Doc

Only future history will tell how wise the adoption of rifles in more populated counties has been. I'm sure that people will massage the stats to show whatever they want them to show, but meanwhile I will continue to enjoy deer hunting with my new rifle here in Ontario County for as long as I still can lift it up. I also congratulate Livingston County for having joined the rest of us and hope that the rifle adds as much enjoyment to their season as it has to ours.

Absolutely, and we have 40 forums on this site as well as numerous sub-forums within some of those that are doing exactly that.

Sorry.... I don't, unless somebody is planning on handing me some donations.

I haven't the resources for that kind of effort, but would certainly support anyone who does. I think it is a great idea that probably should have been done by any of a number of pro-gun organizations that have the resources of membership, dues, etc. But even with that done, a media blitz that reaches all or most of the gun owners of the state is still required. Something is required to put the info in front of the faces of voters and then something is needed to MAKE them read it and act on it. That is the more difficult part of the problem. How do you incite all these people to once again become involved and activated? Will a survey do it? I don't know. It can't hurt.

Apparently you have not caught up on all the posts that mock the efforts of people like Bubba and others who are trying to get out the vote and influence gun owners to vote out Cuomo, and others who voted for the safe act. Apparently you have somehow skipped over the mocking replies that have belittled efforts to display "Repeal the Safe Act" signs, and more specifically to this thread, the comments regarding the shirts, the mocking of anti-safe-act rallies, the general discouraging of gunowners to fight back at the polls, or absolutely everything that anyone has ever proposed or talked about that involves legal, political, positive activity. Anything that has ever pertained to attempts to organize and act as a political unit in this election has been met by these two with attempts at discouragement of these efforts. My message is that if you have no interest in political activity, then simply get the hell out of the way and let those that do want change proceed. I no longer am interested in those who pretend to be some kind of "wiser than thou" prophets. We all know the problems that exist. What we need now are people who have some spine and ideas of how to change those problems, something neither of these two have offered a hint of. We even have one who's only solution is to run away from the problems to another state. We have no time for people telling us that things are so bad that there is no hope of recovery. Negativity is great for those that have no ideas or energy to fight, but for those of us who still have a bit of spirit left, those philosophies are merely in the way and only useful to those we are trying to fight. Those that wish to sit back and feign superiority through mindless criticism and absolutely no positive views, solutions, or actions are a blight on the system and certainly do not need any encouragement. We have way too many of those already, and they are a good part of the situation we find ourselves in today. I suggest you read the entire theme of all of the messages before you sign on to the papist/VJP fan club. We don't need any more people telling us about problems that we already know exist. We need people that are willing to do something about them. Unfortunately that is not what these two individuals are all about.

I know there is a temptation to deny the politics of hunting, but we continue to dig a big hole for ourselves because we as hunters, trappers and fishermen tend to run away from that discussion. In terms of non hunting/fishing/trapping politics, I do wonder how that all fits into this site, and would just as soon not have it clogging up the more "on-theme" discussions. But, it seems to be popular, so who am I to whine about it?

I have no trouble with attacking problems on more than one front in more than one way. I am not disagreeing with you that we need to have more political involvement in the process and that includes the earlier stages of elections that involves candidate selection. But at the same time, we have a current need to grab as much of this upcoming election as possible. Our future credibility is at stake. We can't simply wait until the next time. Never have we had gunners as motivated as they are now. Probably an opportunity like this will never be this ripe. So the message is that we have to fight the battles we are currently in. And does that mean that we should ignore actions that can be aimed at the future? .... absolutely not. Lol.... that's what we have to do. Now let's talk about how to do it in terms of getting real people to participate in the process.

