passing of the safe act. Make them pay for that act or prepare to live with a constant and unlimited assault on the 2nd Amendment from now on. Why wouldn't they?