Doc

How long do you usually keep your vehicle before replacing it? Do you work on your cars yourself to keep them running? Who is currently driving a car with super high mileage or age on a daily basis?

What else do you have in the area. If that is the best you are likely to see, take him. It's a personal choice, (the key word there is "choice").

This is the beginning of the "tricky" part of the season. Apples dropping, acorns falling, crops are being harvested ..... all kinds of changes in the deer world. Soon the rut changes will be changing up the patterns even more. There are all kinds of things happening and things to come that will turn all the "scouting" observations on their head.

Actually the goal is to be able to get up our "cardiac hill" and get back off it in an upright condition ..... ha-ha. And maybe somewhere along the line, get a couple of deer. I'm just taking each season, one at a time just to see how many more I can keep stringing together. Each additional bow season is a goal in itself. I have an additional goal for gun season which is getting a deer with my new rifle. This year will be the first time I have ever used a rifle for deer. Love my new rifle, and am looking forward to being able to pick the exact hair that I want the bullet to hit. Antler scores and such nonsense I will leave to others. The object this year is to increase the enjoyment and quality of the hunt and add to a lifetime of memories and experiences in the woods, doing the thing that has dominated my life.

Well, first of all, I would want absolute proof that he came from the deer farm. Ear tag, tattoo in ear, or some other sure-fire proof. There are far too many people that take delight in trying to downplay the achievements of others. Jealousy or just plain meaness, I would not put it past anyone to start a rumor just to make the guy feel bad about a once in a lifetime achievement. If there was an ear tag or tattoo or some other means of ID, it would kind of ruin the whole thing for me. The kill would be enjoyed as a source of meat, and like somebody said, cut the antlers off just to have them to look at. Taxidermy costs are way to high to waste the money on a tame deer. That's kind of like having a black angus head mounted and hanging on the wall .... lol.

That's interesting ..... the deer is a public resource until you kill and tag it and then it is yours. So actually there is a circumstance where you actually own the deer. The ownership actually changes hands.

Kind of like that old saying, "I'd rather be lucky than good".

I get that all the time in my front yard. There is a huge flower bed that acts like a magnet for deer. So everytime I see them out there, I knock on the window. Well that doesn't work anymore. They just look up and then go back to munching plants and bushes. So now I have to open the front door and yell at them. Sometimes that doesn't even work, so I have to step outside and wave my arms while yelling at them. They stand there looking at me and then eventually mosey on out of the yard ears back and looking kind of irritated.

I have found two unprotected dug wells while hunting. One was in a place no one would ever expect to find a well. It was half way up a hill that is covered by mature oaks and maples. I have no idea what purpose it served or why anyone would go to all the work to dig the thing in such a remote spot. That one was on our property, and we filled it in with rocks from a nearby streambed. The other one was next to an old foundation of a cabin on an abandoned stretch of town road. As far as I know it is still there waiting like a trap. No cover, no sign ..... nothing.

There are several fields around Canandaigua that are being cut right now (silage).

Time to get out the old crystal ball. When you reach the number of years that I have, you too will have seen many, many, careers disappear completely. Technology is rapidly eliminating whole departments, so what looks like an iron-clad, secure occupation, could someday be replaced with a computer program or two. The day of job security is a thing of the past, but when choosing career direction changes, perhaps a little heavy pre-thought stirred in with a bit of honest prophesy might help put the odds more in your favor.

Is your house in an area where it is legal to hunt?

Yeah, as long as you still have farmers. Apparently BKhunter has plenty of real live active farming. Around our area, the situation is reversed. We have lots of heavy thick impenetrable acreage and zero farms. Our needs are reversed from his. Somebody in my area would definitely be considering food plots. But I mentioned the brushlots and browse areas as being something that he may consider adding in order to make his property more complete, diverse and deer-friendly.

Not everything is about food. There is more to suitable deer habitat than simply things to eat. There are situations where good dense cover may be the thing that is lacking on a property. Perhaps that is a more important add than considering food plots where ample food already exists. Heavy dense brush lots can be more important. I'm sure there are some guys that trash good cover just to put in a food plot. There are plenty of browse kinds of plants and bushes that combine food and cover that can be added to unused land. Cover and browse can be established with little cash outlay and a minimum of effort, and it is a habitat improvement that is self-sustaining. So, when looking to make your land more comfortable and appealing to your local deer herd, don't simply lock into creating food alone. There are other things to consider.

I have taken the ultimate precaution. I hunt from the ground .... lol. But in all honesty I have to admit that it really is not due to a fear of falling. I simply have that psychological "heights" thing. Vertigo I believe it is called. However, in the last 20 years or so since I have come down of of the trees, I will say that I haven't missed it a bit. The handicap of facing the critters on the ground, face-to-face really hasn't been all that noticeable. I know a lot of people can't even fathom hunting deer from the ground, but having done both, I will tell you there is no more exciting way to hunt.

What a great post! I hope it hits home with everyone who takes to the trees this year. I have a cousin who is no longer with us because of a treestand fall (dead at a very young age), so you are indeed very lucky. Looking at that picture of your foot, it's hard to use the word "lucky", but I know for a fact just how bad that could have turned out.

It's not too difficult to see how we are all tarred with the same broad-brush when non-hunters read such obscenity performed in the name of hunting. It's kind of like when the media uses the term "hunters" when they are describing acts of poaching ...... guilty by association. It drives me crazy!

Is there any danger in getting permission so far in advance that the landowner forgets that they gave it? It may be important to obtain written permission just to be on the safe side. I would also think that it should be important to discuss rules of use with the landowner. In other words, talk about where it would be appropriate for you to park and any areas that he might want you to stay out of and other things that he might want you to abide by.

Statistically no. But still, don't try to tell that to a family that has just suffered a loss of this sort. My guess is that the danger level is proportional to the level of carelessness involved. Most of us at one time or another encounter a belief in our immortality and invincibility that is when the percentages begin to climb. Beware of becoming too complacent simply because of some national statistics.

It is possible that the theft of my sign was an act of vandalism. Perhaps when the leaves come off in a few weeks, I might find it chucked into the brush down the road. I hate to think that it was stolen by another gun owner that just wanted to put it in his yard .... although anything is possible. On the other hand I think your idea is still a good one. By the way thank you for buying and displaying that sign. These things are popping up all over and are sending a clear message that the rage over the so-called Safe-Act has not died down as some of those guys that signed that law were hoping. It has to be giving these politicians a few nightmares.

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This kind of tragedy has touched our family directly, so I know what is going on in the hearts and lives of this guy's family and friends. It's an all too often story that we hear over and over every hunting season.

I'm sure that if they haven't yet, they will soon be proposing a repeal bill for the law. The voting record for that bill will probably seal the fate of those that vote against repeal. It sounds like they have got their stuff in order.....lol.

I have cut way back. There's only the two of us to eat on the critters, and I still really like my beef, pork and chicken. So I try to keep it down to only two. I like to get one with the bow and one with the gun. This year I may back-slide a bit and declare war on our local shrub-eating, fruit-tree butchering, deer herd and give away any that are over our needs.

I have to admit that that article is extremely embarrassing. Publishing to the world, the extent that hunters view hunting as just another technology challenge is really disturbing to me. Hunting has formed the major part of my life, and to me represents an honorable activity of heritage and tradition. Now for many hunters, it is necessary to create our trophies from test-tubes, agriculture and animal husbandry. Sure, we have all followed the lure of technology when it comes to weaponry, but this idea of creating prey is a fairly new development, and it truly crosses the line in terms of anything that I want to even indirectly be associated with. When people think of me as a life-long hunter, these are not the things that I want them remembering me for.