Doc

Milk weed seeds will show you what the wind is doing after it leaves your immediate area. Most wind direction checking powers are only good for 6 feet or so. Send one of those milkweed seeds out there and watch all the twists and turns your scent really is taking. Sometimes, there are some interesting surprises that go on that the powders will never tell you.

That's the first thing that popped into my mind. That's only about an hour north of me. She probably has a whole stash of them corded up somewhere .... lol. Ah, but unfortunately, there probably is no shortage of these anti-gun freaks down our way too. I'm real happy to see that the theft is being highlighted in the local media, complete with her picture and name. I hope the public humiliation factor will serve as a deterrent to other sign-thieves. At least it will show that they can be caught and prosecuted.

Here's the secret. As you go through the woods, keep an eye out scanning the tree-tops. This part of the season, deer resort to climbing trees. Yup .... that's where they are all hiding right now.

And yet I repeatedly see comments on this forum that swear that the statistical models used by the DEC are sound and have been audited for credibility by some kind of accredited authority, and all is well with the DEC statistical calculations. Personally, I am not an expert in that area, but have a natural skepticism about any system that relies on scant samplings and interpolations based on estimates based on another series of other unverified estimates, and calculated factors and constants, and no system of actual verification to guard against statistical creep. On the other hand, I have very little to offer in terms of better ways to handle the management numbers game. I will say that in the past, I have noted massive overpopulation conditions and severe under-population conditions and the knee-jerk over-reactions to each. It kind of makes me wonder where the actual "predictive management" comes into play as opposed to "reactive management". Yes, at the risk of being called a behind-the-times non-believer in the religion of statistics by those who have their livelihoods coupled to that science, I have been known to express skepticism. But even with that risk in mind, I have to admit to having a very difficult time with swallowing a system that has shown historical flawed results as often as the NYS game management applications have. I may not have alternative solutions to offer, but I still don't have to pretend that all is well in the world of game management.

I was trying to figure out just what the escape philosophy was supposed to be there. She was running around in circles out in the field with buildings (safety) just in the background. It looked like pure panic without any reasonable flight. I suspect that she was a in a whole lot more danger than any of them realized. And unfortunately, nobody seemed to be interested in lending a hand in fact the one with the camera thought it was so funny they nearly choked to death. I know that a buck in heavy rut can be a pretty aggressive and brutal creature. Not really something to be messing with.

Checked the dictionary ...... the plural of doe is doe or does. both can be used.

Who the heck needs that nonsense. This guy knows that the horn-blowing and gun shooting, and dumb hunter interference is going to happen. He said that he is between two developments. He never said the place was crawling with deer. So why would he put himself in that position. I have hunted PA. We got permission to hunt a huge farm, and as we walked away we could hear the farmer muttering, "I hope they get them all". There was no possibility of harassment there, and I know the state is covered with a lot of farms where the farmers are more than happy to have you hunt there. Why anybody would try to hunt in between two housing developments is beyond me. Yes, I understand that he has a perfectly legal right to hunt there, but why would you do that?

The only place where I can track deer and have a chance of catching up with them is state land. That's the only place where there is enough contiguous land with legal access to actually pull it off. In my younger years that was a popular way for me to hunt. The problem now as I continue to get old and decrepit is that I have to keep in mind that anything I get has to be dragged all the way back. I used to get so far away that that would be impractical anymore. A two mile drag up and downhill is pretty much out of the question anymore.

Ever dress with so much clothing that you have trouble pulling your scope close enough to your eye? There are times when I have to struggle to get the butt of my gun close enough to my shoulder to get the proper eye relief because of the bulk of the clothing I have piled on.

Many years ago, I remember arguing with a co-worker that there would come a day when hunting would become a paid activity. I believe we are well on our way in that direction and moving fast. Two years ago I had 300 acres of prime deer hunting country that was all of a sudden posted up tighter than a drum with the only access for hunting granted only after payment of fairly expensive "membership fees". That's just one example and there are at least two other examples that I can think of. Leases are becoming commonplace with hunters bidding against each other for prime hunting land. Its a shame, but the European model for hunting access is quickly over-taking the U.S. Sport of the wealthy?.... yeah, that's where we are heading as state land continues to become so overcrowded that that may not even be an alternative before long without impractical travel.

Yes, "stuff like that will happen in life", but we don't have to lay awake at night dreaming up new ways to increase the odds that those things will happen. We have to stop trying to use the law to beat hunters over the head with. That seems to be the first thought in everyone's head, to just keep tightening the screws and see how many hunters we drive out of our ranks. Well, it seems to me that if the object is to take more does, aggravating more hunters out of the woods is not a real slick way of doing that. It's a disturbing trend in thinking these days that seems to be taking ahold. Got a problem? .... Dream up something to screw with the hunters. I wonder where that mentality is going to stop?

All my gun stands have some kind of gun rest incorporated into the cover. However, many of my deer are taken during still-hunting where a perfect gun rest may not exist. So while bench shooting is essential for sighting in, the off-hand shooting should be part of the practice routine because that may represent the majority of your shots when you are in hunting situations. If nothing else, it familiarizes yourself with your limitations. And remember, "A man's gotta know his limitations" .... lol.

