Doc

It really is hard to find good info for comparing one bow to another. And when you do find that kind of comparative info it usually involves bows that are set up in some unrealistic configuration. The problem is the amount of variables in poundage, drawlength, arrows, releasing systems, string materials, even fletching. The variables, and combinations are difficult to deal with. I don't think you will ever find a source that compares all bows and all combinations of set-ups. And the write-ups in magazines are so darn fraudulent and general that they are useless. Most of what you hear are simply manufacturer's press releases and are totally biased. And of course no magazine is going to bad-mouth an advertiser's product. Actually, speed is quite over-rated, and there are many other features of a new purchase that should be way more important. Those things can only be evaluated by actually shooting a bunch of different bows. I would suggest that a prospective purchaser head out for the largest bow shop that he can find and prepare to spend a good chunk of a day being a huge pain in the butt by asking to shoot as many different bows as your arm can handle. Look for features like smoothness of draw, quietness, forgiveness of form problems, And at the same time, you can get a "rough" idea of the speed of each bow tried. It's a lot of effort, and will give the shop owner a pretty good work-out, but it is a substantial purchase and probably will be worth it. When you get all done, you will have a lot more knowledge than some write up on bows that are set up to some unreasonable specifications.

I have never heard any bowhunter throw a fit over disturbances of the hunt. I have heard them express disappointment that it happened, and that should be understandable to any reasonable person. But in terms of hooting and hollering and throwing a fit, I have never heard directly, or indirectly, anywhere, of anyone doing that. There are a whole lot of things being attributed to bowhunters strictly on the basis of having something negative to say about them. These are generally the same people who in their best whiney voice say, "Can't we all just get along". It is getting a bit tiresome. I'm not saying that all bowhunters are perfect people, but I will say that generally all the bowhunters that I have ever come in contact with in 47 years of bowhunting have conducted themselves in a fairly decent fashion. Certainly as good as any other group of hunters and maybe even a bit better than most. Now maybe you have had a run-in with some unique exception and for some reason want to blow that out of proportion, but I think that I have been hearing way to much of this kind of exaggeration of bowhunter bad behavior lately as some kind of anti-bowhunting agenda is being put into place.

I believe that is exactly what I said.

Generally, I agree, but I will say that I have had stands ruined by small game hunters. I don't think it was done intentionally, but just a coincidental circumstance where a couple of squirrel hunters plopped down within 100 yards of my stand and spent the entire afternoon shooting squirrels. No, they had absolutely no idea that I was there and eventually I decided it was the smart thing to leave. Was I dancing around for joy when that happened? .... no. But understand this, I too have spent a lot of time hunting squirrels, and I appreciate how much fun it is. I also respect their right to be there, and I know that almost all the time, if they knew I was there they would have moved on a bit. But, if I feel like commenting on how my hunt was ruined, I think it should be understandable unless somebody is just looking for something negative to say about bowhunters. Do you think that I should have celebrated the fact that there was constant shooting 100 yards away from my stand? Just because something unfortunate happens during a hunt doesn't mean that I believe that small game hunters don't have a right to be doing their thing as your post seems to imply. Don't be so eager to randomly say something negative about bowhunters and their disappointment when a hunt is accidentally busted by other hunters (bowhunters included). I know it seems to be the popular thing to do these days. I'm sure that when you do finally get your bowhunter certification, you won't exactly be jumping for joy when a hunt is busted by other hunters. And if you happen to mention your disappointment over such an event, I for one won't instantly take that as a sign that you hate small-game hunters or whatever.

Ah yes, another random slap at bowhunters. Don't be painting with such a big broad brush there fella, unless you are just looking for something nasty to say about bowhunters like so many are so fond of doing these days. Personally, I congratulate the young guy on his accomplishment and also congrats go out to the mentor who I assume master-minded the hunt.

Isn't there a special youth hunting license involved? That should be clear as to what is legal to take. Somebody here should be able to tell you all about it.

I too am a great believer in land owner's rights. It's the one thing that separates us from the more authoritarian governments. That's why I am an opponent of most zoning in rural areas. When I say a man's home (Property) is his castle, I am very firm in that belief.

