Doc

No, I don't think anyone is saying that the court cases are a lost cause. At least I'm not. I am just saying that there are things that can be done individually to keep the issue alive, and keep politicians from believing that our resolve is faltering. I see this SAFE Act as just the first round of attacks on our rights. I'm thinking this is mostly a test case just to see how far they can bend the Constitution and just what kind of teeth are in the threats of gun owners to take revenge in the next election. Also, I guess I do use the internet chatter as a kind of measure of our resolve and the amount of concern that we have over the issue. If we're not talking about such things here, then its probably a pretty good assumption that no one is talking about it outside of here. These politicians are watching and I have to believe that right now they feel a whole lot better about their "aye" vote for the SAFE Act than they did a few weeks back. And then too, I wonder how our allies in the legislature feel about sticking their neck out without a lot of consistent and frequent positive feed-back. It could all pay dividends the next time king Andrew and his merry band of gun banners get another hot-flash up their arse about expanding this so-called SAFE Act or coming up with yet another whole new attack on gun owner's rights.

So-o-o-o-o ........ everybody having fun yet?

Done

Anybody have a bill number on this yet?

By the way, just out of curiosity, how is the rifle law coming for Livingston County? Does anyone have the bill number?

That 500' rule needs a bit of tweaking to add a clause that says that it is illegal to shoot in the direction of a visible structure of any kind. As pointed out by jjb4900, the distance is no where near as important as the area behind the target. Let's face it, for most weapons (including rifles), 500' is not that much of a safeguard if shots are taken directly at buildings. Making a shooter responsible for what is visible in the background is a whole lot more meaningful. Also, I think all buildings should be included in that law. Trying to guess which class of buildings may have someone inside is not what I would call very responsible shooting.

Hopefully court battles are only one prong of our battle against this law and any subsequent ones that legislators may have in mind. There is no need to stop holding our legislators feet to the fire on this issue. They need to understand that if they voted for this law, they screwed up and it will cost them votes. Also, the ones that voted against the law need to be reassured that they have won our support for the next election. The last thing we need is to quietly shrink back in our corner and make them think (or know) they have successfully bull-dozed over us. We should not be putting all our eggs in one basket. The court cases are fine and hopefully will yield positive results, but there are other actions that can be effective for the future. I want to see the furor over this law maintained right through the next state elections. I'm afraid I am not seeing this as was noted in the original post. That's scary that we can so easily be silenced. Even the reactions on this forum seem to have died down and essentially been silenced. I have been sending messages to my State Senator, Ted O'Brien on a very frequent basis reminding him that I will be working vigorously during the next election to have him unseated and that it is due to his anti-gun vote on the SAFE Act. I don't want to let this issue calm down, but I'm afraid that the majority of gun owners are content to let the whole issue rest on a roll of the dice in the courts. I want the politicians to once again fear the gun lobby. And like Steuben Jerry, I don't think that is happening.

You wouldn't do that on public land would you? It wouldn't be a problem on private land where you don't really have to worry about going deep to avoid other hunters, But when I am hunting public land I generally go the "lean & mean" route and travel as light as possible. And on state land that generally means carry in and carry out. Lol .... I already donated a trail-cam, thinking that it was located in a place on state land where nobody would ever think of going. Bad move on my part.

You ain't seen anything yet ...... ha-ha.

The only problem with patience is that we slowly get lulled into a sense of "acceptance". I am definitely getting the impression that almost all of the gun owners have given up and the pressure on legislators is definitely over. I would much more prefer that gun owners remain the loud, impatient, angry people that we were when this attack on the 2nd Amendment first occurred. I kind of think that by the time the next elections come around, everybody will become conditioned to the new law and be primed for accepting the next round of gun laws. In other words it is beginning to look like Andy has gotten away with it and is laughing at us.

I think it all means that this sucker is on the verge of heading for the governor. The process seems a lot more complicated than it needs to be for something this routine. But this sudden flurry of activity is definitely a good thing. At least it got the hell out of that committee where it has been languishing for almost two months.

Every time I here about climbing sticks, I think about how much stuff I am willing to carry. I once saw this guy at the top of our hill that was carrying a huge pack, a big ladder stand and his bow. The walk is about a mile of very steep hill and he was huffing and puffing like a locomotive and dripping with sweat. For those that want to get as far away from other hunters as possible, I have to wonder how much stuff is too much. For me those climbing sticks would be too much.

Exactly what I am encountering now. I would say that there is about 95% drop. and yes the trees are relatively young, and of course we have been having nothing but rain. Boy am I disappointed. This was the first year that the trees survived our usual late valley frosts and there was a lot of little apples on each of the trees. It's also the first time in several years that we have been caterpillar and beetle free. Man, if it's not one thing its another.

New Progress!! 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

I watched one this morning down by the barn. He was heading for the garden. I'll probably find him laying on the lower strand of the electric fence. I have one strand that is about 3" off the ground for the little critters. it works great for saving the garden. The top strand and the welded wire fencing keeps the deer and other things out. Unfortunately, the smaller creatures find that lower strand lethal.

This is going to be a good year for all fruit and nuts. I have a peach tree that may need some early thinning just to keep it from destroying itself. I am getting my first crop of apples off my trees and it looks like there will be a lot of them. By the way, not only was the blossoming conditions perfect, we also did not have our usual plague of gypsy moths, tent caterpillars and Japanese beetles. I'm not sure what happened to all those, but I have not seen even one this year.

