Doc

Actually, that is how it is going to work even if crossbows are included in bow season. I believe that is why so many people are for the inclusion of x-bows into archery season. Those that own their own hunting land, or lease it or otherwise have control of it, could care less whether crossbow are stuffed into any season because they know that hunter population density is still a function of their choice as to who hunts or who is excluded from hunting their property. In other words for a large contingent of hunters, it is a non-issue because they have the final control.

That's nice, but there does come a time when the next generation has to pick up the flag and continue the battle. Sure let's do what we can, but what I see is that each generation wants things in a new way that in no way represents what the older generation has been fighting for all our lives for. So, those that are impacted, and have an updated set of expectations have to at some point learn to fight the same kinds of battles that we have fought in the past. I'm not interested in saddling future generations with things that they don't even want. I represent how hunting was ..... it is up to those who will have to live into the future to begin shaping that future and the way they want it to look like. There does come a time when the geezers (and I do put myself in that category ....lol) let go of the reins and let those who will actually be affected lead the charge to fashion their hunting and surrounding issues to look like what they want it to look like. I can serve in an advisory or historical capacity to represent what I consider the good parts of our generation's view and attitudes were (I have found that not many of the next generation are really all that interested in that sort of thing .... lol). However when it comes to the actual decisions, battles, and struggles, those rightfully rest with those that will have to live with their results. It is important that we each learn to recognize that time when our views have become obsolete and stop trying to interfere with the wave of new ideas and attitudes.

That is a lot like the big-ol' racoon that I thought I had dispatched back at the trap-site that came "back-to-life" while I had him slung over my shoulder. I remember giving out a scream when I felt this thing start to jump around, banging and scratching against my back. It wasn't one of my more composed and dignified moments ...... lol.

As far as the Cuomo-types, they really don't care about whether the law is effective, or does any of the things that they advertise it will. They were simply looking for an issue that would gain nation-wide attention and which makes them "look" like they are doing something useful about violence in America. It has nothing to do with whether any of it really works. By the time anthing substantive can be proven that this law is simply window-dressing and fakery, That creep will be sitting in the Whitehouse, planning his next outrageous stunt in preparation for his next presidential term. We are the ones left sitting here with our rights shattered, and wondering what the hell just happened to us while Freaky Andy is politically 6 steps ahead of us. His gun-grabbing laws and proclamations don't have to make sense or have any effective impact on anything. It's a sly, calculated political move that takes advantage of the dead children's bodies and those of the Webster first responders. This creep has no conscience or sense of right or wrong. He is just an opportunistic politician who will use every trick in the book, moral or not. It's these kinds of people that we should fear most.

There are parts of the law that I could live with, and even support. Tightening up penalties for crimes involving guns and gun laws is something that we have all been calling for for years ...... More effort spent on enforcing the laws that we've got rather than conjuring up new harrassments for law-abiding people. The only problem is that no one ever does the full term. Between plea bargaining and parole actions, tightening sentencing is only window-dressing. There are some parts of the mental health part of this law that with a little polishing might actually be beneficial. The rest of it is simply some more harrassment tactics designed to shut down the private ownership of firearms. Whatever good that might come out of this law is buried by the intentional harm that it all does to the people's constitutional rights as guaranteed in the 2nd Amendment.

I have this image from back in my childhood of woodchucks that our dog used to drag home. You know .... something for him to roll on. The smell and appearance and the maggots were somewhat traumatic for a youngster ..... lol. I think I won't be eating any woodchuck soon, even though I know through all logic that they should be as good as any of our more common edible grass-eaters.

One thing I have noticed is that each generation of hunters evolve into something that finds ways of coping with the diminishing state of hunting. So inspite of all the ugly scenarios that we can imagine, hunting most likely will evolve into something that is compatible with whatever it has to be to accomodate whatever conditions exist at the time. I just hope future hunters somehow remain as resilient as we have. Hunting off in the future may not be anything that we would recognize, but hopefully it will be whatever it needs to be to survive.

Last I heard, Andy "the Creep" Cuomo is having none of this. Yes the legislature is talking modification of the law, but that is without the buy-in of the governor.

Got a beef with your neighbor? Here's a way of putting him on the defensive and handing him a whole lot of opportunity to defend himself against nothing .... lol.

