Doc

I think VT Outfitter had it in mind for others to add pictures to this thread to caption as well.

I knew what this guy was thinking when I snapped this picture.....

Can anyone really imagine managing a statewide herd with all the wild habitat and climate and population variations that NYS has? Oh yes and then picture having the whole process politicized by the system of government to the point where deer management is only a tiny part of your duties. And then having to answer to a huge list of various "stakeholders" and trying to satisfy them all even though they have totally opposite requirements of the herd. And lets not forget all the other environmental responsibilities that take huge bites out of the meager resources that are begrudgingly allotted. And then the never ending carping and unreasonable demands from hunters for even more micro-managed species quality to go along with basic population control. Hunters always become armchair herd managers and all believe they can do a much better job at it than those who actually are educated and trained in the field and who actually have to go out and do the job. It always sounds like such an easy job when you have no real connection or responsibilities regarding that occupation. And then consider that deer are only one of the hundreds of species that they are mandated to manage. Now there is a job that you couldn't pay me enough to take on ..... lol. But that doesn't stop us all from being absolute experts at it. Yeah, opinions are great as long as we don't start taking ourselves too seriously, and we actually keep in perspective what our real abilities are in that area of game management science.

Lol .... What the heck is a "secoration" hunter?

Ha-ha-ha .... Now you've done it. You have no excuse for not getting a nice buck this year. Now we know you've got them .... lol.

The problem is that when it comes to estimating herd size and density, we are not exactly over-run with options. And when I say options, I am talking about practical options that the DEC can find resources for. I am no apologist for the DEC by any means, but as little confidence as I have in their statistical manipulations, I can't for the life of me come up with a better way of estimating deer density, or the impacts because of weather, predation and other mortality issues. And with all the volumes of opinions that have been thrown around on the subject, I have yet to hear anyone else have any better ideas. So while I can pretty much guess that they don't often get it right, and have seen evidence of that in the past, there is nothing positive that I can suggest as a remedy. But I sure would like to hear what others have to suggest as a practical herd density estimation tool.

Ha-ha, it may be a complication of terminology, but my understanding is that bullet components are exempted from the background check requirements of the safe act. I realize that technically these bullets are completed products and not reloading components. But I believe that ammunition is (or should be) defined as projectile assemblies that include propellant and ignition systems as well as the projectile. But like I say, it may be one of those fine points of definition that isn't always what it seems.

I'm thinking that where "live bait" is prohibited, what they are trying to do is differentiate from artificial lures (spoons, spinners, flys, jigs, etc.). I also think that when they say "live bait", they are also including dead bait that was once alive in that term .... lol.

Nope..... the DEC website doesn't seem to be responding at all right now. Should be back up soon, I would guess. Maybe we killed it .....lol.

Check this out: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/72556.html And: http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/39809.html

So is this stuff in bloom right now so it can be spotted. I had someone tell me that they saw some up next to a nearby bridge, but I never was able to spot it.

A perfect frame-up. He knew what he was doing. Revenge of the prey!

Actually, the only reason that I wear camo is because that is what most of the warmer, better quality hunting clothing comes in. Grease paint all over my face ..... I can't stand the feel of it, particularly if it's hot and I need to be able to sweat. Of course I am not hunting in a tree stand and am usually quite well concealed. If a deer can see me, it is only as much exposure as it takes to get the shot off. But consider gun season where I am pretty much mostly in the open sitting there like a big solid orange lump. No face paint or anything. I have never been picked off in that scenario even when deer were exceptionally close. So, I think maybe some of that stuff is more of a confidence builder for the hunter than it is an absolute necessity for success.

I think that a lot of the newer areas where bears are showing up primarily still have some very thin populations. I'm guessing that without hounds and without baiting, the population is still so thin that no one is successfully going out specifically to hunt bears. So, all these new areas can open up to hunting, but the only additional bears taken because of it will be incidental harvests from deer hunters. I know a lot of people are hoping bears will spread into their area with visions of having another species to hunt. The problem is, unless you have some rare situation, a bear or two can have a huge range in which you can spend weeks out of your life hunting them and never even get a look at one. Bear hunting is now legal in our county, but other than some damage from a bear that was just passing through a few years back, I and no one that I know has seen one locally or even seen a track or scat or anything ..... and we have prime bear habitat. So likely I will not be using any of my time hunting them here.

Whiskers used to do a pretty good job of camouflaging my face. ......Not so much anymore since it is starting to turn white .... lol.

