Doc

So tell me.... What is our legal standing if we should happen to blow those things out of the sky? Are we in big trouble?

It is not necessary to elect "true Conservatives", although that would be nice. But this year I am aiming to oust those who voted for the SAFE act. It's a single issue election for me. It's all about who voted for or against that law. I don't care what the politics and ideologies of the opposition are, I will be voting AGAINST those that voted FOR that law. The sole purpose of my vote this year is to send a message that voting for anti-gun legislation is hazardous to your political career. For me that is the only NYS issue .... "how did you vote on the SAFE act? You voted for it? ..... You're outta here". I'm not making this election anymore complicated than that. And then I am following up the vote with an email to these people explaining my vote. If most of the gun owners would do the same, there would never be another legislator that would ever dare vote anti-gun again.....EVER! One vote.... one issue, and the end of the NYS anti-gun bias in the legislature. If we don't do something like that, politicians be further emboldened and will take that spineless apathy as meaning that the gun owners are simply a paper tiger that can be laughed at and walked on at will. If we don't punish these people, you can look to an unlimited amount of new gun legislation that will make gun ownership an unaffordable luxury full of so much harassment that no one will want to be a part of it.

So it looks like we have lost Miller Nurseries as a supplier of bare-root fruit trees. Does anyone have an alternate supplier within a reasonable drive from Canandaigua? I am not sure about the reliability of mail-order houses when it comes to bare-root trees Anybody have any experience or recommendations for mail order sources. Personally I would rather have some place that I could drive to and look at the product and then come home with them. But I'm not sure that I have that option anymore. I know that places like Lowes have them but they usually don't look all that good. And then there's Bristol Nurseries out on Rte 96 but they want your right arm and your first born for each tree. But I keep getting the feeling that I'm overlooking or forgetting someplace good. So anyways, next spring I will be looking for a couple of pear trees to add to my orchard. I just have no idea where to go since Millers bit the dust. Any help???

I realize that we haven't had this kind of cold in quite a few years, but I am curious as to whether I am doing a smart thing sticking my cameras back out in this sub-zero weather. I understand that next week we are going to have another bout of crazy-cold weather that will be even colder than this one that we have just gotten by. I don't want to get into a position of throwing batteries away by putting them out in battery-killing temperatures. On the other hand, I just bought a new Cuddeback Attack, white-flash (replaces the one I had stolen), and I would like to test it out as soon as possible. So chances are good that I will have that one out there very soon. So, what is your experiences with battery life in these super cold temperatures?

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.