Frankly, I do take it personal when I see a concentrated effort aimed only at upsetting any form of resistance to the Cuomo brigade. There is no excuse for the constant whining and the messages of doom and hopelessness. Those defeated individuals who feel that sense of hopelessness should simply get out of the way of those that are serious about doing something about the situation we are in instead of preaching "give up and give in". And if the passions run high, it is only because we have enough of an uphill fight as it is without these messengers of doom trying to talk gun owning voters and activists into this philosophy of "Do nothing. It's all hopeless". Does this kind of undercurrent of subversion anger me. You're damned right it does. I take this stuff quite seriously, and I am very serious about making at least a valiant effort to try to upset Cuomo and his gang of gun-grabbers. And yes those who would poison the movement by trying to deter political activity are blatently trying to get in the way and are the unwitting dupes of the Cuomo gun grabbers. And yes, I do not intend to quietly let these whiners convince everyone that all is lost and all we can do is be victims. Certainly if they have their way that's exactly the result that will come about. I have no patience with those who sit back doing absolutely nothing and try to discourage those that do actually have a purpose. If the anger shows through occasionally, I am sorry ...... Actually, no I'm not! You have to look at the discussion over many threads and many months to get the full view of what is going on here. There may be things that both of these guys say that I am not exactly in disagreement with, but I can't abide the attitudes of interference that they also harbor. And right now at this time that is a very hot button issue with me, and should be with all gun owners who have any hopes at making Cuomo and his legislator lap-dogs pay for their most recent attack on the Constitution. We can't have these subversives in our ranks that are determined to side track our efforts.

Actually, we had no worms (caterpillars). I don't know whether they are in a low part of their cycle or whether the weather goy them or what, but I am very pleased about that. Japanese beetles are still pretty numerous ..... damned things!

It's the same situation here. I watched the weather pretty close this year looking for any late frosts, but there weren't any. And yet the peach and apple crop are not really all that good. In fact no peaches at all. Apples and pears are extremely light. I don't know about the nut/acorn crop yet.

That sure is a hell of a "sway" in his back. He's an oldie but goodie.

I have also noted the severe decrease in bees, and it is not just a recent thing. I noted changes a decade or two ago. I have heard that one of the prime reasons was some sort of bee-mite, but I'm sure the reasons are more than just one. At any rate, it is a serious problem that I hope biologists are taking very seriously. Pollination is a very basic and necessary process which if deleted severely enough could be reflected in our nation's ability to produce food. Funny how a little critter like a bee can have so much impact on life.

Poor guy. He's just an ugly out-cast. Probably should be put out of his misery this fall.

For the very same reasons that we cannot seem to vote our convictions, we are also incapable of mustering the will and power to put up candidates. My thought is that hunters as a general rule are not joiners or activists and we tend not to get involved. We can be a very focused bunch when properly motivated and I believe that is what was being attempted to be done with the demonstrations that you have termed "Acting like a mob". I for one completely applaud the organization and efforts that have gone into these demonstrations, and the efforts to ensure that the safe act did not slip into the background as the politicians who perpetrated that travesty had hoped. The issue has been kept before the gun owners, and now it is up to them to get their butts registered and to the polls. That is the last but might hurdle. If we can make it past that hurdle, the message will be sent that will automatically create the pro-gun candidates that we want. The principles of politicians are pretty much formed by what happens at the polls (even trends). It would be amazing to see how many anti gun politicians change course immediately once of few of their cohorts come up missing from the state legislatures. Here is a point also that has been completely over-looked. We do not need to have a 100% victory across the board. We don't even have to have a majority impact. All we have to accomplish is a "significant" impact in the change of the legislature. Everyone thinks that nothing has been accomplished if we don't replace every single anti-gun legislator. Not true! We simply have to get them looking over their shoulders, and the results will be shown in the quality of legislation.

Sorry about coming at you like that, but I definitely think you post for effect. And that effect is to simply piss people off. Well, sometimes it works! It is frustrating to be trying to coerce political activity that could benefit us all and then to have this annoying gnat that has nothing better to do than to try to talk everyone into hopelessness and allowing your friend Cuomo to escape any negative consequences for his actions. We don't need that, the state doesn't need that and country doesn't need that. I don't know if you ever take time to listen to yourself, but your message of "give up and give in" is exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time. I want to see a united front of gun owners exacting retribution on an enemy of the Constitution along with his buddies and you are busy trying to give these guys a free pass by discouraging all resistance. Sure, I take that kind of thing quite personal and can pretty much be counted on to react. It's not a happy thing to me to be drawn into a response such as I gave, but sometimes, things just have to be said.

