Doc

I believe that all people should do the job they are being paid for. If a time comes that they don't like the job they are being paid to do, the thing to do is to resign. It really is no more complicated than that for a law enforcement officer in this country. What really makes me uncomfortable is a LEO picking and choosing what laws they wish to enforce and who they pick and choose to enforce them against. This is where some real abuses can occur and where some real needed enforcement can conveniently slip through the cracks. We have a legal system that relies on each member doing a specific duty. That system does not rely on LEOs taking on the responsibilities of the judicial branches of our government. That is not their job or their right. If they encounter a conflict, they have the option of getting another job. Also, as you mentioned there is absolutely no comparison in scale or content between any U.S. law that is likely to ever be passed, and the Holocaust. So your hypothetical is not even in the realm of this discussion. Our LEOs are never faced with that kind of decision and if they ever are, I would expect them to take their complaint to a higher level. If that doesn't resolve their conflict, they simply resign. Nobody is holding a gun to their head.

Private land vs. public land........ I wonder how many guys on private land get bored to death because there is no one to boot the deer in the butt to get them moving? We have a 300 acre parcel adjacent to some state land that used to be crazy with activity and shooting and deer running everywhere before it got posted up. Well, a guy bought the land, posted the hell out of it, put in all kind of food plots and everything and hunts it by himself with a couple of other guys. I haven't heard a shot out of that land in 4 years.

Squirrels have been known to migrate. There are historical accounts of several massive squirrel migrations as a result of food source failures. What they are describing are huge migrations, where large numbers of squirrels just picked up and moved long distances. Apparently, these massive migrations are an extremely rare event, but it does show that they are not really comp[lately residential in nature. It would not surprise me if mini-migrations don't occur on a regular basis as a result of food sources. So it is very possible that you might find jillions of them one year and hardly any the next.

Yeah I know, it is open revolt or nothing. legal routes be damned! I have to say that if all you can do is fold your tent and flee, I am guessing it's not a great loss. But the antis will not drive me out.

If they are doing their job, they have to enforce it. If they can't do their job, they need to find some other line of work. I don't applaud anyone for doing what they are paid to do. And if they are going to accept a wage for enforcing the law then I expect them to do what they have contracted to do ..... or resign. If I don't like it then it's up to me to get involved in changing it.

I've had days like that, but it sounds like you have settled into a regular lifestyle of bad luck. You have my condolences.

What is it about that picture that just seems so damned wrong ..... lol. Talk about seeing something that makes you "pucker-up". Yuck!

Oh for crying out loud, what is all this concern about what other hunters are seeing/getting. Who the heck am I trying to impress .... lol. If somebody else is telling me about their deer, I simply nod my head, slap them on the back and congratulate them for getting a great deer (regardless of what it looks like). And I want to hear the entire story in as much detail as they want to supply. What business do I have doing otherwise. Man, I do miss the days before scoring became such a big deal. Now-a-days when you tell somebody you got a deer, the first words out of their mouth is "what did it score". If you don't come back with a number that they are impressed with, they will do there best to wreck the whole experience for you. And if your answer is that it was a doe, they immediately walk away or change the subject .... lol. The whole hunting experience has been reduced to numbers. I really don't get it. I really don't have any need to impress anybody by listing some numerical value that serves as my goal. And by the same token, I am not really all that impressed by anyone else's numerical goals.

That's it!!! But I never seen it used with a power drill. That looks like it works real slick. But Paula is right. Those things used to be sold everywhere and were dirt cheap. Maybe what ever he's selling for a drill bit (probably just a long wood screw...lol) and the shipping is why he's asking so much for it. Also, it has been a long time since I have seen them so I have to allow for inflation. I'll check with the wife and see if she wants to get one. We didn't put any corn in this year, but might grow a bit next year as long as there is a decent way of getting recognizable kernels off the cob.

Is there really anybody other than myself who is truly interested in what I consider to be a big buck? I doubt it. It really is a personal decision and boils down to, "I'll know it when I see it". I'm not going to try to impress everyone by listing my qualifications for a shootable buck. Nobody really cares.

Rain gear ...... always a problem. The soft stuff is exactly like you say, it isn't as waterproof as it is advertised. The hard, plasticy sort of stuff crinkles and makes all kinds of noise. And none of it is suitable for bow shooting as far as being interference-free. Sorry .... in all my years, I have not come across anything that serves all my purposes. I either get wet, or go home, or both.

But if you use any kind of knife, don't you wind up cutting many of the kernels part way up. It's the shape of the cob that makes a problem out of all this. I once saw some kind of gadget that was like a circular knife that had the ability to slide and adjust the diameter as you pushed it down the cob. That was a lot of years ago, and we never bought one. I don't even know if it actually worked. But I know that a lot of people grow more corn than they can eat fresh, so I figured that somebody must have figured this out my now. I know that the few times that we tried to do it with just a regular knife, we wound up with one line of kernels that were quite complete and the adjacent lines of kernels were cut half way up or worse. It was kind of like a few perfect kernels and the rest were mangled. So how the heck do they do it commercially?

