Doc

We always seem to go after the easy answers rather than the correct answers don't we? Throw money at it .... throw time at it. Has anyone even bothered to ask what would be done during this new expanded time at school? Does anyone even care, or is this just another one of those quick useless ideas that once implemented everyone walks away patting each other on the back and thinking all the problems are solved. Could it be that we need some serious overhaul of the educational system rather than just increasing the number of hours spent doing the same wrong things? My thought is that the first place to start is parent education. A lot of the problems involve attitudes and activities that take place in the home. Much of the motivations and work ethics are taught in the home. A lot of distractions should be controlled by the parents. Get these people educated and on board and you probably will have plenty of time at school already. Along with that, evaluate curriculums and where resources and time are spent in school. Put some business management principles into the way schools are managed. A little corporate mentality in the school systems might work wonders as far as appropriate decisions to get the job done. Forget the quick easy answers. There just might be a whole lot that can change with some real positve results than the length of the school day.

The school systems have it all figured out when it comes to getting their budgets passed. When the first vote doesn't turn out the way they want it, they just make a few public threats about cuts to the voter's favorite programs (sports) and then tinker with a couple of insignificant numbers and have another vote. If that doesn't work, they'll keep going for a new vote until the opposition tires and gives up.

This weather is starting to look as weird as last winter's weather was.............(we should be so lucky .... lol)

You would have thought that the least they could have done would have been to drive a few deer over my way .... lol.

It sounded like somone with some old ammo they wanted to dispose of.

I need someone to explain what the thrill is to "target shooting" by pulling the trigger just as fast as you can. It just sounds like someone throwing away ammo. I just got done listening to this nonsense for about half the time I was out hunting. I'm glad I wasn't hunting anywhere near these guys. I got my usual 4 hours of still hunting in and they were still going at it when I went in the house .... lol. I'm not sure just what they were shooting, but it sure wasn't rimfire. This was in the middle of some state land, so I hope they weren't messing with centerfire rifles (this area is shotgun only). What ever it was, it sounded like a max capacity of 11 because most of the time it was 11 shots. Maybe like a clip of 10 and one in the chamber?? Is there some kind of pistol with that capacity? Maybe there was some kind of violation going on. But anyway, my main comment, or question is, am I missing some kind of fun entertainment? What is the fascination with firing as quickly as possible? I don't get it. I generally try to take my time and see how accurate I can be. I know ammo isn't cheap even when you load your own. Seems crazy to just throw it away as fast as you can work your finger. Can anybody explain the thrill of dumping ammo as quick as possible? Just curious.

Yes, it seems like we have laws that cover just about everything. We have laws against hunting in the dark, we have laws against shooting across roads, we have laws against how close to dwellings we can discharge a gun/bow, we have all kinds of laws that regard safety. I don't know where we cross over the line and actually start over-regulating ourselves on the basis of safety. But so far, I have not seen any of these laws that I cannot live with. I already comply with BO in gun season, and there is no way that I would go out into the woods without it. But I have also seen those that don't have the sense that God gave a goose, wandering around out there like fools with a death wish, dressed in full camo. Like I said above, maybe that is just a way of weeding out the dumb ones. I'll be honest with you, I have no strong feelings on whether it becomes mandatory or not, but of all the safety laws, something like a BO law probably would be the one that makes a whole lot of sense and is the easiest to conform to.

I have had two occasions where I ran into guys dressed head to toe in camo, during opening day, on a very heavily pressured parcel of state land. One even even had face-paint on. I didn't see either until I was practically on top of them. According to some of the NYS accident stats, it sounds like there are quite a few of them out there. It's a simple act of safety to wear BO, and it is true that most of us already wear it (because we seriously place some value on our lives). As far as hunters becoming conditioned to shooting anything that isn't orange, that's an interesting theory, but is not something that I have heard of as being a problem in states that have the law. On the other hand maybe not having the law is a way of applying Darwin's Law. Perhaps we can get some of the bad genes out of the pool by leaving the BO decision up to each individual....lol. As far as extending shooting hours, I have to say that the other night, when it was heavily overcast and there was a slight bit of fog, and I was heading home through an old hemlock woods, 1/2 hour after the end of legal shooting hours was not even close to being safe shooting light. We always judge these things by what we can see on a clear night and ideal weather, and out in relatively open areas. That's not always the case. What the heck, get a full moon and a layer of snow on the ground and you could hunt all night with a good scope. Should we base the shooting hours on that? Look, if I have to rely on near nocturnal hunting for success, maybe I should take up some other form of recreation. I think I can easily live with the hunting hours that have been in effect. Those limits are as good as any. Yes, we hear plenty of shots outside the legal hunting hours (some that are actually in the dark). And just because there are those that don't abide by the laws, that doesn't mean that we should change the laws to accomodate law-breakers.