Look idiot ..... the shirt ain't for convincing Cuomo of anything. No body cares whether he is listening or not .... just in case you are too damn dense to figure it out! For crying out loud, try not to be so intent on stopping any opposition to your buddy that you continue to make a complete ass out of yourself. Your thinly veiled support of this bird became pretty transparent .... a long time ago.

Last I knew, a misdemeanor is not grounds for long-gun confiscation. It takes a felony for that kind of action. Is there something new (perhaps part of the safe act) that has lowered the level of criminal status as a limitation to the right to possess a long-gun? Or perhaps this is a case of some critical details being left out (or being mis-quoted). Could be that the word felony turned to misdemeanor as the story was re-told a few times.

Where can I get one of those shirts?

First of all, that is a tail. It's not a beaver or a muskrat. Their tails are black and hairless. Its not a pig. No pig has a tail that long that straight or that thick. Its not a woodchuck they do not have tails that long. It's not possum. Wrong color. Obviously it is a picture distortion, or something with its head twisted in a way to make the head-shape unidentifiable If I had to guess, I would say a housecat with something in it's mouth, and the head turned away. I know that is a stretch, but the tail shape, the color and 90% of it's shape says housecat. It's just the area around the head where something weird-looking is happening.

Maybe .... Maybe not. Gun is one huge course. Bow is another huge course. Trapping is yet another huge course. Add them all up, and you are looking at hours and hours of dis-incentive to participate in the outdoor activities. And if the courses are getting to be rare, or require long drives out of town, I think I can see a problem. I can't say that these courses are a bad idea because they're not, but it sounds like there is a growing access problem that needs to be addressed.

This is a great point. So many guys tend to over-bow themselves .... even guys that should know better. That point reminds me of the time that I was shooting my bow set at 70 pounds. I was shooting regular weekly league competitions all summer with this bow, and never any sign of strain. But then there came a day late in the bow season where the temperature was very cold, and I had spent a few hours, hunched up, braced against the 20 degrees and the wind. Every muscle was tensed up fighting that cold. The shoulders were all scrunched up and hands jammed in my pockets .... you get the picture. Yup, sure enough along came a deer and I absolutely could not pull back that same bow that I had been shooting NFAA field rounds all summer with ease. The point is that when you are shooting at the edge of your capability, any little problem may wreck opportunities for you. Also, I have to add that struggling against excessive poundage is a great way to permanently install crappy shooting form that you may never be able to break later. And yet another point: You are always hearing about these guys with screwed up shoulders from years of shooting bows that their particular build was never meant to be pulling. Heavy poundage is a great way to cut your archery years short.

Why are deer so susceptible to these kinds of freakisms. Do they have too many of them too close to nuclear power plants or something?

The temptation is huge because quitting smoking can be such a prideful accomplishment. but I always try to think back at all the preaching, and cajoling, and all the people who seemed to be only interested in showing me their superiority as they lectured me on the evils of smoking and I really try super hard not to become them. But then, I am only human and slip up once in a while.....lol.

There's nothing wrong with these bow comparison reports. but there re some intangibles that come across to clearly in print. Also an awful lot of features of bow reports are so subjective, and some of them mean absolutely nothing to you. However, for someone who is new to archery, these reports do familiarize you with terminology, and what other people may consider important. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that when you are trying to evaluate bows for a perspective purchase, don't rely solely on the brief synopsis style reports alone. Use as many sources of info as possible. Good archery books to try to establish criteria; word of mouth opinions (evaluate credibility ....lol); actual trial shooting; and also add in some of these reports. Beware of choices based on cost (you don't always get what you pay for). Start the selection process early and take your time. As has been mentioned already, speed is a very over-rated consideration so in my opinion it is quite far down on the priority chart.

Who can say what goes on in the mind of a bird .... lol. I do remember a story about a grouse that befriended some hunter and used to meet him everyday and travel a ways with as he walked.