Doc

Many stores market this stuff under the guise of being sold for use in other states where baiting and feeding are legal. Of course we all, as well as the stores, know that it is being used illegally here. But the law does not make the sales of those products illegal, while the use in NYS is. It is your basic loophole that allows the illegal practice to flourish as long as you don't get caught.

I would like to make one suggestion that may aid in the survival of your trees. Get a roll of 4' high welded wire and build 4' or 5' diameter cages to put around them. This will avoid any deer damage (eating or rubbing) and also provide support if the snow should begin to bend them over. You will find the prices pretty reasonable at stores like Tractor Supply. And a roll goes quite a ways. I do that with all of any fruit trees that I plant, and have never had any damage to any of them.

Ears are way too long for a bear. I think it is a deer. No, I can't explain what is going on with its back half. I might be part of the surroundings or another deer changing the outline or something, but the front half definitely looks like a deer outline. But really, the picture is so bad that it is hard to say anything for sure.

I remember when I never locked the car. I remember when we never locked the house doors when we went away. It's a whole different world these days, and it ain't getting any better.

So, where can you buy bear mace? Is it legal to possess in NYS? With comrade Cuomo at the helm here I have to ask.

We still have mosquitos that will eat you up alive if you don't out-run them. I still get that trickle of sweat down the middle of my back if I exert myself beyond climbing into a hammock. I suspect it will be a while before it even feels like hunting season. I think I can afford to skip a bit of the early season. I'm retired and really am free to hunt anytime I feel like it. And right now given the summer weather, I would rather do summer things. That wonderful extra two weeks of bow hunting in early October that everyone is so jealous of and fighting to get into really is not something that I am ecstatic over. It really feels like I should be fishing or doing cook-outs instead of hunting.

I always marvel at all the different places and directions that my mind goes when I am sitting alone in the woods. I don't think I ever do such intense but relaxed thinking at any other time. It's just amazing how the mind reaches a state of clarity when all the noise and confusion are stripped away.

It's getting to be that any allegation of abuse by any male is automatically believed. The male is now guilty until he proves he is innocent. The Dems have now learned to use this fact as a political tool. I might take this a bit more seriously if the left were not constantly in throes of mental melt-down and obsessed with the notion that Trump must be punished for winning the election. Seriously, when all this clandestine/illegal stuff keeps coming out about what shysters the leftist are and the unlimited, never ending, dirty-tricks and outright lying and obstruction tactics that they have incessantly using, it casts a shadow of doubt on everything that they roll out now. Just the timing of all this makes it all very suspicious. It all smells like B.S. when combined with all the wacked out things that the left has been doing. They simply are not credible.

My Brother-in-law used to have a dog that would watch the bobber when we were bullhead fishing. When it went down he would start barking and jumping around like a crazy thing. Somehow he figured it out that when the bobber went down, everyone would get excited and jump up and start pulling in a fish. So, I guess he just wanted to get in on the action. Apparently they do have some reasoning ability.

Dang! That sounds like a heck of a good idea. I'll be checking the forecast to see what day would be good for that. I might take the camera along though.

Those are shagbark hickorys, and that is how they are supposed to look. It's a very common species and generally a very beneficial one. And by the way, for those that are very, very, ambitious, it produce nuts that make some darn good cakes and cookies if you have a lot of time on your hands....lol

These things are not something that we really want to dwell on, but it is true that humans tend to procrastinate when it comes to living each day as our last. We are always thinking that there is always time to say this and do that when really none of us knows which day will be our last. Your message is an important one for all of us regardless of our ages.

OK...... I see he posted today, so things must be alright.....lol.

A well used trail is exactly 20 yards in front of this stand. this stand is over 15 years old and is simply a wall to stand behind. I come to full draw while hidden, and release as soon as the walking deer exposes the vitals. This one has taken the most deer and is very consistent. Another very consistent producer with the same "wall-style" cover. I just let the deer move into shooting position. Down in the valley bottom. Don't see the blind? That's good because the deer can't see it either. Another measured 20 yard shot to the trail. Just behind the camera is an old wild apple tree that always produces. The cover is very tight and thick in here and good bedding is not very far away. You have to be watching all the time here because you will look one time and there will be no deer, and the next time you look they will get right across the shooting lane before you realize what is going on .... lol. Old dead beech tree that overlooks a mineral-seep. It is almost like a treestand the way the land is shaped. No stand construction required. I just take advantage of the natural barrier and the attraction of the seep coming out of the ground right below the tree. Sometimes you just get lucky. Gun stand ..... All the comforts of home! And it is as close to a guaranteed stand as I have ever found. It is a plateau that crosses the hill and forms an escape route when the orange-coats enter the woods. I have spent dozens of opening days right here.

