Doc

There is a bit of an added bonus when hunting from the ground. That is the heart pounding excitement of being a few feet from your prey, with an eyeball-to-eyeball direct threat of discovery. I once shot a doe that was walking tight against the very same tree I was hiding behind. That was a pretty good impact to my nervous system that day as I circled the tree while she walked by. I believe I could have reached out and touched her. That doe provided one of the deepest memories of any deer that I ever shot including some nice bucks. Back in the days when I was still hanging from trees, I used to have deer walk under my stand, but none of them ever got my nerves worked up like that doe.

Isn't it strange that the DEC claims that they have difficulty getting hunters to harvest does, and then answers that problem with charging for DMP applications. It kind of creates a credibility problem I would think.

I'm thinking that is a very rare color phase. I would like to see that.

Things seem to run in cycles here. Just about the time everyone thinks the world is coming to an end for the forum, things have a way of sliding back into perspective and it turns out that the forum is really just fine the way it is.

I have no idea where this summer has gone. It is going to be over before we know it. Each one whips by faster than the one before it. And it is true..... the older you get the faster time seems to blow by. At my age, I can't really afford to let too much time flash by that fast . Can't seem to ever get any of it back..... lol. Jeeze, don't get me started on that subject. That's another one of those things that plague your mind the older you get ..... ha-ha-ha.

No, I never even heard of such a thing. I'm trying to picture that. Are they something that looks like human silver colored hair? I would love to see a picture.

For me it isn't so much a skill as it is simply impatience. Having spent untold hours sitting like a stump throughout the bow season. And the doing my marathon all day sit throughout the gun season opener, I am simply ready to get up and change the scenery for a change. Besides, I know that after opening day of gun season, the deer kind of go underground. I also know that most hunters quit after the opener, or simply sit all day in their space-aged warm clothing, so there is nothing happening to get the deer moving. So, I slide into my "I-go-to-them" mode. In terms of acreage, I do have huge amounts of land at my disposal, but the fact is that I really only actively hunt small chunks of it. I pretty much burn through most of it just to get to those little honey-holes where deer traditionally go to escape hunters. A lot of these spots are little 300' x 600' areas (about 4 acres). Many of them are even less. So even large open farms with little small woodlots here and there would be great for still hunting.

I have many ground blinds for gun season scattered all over the place. They are mostly to provide some convenient gun rests for shooting, but do offer some concealment. I simply pick the stand based on known escape routes, and expected hunter patterns and wind direction. After opening day it is all still-hunting. My still-hunting is actually a combination of very slow walking and then standing. Stop and go walking until I get to some known security spots for deer. And then everything slows down considerably. My still hunting becomes a few minutes of very careful walking and then 15 or 20 minute stands at the base of any convenient tree that offers good visibility. That is so that I can glass every inch of the area for bedded deer. Then another 50 -100 yards (or to whatever farthest spot that I could see before), and then another sit-and-glass period. This is for all of the season other than opening day, so that really doesn't involve ground blinds or tree stands. No treestands. I don't do treestands anymore.

My home is my camp ..... lol. So my hunting hours are as casual or intense as I decide at the time. During bow season, I generally come home for lunch and then head back out for the late afternoon hunt. During gun season, I spend the entire opening day on stand with my famous fried egg sandwiches .... lol. After opening day, I get up when I happen to wake up, and after breakfast I begin to still-hunt for the day. I find my way home for lunch and then head out again.

That was directed to anyone who thinks they have the time and desire to take on such a project. However if anyone (yourself included) wants to take on the project that you suggested, I have no problems with letting them. As stated, I believe that such an effort is beyond what is necessary as that info is available to each individual voter and can be accessed specifically as regards their own district and candidates.

Just to bring a little realism back into the topic, I have to say that I think you guys are engaging in huge overstatement. There is no one who could even briefly browse this site and not understand what it is really about. The political forum has not taken over the site or even made a very big impact on the site. There is no real confusion even among new or young potential hunters or even occasional visitors.

Goats! ..... They look like baby goats.

Cull buck ..... sounds like a term some farmer would use when managing his sheep or goats. These are free range wild animals (I assume). But anyway, the only question I ask myself is whether that is a buck that I want or not. I have no illusions that my choice will ever impact the genetics of the deer herd in general. Shoot that buck, and there are still his siblings, his mother, and his father all out there passing on the same genes (or worse). Keep it simple ..... do you want him or not?

Good rifle. I envision watching fields for deer feeding at the edges ..... Not that I know a heck of a lot about hunting ag country .... lol. That whole thing would be as completely different from any kind of hunting that I am used to, it would have to be an interesting hunt. Some good Google map investigations or something like that would probably be handy so you could zoom in on some likely looking areas and then out to see some general over-all patterns.

I think you need some quick access to some game-bags to try to stay ahead of the flies. I think you are probably right. This guy won't be wanting you to fiddle around too much waiting for the best weather.

Ha-ha..... what a monumental screw-up. I would guess that somebody is in big trouble .... lol.

Eddie- What are you packing for a gun? Have you ever hunted this property before, or are you going to have to do some scouting first? Did he give you any tips on where the highest concentrations of deer are? I think it sounds like fun and an opportunity to get out there in the near future and check out some of that warm-weather hunting. Keep us posted as to how it all goes.

That is illegal isn't it?

It's kind of freaky how this Four Season guy flips out over nothing these days. It looks like he is on a campaign to alienate as many people here as he possibly can. Just take a look at this reply and see if there is any way that it makes any kind of sense other than the fact that he is simply losing it .... lol.

Each year I start getting worried, but they always seem to come through ok. I guess it's just a normal distrust of the government when it comes to them doing anything without screwing it up. But so far, I've been pretty pleased with the way the lifetime licenses are handled. No surprises ...........yet.

C'mon Bill, don't be rubbing it in .... lol. Most of these youngsters didn't get the great deal that we got for $50. Just the right age at the right time and NYS made us an offer that couldn't be refused. But, even paying the long price, I would say that for someone that's 21 years old, and is dedicated to hunting, it has to be an absolute no-brainer.

It is the responsibility of each voter to do some very minimal research into the candidates in their own district. We try to spoon feed the info here as much as possible and do as much as is practical, given that we all have our own lives to conduct. But at some point it comes down to an individual voter duty to learn as much as possible about the candidates they are going to be voting for. Nobody wants an electorate that is going to rely on others to form their opinions for them. There comes a time when voters have to put on their big-boy britches and take on the civic duties that our system of government demands of them. I have tried to post items that will help them wind their way through that initial, somewhat complex process of registration, and determine voting districts and legislators. But beyond that, there comes a time for each individual to engage their own brain and form some actual personal opinions and gather some actual information that relates to their own situations and needs. That time is now. They needn't be reliant on others to do this for them.

Feel free to take on the project and post it here. It would be very useful info. In the mean time, that effort still remains the responsibility of each voter conducting that research in their own districts.

A very good point. If all those posts and replies complaining about the political forum (which they don't even have to access) had instead been new hunting posts (which they all claim to be interested in), this would indeed be a very active hunting site.

So if I understand it correctly, the new September "early bear season" in the southern zone only applies to a few WMUs over in a parts of region 3 and 4 (Catskills). I thought it was for the entire southern zone. I'm not sure where I got that idea, but it was wrong. Thanks for the link and the clarification.