I have read that bear predation on fawns can be significant as well. I also have experienced bear damage, and we aren't even in a heavily populated bear area. One that was passing through a few years ago ripped down bird feeders and dragged trash all through the woods out back. So we have taken precautions to avoid that kind of thing in the future, but it is still a pain. I'm not blaming the bears. They are just being bears, doing what they do. But when people complain about such things, I can sympathize. I also can see where the population could get completely out of control without a bit of heavy population management.

I think another thing that impacts styles and techniques of hunting is the terrain and habitat. Agriculture has long ago left my immediate area, and I do not have any food plots. So my hunting conditions really could be called big woods hunting. Our deer are very much attuned to subtle changes in their habitat. They don't have to put up with people mucking around too much in their habitat. There is no conditioning to get used to farm equipment or human activity. The other thing is that there is no mowing. The top of the hill is not suitable for dragging a lot of equipment up there. I can just about myself up there ....lol. Also, a lot of what I hunt is state land. They take a dim view of that kind of activity....lol. I'm not even sure that it is legal to clear trails let alone rake them clean of leaves and brush. I think not. So a lot of what is being discussed here is not legally available to all those that hunt state land. So we have learned other techniques to get around the problems of approaching stands. And one of those techniques is to move through areas when the deer haven't gotten there yet. That takes a bit of study and quite a few hours and years of experience with the area being hunted. But when you have had 60 or 70 years of hunting the same acreage, that isn't all that big a trick ..... lol. But even with all that said, I still do not charge into my stand breaking every twig and dragging my feet. I do try to keep the announcement of my approach down to a minimum even though I may be convinced that the deer are not supposed to be there yet. Not all deer read the script .... lol.

It doesn't bother you to be calling in a hungry meat eating predator of a few hundred pounds that is coming in expecting to eat whatever it finds? ......lol. I watch a program on the History Channel that shows guys hunting Alaskan kodiak bears, and occasionally they use calls on them. I'm thinking these guys better have eyes in the back of their heads. But seriously I believe that calls do work on bears. Of course bear in mind that the only experience that I have ever had is from watching TV.

I'm thinking you will be doing great on that property.

Being aware of the timing and travel patterns of deer has never been a problem for me. I place my stands, arrival times, and access approaches accordingly.

We have a rather large creek that winds down through the valley. On our side it sometimes jumps the bank and heads across what used to old farm fields and winds up crossing the road right at my driveway. There are also several ravines that drain off the hill and get a bit crazy. But the big contributor is the swamp across the road that the creek runs through over there. The creek-bed fills, overflows and starts spreading across the valley. That water covers the highway and starts coming up over my driveway. It happens at least once a year. There is no current to speak of so there usually is no damage. I haven't been able to get down there to see the front yet so I won't know if anything is different this time from the usual floods.

Yes I walked part way down the driveway and turned around to get a picture looking back at the house and yard .... That was the first picture. The other three were taken sequentially as I walked down through until the water started getting over my boots. I just looked out a few minutes ago this morning, and while it is so dark that I can't be sure, the water is still there. I'll have to check it out in a bit.

Ha-ha .... even back in the olden days (60's) and even with simple bows like recurves, I learned early that any weapon can malfunction, and the frequency of making visual checks can avoid some horrible outcomes. That old bear whitetail hunter taught me that when a frayed string let go at full draw once. Since that exciting day, I have picked up on more darn potential failures that could have turned to personal injury and/or tremendous expensive inconveniences. So there are a few things that I do inspect everytime I pick up the bow. The wax/mud/crud build-up is just one of those things that I pay attention to. And yes, if you are noting frequent problems with wax impacting in cam grooves, it may be time to start backing off on the frequency of waxing. I personally have not experienced this as a problem, but I certainly could see how it might happen.

I suppose everyone has to do whatever they have confidence in. As for myself, I have dealt with ground stands where I have removed every leaf, stick and twig that I might step on while at that stand. Guess what..... when ever I go to the stands, I have to do it all over again because leaves that were in the trees when I cleaned out the stands are now all over the ground that I cleaned. The other thing that I discovered with exposed earth is that on those 20 degree days, the frost lifts the dirt into nice crunchy chunks of dirt/ice that makes way more noise than any leaves ever made. Creating trails? ..... you can count on the deer using those trails, so it had better be cleverly guided past your stand, or you are going to be confronted with a whole lot of face shots. Another thing is that I do not place my stands where I expect the deer to be when I come in. My entrance direction is not where I expect deer to be. My stands are generally placed on travel routes where I am hoping the deer will pass by after I am in my stand. If a deer is close enough to hear me coming in, I consider that I have screwed up and placed my stand in the wrong place. That is kind of like trying to put a stand inside a bedding area. That doesn't very often work well.