I guess I have to ask: when you harvest a deer and you happen to be using pee or scent, how do you know that the deer wasn't going to be walking by anyway even if you hadn't used the scent. There was only one time that I was pretty well convinced and that was when I used a drag-rag and had a buck walking right on my exact trail in with his nose glued to the trail. That looked pretty obvious. he was making all the same turns and twists that I did when I dragged the rag in. But that is the only time I could say for sure that it worked.

Whenever coyote discussions come up, I start thinking about how in NYS, the coyote is really at the top of the food chain if we do not intervene. So other than disease, and cars, there is nothing to keep their numbers in check. Am I wrong about that? So I guess I am not very surprised when I hear that they are putting a heavy dent in some deer populations around the state. I am sure the DEC is most likely very enthusiastic about that. So I don't expect to ever see any push to promote a year around season on them.

This is the condition of a deer that I shot that was too weak to get out of its bed. Kind of a mercy killing. No question it was a predator attack. The damage to the rear quarters of this deer were definitely the result of a running attack by something. Coyotes, bear, dogs??? No way that I can say with any certainty. I sometimes wonder how many of the carcasses that we find in the woods and assume are wounding losses from hunting season are actually the remnants of predator attacks. But this particular critter was still alive with the damage that showed it was not a hunting casualty.

Probably the first question you should ask is "what are all the uses that you will have for the machine and how are the priorities ranked". Bigger is not always better. My machine is primarily used for snow plowing a 1000' driveway. Maneuverability is a huge primary concern. I have never found a lack of HP to be a concern. On the other hand other people may be interested in a food-plotting machine, or something that pulls firewood out of the woods. There may be passenger concerns for trail riders that mean nothing to me. Customize your choices to your needs. So the first thing is to lay out as accurate a picture of your own personal needs for the machine and build your "want-list" from that.

I agree generally with the content of this except that it seems to make villains of those that set up their own personal sets of standards and challenges. I cannot call someone a problem that lays out their own minimums and sets their own version of ethical hunting. They are not the problem. The problem is a person who sets NO ethical standards and decides that the ends always justify the means. These are the ones who paint the picture of hunting to those who do not know better and set up negative representation of hunting to the world. Yes there are extremes in both directions that do damage to the art of hunting. perhaps there are problems with the ways in which we express ourselves. However, I will always more easily tolerate the hunter that adheres to a rigid set of standards and ethics a whole lot easier than those who can't be bothered at all about the ethics of the hunt and believe that there is no such thing as fair chase considerations or limits. I enjoy discussions of where people set their limits. It shows me that they are concerned about such things. We will never reach unilateral agreement about right or wrong, but just the fact that we at least talk about such things means that we cannot be too far out of whack in the world of hunting.

Any updates?????

I remember when : posted signs were an oddity. new car prices were in the mid four figures. the Watkins home delivery truck used to come to our house. my parents 105 acre farm was bought for 8000 dollars (35 minute drive from Rochester). I first broke the $100 barrier for my paycheck (and was living pretty good). Sears and J.C. Penny and Montgomery Wards offered catalogs for their sales. the main public entertainment in town was the monthly square dances and dinners at the grange hall. theater tickets were $.25 Nobody bothered to lock their doors. The Grange League Federation (GLF) was the sales point for grain. I remember all of us sitting around the huge console radio listening to The Green Hornet. And on and on and on.......

Quote: "anyone add new ground this year?" No, but I have subtracted a bunch, understanding that every year I have to shrink my range because it is getting harder and harder to drag deer out from places that I use to routinely handle in the past.....lol.

I found that it is very difficult shooting a bow when you feel compelled to bear-hug the tree-trunk for dear life.....lol. My last treestand was made out of pressure treated 2x8's and was fastened to the tree with 5/8 diameter x 6" long lag bolts. It is a 5' x 5' platform with railings all around. The whole thing was just 9' off the ground. And I still had to hang on to the tree trunk to stay up in there. That is one very serious affliction. I have tried to get up in it several times over the recent years, but no luck. It's a phobia that simply is never going to go away.

Ha-ha-ha... It won't be very long before we are complaining about the bone-chilling cold and all the snow that we have to shovel, plow and slide off the road in. Our problem is that we are a state of extreme weather. But these days with air conditioning in our homes, cars, and businesses, the worst that can happen is that we have to walk a little bit from our air-conditioned car to an air-conditioned building. I can handle that a lot easier than watching the snow pile up and wondering if my ATV will be able to handle it. Or worse yet standing on the shoulder of the road looking down in a deep ditch at the roof of my car.