Doc

If that were true, they wouldn't have gone to the White House in the first place.

I hope he figured out a way of getting down without breaking all four legs. That's a long way down.

AR personally doesn't impact me at all. But I am sure that it is a very divisive issue with very little positive potential. Frankly I am all for those that chose to limit their harvests in that way, but I am not interested in forcing that choice on all hunters. I do like the way you ask who wants AR and then in the last sentence indicate you only want the answers to go one way ..... lol.

I would guess from their statement that they realized that the President and his merry band of gun-banners were only interested in "potential new gun laws" and not a serious discussion of the problem of societal violence. Yes, it is "good for them" to have quickly recognized the insincerity of this bunch and not waste any more time and effort with these people. I guess that's what you missed.

Sorry, I know this reply was not aimed at me, but I have to ask about a point of curiosity. When you choose a political party to belong to, doesn't a compatible general idealogy play some part in your choice? I suppose that very few people go in lock-step with every issue of their chosen party affiliation, but I also don't think it is particularly unfair to assign general concepts of idealogy to each party and its members in an over-all sense.

That is weird! I have never seen that kind of color phase or even anything close to it in real life or pictures.

Anything over 6" is more than I want to wallow through. One year, my wife decided that I should get out of the house and go out and play in the snow, so about 6 or 7 years ago, she bought me a pair of snow-shoes. I guess there must be some kind of trick to it all because I still sunk way too far down into the snow, plus I had these awkward things stuck to my feet. I'm glad I didn't wander any farther out than I could struggle back. I'm thinking cross-country skis might work better. By the way, I still get the snowshoes down off the wall every so often, where they are hanging ....... just to brush the dust off them and hang them back on the wall ....lol.

And there are people busily working right now to make sure that she and all others are similarly under-gunned in these kinds of situations. Apparently it doesn't bother our anti-gun friends one bit to help out those that would do violence to innocent homeowners.

And that was only a single intruder. How many rounds would she have wanted if two or three home invaders had entered the house? Why is it that these anti-gun freaks want to handicap legal gun owners in favor of the bad-guys when it comes to legitimate self defense? Probably has something to do with "criminal's rights" .

Ah yes and yet another post from the "Internet Link King" who apparently has never had an original thought of his own that didn't come from the fiction of others ...... lol. I stopped accessing these things after the 3rd one. Would have made more sense to have stopped just prior to the first ..... lol. Kind of looks like someone who has just discovered Google for the first time.

Gee there was no need for that nasty remark ...lol. Didn't I say that I was coming back to read your words of wisdom and learn from the master? Look, I spent a lot of time going through these six points and was prepared to go one by one through each and respond. But I found that with all those words, it all boiled down to a couple of facts that you refuse to listen to. First is the point that there is nothing that you can find in winter that you won't find easier in the early spring. Second, deer do not maintain the same bedding areas or maintain the same feeding patterns in the dead of winter that they do in the fall. Food and cover change dramatically and deer relocate accordingly. In some more severe winters, deer can relocate several miles. I realize that deer in different areas may have different traits and actions, but it is pretty obvious that there is very little that happens in winter that can be related back to fall hunting opportunities. It is equally obvious that there are very few observations that can be made in the dead of winter that are not there and easier to see in the early spring. I personally prefer to maximize the efficiency of my scouting by waiting til early spring and beyond for reasons stated before. It's really as simple as that. That's my choice. You don't like it? ..... I can't help that. I am not trying to talk anybody out of doing their winter scouting. I happen to believe that if nothing else, it certainly is great winter exercise. However I kind of sense that I am starting to step on your ego here and that is not my intention. So before all this escalates any further, perhaps we can simply agree that we don't see eye to eye on this and let it go at that.

Is that where all your profound words of wisdom can be found? Well look, can I get back to you on this? I have to eat supper. Maybe later I will come back and study and learn ..... lol. I always wanted to read the words of a leading deer hunting authority. I'm sorry I missed it.

No, I mean exactly what I said. I target what I percieve to be the best deer in the area. So "great mature buck hunter" .... lol. Tell me what marvelous things you learn with your deep snow scouting missions that accounts for your amazing expertise. Like you said "we can never stop learning".