Yes, I remember when commercial tree stands were not even thought of. Most of us went to the woods with boards, hammer and nails and built structures in the trees. But apparently there were others out there that had some different ideas about how to provide a high place to ambush deer. This is the first time I have ever seen this one though .... lol.

When you have reached an age where you can look back at a pile of years and see all the changes that have taken place, this topic takes on an added sense of reality. We may think we are becoming very progressive and enlightened and evolved, but that little fat pig, Khrushchev had a pretty good insight into the future of the U.S. The realities of his words are becoming clearer and clearer with each decade as we move closer and closer to the style of government that he represented and we fought against .

I guess I have a different attitude about hunting than most do. I do not compare my deer takes to those on TV. I do not look at the ridiculous freaks being raised on deer farms and think "boy, I wish I could get one of those goofy looking things some day". I have a very good idea of the quality of the deer in my area, and I use that to decide how well I have done. I do not spend a lot of time scheming to get some NYS record that doesn't even exist in my area. I do not plot how to add frustrating restrictions on to everyone's hunting just to make it easier to get some deer that come up to some meaningless score. What is that all about anyway? I don't spend a whole lot of time belittleing the accomplishments of others or in anyway trying to force my standards on other hunters. I just hunt and try to take the best that my area and habitat and deer numbers have to offer. Yes, it is a lot more laid-back fashion of hunting, and most likely allows me to enjoy my hunting a lot more without being all up-tight about what I expect I should get. No unrealistic expectations or undue pressure on those hunters around me, and no visions of new ways to frustrate fellow hunters right out of the activity ..... no schemes to "grow" my own trophies .... no desires to hoard any of the local deer herd. I simply go hunting and enjoy myself in the pastime. To me that seems to be the entire purpose of the activity, and I guess I will leave it up to others to fret and stew over how to obtain the kind of deer that they see on TV. That is all fine with me as long as they leave my hunting alone.

I've got it on my DVR and will be watching it tonight.

Different things work for different people, and that's why there are multiple sighting designs available on the market. Frankly, I enjoy the idea of magnification. It supplies a confidence factor if nothing else. And when those crosshairs are centered in the view and laying over the kill area, there is no question about wher the bullet is going to go (if you have done the proper practicing on the range). There is one thing that can be a bit of a problem. Too much magnification when shooting off-hand, can be a bit un-nerving in the exaggerated movement from the optics. That can be especially a problem when you have just gone through any kind of strenuous exercise like climbing a steep hill. The fact is that I don't shoot "off-hand" completely any more. I always get to a tree or some other kind of steady rest. And when I am in a ground stand, I always make sure there are plenty of gun-rests available in all directions. I really don't want to see those crosshairs dancing around the critter. Of course it can be argued that the scope allows you to see the movements that are taking place where it may not be all that apparent with open sights but still happening anyway.

Drying explosives in his oven ...... in his oven. What kind of jerk is this? This weirdo isn't that many valleys away from me. So if anybody thinks that it is only big cities that spawn these kinds of freaks, I guess this kind of dispells that thought. They are everywhere!

By golly he is. Ma may be a bit dense and oblivious as to what is going on in the area, but the fawn has it all figured out .... lol. Boy, I wish the adults would have all those neat "aiming spots" on them.

Lol .... It's in the timing. I thought I was in big trouble when I couldn't get my roto-tiller running earlier in the season. I watched a whole lot of great planting days go by. So after a lot of hand-wringing and whining, I finally paid a guy to come in and till up the garden while my tiller was being fixed. That same day we raked and planted the whole thing. What a long day that was. Anyway, all this happened long before the monsoons came, and everything was germinated and up and growing before the 40 days and 40 nights of rain. Everything is now prospering even with the dark dank cool days. While we all sit around risking "jungle rot" from the constant wet, the plants keep getting bigger and bigger. Incidentally, we are now suffering from a new weed. Wild potatoes are sprouting up all over the garden. Apparently we didn't get all of them last fall, and the roto-tiller chopped them up into nice seed-potato chunks and they are up about 8-12 inches all over the garden. I also had exactly the same problem with horse radish plants. What we found out was that you can get a lifetime supply of horseradish in just one season. So I decided to till it under last year. All I succeeded in doing was to spread little chunks of it everywhere and each chunk became a new plant. Now I am going after it with concentrated round-up. That seems to be working. But I will never put that stuff in the garden again. If I ever get the urge to plant it again, it will be way far away from the garden and probably way down by the pond.

I've had similar feelings right from the start. This is not all that unusual for people to get all fired up for short periods of time and then the isues simply fade over time and get replaced by our day-to-day activities and apathy. Politicians are aware of this and have come to count on this kind of reaction. Gunners have whipped up all the legislative attention that they are going to, and have already moved on to their other daily activities. Our only hope is the legal challenges. As far as starting a grass-roots effort to create a new law that rescinds the SAFE act, it is obvious now that that isn't going to happen. So all the rallies and demonstrations serve little purpose other than to highlight the fact that legislators can do as they damn-well please and the irate public has absolutely nothing they can do about it...... not a real good message to be sending them. Look for further embolded politicians to pile on more midnight surprises in the future. This has so far been a total win for anti-gun politicians and their backers and is exposing the weaknesses of the disorganized gun owners. It also serves as a shining example to other states as to how to defeat the gunowners without any consequences.