It's a long season. Many of the days have been down-right "hot", and it's still darn difficult to see very far through the woods. The last thing I want to encounter is those sneaky deer that just all of a sudden appear standing there looking at you.....lol. Really, I like some time to settle myself down a bit before the deer actually gets there. I do have a few spots that are so thick that even when the leaves are completely down, you still can't see very far. Those places can be productive, but they're not a lot of fun to hunt. I never do get a chance to just sit back and relax because I have to be at-the-ready all the time. Right now the whole damn woods is like that. Yeah, we're getting into the rainy season, but we're used to that every bow season right? This is the time of year when the nice days are really nice, but the crappy weather is extremely crappy. Plus, I am using the extra time to make sure my flinching is under control. So I have been taking this part of the season real casual.

It's not a put-down, it's an observation.

Lol .... One thing I will say with certainty. That trail cam picture is not a large housecat or someone's dog. I can't say that the picture actually came from NYS, or that it isn't a very expert Photoshop project, but there is no question it is a mountain lion.

Ha ... looky there .... a female version of Bubba.

Yeah .... "Hunting socialism" ..... ha-ha-ha. By the way, I make fun of the excessive cars and houses that some people have, that doesn't mean that I am jealous of them. In some cases, I just think they are foolish. And of course they have a perfect right to be foolish, and I have a perfect right to comment about that. And, I guess as it turns out you have a perfect right to mistakenly call that jealousy ..... lol. Interesting where an opinion can lead, isn't it?

Ha! maybe there's a reason why my fear of heights came on me a bunch of years back. This whole thread has convinced me that it may all have been a fortunate thing.....lol. I always thought the main thing was to have a safety strap. Then they explained that that wasn't enough you had to have a harness. A simple belt will kill you. Ok that's fine. A bit of cash involved, but safety is where its at. Now they are talking about blood pooling in your legs and feet if you don't have some additional strappy-thing. And then there is the prospect of dangling there until you die of starvation. And now there is a whole survival kit of phones, knives, etc. that you should be carrying in order to survive a fall. Look, to me there is no deer that's worth all that kind of risk. And even if I was not afflicted with my fear-of-heights thing, I think at this point I would be coming back down out the trees, back to a place where man was meant to be ...... the ground. Over the years I have proven to myself that I can still get deer from the ground. It may be a bit of a handicap, but it sounds like an additional challenge that I am able to live with.

That's kind of how things were on the state land that I hunt. And the two cars that were parked in the parking lot could have been bowhunters or small game hunters, or even hikers or bikers. So I don't know whether anyone was there because of the youth hunt. That is all pretty much as I had predicted. I'm beginning to wonder if the DEC estimate of 8000 statewide might have been badly mis-judged. Of course I will admit that the rain at the beginning of the day sure didn't help a lot.

Yes, and in the future, we will likely find that much of today's biological knowledge is also incorrect. So goes the progress of science. Nothing new there. And by the way , much of what we are learning today comes from times much earlier than the 80's. Everything we know today or think we know today comes from researchers such as Robinson (1965), Mirarchi (1977), Lambiase (1972), Whitehead & McEwan (1973), Long (1959), Ozoga (1969), Verme (1962), Mueller & Sadeir (1979), Cheatum & Severinghaus (1950), Robinette (1955), and on and on goes, but you get the idea. The list of researchers that built the foundation of whitetail biology many more years ago than the 1980's is basically endless. And there were many researchers before those cited here that also conducted valuable building blocks for today's knowledge of whitetail biology. And these people were not dealing in anectotal study and were indeed doing very sophisticated scientific studies. And even though we are convinced that we know everything there is to know about whitetails today, I will guarantee you that the learning will go on long after us. How we use all that research is likely to be a function of resources and if we choose to squander it, that too is a choice that we make as time goes on. However, back to the subject of deer population, it is still a fact that deer populations are currently controlled through the regulation of does (today, via antlerless deer permits) and none of it has anything to do with any conscious effort to regulate buck to doe ratios. It all has to do with the current biological understanding that does are the ones that drop fawns (frequently at the rate of two or three). No one is worrying about any ratio of bucks to does in that decision. The concern is strictly cutting or increasing the population to bring it into balance with what the human population can tolerate. Perhaps there will come a day when we have the luxury of dealing in such things as buck/doe ratios and maybe even more meaningful or exotic management features. But the reality is that taxpayers of this state and most states have more pressing concerns and are not willing to shell out the resources to deal with the nitty-grittys of every aspect of whitetail management. So, our fascination with gender ratios is going to have to wait. And that wait may extend on forever.

