Doc

The thing that people don't get is that baiting is not the only thing that is illegal. Any form of feeding deer is also illegal. So even if there is no intent to hunt over it, any form of distributing material for ingestion by deer is illegal regardless of motives. It may only be for picture taking purposes, but it still is breaking the law (everywhere but Sullivan County).

I have had that problem with my two Bushnell cameras. It seems to happen right at transition times in the AM and PM. I have always figured it was a confusion factor in the camera trying to decide whether lighting conditions require switching to IR or not, so it kind of does both at once. If Bushnell ever gets back to you on this, would you share their explanation with us? There are a lot of us that own that brand of camera and I'll bet more than a few that have experienced this problem.

As a matter of fact, there were some that did oppose this bill. It was not a unanimous vote in the Board of Supervisors. However the opposition was not organized or very passionate about their feelings. I also think that for most people this was a stealth bill that didn't get a whole lot of press. I never did see any letters to the editor on the subject. The only place I saw any lively discussion the first time around was on the Canadice town web-site and that was only during the first time around. I have to admit that even though I have been an enthusiastic supporter of rifles in Ontario County, I have to admit that I still have the same natural concerns that any landowner might have. I have considered the fact that the reckless hunters out there are now handed a weapon that can extend their recklessness. I am also aware that almost all of the new southern zone counties where rifles have been allowed have no real long term track record to judge whether it was a wise decision or not. Most of these have only been in effect for a couple of years. No way of knowing how many of the residents have even exchanged their shotguns for that shiny new rifle yet. We may have not seen the true results yet. Balanced against all that is the fact that primarily a rifle allows one to intentionally hit exactly what they are aiming at. I think there also is a shooting confidence that may create the mindset of one shot - one kill instead of the spray-and-pray mentality of shotgunners. I'm also aware that most of Ontario County is hunting that is "up close and personal" in terms of just how far you can even see the deer. And then there is that controversial study from Minnesota(?) that claims to show that rifles are actually safer than shotguns based in the fact that slugs tend to hold together during a ricochet. So my attitude now is let's try it out and let the record decide who was right.

http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi Just type in the bill number .... S3929

I can't remember where I first heard that this year's version was a lock, but somehow I took it all to heart and went out several months ago an bought the Ruger American in the .270 caliber. No more bruised up shoulder. The old 12 guage is retired. I can decide which hair on the deer I want to hit (well, that might be a bit of an exaggeration .... lol). Yes, we have been at this point before (on the Governor's desk) and it still got screwed up. But this time I'm very sure that it is going through. My enthusiasm for gun season has been renewed!

"You can't see me"

My bowhunting does not rely on escape routes and luck plays as little a role in my bowhunting as I can arrange. I save all that for gun season. I am not at all interested in accidental bow deer harvests. In bow season, I do try to get away from that sort of thing and I do work deer patterns, and for the most part am quite successful in finding areas where others don't or won't go. Even in intensely hunted areas, there are often places that are uncomfortable for others to hunt. If you know your hunting area, you can find these spots. I won't say that it is flawless, but you can arrange things so that the accidental bow harvests are the exception rather than the rule, even on public land. But back to my original point, if there are a few people that decide to do some scouting (whether they are crossbowers, gunners or even other bowhunters), they are more than welcome to do so. They will simply join the others (hikers, bikers, bird watchers, whatever) who are wandering around in the traditional spots that people wander around in. Most of the time, I won't even know because I won't be there. It's a shame that such a large part of hunting considerations have to be in avoiding others, but what the heck, it is simply a sign of the times. And if you are going to hunt public land, that is becoming all part of the game.

http://public.leginfo.state.ny.us/menugetf.cgi Type in Bill number S4980

The bill has been delivered to the Governor 7/2/13 !

It has been sent to the Governor for signing!

DELIVERED TO THE GOVERNOR! STATUS: S3929 NOZZOLIO Same as A 5574 Kolb Environmental Conservation Law TITLE....Authorizes hunting in the county of Ontario until October 1, 2015 02/27/13 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 03/12/13 1ST REPORT CAL.184 03/13/13 2ND REPORT CAL. 03/14/13 ADVANCED TO THIRD READING 04/23/13 PASSED SENATE 04/23/13 DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY 04/24/13 referred to environmental conservation 06/19/13 substituted for a5574 06/19/13 ordered to third reading rules cal.422 06/19/13 passed assembly 06/19/13 returned to senate 07/02/13 DELIVERED TO GOVERNOR

I know that on occasion, others in the woods do push deer to me. I don't really like to dwell on that thought because the one thing that I prize most about bowhunting is the fact that the results are usually completely about my own efforts, abilities, activities. That's the one thing that separates bowhunting from gunhunting. It's not a very pleasing or fulfilling thought that some hiker may have driven a deer away from its natural patterns and it blundered into me. Too much luck in that little piece of success and not a whole lot of personal skill. However, the woods is open to all kinds of activities in that early season, and there are a lot of different people busting up patterns and the best laid plans. It's just a fact of life these days. It really makes no difference if a few more people are wandering aimlessly around whether they be crossbow hunters or people scouting for the upcoming gun season. I really have no preferences.

