Doc

I tend to agree with you. I think one of the problems is that some of these guys really don't want to hand that shot at the buck over to their kids. Or maybe they anticipate that the kids might somehow otherwise disturb their hunt. That really doesn't sound like the kind of guy that will take time out from his weekend in October to attend (mentor) any kids during a special hunt. In fact, who knows, he may be busy bowhunting that weekend now that they have forced him to make a choice. So, I still wonder where all these mentors will be coming from that refused to offer such services before. See my feeling is that some percentage of the supporters of this season are these selfish hunters that want things both ways. So they are in favor of this special season hoping that someone else will take over the "burden" of mentoring their kids. Unfortunately there may be fewer mentors available since they have purposely overlapped the special season with bowhunting. And once again the job will not get done. But everybody will walk away patting themselves on the back for having solved the recruitment problem, unfortunately ending any creative thought on real innovative solutions. Pessimist? ..... Maybe. Or maybe just a realist.

How can anyone seriously compare domestic terrorism activities to the 911 style actions of a foriegn entity against people in this soveriegn nation. Are you serious? That's a pretty snappy tap-dance, but I've got to believe you really did get my point.

I know I can't do it without standing up and changing position. So, if the deer's got you, he's got you, unless you stand all the time (which I can't). And then even standing all the time, you're still going to have to turn or move in some way to get positioned. Hey, there's just some circumstances that you can't avoid. The big thing is to not take a foolish, low percentage shot that you know you have little chances of making. There are a lot of different things that can happen that force you to pass. You can try to slowly make the move and get turned, or hope that it moves into a more favorable position. But other than that, I would think the best move would be to sit still and let it go and hope it comes back another day.

I realize that, but that doesn't mean that I automatically feel good about that situation. I simply do not believe in mixing gun deer hunting with bow deer hunting. As far as my comment about no one taking kids out hunting before, I am referring to the situation that made people want this youth season in the first place. I am assuming that the reason being given is that we have a recruitment of youth problem because nobody is doing it today during regular season. Those kids that we failed to recruit were first time eligible hunters as well and mentors have been dropping the ball completely. So what is it that is going to make us all of a sudden take interest in our youth and utilize this new season? Do you get what I'm trying to say? It was never the lack of a season that caused the lack of mentorship. It was the lack of interest by potential mentors. We have done nothing about motivating the mentors, and therefore I suspect nothing will really change relative to recruitment or participation in this new season. We have put the lipstick on the pig, but it's still a pig.

Scent elimination is impossible. Scent reduction has value. How much do you want to spend on scent reduction? How much effect on scenting distance do you feel that purchases of those products will supply (in yards)? Is it worth the cost? Pretty tough questions. The manufacturers are of no help because they are constantly over-claiming the benefits and exaggerating the effects. Anecdotal evidence is worthless. I myself have shot a deer that was on the opposite side of the tree that I was standing behind ...... about 4 yards. I was a heavy smoker at that time and had just put one out. If I had just got done hosing down with Scent-Away, I probably would be singing the praises of the product .... lol. But, I didn't .... and I'm not. So you're kind of on your own on this one. Your guess is as good as mine .... and that's all it really is, is a "guess".

I have never been in the woods in camo at the same time that muzzle loader deer season was in progress. For me that would be pretty stupid. I see no difference between deer rifles, shotguns, and muzzle loaders when it comes to the need for blaze orange. As far as turkey hunters are concerned, I believe that in all the years that we have had a fall turkey season, I have seen exactly one turkey hunter. However, mixing gun deer hunting with bow deer hunting is just not a real smart idea in my mind under any circumstances. I will say that I suspect that bowhunters will probably never even be aware that there is a youth season going on, so safety concerns probably won't be as big an issue unless you happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I don't expect it to be that big a deal. Nobody found time to take these kids out hunting before, and I don't expect that to significantly change now. But it seems to be the "feel-good" flavor of the day salvation of hunting in many people's minds. So, like I said before, I think I can easily fore-go a couple of days of bowhunting without any problem at all.

Yes, scent elimination is not the same as the original question about cover scents, but it all is related. I have mixed thoughts on cover scents as I said before, but one more thing occurred to me that I read about that varmint hunters are now working with. They have developed a spray bomb that sends out a whole cocktail of scents mixed together that simply confuses the critters into ignoring what they are smelling. Apparently it works pretty good which does kind of lend some credibility to the cover scent theory. As far as scent elimination, I agree that it is impossible to a certain extent. But I do believe that totally ignoring that effort has to make your scent hold together for longer distances. In other words if you have limited the amount of scent that you are putting into the air, it logically should disperse quicker and not travel as far along air currents. As far as simply relying on playing the wind, I think that my experiences hunting the hill country has shown that that is important, but nearly impossible in some of the better deer hang-outs. I have seen wind directions change 180 degrees about every 10 to 15 minutes depending on natural land features that can baffle wind around and turn it into a very unpredictable set of directions. I have a huge ravine area that is an absolute magnet for big bucks, but wind directions are never predictable there (maybe that's why they like it). Also, I am never surprised to find the wind directions on top of the hill exactly opposite that of the valley bottom with both being different than what he weatherman is saying. Also, there comes that time in the last hour or so when the sun gets behind the hill and the prevailing winds die off and the thermals start reversing scent direction. I have ended many a hunt with disgust and frustration as the wind direction suddenly is aimed right at the trail I was watching. Yes "mind the wind direction" is a great idea in theory, but can be very difficult in practice.

