Doc

We got very close to 50 degrees yesterday, and it seemed like the deer were really loving it. Six at our place and another 12 stopped us on the way to town when they were crossing the road. They all looked in very good rig. Meanwhile, the body count along our local roads continues to mount. It really looks like the population is still very high. I know that here in 8N the number of permits was obscene, but it still doesn't seem to make much difference. I wonder if maybe they have finally reached a point where they are issuing more permits than hunters are willing to fill or capable of filling.

For me this year's state elections are already decided. I am voting a single issue, and that is the Safe Act issue. The voting record on that law is my litmus test. If you voted for it .... you're out of here! I know, that flies in the face of everything that we are told to base our vote on, but for me this is a special election. I have just watched a lot of our legislators trash the 2nd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I watched them employ some of the sneakiest tactics that border on illegal, and should indeed be made illegal. I watched them all fall in line behind this miserable excuse for a Governor and that includes a lot of Republicans as well, showing that their politics is far more important than any independent thought on the issue of gun rights. Every character flaw that a politician can have was bared in that vote. I also picked up on a new philosophy of legislators in that they now hold their constituents in contempt and currently feel beyond the reach of the voters. They make fools of us and feel untouchable. Well, this year it is important to put that "touch" back into public service. It is time to restore that fear of the voter again rather than the contempt and disrespect. I can think of no other issue to express our outrage over and to demonstrate that even a minority can join with others to create an upset, and to show these guys that disrespecting constituents can be risky to their political careers. It may even involve holding my nose and voting for somebody that I would normally not even consider voting for. So this is the year to put the fear back into politicians. We have the issue. We have the gun owner's rage. We have mostly a scene of gun owner solidarity if we can keep this issue alive. For the first time in forever, we have had gun owners demonstrating, and pretty well fired up about this Safe Act. It is a once in a lifetime situation of solidarity that could make the gun owning lobby something that will not be tested again for a very long time. To put it another way, if we do not seize this once in a lifetime opportunity, we will be clearly demonstrating that the gun lobby is a paper tiger to be laughed at and bulldozed over with even more invasive laws to an extent that we can't even imagine. So am I going to worry about issues like fiscal and social responsibility? .... Not this year. That will wait until after I have sent my message this year to these legislators. For me this year is the election to take back our right to hire and fire these guys and let them know exactly why it is being done. To me that is currently the most important issue. At stake is the credibility of the voters. You can't get any more important than that.

I have seen people tapping trees in their front yards. a half dozen big maples can produce an awful lot of sap in a decent season. I think the rule of thumb is 40 gallons of sap to 1 gallon of syrup. 1 gallon of syrup goes a long way. I'll bet the average family could easily get by on just a quart per year. That's only 10 gallons of sap. Also, remember for home use, it doesn't have to meet any kinds of industry standards. And I'll guarantee that if you make it yourself, it will be the best syrup you ever tasted even if you really mess it up bad.

For the hobbyist, it is not exactly rocket science. If you can boil water, you can make some version of maple syrup. It may not be the best quality, and might be slightly sprinkled with wood ashes, and you might overshoot the first time or two and make maple rock candy, but it is a lot of fun to play around with. We started out 30 years ago with an old wash-tub and an open wood fire. However even fooling around as an armature doe require some significant time. It's a great thing to involve the whole family in so you can take shifts in feeding the fire and watching the sap. Finishing it off on the kitchen stove is a great idea. We used to use the very scientific method of boiling it until it looked thick enough .... lol. But I will say that even the crappiest syrup that we ever made was sought after by every relative and even a few that claimed to be relatives that I never even met before. Give it a shot. It's fun!

Could it be that the comment wasn't really an anti-hunting remark, but simply a suggestion that there might be less offensive public ways of stating that you're using the gun for hunting? We don't always have to present ourselves with maximum shock value and confrontation. As far as the original question, that may have simply been a way to start a conversation. Without hearing the tone or seeing the facial expressions and body language, it is hard to tell from the described scenario, just what the remarks really meant. Could have been all quite innocent. Lacking in person observation, I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt.

Ha-ha .... Bribing people to go to church? Seems kind of strange no matter what you are giving away.

Kind of difficult for him to argue "ignorance of the law" since he was lobbying for it ..... lol. Hang him!!!!

Just to present the other side of the coin..... Those of us who use the power of the editorial page can also do quite a bit of harm when presenting the gun owner's side of the Safe Act if not done carefully, thoughtfully and properly. An article that is written in any way that can be construed as extreme or written with poor grammar, spelling and word choices can really help the anti-gunners more than gun owners. It really is as much about perception as it is about the facts and the arguments. I think it would be a good idea to get a second opinion on whatever you compose from somebody that would not pull any punches about what they thought of your letter. Better yet, post it here and ask for a critique. We know that nobody pulls any punches here ..... lol.

I just read a headline in the Rochester paper that claims that 90% of the Great Lakes are frozen. I had no idea as to the extent of the ice. Who knows, maybe there is some starvation going on. They said something about the amount of Great Lakes frozen water is the greatest in 20 some years. They had some other neat stats about records and other features of the freezing.