I think I could make a pretty good guess how the deer would react " if someone had happened to spill a little feed out every other day or so". I have read stories about the little old lady in the Adirondacks that decided to feed the deer. Eventually, she had well over 100 deer coming daily to her feeder to the point where she could no longer feed them all. Plus they cleaned her entire yard of any living vegetation. I think that is what you might expect .... lol. Apparently there must be some kind of communication system that the deer have when a source of food shows up in the neighborhood. The crowd just keeps growing and growing until you just can't afford to keep up with them. And then the mob of additional deer wipe out your greenery and poop on your yard. Nope, you cannot bribe the deer to leave you alone ..... it just doesn't work ..... lol.

By golly, that takes the gun control debate off in a brand new direction. Very convincing stuff!

You know, that is where I give these guys a lot of credit that I'll never be able to give myself. For all their flaws, they are putting themselves out there debating something that they feel is important. And along with an occasional bump in the road, they are doing a fair job of keeping their arguments on a factual basis. Well Nugent anyway. This other guy (Jones?) is a new one for me and I know absolutely nothing about him other than that severely edited patch-job of a video interview. We on the other hand kind of keep our debate to a rather ineffective, very low-key version of simply typing. I'll say one thing .... I don't believe either of us would win a second of a debate with Nugent. The man will take anyone to school when it comes to instant command of the facts and figures regarding any gun or hunting debate. He did it flawlessly to Morgan, and I have seen his debates with others where he basically made fools of his opposition. Could he tone down some of the language and abrasiveness? .... sure, but then that wouldn't really be him would it. No one ever said he was perfect. But he is out there trying in a very public way and holding his own. Who here on this forum can say as much?

Actually, I target the best deer that I judge to be in the area and that also includes a doe here and there also. But what drives my scouting philosophy is the reality that I share my time with other activities and interests, and I have to maximize the efficiency of my time afield. I also find that I can cover a lot more ground in a lot less time when the ground is bare. So, that all means that when I go scouting, it is usually at a time that yields the most information per hour of scouting. Looking at non-hunting winter deer patterns and wandering around unable to see sign that I am looking for because it is buried under a foot or more of snow is not the best use of my time. So I look at and find signs of last years rut and patterns and trails more toward the spring when the snow is just coming off. It all stands out like the pages of a book at that time of year. And also the time just prior to hunting season begins to tell the patterns of the coming year, and also starts a picture of current food sources rather than survival foods of the previous winter. Also, whatever I learn at that time of year pertains to local deer that are true residents of my area and not winter yarding transplants that may be miles from their fall territories. Yes, there is a method to my madness. It involves efficiency in using my scouting time. Oh, let's throw in a nifty pun ...... "The biggest bang for the buck". I do believe that more intense scouting trips at a time of year where everything is open to inspection is the most efficient way to spend my scouting hours. But then ... that's just me.

Lol .... Oh my .... the drama. Soldier of fortune magazines and armagedon???? These are all emotional terms that seem to once again related to the physical appearance of the modern semi-auto sporting rifle. I wonder what would have happened if the military had not adopted this "black" look for their weaponry. Would the antis then be looking at our other semi auto hunting firearms for confiscation. I have to admit that the design of today's rifles do "look" rather menacing because they have modeled the appearance after military rifles. They do make an inviting target for those that are simply looking for something to confiscate. I keep wondering what the next target for confiscation will be after these "evil-looking" guns are banned. Perhaps I will make it through what's left of my lifetime before they work there way down to my bolt action and pump firearms ....lol.

We had the same problem with the mast crop this year as you mentioned. No acorns (not even the red oaks), no apples, not much of anything. Amazingly, the does that I got were fairly well layered with fat. Since we have zero agriculture here, I am not sure what they fattened up on, but it still seems like they were heading into winter in pretty good rig. So I am hopeful that they will survive the winter ok. Right now they are feeding on the traditional winter browse which while it may have limited nutrition, it has always brought them through previous winters pretty well ..... especially if winter doesn't hang on extra long during that critical springtime. I hope that roadkill that you checked is not typical of your deer herd. That could spell a larger than usual winter kill. Hopefully next year will get us back to the normal mast situation. We don't need a bumper crop, but I do rely on at least some acorns and apples for food patterns. We don't have much else here in the valley.

Very likely I will know before the start of the next season at a time that tells me that he not only survived the last gun season, but also the winter and the cars. Look, I am not saying that winter scouting has no value. I am simply saying that most of what is truly important is buried under the snow right now. I'm also saying that current deer movement and activities are totally different right now than they will be when next season rolls around (for reasons I have already posted).