By the way, when getting a ruling on questions of this nature from the DEC, be sure you get a name. Or better yet, make your questions using e-mail or some other written media. I suspect that a J.P. or judge might not accept "well somebody at the DEC told me", as a provable excuse.

But, if you have secured the bow in your car or at home, you are no longer "archery or muzzleloader hunting"

I love those meteorological words like "possible", "scattered", "occasional", "mostly", "might", and "potential". When you hear these words, you can assume that they have absolutely no idea. These vague terms also make their forecasts absolutely worthless as a planning tool. But sometimes when I am feeling in a particular charitable mood, I do have to admit that here in western NY, all weather I extremely local. The variations in elevation, the effects of those two Great Lakes, Erie and Ontario, certainly allows for chopped up conditions that literally do change from one part of a town to another. Trying to come up with a forecast that covers all those different communities is something that probably is impossible. Heck, we can have a 10 degree differential from the valley floor to the hill-top. I have looked across the road and seen snow lying half way down the hill with nothing on the lower half. So if they say there might be frosts, that probably is about as good as they can do.

Ok, new dumb question. When you grow a lot of corn and want to can or freeze it or whatever way you choose to preserve it, what method do you use to get the kernels off the cob without mangling them? Store bought corn always has these nice perfect looking kernels in the can or package. Whenever we have tried in the past, each kernel is smashed or cut in half and just generally ruined-looking. I understand that the taste isn't effected by how the kernels look, but it is just a question of proper preparation and food presentation. Just curious.

I dare say that most local weathermen try to boost their ratings and viewership by running around in circles hollering about how the sky is falling. They don't feel that they have done their job unless they get you all worked up about pretend weather disasters. However, this Allegheny County frost warning is from the National Weather Service. Since they don't get any real TV exposure and really are not in the TV ratings game, I believe that they are a little more responsible about their forecasts and warnings.

One thing that helps to motivate practice is to develop a love-affair with archery and the bow itself. I understand that a lot of people these days want to get themselves into the bow season. But if the only driver is to be able to hunt a few extra days at a more comfortable time of the year, you probably will not be into it for very long. Part of it all is the challenge of the bow itself and the skill required to master the weapon. That is the real difference between bow hunting and gun hunting. What I am trying to say is that you really need to be practicing because you like archery, not because practice is an ugly activity that you have to grunt your way through just to hunt. If you don't get your mind right on that, you are doomed to failure. At least that's the way I see it.

They will not run me out of this state!

There isn't even an attempt at looking rational and sane anymore when it comes to some of the attitudes of legislators. What on earth do they think people are going to do with a pocketful of empty casings? throw them at somebody? Well, obviously they are saving them from a trip to the range so that when they get home they can re-load them. Why don't they use a bit of honesty and flat out say screw you and your 2nd amendment rights. We don't want you to have any guns and we are going to harass you with frivolous laws until you don't. Washington citizens have such stupid laws on the books and yet continue to vote for these idiots, then they deserve what they get. I wish I could feel sorry for them. It's no different than NYS if we don't take out these jerks that voted for that so-called Safe Act. If that happens, then we deserve exactly what we get. It will only show how little gun ownership really means to us.

Seriously, when the law enforcement people start feeling like they have the authority to fill-in for the judicial branch of the government, that's when I do get more than a bit freaked out ....lol. I am a little concerned about any law enforcement personnel that are so confused about the limitations and scope of their authority. Now that is scary!

This is the first year for rifles in Ontario County. I purchased a brand new rifle and by golly I am very enthusiastically looking forward to gun season..... I mean like "crazy enthusiastic". Anybody that knows me knows that I am a dyed-in-the-wool bowhunter and haven't missed a bow season in 49 years. But I am a 2-season hunter and gun season offers a completely different hunting experience that keeps things interesting. And then too I agree with whoever said that bow season is an individual challenge while gun season gets more into the social aspects with friends and family.

It's not a real high percentage shot, and I'm not that desperate that I have to take shots that are potential wounding losses. We already get a bad enough rep for that without taking goofy shots.

Any arrow that has killed a deer, is spin-tested in my arrow-straightener to check for straightness. I use aluminum arrows, so most of the time the arrow is snapped or bent into an "L" shape .... lol. If I get a pass-thru, there is no telling what on the ground I might have hit (stumps, roots, rocks). If it stays sticking out of the deer, it whacks the trees along the way, which even in the best of cases can't really be all that good for the arrow. I've got so many arrows that I can afford to retire each arrow that is shot at a deer. I bought the arrows back before manufacturers wanted to get rich on each dozen. They didn't really cost all that much back then. I used to buy just the shafts and the components and build them myself.

Another feature of my ghillie suit is that it is super hot. All those layers of those little leaf thingys seem to act just like insulation. That's good news when you are in the later stages of the bow season. But this year with an Oct 1 start, we could be looking at T-shirt weather.