Doc

I have to agree on a couple of points: First you are absolutely right. It really is no trick to recognize the rut when you see it. Second, I really don't require any advanced notice. I'll be there when it happens. I guess that is why I never invested a whole lot of study into some of the predictive theories. Even when I was a working stiff, I was always able to set my own hours and always had a pile of vacation. Now..... what the heck. I'm out there all the time. I'm sure that I will not miss the rut ....ha-ha.

I kind of prefer not to call it slowing down, but rather, hunting smarter. That sounds a whole lot better ..... lol.

What size bird-shot is recommended for them things. I'm not real good at wing-shooting with my rifle.

Here's the article that I found before: http://www.qdma.com/articles/10-things-we-know-about-mature-buck-movements Now lets see if I have retyped that anywhere near correctly. I can no longer cut and paste stuff on this site. Edit: Same article as your second link .... lol

Interesting. It is amazing that the moon phase belief is so wide-spread, and has found a home with several well-known biologists and supposed "deer experts". It would be interesting to see how (or if) they rebut these studies

What on earth would we do if there was a proven case or two in NYS of CWD or some other deadly deer disease being fatally passed to humans, maybe even some disease that we don't even know about yet. You know that big game license sales in NY would drop to zero. How would deer herds be contained?

I wouldn't be too quick to condemn any moon-phase/rut connections. I mean, who would think that so much deer behavior is governed by photo-periodism. That really doesn't make a whole lot of sense and yet it is pretty well accepted now that deer are affected by it. Who knows, maybe the moon gets into the act too. If somebody thinks they have come up with a connection, I'm not going to argue it.

Ha-ha ..... That's Count Doc-ula

And retire my old Matthews Critter-Gitter. No, I couldn't do that. We're old buddies....lol. I would like to maybe get a new card for my game caller and drag out that new .223 that I bought last year. Maybe raise hell with some of those yotes. We've got to get some better weather before I do that though.

Lol ...... That explains it.

My first reaction was to laugh. It almost looked like the deer was daring him to hit him.

I do think that hunters are getting way more efficient. You don't find guys around without scopes all that much anymore. More and more counties are allowing rifles now so that guys can reach out and take deer that they might not even have tried to get before. Even the shotguns and slugs are improving and extending the range. So the shooting may not be as frequent but what you hear may be more kills than what used to be misses. Also sneaking carefully back into the topic of running shots, more sitting hunters may also equate to fewer running shots and a higher percent of successful shots. Back in the olden days, we used to be a lot more mobile and a lot of the deer movements were nervous trotting at best and more likely to be quick moving shots. Yes, hunters got a whole lot more shooting in back then but the targets were not as stationary (slow moving) as what a whole lot of sitters will see today. I don't know, it is all a bunch of guessing, but I agree there seems to be a whole lot less shooting and yet the harvests stay high. What can I say .... we're just getting good ..... lol.

Damn are you having that problem too? Irritating isn't it? It's gotten so I cannot even delete large blocks of highlighted text or place emoticons. Are you using Internet Explorer 11 for a browser?

I wonder which one is happening the fastest. The shrinking of NYS population or the concentrating of more and more hunters on less and less property. The other thing I wonder is exactly what parts of the state are shrinking fastest in terms of population. I have no stats, but I do not see the development of our rural area slowing down any. Some of these google map images are amazing when you start looking back into the hills where nobody ever would have thought about building and you see what can only be described as "developments in the middle of nowhere. If NYS population is on the move, some of that movement is down our way and into what used to be prime hunting lands.

Well, as they say, if I had known I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself. I know I don't hold any records here, but damn ...... 70 years old? That's disgusting, but I guess it beats the alternatives ..... lol. I'm still upright and able to climb that killer hill out back and draw that old Matthews and drag out two more deer. Who can ask for more. Anyway .... Thanks all for the good thoughts.

Yup. I don't recall them being quite that aggressive un the face, and I thought they were more flat-faced but that was a lot of years ago that I last saw any of them. Anyway, they were the same theory of operation. That price looks kind of reasonable by today's standards.

Damn, You're right! those are John Deere arrows. Purdee!

Absotively dericulous!

Yes that is why I added the disclaimer that my observations are very local and that others may not have the same observations. But what I described was not just this year alone. It has been a trend that I have been noting for several years, and have heard other people from other areas commenting on as well.

The DEC is emphatically and publicly behind the use of the crossbow in all seasons. They also were championing the early muzzleloader season, and I am convinced that if they thought for a minute that they could get away with it, they would come out in favor of extending other guns into bow season as well. In fact, aside from the extra revenue that they get for the special licensing, they probably regret that any part of the hunting season has to be given up to the bowhunters. Apparently this is not one of the areas that they have the ability to arbitrarily change the law since it is obviously a political action that is determined by legislature.

You couldn't pay me enough to open up my land to the general public. I'm not sure how great financial incentives are anyway. Anyone who could be influenced that way is probably already collecting a hole lot more cash from leases. Paying all of the taxes and still having beer money left over. Unless it was guaranteed to work, I probably wouldn't really like my tax money used that way anyway.

Hey, speaking of "wack 'em and stack 'em" philosophy, I see old Teddy Nugent is getting ready to start a new season. No that has nothing to do with the topic, but I thought it might be a nice change of pace. After 23 pages, this thread is getting a bit redundant and stale.

20 years?? I'm thinking that probably isn't all that bad. Snow blowers may not see a lot of hours of use, but they do see some very abusive conditions sometimes depending on the consistency of the snow.

The statement has been made over and over that here are no known cases of CWD tainted venison effecting humans. However that is a long way from any statement that claims that it has been proven to be harmless to humans. Yeah, I would be a little nervous about consuming venison from a know CWD zone until these safety proclamations become just a little more positive.

So, now that the DEC has decided that they are the only ones qualified to effectively take out the feral hogs, has anybody heard how many of them they have eliminated yet? Just curious as to how the "experts" are doing ..... or IF they are doing ..... lol.