Do you really have any idea what they spend their money on? Do you have any idea how many anti-gun pieces of legislation that are proposed each year? How many of these laws have you personally had a hand in defeating? Do you think that legislative alerts that set off letter writing campaigns cost nothing? Do you think that this stuff comes for free? How many of these kinds of things have you been able to accomplish as a non affiliated individual? What kinds of meaningful pro-gun lobbying have you been able to accomplish by yourself? I think that tiny amount of money is a bargain for a service that none of us would ever be able to accomplish on our own. Besides sitting back and enjoying the free ride what's the alternative? Oh and as to why folks are being pushy about joining the NRA, it might have something to do with the fact that the NRA is our most effective 2nd amendment advocacy group and most likely the only reason that we have guns in our possession today. It could have something to do with the fact that we really have no significant political voice individually. It might have something to do with the fact that we are footing the bill for something that most gun owners enjoy freely. It could also have something to do with the fact that if even a few more gun owners carried their fair burden in the 2nd amendment defense, we would have additional power to avert infringments, at even less cost. Yeah, those things could make an NRA member fairly enthusiastic about recruitment and pushing for support of an organization that defends something that all gun owners claim is important to them.

While I agree with what you are saying, I'm afraid your views are a dying view of bowhunting. It all started back in the 70's with the advent of the compound, and since that time there seems to be no turning back. Today, it is just another hunting season with no special significance, and everyone wants to get a piece of the season regardless of equipment. The idea of special challenge is irrelevant. Now it's just a warm weather time to hunt deer ......equipment be damned. I'm of the age where it doesn't matter that much anymore. It is time for me to step aside and let the next generation make of bowseason whatever they want it to be. I may not like it, but then I've had my time, now it will become whatever the majority of others want it to become.

With an excess of a foot of snow covering old scrapes, and old trails, there isn't much info available. If you want to check for trails scrapes and rubs, a good January thaw or barren-ground springtime condition is a much more meaningful time from a standpoint of learning what the activity was from last hunting season rather than when there is a foot of snow covering all that. What I have found is that traditional non-snow trails are ignored in deep winter as the deer wander looking for food. And speaking of food, there is absolutely no similarity between a deer's diet now vs. the diet during hunting season. What I am seeing right now is the tips of spruce trees being browsed, and some of the tips of red osier being munched, and seed clusters of staghorn sumac and some of the low-growing maple tips. None of which is given a second glance by deer in the fall when there is a fresh drop of acorns or apples, or grasslands or ag crops to feed on. Current tracks and trails reflect the different feeding habits and totally ignore the traditional fall trails. So when I see a trail of several deer walking together across my front yard heading for the bird feeder, that doesn't mean that next fall I should have a stand there..... lol. Bedding is now more related to protection from the elements, where in the fall the deer's bedding concern is more related to safety, cover and proximity to fall food sources. So noting where a deer is bedding right now is pretty useless info when hunting season rolls around. Yes, if you want to look for those pinch-points, funnels and hillside benches, and other traditional land features that draw deer, now is a good time to find those kinds of things. They stand out well in a woods uncluttered by foliage. If you want some kind of sense of deer populations, a good snow cover is a good time to do that. But, if you are looking for meaningful deer sign from rut and travel, wait until there is bare-ground conditions. If you are looking for feeding and bedding locations, don't waste your time checking those out during winter because they will not represent anything about fall (hunting) feeding and bedding conditions. For me, it would be a huge mistake to base stand selection based on what the deer are doing in the dead of winter unless I was hunting in those kinds of conditions. Deer are creatures that adapt to current conditions and are driven by their current diet. So my more meaningful scouting is done as close to hunting time as possible. By the way, I do a lot of in-season scouting. Stand selection is based on looking for concentrations of acorns or an occasional wild apple tree that is bearing heavy, or fresh heavily used trails with fresh tracks on them, or even a few sightings, or now we have trail cams to provide current info. Yes, I do keep an eye out at all times of the year for rut sign from prior seasons, because those often are repeated acts and locations. But when it comes to current patterns, nothing beats current scouting and that doesn't happen in the dead of winter.

Something sounds real strange about that story. One would think that such an act by Bank of America would be obviously illegal. Maybe there's more to the story that what we see in this article.

It was probably not his best moment .... lol. Frankly, these guys are playing right into Morgan's hands with all this attention. Myself, I don't see the need to even acknowledge him or in anyway elevate his importance. The guy is just plain silly, but I will say that he has learned to play us gun advocates to his maximum advantage. Even in arguments that he is losing, his stock continues to rise strictly because of controversy and exposure.