The examples that you gave will grow for free in abandoned fields and such. I wouldn't think there would be a whole lot of market for such stuff. Probably the best security cover comes from that stinking multi-flora rose. However, it is the last thing that I would ever suggest for someone to purposely plant. It is terribly invasive and impossible to get rid of when it takes over. However, the state has some shrub packets that have more manageable shrubbery for sale. Check with them. Also, I believe the Cornell Extension Service probably has some good wildlife habitat packages.

Yeah, that sounds like a bit of over-interpretation. I would like to see the actual wording in law that states that. I cannot find any of these little details or interpretations in the law books that I have. I wonder just how much latitude is given conservation officers and J.P.s when it comes to imagining what some of these laws really mean. At some point one would hope that they have to back this stuff up with actual written laws.

I wonder at what point kids will begin to burn out. yes, I know they have all kinds of extra energy and capacity to learn ..... way more than any of us have left anymore ... lol. But there has to be a time for kids to be kids. There needs to be some time for kids to develop more memories than just encounters with school books. I have been struck with the difficulty I have even seeing my Grand-daughters anymore ..... almost need an appointment. Between the school work, and the homework and the extra curricular activities (band, sports, etc.) their entire lives are consumed. I suppose it is all just a training ground for when they finally get a job and are confronted with escalating hours of mandatory over-time. I'm awfully glad that I grew up in a less demanding time.

Push or sit ..... There is a third choice that is very effective. That is to still-hunt. We always assume that getting deer moving involves some kind of drive. I just wish hunters would simply get off their rumps and move around the woods a little bit. It seems that out by us, we have the guys that go into the woods and plop down under a tree or up in their treestand and that's where they stay...... all day long. And yet, if you listen to all the shooting it is obvious that all the shots that take place come from the hunters moving into or out of the woods. After that little bit of hunter movement, the deer all find a nice comfy place and stay there. So there you have it .... the hunters nodding off in their stands, and the deer nodding off in their beds, and inevitably the shooting comes to a halt and everybody winds up just sitting there .... doing nothing. back in the "olden" days, before all this space-age clothing, guys would sit for a couple of hours, get frozen out, and then out of necessity, they would start still hunting. With that many guys moving around in the woods, they had to stumble onto some deer. Sometimes they would get one, and sometimes the deer would move out to the next still-hunter. Either way, it would get the deer moving, and the action (shots) would continue through the day. Hunters would be bumping into deer and deer would be bumping into hunters. That is one of the reasons that we assume shortages of deer. The deer stop moving and the shots stop happening, and we automatically think there's either a shortage of deer, or a shortage of hunters. Actually the shots cease because there is a shortage of hunter movement.

You do a lot better than I do. When the still-hunting part of my gun season begins, I no longer can make a day of it. These old legs simply won't last that long I'm good for a maximum of 5 hours these days (usually more like 4 hrs) and then I might be wrecked for the next day .... lol. The old endurance has taken a significant hit in recent years. In fact my still hunting these days is more like a moving stand hunt. I move very slowly and periodically will sit down for 15 minutes or so just to give the legs a break. It's what I have to do to make 4 or 5 hours. Of course, the whole thing starts off with heading straight up the "killer hill" behind the house. It's one of those almost-hands and knees kinds of hills that never seems to end ..... lol. Actually, that hill killed my neighbor a bunch of years ago (heart attack 3/4 of the way up). Opening day I am able to sit all day, but after that it is all still hunting, and that's where I run into my limits.