And yet we still have those among us who would claim that the possibility of gun confiscation is an exaggerated figment of our imagination. Can't happen here in the USA .... right? We have the protection of the constitution and the 2nd Amendment ..... right? Just combine the events during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina with this story, and you can see just what is possible and likely. And then too, stir in the actions of creepy old Andy "crazy-eyes" Cuomo and his obvious intent to destroy the 2nd Amendment, and you have a crystal clear blueprint of future attacks on all gun owner's rights as these wack-jobs continue to muscle the 2nd Amendment out of existance. I have no idea how this guy's problems will eventually wind up, but from what I see, he may well be in for a whole lot of harrassment and perhaps legal expense and may still be in trouble based on some secret loophole that the law will pull out of the books. I'm just glad I am not him.....yet.

If all the court cases should come up without the law being shot down, there is still one other way to get rid of the law. Vote that stinking creep out of office along with all of his gun-hating cronies. Vote in a pro-gun governor whose first order of business will be to toss that law into the trash can where it belongs. If we can show the same level of resolve that we are showing right now, I believe that a properly motivated pro-gun body of voters could get the job done. Yes, we are badly out-numbered, but considering the actual small percentage of the population that actually votes at all, whoever could muster the most efficient "get-out-the-vote" campaign with dedicated an motivated pro-gun voters would win.

Now he has put a bounty on defenders of the 2nd Amendment. Does that put things in a clearer perspective as far as to what extent these anti-gun creeps are willing to go to eliminate firearms and those people who use them?

Ha .... I don't think that anyone here is claiming that the sequel to War and Peace is going to be written by one of the deer up on the hill ..... lol. The point is that they do have a fundamental ability to learn and a basic method of primitive reasoning. They are not a turnip, and that brain does function as something besides skull-stuffing to keep their head from imploding. And I do believe that when it comes to intelligence, wild animals can be compared to domestic. In fact if you do a bit of searching on the internet you will run into countless sites that refer to scientific studies that do indeed compare the intelligence of all kinds of animals domestic and wild. And I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't such a thing as a smart deer and a dumb deer which might explain why some of them seem to do ridiculously stupid things. Also, instincts by their very definition cannot be "refined", other than over eons of time and the process of natural selection. Revision of instintive actions is known as learning. No it is not like they have some organized system of education. You cannot apply human levels of expectations to animals but there simply is no denying that they do have the capacity to learn. Another thing that often puts deer in danger is yet another feature of intelligence. That would be their capacity for curiosity. No, it's some earth shattering sign of genious, but it is a measure of intelligence. I think the overthinking that is being done are those that think that the human level of intelligence is the only measure or sign of intelligence ........ It's not. Because a deer cannot learn the multiplication tables or has no understanding of a dictionary does not mean they are a completely unthinking creature.

Was it Roy Rogers that had Trigger stuffed or was it Gene Autry that had Champ mounted? I know one of those guys had their pet mounted ..... maybe both. I've also heard of having pets cremated and the ashes kept in an urn on the fireplace mantle. I think it's a little strange, but it all has been done before.

Lol ..... I think the scenario that Sits wa alluding to involved conditions where wildlife management and conservation would be a forgotten concern.

Well now we have to identify which kind of "background checks" we are talking about. Are we speaking of gun background checks or the Ammo background checks? For those of us who buy our ammo via mail order or internet , those background checks are making that method of purchase illegal since background checks have to be done in person and with proper identification. So, if you don't like local prices and availability ..... too bad ...... you're out of luck. As far as reloading components, I am not sure that that was included in the new law. However, if components are also included in the background check requirement, that is pretty much a way of ending the practice of bullet reloading for anyone who does not have a local resource for a complete line of reloading components. Because of that, I am 100% against the background checks for ammo.

Lol ...... Guilty as charged. Tongue-prints ....... the evidence is right there. Worse yet, I was out today refreshing the bait.

Is that a fence around that pine tree in the back or is that a browse-line. Sorry for the off-topic response, but I truly have no idea about the age of that deer. And the shape of that tree really caught my attention, so I had to ask.

