Doc

Hunting knife sharpened up. Back tag in the holder and pinned to the back of the jacket. Thermo-cell loaded and packed (for those that use it) Pack loaded up: Toilet Paper Hand nippers folding stool Latex gloves Grunt tube Compass Can (deer bleat thingy) Rangefinder Monocular Drag rope Bottle of water FOOD Quiver loaded up & on the bow

I have no idea just how big a town this Somers is, but maybe the guy was happy just to have something to do that day....lol. I wouldn't get too upset about the cost of the guy taking 3 minutes to remove a sign. Particularly if he was in the neighborhood anyway. Sometimes we actually get downright silly in our attempts to bash law enforcement. I have no idea just who is charged with the responsibility of illegal sign removal. But a cop enforcing a law doesn't really rank way up there on my scale of wasted tax money......lol. Ha-ha..... if the sign had said something about abolishing the death penalty, or "save the whales", it wouldn't even have been a reported story.

Opening day of bow season isn't as vital as the gun season opener. Its a whole different way of hunting. You don't need all those guys out there moving deer. If you miss the archery opener, you miss it. It's not that much of a loss.

My encounters with wardens are very, very rare. But there was one time when the encounter turned out to be kind of funny. My Brother-in-law and I were coming into a state boat launch after a night of spearing. It was dark and we were in a row boat. I have to admit that I am the worlds worst rower, and in the dark I couldn't keep a straight line if I had to. While we were still on the other side of the lake, I could see a flashlight over in the parking lot. Naturally, I was tracking off to one side so I made a big course correction, and I saw the flashlight move to the other end of the parking lot. I'd get screwed up again and make a severe correction in the other direction and the light moved back to the other end of the parking lot. Back and forth we went about 4 times until finally we pulled up on the shore. It turns out it was a game cop trying to figure out exactly where we intended to land. Gladly, everything was in order and nothing speared was illegal. But the poor guy got a bit of a work-out.

Talk about misleading titles to a thread....lol. Check out any of the links below and you will see that indicating that "Cops May Be Against Your Gun Rights" is just a flat out lie. It's just not right to malign those that are publicly standing staunchly on our side, in favor of gun owner's rights. The following links will show you the truth about where the cops really are on this issue: http://polhudson.lohudblogs.com/2013/04/16/ny-troopers-safe-act-will-significantly-increase-the-hazards-of-an-already-dangerous-job/ http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2013/04/nys_troopers_have_widely_share.html http://blog.timesunion.com/capitol/archives/185401/albany-police-union-blasts-safe-act-as-foolish-unconstitutional/ http://www.humanevents.com/2013/05/24/empire-state-sheriffs-cuomo-showdown/ http://www.oneidadispatch.com/articles/2013/05/18/news/doc51980d8aa59e1663335523.txt http://gunssavelives.net/blog/gun-laws/breaking-ny-sheriffs-association-joins-lawsuit-fighting-ny-safe-act-laws/# http://www.nysheriffs.org/articles/sheriffs%E2%80%99-response-ny-safe-act Etc., Etc., Etc.

Hey .... another early-bird! Kind of nice here early in the day.

Oh my gosh! A battle of self-anointed experts has broken out ...... lol. It is getting a bit funny to watch the competition of conceit. "My credentials are better than your credentials" .... ha-ha. Yeah, I'm not too impressed .... sorry. But it is entertaining.

I've got to say that looking at the times on my trail-cam pictures I see lots of daytime activity even during the hotter days. Sure most activity is at night (as is the case anytime of the year), but if I had been at these locations during afternoon legal hunting hours, on every day, there would have been plenty of shooting opportunities.

Oh man! That just isn't right!

I think the deer will continue to move, or at least that's the way my summer cams seem to indicate. The question is how much heat can we stand. With sweat trickling down the middle of your back, and mosquitos whining in your ears and banging into your eyeballs, are you going to be able to sit still enough to keep from being spotted. I have tried to hunt in 80 degree temps before and it really isn't a whole lot of fun. And if you do make a shot on a deer make darn sure it is a super hit. You really don't want to be getting in the position where you have to leave the deer overnight when the temperature never goes below 50 or 60. No gut shots!

It is getting harder and harder to pattern deer during bow season with all the other people wandering around the woods. Of course, I am primarily talking about hunting state land. Between the hikers and bikers and small-game hunters, and birdwatchers and some others that I don't have a clue what they're doing, it is getting pretty tough to get deer to do the same thing twice. So maybe there are some places where bowhunting is reliant on luck as well. Gun hunters are always subject to the activities of other hunters keeping the deer moving. And while luck plays a big part in successful gun hunting, there is some skill in understanding hunter patterns and escape routes.

Sure ..... I am sitting there quietly listening for that telltale pattern of deer hooves in the leaves, or that distance snap of a twig under foot of an approaching deer. ...Trying desperately to have my ears give me an instant "heads-up" so I can spot that incoming deer before he spots me. That's when somebody up the valley starts up their bulldozer or farm tractor that continues to drone on for the rest of the afternoon. Or maybe its a chainsaw off in the distance. At any rate, if you want to hear that rustling in the leaves or that telltale twig-snap, it had better be happening 10' in front of you because you will never hear it over all the racket from any farther distance.

