Doc

I guess I must have a different attitude about hunting than most people. I never saw a reason or purpose to turn it all into some kind of arcade game. I try not to let competition of any sort with other hunters enter into my thinking or satisfaction with the activity. I have a competition between myself and the deer and that is sufficient for me. That is one of the reasons why I have never gotten into the antler scoring thing. I couldn't score a deer if I had to. I really don't want my harvests and my fulfillment to be brought down to mere numbers. My hunting is a lot more laid-back than that. That frees me up to simply enjoy the hunt and the things of nature that surround the hunt without having any pressures about how my efforts and results measure up against anybody else. Like I said, mine is a minority view and is based strictly on what I personally want to get out of hunting. That is not a judgment of what others want or do.

Well, you know that we spend a lot of money on the department that supposedly manages our wildlife (Let's not get into a discussion about how well they do that .....lol). They have determined that we need to regulate the populations of deer and that controlling the numbers of females is the most effective way to do that. The antlerless permit is the way that is best done. It is our part as hunters to participate in that thinning of doe numbers. So generally, that's what I do. That's not to say that I always agree with their assessment of the herd size. And when I don't, I have been known to not shoot any does ..... That is a rare year when I make that choice.

Wow! Poor ol' Rob is not having a real good day. Sorry about that Rob, but you have to admit that your original post did leave a lot of confusion. Also criticizing someone who was in the midst of doing the proper thing of following up on a wounded deer, really didn't sit all that well with other members. I'll say this. I have had a lot of hunts busted by a whole lot of different circumstances. And I have never been afraid to do a little whine here on this forum. Some times it helps to blow off a little steam when unfortunate events happen. People understand that. But to try to blame people for an innocent encounter especially where they are doing an honorable and ethical thing of following up on a wounded deer probably was an invite to a bit of abuse. Take a deep breath and understand that people here were simply having a little fun with you. Your post was worded badly, and expressed a sentiment not shared by very many people. Also understand that most people here have more of a problem with those that do an insufficient job of following up after the shot than someone who inadvertently blunders into another hunter's set-up. I understand when things go badly and our hunt is interrupted, That it can be a bit frustrating. But if you relax, sit back and think about it all, you will see that it was simply one of those unavoidable things that are irritating, but not really done with any malicious intent.

There are many reasons for hunting, and eating is just one of them. Leave the condemnation of taking trophies and enjoying the challenge of hunting, or whatever other reasons that people hunt to those who would shut down hunting for any and all reasons. Absolutely there are many anti-hunting folks who try to make it their business to judge and condemn our activity and motives as you are. They do so with an eye toward shutting us down. And every time you join forces with the antis by condemning the motives of other hunters, you serve their purposes and add support to their efforts of doing away with all hunting. I have to say that the tone and content of a couple of your replies certainly looks like you have more than a little commonality with those folks. There is a distinct Disney-like aspect to a couple of your replies which is the hallmark of most anti hunting people. And of course the main point that is flying completely over your head is that the alternatives to any activity that controls the population of any wildlife species is a cyclical catastrophic collapse of their entire population. And that only after the populations endure all manner of anguish and suffering by the ravages of disease and starvation. That is what you are a proponent of when you start talking about the condemnation of harvesting any species.

I believe that anyone who wants to spend every waking hour working at deer hunting and wants to devote huge amounts of their personal resources toward deer management (farming), can in fact, become very successful at harvesting very impressive animals. It's not a real trick and really doesn't require a whole lot of talent ...... just raw effort and unusual dedication. The rest of us do have lives separate from hunting, and a bit more balance in our lives. To me, that would be the quickest way to turn something that I love into a complete drudge of pressure and work. I would never be willing to do that to my favorite pastime. For me, hunting has always ben recreation .... not work. It is not my career, and that fact alone allows me to enjoy it to its fullest.

Sometimes just switching up tactics can put some extra life back into your interest. I have to say that if all I did was to sit in a stand for hour after hour for a couple months, it would get a bit tiresome. Try getting out and putting in some time still-hunting. It is a whole different way of hunting and very productive as well.

The last few years, there seems to have been some kind of covert rut in our area. Rubs and scrapes are few and far between. And yet personal sightings and camera results show that there are plenty of bucks of all sizes around. It doesn't make a lot of sense, but that is what I have been seeing.

This a point that I have been making for several years now, ever since I have been hearing all these people who want AR to be adopted statewide. The point is that not all habitat and population situations are created equal across this state and basically one size regulation does not fit all. I'm not sure what is so difficult to understand about that. I think that hunters are very susceptible to the line of thinking that what they see in their hunting area is the way it is all over the state and can't imagine that there are places that may not have the same opportunities as they do. It's either that or it is an attitude of "I've got mine and the heck with anyone else". But either way, I totally understand that when you severely limit or eliminate DMPs, and then place severe restrictions on what bucks can be taken, you are pretty much telling the hunters of those areas that they can spend the bucks for their license, but it pretty much entitles them to only participate in a "nature walk". Grab your camera and leave the gun at home. And then we wring our hands over the fact that every year brings a smaller and smaller number of hunters.