Do not buy into the appeasement theory. Realistically we know that that doesn't work. This is not a negotiation. The anti-gun folks are satisfied with only one result ... that being the complete removal of firearms from private ownership. Don't be fooled into thinking you can negotiate or trade in our rights and that it will result in them leaving the gun owner alone. You know better than that. And even if I believed for a second that appeasement would work, my rights are not for sale. As far as the mental health clauses of the so-called SAFE act, I seriously believe that there is a chance that it may decrease treatment of those exact mental illnesses that result in these cases of mass murder. I think that perhaps there may wind up more untreated, dangerously insane people on the street because of it. I don't know, but I do know that the doctor/patient confidentiality rules were established for a reason. And I belive that reason was to make people feel more confident in going in for treatment. And, unfortunately there is no choice between the mental health aspects of this law and the number of cartridges you can have in your magazine. So it's not an either/or situation. Improving the mental health care system ...... we have no disagreement there.

If hunting ever becomes a universal necessity, I'm sure we will all starve to death. The woods could never take that kind of intensive pressure with the quantity and density of today's population.

I have been fighting to establish an orchard for years. It's not for the deer, but I'm sure they are welcome to any drops or extra fruit beyond what we can eat. I have 4 apple trees, and five peach trees. I had a couple of cherry trees and a couple of apricot. The tent caterpillars and Japanese beetles did them in. Yes, I have a regular program of spraying, and they still get to them. Last year there was no problem so maybe I have survived the cycle. There has also been some kind of unknown disease that kills off the leaves of some of the peaches about July and has caused me to replace 3 of them. The apples have been fairly healthy and have grown pretty huge. It seems like it is an annual struggle trying to keep everything alive. Also, I live in a very narrow, deep, valley, that is an annual collector of frost at some of the critical times of blossom season.

The jury is still out as to whether the mental health portions of that law will improve or make worse the number of crazies being denied weapons. I'm not sure how many will be ducking mental treatments with a "snitch" law in effect. I believe that is what doctor patient confidentiality has always been about. This law may turn out to be responsible for even more untreated, unmedicated looneys being on the street, particularly those that are intent on misusing firearms (the old law of unintended consequences). As far as background checks on ammunition sales, I sincerely do believe that that is simply a complete waste of time and resources and designed to eliminate mail-order purchase of ammunition and reloading components. That is pure anti-2nd amendment harrassment activity against legitiment law abiding gun owners. In fact for those that do not have a local outlet of bullet components, it may actually eliminate that activity completely.

Unfortunately, there is no official division of time use in the normal public lands. And so we find the woods flooded with all kinds of conflicting uses during bow season. I have yet to see anyone using the state lands for anything other than hunting during the gun season ..... yet. I think gun season has a very undeserved perception of being unsafe, and maybe that's good. Ha-ha ... but nobody's afraid of bowhunters. It's kind of pathetic, but still makes me break out laughing watching these guys prancing through the woods like some kind of a gazelle, dressed in their little flourescent spandex shirts and shorts through the middle of the top of the hill. It is a bit weird when you're not used to it. But anyway back to the topic of the future hunting, I do believe that this sort of thing will definitely increase as the rest of the population figures out more varieties and intensities of state land usage. It may have already happened that some state lands have been installing some primitive ski slopes, or openening up snowmobile usage. It may be only a matter of time before ATV trails are established in some of the state lands. Picnic and camping facilities may take over some of the prime hunting spots. Those that are struggling to find hunting land who have finally resorted to state lands may not always be very satisfied with what state lands have to offer in the future. Yeah, that's just a bunch of theorizing, but it is not imagination that is not backed up with at least some initial examples that we can point to right now.

That may be the case. I really don't know. I am just saying be safe and check. It's so darn easy to break laws and get into trouble these days without even knowing it. By the way, let us know what they say. It would be interesting.

I really have mixed feelings about that. It is amazingly frustrating to have several hours invested in an evening hunt and then have a group of bikers roll by laughing and yelling back and forth to each other. Even at 100 or 200 yards, they wake up the whole woods. But I too have interests other than hunting and know how aggravated I would be at hunters if I was shut down during all of the hunting seasons. I do some hiking, and I understand that there is nothing like a nice walk in the woods. If I were booted out of the woods by hunters, I would probably eventually develop a very intense dislike for hunters. Also, those sunny, colorful days of fall are some of the favorites of the bikers and hikers and also right smack into the bow season. We are all taxpayers. So, like I say ..... I have mixed feelings about kicking one group of people out of the woods in favor of another group. As far as gun season, those people really are not out there. They are scared to death of us I guess ..... lol.