Well, there is a good collection of topics guaranteed to start all kinds of violent arguments. No it's not an all-inclusive list .... they left out a whole lot of real good controversial ones, but still, there isn't much there that couldn't result some very angry disagreements .... lol. I enjoyed the article.

I mowed the lawn today. Everything is soaking wet and so was I every time I got too close to the pine trees. They are just dripping. Normally I don't cut the grass when we have these kinds of conditions. But it was either cut it wet or don't cut it at all an beat the hell out of the mower when I do finally get to it. I've got mud tracks all over the place, big clumps of mowed grass, and with my zero turn, everytime I turned a corner, I have a spun-up chunk of turf that leaves little bare mud-spots. That is the one thing I don't like about zero turns. They do have a tendency to spin up turf on the turns. But even so, I'll never go back to the garden tractor style mowers. I have cut off 1/3 of my mowing time since I got the zero-turn Gravely. With the amount of mowing that I do that amounts to 1 hour less mowing per week. Wow that reply took a hard turn away from the topic .... lol. Sorry about that.

It's especially neat to see them walking along and then all of a sudden get some burst of playfulness and start hopping and bouncing around sometimes jumping sideways. What gets into their head is anybody's guess .... lol.

I sprayed all the fruit trees with Sevin yesterday. I thought the Japanese Beetles were not going to show up this year. In fact, other years they were done before July. But there they were munching on the peach trees and I saw some on the apple trees. So hopefully they're done now.

Ha-ha .... welcome aboard. They are all welcome to join the small game hunters, turkey hunters and hikers and bikers and all the other people that are already out there. If people want to add scouting for gun season to the gang, it probably won't be any different than it is now. Those hunters that want to scout, already are. I don't see where it would be any different. Frankly, I suspect that many of the small game hunters are out there just to see what the deer herd looks like and where some good places to stand on opening day might be. It's nothing new and likely won't add any significant activity that isn't already there.

Also, when you get this registration stuff all cleared up, don't forget the NYS inspection for your trailer.

You really can't win on these things. It usually turns out to be just a matter of luck. The reviews and such are kind of a waste of time because you never know whether the authors took descent care of the product, or understood the directions for maintenance and operation. Name brand means nothing anymore because those companies that have a known track record for quality have been bought and sold so many times that company name is meaningless. There are some material choices and manufacturing processes that can suggest quality in design, but other than that you are at the mercy of "luck".

Great video. The coughing was funny. Why is it that as soon as something (deer, turkey or whatever) appears on the scene, that tickle develops in your throat and keeps up until you have to do something to relieve it. I have had that happen more than once .... lol.

That's why I couldn't live in the city or suburbs. I don't want to see, hear, or smell neighbors or any of their critters or off-spring.

Amazingly enough though, when rabbit season opens up, they will seem to be all gone. I'm not sure how that works, but we must have a heck of a predator population. It's too bad, because I do love a good rabbit dinner. Here's something you might consider: Welded wire around the garden and then two strands of electric fence .... One along the top to discourage the deer, and one 3" off the ground for squirrels, woodchucks, rabbits, chipmunks, etc. It works flawlessly. In fact I wouldn't be able to even have a garden without it. Before I figured it all out, between the deer, rabbits and woodchucks I used to get nearly nothing out of the garden. Our garden is close enough to the barn that the fencer is located inside and the wire runs out to the garden fence. No power in the vicinity, you might think about a solar unit.

The status is still the same as it was. I'm not sure why it goes back to the Senate before heading off to the Governor's desk for signature. I guess that's just the process. Of course as soon as it was sent to senate (2nd time) they went on recess, and I don't know if they are back and functioning yet. There sure is a lot of B.S. steps involved, but anyway, below is what the bill status page still has posted: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STATUS: S3929 NOZZOLIO Same as A 5574 Kolb Environmental Conservation Law TITLE....Authorizes hunting in the county of Ontario until October 1, 2015 02/27/13 REFERRED TO ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION 03/12/13 1ST REPORT CAL.184 03/13/13 2ND REPORT CAL. 03/14/13 ADVANCED TO THIRD READING 04/23/13 PASSED SENATE 04/23/13 DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY 04/24/13 referred to environmental conservation 06/19/13 substituted for a5574 06/19/13 ordered to third reading rules cal.422 06/19/13 passed assembly 06/19/13 returned to senate -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By the way, it is not an 8N (DEC) law. It Is for Ontario County.

Not only that, but a lot of the best hunting lands aren't even owned by farmers anymore. Down our way farming is a dying activity and almost all of the land has long ago been taken out of production. There really aren't any chores to do.

I don't think anybody was really paying all that much attention to the details of all those invasive little clauses that were being added. Now some of the actual practices are being experienced. I think the other thing is that as much as we like to say that we are not going to let terrorists dictate our way of life, we are finding that the words sound so much better than the practicalities. This idea of balancing rights with procedures of safety from foreign attack has really taken on new meaning since 911. We really have to wrestle with the way we handle that. There are always going to be compromises that we aren't all that comfortable making. Either that or we are going to have to get used to living in bombed out neighborhoods like some of the other countries.