The way that guy is holding that knife, all that blood will be his own.

Generally I plunge my face into the opened up body cavity and bite out the liver and then standing over the deer, I have my picture taken with the liver dangling out of both sides of my mouth and blood from the body cavity covering my face. While the picture is being taken, I give out a primal yell. It's just a statement of conquest. ......Well, maybe that was just something I imagined doing.... lol.

Yes, sometimes a video clip can be like a certain phrase being taken out of context to prove something that indeed is not a fact. When my sign was stolen, that thought did run through my mind that perhaps I was a bit too close to the road and someone may have legally confiscated it. That probably was not the case, but I suppose it is possible. One looks at the picture and sees mowed lawn and assumes that it was on private property. A mowed lawn does not indicate any kind of boundary. I see all kinds of properties where the home owner mows right to the shoulder of the road. That does not mean that just because he mows it, that it is his private land. I can see a point of view where someone could look at a sign containing political information being placed on public property as being something that should be legally removed. And I doubt tat there is any requirement that the official needs to go find the owner and tell him that it is being confiscated. However, in this case, regardless of the legalities, that may be simply being a jerk ( my version of sanitizing my language .... lol), but may not fit the definition of being theft.

Well, maybe I have heard some celebrations with remarks that are kind of on the edge. Things like "what a pig!", or "he's a real toad" or "What a slob". What the heck is that all about? Of all the things you could call an animal that you just killed, maybe these aren't exactly the right sentiments to be put out on TV. I know that they are just trying to use the "cool" language of the day, but it can really be taken the wrong way. No, I don't get down on my knees and start praying to the deer gods or any such rituals, but I guess I wouldn't feel right about calling the slain animal derogatory names. I don't think it is funny, cute, or cool.

So what happens when the guns start to go off? Do they drive the deer right out of the park? It might be useful to find out where their favorite escape routes are...... somehow.

Also make sure that even when you think you have solved the problem that you aren't still making some contact. It isn't always obvious, but slightest contact can be devastating to shooting accuracy.

The initial question was about "the most prevalent game violation", not the most prevalent ticket issued. But anyway to answer your question, I have never heard of anyone who has gotten a ticket for not reporting a kill. I believe that somewhere in NYS probably there have been a few written. But here is what I do not understand.... If the DEC claims that 40% of the hunters do not report their kill, why aren't we hearing about tickets being issued all over the place? That 40% number is arrived at by running all over the place checking deer carcasses (Taxidermy shops, camps, deer processors, etc.) and then comparing those to the reports turned in. So that means that they have found a pile of hunters who were breaking that law. So where's the tickets?

My wife used to help run a 3-mile trapline years ago. She covered areas that I didn't have time to check during the week. She's also my fishing buddy. She never got big into hunting, but did take her hunter safety training for both gun and bow.

Ha ... a little late to the party, but .... I am not able to see the video, but only the link that shows the still pictures. But I am generally a little slow to jump to conclusions about motives or reasons. I am not sure that the sign was on private property in which case if it was in violation, would not be technically "theft", but more likely would be considered code enforcement. The guy would have to have a huge set if he pulled his plainly marked patrol car over and illegally removed a sign from private property. I'm not saying that it is impossible, just saying it is kind of unlikely. especially considering the fact that a patrol vehicle generally attracts a lot of attention.

Nice big bucks dining on a pile of dropped pears in broad daylight? .... I thought I heard that that just simply doesn't ever happen ..... lol. Sorry .... I couldn't help myself.

Yeah, I really didn't get the whole purpose of including that in the syllabus. None of it is anything that they were even commenting on pro or con. Definitely is not a list of items that have DEC support.

Many reasons for string/arm interference. 1. Draw length is too long, and you are stretching too much to reach your anchor. This is not a good time to be messing with that one. 2. Material for hunting coat is too bulky or too many layers of clothing. Buy an armguard that goes from wrist to upper arm..... or ..... Use an ace bandage (I think that's what they are called)..... or ..... I have also heard of using a length of nylon stocking to restrain the sleeve. 3. Shooting stance is too open. Turn into the target more. Not a real easy thing to change at this point with the season only a couple days away. 4. As has been mentioned, the elbow is turned in. Practice turning it out. Most of these things are very ugly to discover at this stage of the year and can take some time to retrain shooting stance or style or modify your bow's draw length. Here is some potentially worse news. When the temperature starts dipping into the lower 20s or upper teens, you may be forced to pile on even more layers of clothing. So it is wise to check out that stuff as well or towards the end of the season you may have to address this problem again.

I believe I have also heard the 40% figure. With that high a percentage, this has to rank right up there as the frequent violation. Even the shots that I hear before and after legal hunting hours doesn't come up to anywhere near 40%.