I can't tell you how much pleasure I get from this story, but as ants said, I'm afraid this turkey will likely skate on this one, simply because of the political correctness of his public attitudes on guns.

Well, I suppose we have to keep in mind that it is entertainment. I suspect that if you followed someone around that lived a fairly primitive life, it would be very difficult to make a weekly show out of such boredom. So there has to be some fabrication involved. The trick is to simply enjoy these kinds of programs for what they are intended to be .... simply entertainment. However, it is entertainment to make fun of some of the drama that has been manufactured. I remember the Alaskan that ran the fly-in trapline had a snowmobile breakdown miles and miles from his cabin and was supposedly in potential grave danger as he was forced to walk all night to get back to camp. Forced to walk out??? Why not grab a ride with the guy running the camera .... ha-ha. And then there are the occasions where supposedly he is making a first trip out after a big storm, and yet he is riding on a well tracked-up snowmobile trail. But I guess we are not supposed to notice that .... lol. Ok, I can play along with that. I still enjoy some of these programs because I believe there is some truth in how these guys live, and I try not to dwell too hard on how much of that stuff is real.

Anybody involved in grafting limbs onto other trees? I have a Bartlett pear that never really took off (not enough light), and I have a seckel pear that is in great shape. The Bartlett will be coming out this year, so I want to try grafting several branches onto the seckel just to see what happens. I guess I'll be getting the scions soon. I was just wondering if anyone else here messes around with that sort of thing.

Sounds like a not too good idea.

Ok, here we are in March again this year. Anybody getting any antler pictures now. I am curious as to whether the weather has any effect. It isn't supposed to, but who knows? Perhaps as a evolved energy savings during a cold or long winter they March antlers might come off a bit earlier than usual. It would be interesting to see if that turns out to be the case.

But this is not the first time that Erie has frozen over, and Ontario isn't frozen over yet. So why all of a sudden?

So I would guess that it's an evolved sensitivity designed to have them stock up on food energy in the face of a storm. So how come we haven't evolved the same way and run to the refrigerator when a storm approaches .... or do we? I never paid attention....lol.

I am maybe the world's worst off-hand shooter. I would say that 90% of my shots are bench rested when stand shooting. My gun stands are built with shooting rests in mind. For still-hunting, I carry shooting stix. It is a huge benefit, and I mean HUGE, to be able to steady rest on something.

I am saying exactly what I said before. Once you start adopting and promoting the arguments of the anti bow-hunters, there is no stopping that line of reasoning. If we were the ones writing the laws and could guarantee that a line was really going to be drawn then maybe we could successfully play that tune, but the fact is that we can't all of a sudden say, "That's far enough". We do not have that power. So you coming up with a wish-list of stopping points ands rules is wasted effort. When you start down that path of saying that there are shortfalls in the archery equipment and the people who use it, you have stepped out on a slippery slope that you or I or anybody in archery can control.

And I am saying that you cannot take one of the two weapons and strip it of all of the advantages that it has and then make some kind of hunting comparison where those things are put back on. I understand that the truth is widely stretched on both sides, but making bogus comparisons are not the way to combat that. Let that crossbow shooter go into a prone position with a bipod, or bench rest his crossbow on a log, and you will begin to have a look at the crossbow advantage. Let the compound shooter use some sort of draw lock so that neither of them has to draw the string in the presence of the deer. Anything short of that is simply an irrelevant comparison that is just as much biased and comprised of manufactured claims as any that are being made on either side of the argument.

Every town and city has some form of newspaper that publishes letters. And yet we seldom see any pro-gun letters. One would think that somewhere in each municipality there would be at least one gun owner that is fairly skilled at writing. This guy has a very organized, clear and credible way of writing and has reached one news outlet. How about all the others. It's a free, widely read mode of putting a point across. Why is it always left for anti-gun/anti-hunting individuals to use?

I really don't care. It is irrelevant.

It doesn't matter what your intent is. I'm just telling you that this exact same line of reasoning (or lack thereof) is used in exactly the same way by a lot of people who would just as soon there were no such thing as a bow season at all. It makes no sense to keep handing people incapable people more and more efficient weapons in what is supposed to be a weapons-challenged season unless you are willing to take it completely to it's logical conclusion. You can use a lot of justifications for crossbows, but I really do disagree that it should serve as a weapon to make up for archer's shortfalls. There just is no stopping that mindset once to accept it.

Keep an eye on the bird feeder. When it looks like the birds are going nuts and every bird in the valley is chowing down, you will also see the deer doing some extra munching. And yes it is a sign of an impending storm front. Works best in winter conditions.

Well, frankly I don't even have enough interest to go and look. As I explained in great length, we are not talking about target range competition. It is completely irrelevant.

Ha-ha .... I've heard a lot of gun hunters say the same thing. Only they're not talking about "bad apples". They're talking about the whole idea of using arrows to kill deer. The bow season is one that purposely and deliberately increases challenge through equipment handicap. Now, either we believe in that or we don't. And if we don't then let's go with the most efficient form of weapon .... the gun.