It's been a lot of years since I have felt the need to impress anyone other than myself with my harvest selections. Buck or doe, it's all venison. As far as challenges go, I will say that the only thing that makes a buck a bigger challenge is the fact that there are fewer of them. As far as I know, there have been no studies that claim that bucks are any more intelligent than does.

So that's how they pull off that disappearing act. They have learned how to shed their antlers for self-protection.

I'm thinking maybe something like www.peta.org might be more in line with his/her interests.

Apparently a happy ending.

Do you have any other choices? A .22 hornet would be great. A .222 or .223 would work well too. Heck, a .22 long rifle will do the job as long as you aren't trying to reach out too far. .308 is a bit of overkill if you have any intentions of using the pelt afterward.

What is it? Do we have a bit of a fox version of Bambi-ism going on here? Does the fox look a bit too much like a little doggie? you probably have a problem with bobcat hunters shooting the little kitty-cat too. It's a shame these things don't all look like rats ....right? That would make it all better. Come-on, what the heck is wrong with you coming on a hunting site and whining about such crazy stuff? Do you have a problem understanding the concept of maintaining wildlife health through population control. That's some pretty basic stuff. Try to back off of the Disney movies for a while and throw away that PETA stuff when it comes in the mail. The little cute doggies and kitties of the wild will do just fine with a little population control .... lol.

Yeah, we have a pile of roadkilled deer around this year. Some of them are just downright gruesome.

You've got some mighty fine venison there. After all that hard work it seems like you finally got rewarded.

Like Fasteddie said ...... be sure to follow all of the doctors orders. No cheating and sneaking out there doing things you've been told not to. You'll do just fine. We'll all be thinking of you.

I am not so sure just what the management benefits are if you set up so many restrictions that you begin to lose the most important and irreplaceable management tool that the DEC has ...... the hunters. We seem to be getting regulation-crazy. Got a problem?... set up a new round of restrictions (sounds like gun control ....lol). I think there are signs that thinking exclusively in that way (admittedly along with a lot of other reasons) is beginning to take its toll on the future of hunting.

782 years old? .... lol. Sorry to hear of your breathing problems. It does sound like you may have come onto a solution with the mask. I'm a couple of years behind you in age, but I am feeling the ravages of hanging around for all these years. The old legs aren't quite what they used to be, and the endurance is getting to be a bit pitiful compared to my younger years. But I still get out there and get venison for the freezer. I have cut way back as far as how far back in I will hunt because there is always the reality that if I get something back there, I have to drag it out. Seems like when I was younger I didn't even worry about such things. The biggest thing that I discovered this year is that I seem to have lost my "sneak". Still hunting requires a lot of balance. When you feel that twig under-foot, you have to be able to pick that foot up again and re-position it without a whole lot of instability and noise. Man, that doesn't seem to happen quite as smoothly as it used to. I make a lot of mistakes these days. But what the heck, we do what we can for as long as we can .... eh?

My attitude toward taking a doe is purely based on my perception of the population size. Right now, with all the landscape destruction, I have no problem with taking does. The past couple of years, these critters have cost me a bundle in mangled up, chopped down, uprooted plants and shrubs and trees. We have no deer shortages here. So I have no problems taking a few of them out. I have seen years when I gave them a pass because I felt that the DEC had over-shot their mark with all the permits. Sentiment? ..... No none of that yet. Maybe when I really get old .... lol.

I keep my competition between me and the deer.

People are convinced that deer can read posted signs and have all retreated to your land for safety.

All my posted signs are on a plywood board, which is nailed to a tree. The nails are not driven all the way down to allow for tree growth. I went to separate boards because of the tree growth which would pull the nails right through the aluminum sign, leaving the sign on the ground, perhaps under the leaves and pretty much useless and even in some cases lost. I also have a self-imposed rule that when standing at a sign, I am able to see at least one sign before and at least one sign after. They are well within the required minimum distance and no one can claim that they didn't see the signs. That kind of care eliminates any and all arguments about mistaken trespassing. When someone enters my property they are willfully and undeniably aware that they are breaking the law and trespassing.

I hope they have something as good or better to replace it with. Frankly, I think the DECALS system is the best thing that has ever happened to hunting license issuing. It sure beats any systems that preceded it. I remember all the hand printing and waiting and the BS involved with obtaining a permit. What a pain that was.

Just a point of curiosity, but do they really regulate how many hunters that can hunt in a designated unit? Is there some kind of lottery system that required for hunters to be able to hunt in certain WMUs? I'm not familiar with the regulations of those states, so I really don't understand how they accomplish hunter number regulation.