Seriously .... We have had some winds this year where I actually felt a bit uneasy about the dead limbs that were coming out of the trees. I had one situation where a huge tree had come down between the time I walked in the trail til the time I walked out. When they talk about "widow-makers", I have seen quite a few potential examples this year. During those high winds days, I noticed that I stopped worrying about how the deer would react, and started spending my time checking out all the dead limbs overhead .... lol.

Seriously, as of 11:00 am Saturday morning there had been more shots fired before legal shooting hours than there was after.....by quite a wide percentage too.

I came down out of the trees a couple of decades ago when I started getting a bit phobic about heights. Actually, I haven't missed being up there at all. I kind of like the thrill of taking on these critters in an eyeball-to-eyeball situation. The excitement level spikes when you have that vulnerability. I have had deer so close I could have reached out and touched them. That's something that will get the old ticker thumping.

And for those people that are super-concerned about harvest age, you have a better chance of hunters being more selective if they know there is only one buck available to them. I think there is an attitude that the first one is meat in the freezer, and then the trophy hunting can actually begin with the NEXT one.

That's a wonderful system as long as the deer come along in the right sequence. How pissed would you be to have the buck of a lifetime come along before you even saw a doe? Let's not be in such a hurry to heap restrictions all over ourselves every time we think we have a problem. There is way too much of this, "gotta problem - pass a law" mentality with no one thinking of the potential consequences.

They certainly will if somebody shoots them .... lol.

There was one thing that I still remember from back in the dark-ages when I took my hunter safety training, that made a hell of an impression on me. They showed pictures of some of the hunting accidents. I remember a picture of a guy hanging over a fence with a rather nasty looking head wound. And there were a few of some other shotgun wounds. These shock tactics put those images in my head as a permanent mental display of the consequences of lapses of safety awareness. Now two things that might put a damper on these tactics: 1 With all the namby-pamby attitudes about subjecting youths to the trauma of death, I'm sure that today those kinds of tactics would not be tolerated by parents. 2 With the constant exposure of blood and gore on TV (especially the CSI programs) the impact might not exactly be the same as it was back in the more innocent days when I took the course. But anyway, the point is that if somehow it could be brought across to the students that these weapons are not to be taken lightly and that their misuse has some rather disgusting and life altering consequences, perhaps the ideas of firearms safety would be taken more seriously and become something that is always on the minds of future hunters. I would suggest a segment in the course that details some of the consequences of unsafe hunting. I mean some true stories of the impacts of hunting accidents on not only the victims and their families, but on the shooter and his family. I think some "shock tactics" might actually help cut down on some of these fatalities.

I guess the question was aimed at gun season. For me the answer differs with bowhunting vs. gun hunting. After opening weekend, I kind of need the noise killing wind. Also a little wind tends to keep the direction more consistent than those light breezes that react to every little rise or hollow in the ground and those thermals. Yes, once the guys start emptying out of the woods, I have to go find the deer instead of waiting for somebody to push one to me. So, that means I am out there stumbling around the woods, and these days I need all the cover I can get.

Well, if for no other reason, I use binoculars to slow down my still-hunting pace. Few slow steps - glass the whole area, a few more steps - glass the whole area.

How about pipe smokers. Any adverse hunting effects from that? Frankly, I used to smoke for many years and couldn't tell you how many times I had to set the cigarette down to pick up the bow. You either have got the wind or you don't. I do wonder about strong aromatic smokes that periodically hit one of those back-blows, and distributes smoke molecules out along the trail that you are watching. Does it leave residual scent behind like footprints? Also, do the stronger scents hang together more and travel farther when the wind starts getting unpredictable. Ah, all these questions and so few answers. All I can say is that hunting is a recreational activity. If smoking enhances your hunting, go ahead and light up. If you want to quit smoking, hunting sits pretty low on the long list of good reasons.

So, exactly how do you drag a bear. It seems like it would be a bit like trying to tie a drag-rope on huge garbage bag of jello. They don't exactly come with handles.

I just finished up a 4 hour still hunt. The wind I was whining about this morning has stopped completely except for that damned swirling. What I have been reminded of is how loud the leaves can be when there is absolutely no wind, and they are all dried out. Of course, I believe I have totally lost my "sneak" with old age. You got to pick those damned feet up, and my balance isn't what it needs to be for foot and weight control. It doesn't matter anyway. I got a whole lot of exercise. But either I need some snow, or some rain to dampen those leaves a bit or bring back a little wind. Or maybe if I can find a buck that is deaf. You know one of those old "Mature" bucks .... lol.

I was over at a deer processor the other day, and I was looking at some of the bucks that were laying there plus a few that I saw guys walking away with that were caped out, and I was thinking, what the heck is all this AR talk all about? There were quite a few darned nice deer there, and we are not an AR WMU. It seems to me that every year the bucks get bigger and there are more of them without anybody passing any irritating new restrictive laws. Are we looking for a book-buck behind every tree? I'm sorry, but I really can't get all excited about whatever latest and greatest antler control scheme that people are able to concoct. I think it is a whole lot of kicking and screaming over nothing.