I'm not sure, but I think the way the human body is proportioned, being suspended from your waist probably would wind up with you upside down .... lol. Can you imagine cutting yourself down while in that position? ..... Ouch!! Well anyway, thankfully people have since put a lot more thought into safety harness systems. They're not cheap, but worth every penny. Myself, I go one step further. I don't even get up in the trees anymore. Ha-ha ... If man were meant to be up in trees he would have been born with a prehensile tail .... lol.

Don't be getting beaned by one of those things. Last year I got nailed with a hickory nut that must have come all the way from the top of the tree and it had me seeing stars. I can't imagine what it would be like to get nailed in the head with a walnut.

Ha-ha .... we have a few little words or phrases that seem to be put into use on this forum whenever frustration sets into these threads. I know that a lot are fond of the word "selfish", as though once that term has been used, opponents are permanently put in their place .... lol. And another all-time favorite is "elitism". Well now we have another one, "jealousy". The only thing that is missing is "So there! nyah-nyah-nyah". "Hunting socialism" ..... ha-ha-ha ... I'll have to remember that one. You can tell that the political season is heating up when people start trying to hook anything and everything to political terms. I will say that it is all pretty entertaining though. Sorry, but that post was so funny that I just had to comment.

Back in the olden days, we used to think we were being the safety conscious ones when we simply tied a rope around our waste. In the years since, I have learned that that particular practice could be a killer that is more guaranteed than a fall. So, it's not always true that anything is better that falling to the ground. They've made some big improvements in safety harness rigs, even to the point where you are never disconnected even when going up and down the tree and also systems where you can ease yourself safely to the ground. Regarding the original question, I am having a problem visualizing what is being described there. I'm not sure how you are using the extra strap. This isn't a "home-made" safety strap deal is it?

As I understand it, it is the buck take that gives them a consistant guage of where the deer population is going because there is no interference of permit numbers. It is their yardstick for measuring harvest results. The doe take is not as relevant because it has the influence of changing numbers of permits. The buck take is a relative constant. That still has nothing to do with intentional gender balancing. In answer to your question about "a doe tag for everyone and limited buck tags for WMU's", I am sure it is because as I have been saying, the antlerless permit system is for population control. You do not control populations with buck harvest. It is the protection or reduction of the does that is the population control of significance. It really has nothing to do with hunter cooperation, but is strictly a function of biology.

That's the beauty of being retired....lol. I can pick and choose my days out, and don't have to be concerned about losing an occasional day here and there.

It's true that if the blood sign starts to dilute and disappear, you had better have one heck of a deadly hit. But then, not all rains produce that kind of blood-erasing effect. So, for me it is not just whether they are predicting rain, but what kind of rain are they calling for. For example right now I am hearing it literally pouring out there. No blood trail would have a chance of surviving long enough for recovery. This is a day that is better spent doing something more productive than being forced into a grid pattern body search of a dead deer (that usually signals a lost deer). But I have seen days when the rain was a light intermittant spray. I am quite often drawn out on those kinds of days.

I agree, there are many things that could tip off a deer to our presence and many of them may not be all that obvious. But I still have to wonder how they know when they can ignore all of these signals. What tells them when human scent, blaring TVs and radios and other indicators of our obvious presence can be completely ignored. How did they figure out that hunting season ended and it's now safe to walk around grazing on Doc's front lawn, next to his house, in broad daylight? How do they realize that the human scent oozing around that front step and that front door really doesn't mean anything when just a few days before, and throughout the entire hunting seasons even a slight hint of a distant bit of human scent would send them running in the opposite direction. I know that they have very primitive reasoning abilities. And even their memories are quite limited. So it makes me think that there are some strange instinctive abilities to analyze situations that we don't even have the beginnings of understanding. Is that all part of a 6th sense? ..... who knows? If that isn't the answer, then we have a whole lot more to learn about deer and their defences.

I can only keep repeating that antlerless permits are based completely on deer density and input from stakeholders and one might hope that habitat quality and availability is factored in too. Gender balance is not a consideration.

There is no excuse for designing and selling to the public, a unit that can malfunction putting the consumer's life and body at risk when the unit is being properly used. It just shouldn't happen. You should be able to stand on any part of that platform without any danger of the gripping parts of the stand parting from the tree. You should absolutely send a scathing note to the manufacturer.