Doc

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.

There is no reason to regulate corn. For one thing, most of the deer bait being sold is not corn. For another thing those that may be conducting an out-of-state hunt may want to buy the product here before they leave. They should have the ability to do that. Also it must be remembered that the product has not been deemed illegal. It is the act that is deemed illegal. Someone said that calling for these kinds of regulations had a parallel to gun control. I didn't catch on when I read that, but now thinking about it, he had a valid point. We are calling for establishing an illegal status for a "thing" when in reality it is the illegal use of the product that needs regulation. Also, legal users of corn and mineral blocks do not need another layer of regulation to go through. If we are serious about eliminating baiting, then enforcement of that law is the answer. There is another aspect of all this that should be addressed. That is for people to stop justifying and ignoring law-breakers when they spot them, regardless of whether you agree with the law or not. Baiting is a very visible, blatant, and obvious violation. It is very hard for someone to conduct baiting without someone eventually seeing or hearing about it. Enforcement would be a whole lot effective if people would report law breaking when they see it. We don't need additional regs.... just better enforcement of what's already on the books.

My Driveway-

I heard that some parts of Honeoye are flooded. Rain just refuses to stop. I think we will be having problems pretty soon.

I would think that cable channels are just another of the things that you have to keep track of. The problem is that there is no recommended frequency of waxing that can guarantee that you always have enough wax in the string and guarantees that the buildup is not occurring without frequent visual checks. So my approach is generous waxing and frequent inspections of all parts of the bow. But I suppose anything can be over-done. It is good you mentioned the clogging of cam grooves. That's something people might not pay enough attention to.

I try not to make that much of a disturbance around my stands. Perhaps that is being a bit overly cautious, but I simply try to minimize whatever noises that I may make. Yes, it takes a bit more patience and care on the approach, but I generally use my best still-hunting techniques and hope that is good enough. One of the reasons that I struggle my way into the stands in the dark is to get all hunkered in and let the area "settle down" a bit before shooting light.

Could you elaborate on the idea of over-waxing? I'm trying to picture what harm that could do.

I've never heard of such a study. There are so many different factors that go into deer take that I doubt you would be able to draw any conclusions about rifle vs. shotgun except maybe over a long period of time. It's an interesting thing to ponder. My guess would be that there are some accuracy advantages to rifles so that may mean that more of the deer shot at are harvested. Probably the added range of rifles wouldn't be of much effect since most deer in NY are seen at shotgun distances in wooded or brushy areas. I don't know..... good question.

That fox is in great shape. I got a picture of a red fox the other day, and his fur was very thin. He wasn't mangy, but something was up with the thinly furred tail. Just didn't look good at all compared with the little guy in your picture. By the way, the quality of those pictures is quite impressive.

Simply pointing out your lie. Sorry you got caught. But those deer hanging in that picture show quite clearly that your crap about passing up deer of the quality that Stubby posted is simply BS. Obviously you don't and you even provided picture proof of it. It's unfortunate that you feel the need to stretch the truth just so you can feel better about yourself, but you should feel good that at least one member here reads and remembers the crap you post here.....lol. Anyway, enough said. It serves no purpose to continue conversing with you. Your credibility is shot.

What the heck has been chewing on that pole?

I went last year. It was great. Farming really is not the same industry that I knew as a kid. The equipment and techniques are pretty darn "space-age" now and absolutely fascinating to look at. So many things that we used to do by hand are simply a push of a button now. I would recommend checking this huge event out to anyone. You don't have to be a farmer to be dazzled with the technology.