It probably is pretty obvious what happened to it, and you do have all the supporting tags and licenses to back up the authenticity of it. If that happened to me, I probably wouldn't worry about it. If you had nothing at all left of it or the rest of your documentation, then I would be looking to get replacements for sure. But you do still have your tag and it is recognizable as to what it is. But sure enough, do what makes you feel better. There's no point worrying about potential tickets if you are concerned.

Ha, I can imagine the huge headline in the PETA newsletter. Hunters admit to lawlessness .... lol. Look, I'm not a big fan of surveys. We get phone calls all the time requesting our participation in various surveys. I will tell you the same thing I tell them......"No-thanks and don't bother me again". Your survey may very well be totally innocent and exactly everything that you say ..... or it may not. But I sure am curious about that particular line of questioning and the subject matter that you chose. I think it is something that should just be ignored and left alone. Sorry.

Can you imagine how ugly it would be to start out with a pleasant day of hunting with a friend only to have it all end like this? Imagine having to live with something like that for the rest of your life. One moment's indiscretion, and one guy's life is ended and the other's is ruined. I honestly don't believe I could live with such a thing. People have to keep their minds engaged at all times.

I look at the compactness of these power wheelchairs (like the hover-round, etc.) and wonder why they don't use that basic design along with more aggressive ATV features. I don't know how much one of those things weighs, but it seems like they already have the basic power unit that when added to this item would be the perfect device for enabling handicapped hunters full access to the woods and treestand hunting. You would have to modify this other device to make it attachable to the tree without getting out of the seat. But I will bet that eventually that is where this technology goes.

So what is the body-count across the state up to now for this year?

Yeah, it sounds like you are going to have a blast. You'll probably wear your arms out. Take a bunch of pictures for us and post some of them when you get back.

I have noticed that in areas where there is significant hunting pressure, the deer seem to adopt a "safety in numbers" attitude. That's why two different groups or individual hunters will have directly opposite opinions of deer populations. Some guys will be near the path of these ganged up deer and the next guy may just be out of sight of them. You either see a pile of deer all at once or see none depending on where you are standing.

200 yards ..... may I suggest that you do your best to locate what direction each of the houses are and try not to shoot in that direction. Hopefully all shots will be down toward the ground since you will be up in a tree. Even at that I suspect there will be some real nervous neighbors in that area if you happen to touch off around .... lol. They probably are not used to hearing guns going off in that kind of close-in range. There may be a few spilled cups of coffee .... lol.

That's funny! Luck like that is enough to give a guy a complex .... lol. Adjust that darned scope down an inch of so.... ha-ha. But seriously, that just points out how small that brain really is. You're only talking and inch or so between the perfect brain shot and a miserable experience like you encountered. But luckily the direction that you were off (high) probably resulted in a relatively harmless "de-horning". It doesn't take much more error than that in a low direction to cause a wounding loss that could be a very miserable and lengthy death for the deer.

From what I have seen locally, the movers and shakers of the town government are only concerned with increasing the tax base. And all the town residents are right there cheering them on. Nobody seems to understand the myth about increasing a tax base and how that kind of mindless and boundless expansion baloons the new tax requirements demanded by the new density. I'll never forget how proud the town supervisor was when he campaigned on his efforts to recruit new business and industry to "increase the tax base". I wanted to strangle him. Yeah, I know we're getting pretty far of topic here, but you tweaked a sore spot.

Unfortunately, now that the picture and story is out, that area will take a lot of heat for the next few years. There may or may not be another one like that one around, but that won't stop the new reputation of the area for being a "big-buck area".

Opening day I am out there well before daylight watching the trail of flashlights and occasional ATV tail-lights going up the hill across the road. I'm sitting there with my 5 tons of equipment and supplies and of course my thermos and bag of fried egg sandwiches, ready to make a day of it. After opening day, I am one of those guys that everyone loves. I get started when I'm darn good and ready and sneak around the hill. What the heck .... somebody has to do it....lol. Otherwise you have all the hunters sitting and snoozing with the deer flopped down and snoozing along side of them and no deer moving at all. So, it's my civic duty to get out there and find out where the deer are hiding and boot them in the backside like everybody used to do for me years ago. Anyway, after opening day, my hunting gets to be pretty laid-back, and usually it pays off pretty well for me. Not so good this year yet.