The way things are going this year with my equipment, I'll still be tinkering with it until after the season is over..... lol. I'm quite sure I will not be ready by October 1st. But anyway, I'm figuring that temperatures will be figuring into hunting comfort at that time, and anything that doesn't "breathe" probably will be pretty ugly to wear. We'll see. Actually with leaves still on the trees, I'm not sure how visible any color of clothing will actually be unless your head to toe covered with blaze orange. I think it's just easier to stay out of the woods for a couple days.

Speaking of changes, I have to mention the old 3-holer that was a nice 5 minute brisk walk from the house on a cold winter night. I never could figure out why you would put 3 holes in an outhouse. Were there some people that needed company when they answered the call of nature? ..... lol. Things were a lot better when we finally got that nice chemical toilet a couple of years after we moved onto the new farm (you don't want to know about the old farm .... lol. And the trips out to the well for water were a nice touch also. What a great deal when we finally got indoor plumbing. Ha-ha, I haven't thought about those early years in a long time. Thanks for posting that article. It's been fun.

Yes. I believe that if someone wanted to they could listen in on your conversations just by picking up their own phone when they heard the ring. I was pretty little back then so I don't remember ever actually using it more than once or twice. Kids didn't get on the phone much back then .... lol.

The fact is that if there is any deer season that involves guns while bow season is in progress, I will simply delay my bow opener by a couple of days. I personally don't think it will be a great loss. But, I will not be out there in camo while any gun deer season is in progress. It just plain is not safe, supposedly mentored or not. The only blaze orange that I have is pretty heavy gear, and I am not buying special summer blaze orange (if I could even find such stuff) for just a couple of days of bow hunting. So I get a few more days to get my bowhunting gear straightened out ..... big deal.

But at least the blind won't have any moths.

Sure, in our house you had to remember that your phone ring was 4 longs and three short rings. Imagine that! and the phone had a separate ear-piece and the mouth-piece was a part of the box on the wall. I had to get a chair to stand on to speak into it. We still have one dial-type phone in the house just for nostalgic purposes. I laughed my butt off when my grand-nephew tried to use it. He didn't have a clue what the heck the dial was all about. I remember our first TV. It was the goofiest looking thing, and got a whole 3 channels. Of course it was black and white only. Oh yeah, I could go on forever ..... blah .... blah .... blah. But over any significant period of time, we do get to see some awesome note-worthy changes. And the comment about the old days when everyone sat around the console radio staring at it ..... yep, I've been there too ..... lol.

None of this is usually about reality, but more about the quality of your imagination ..... . And then of course you have to ask yourself, "who wants to be the first?"

For us "numbers guys", the chronograph would be a very useful tool. You just pointed out a few of the different aspects of equipment set-ups and inter-relationships of changes that you could learn about. It's not a waste of time and money if you can satisfy some of the questions about these things, or just want to debunk some of the suspected BS that you think you have read or heard. It's all just another aspect of the sport of archery.

I blew my bow up about 5 days ago. Well, that's a bit dramatic but the string broke and I had bow parts dangling all around me including one of the limbs that just missed my head. So I'm knee deep in tuning, re-sighting and working out all the little noises and things that just didn't come back the way it was shooting before. On top of that, I bought a new release as a spare ($80 Tru-ball), and I'm wrestling with that. The strap is about 3 times thicker than my old tru-ball and it's stiff with a very sharp leather edge that seems to want to dig into my wrist (not drawing blood yet but close). I have put a layer of moleskin along the edge and it seems to be working. Also, I have gone from the aluminum "D" loop to a rope loop. A little messing around there trying to get the peep to align. Too much crap going on with my equipment at a point that is getting too be real late. So I'm getting a bit nervous about the season rushing at me too. I really don't like the way things are starting this year. But anyway, in the greater scheme of priorities, I think the house is a much more important thing to get finalized and set up. As much as I love hunting, I think the highlight of the year would be a different house and losing a few days of hunting will be worth it..

I'm not too fond of hearing a screaming cottontail, especially if it's on the trail to my stand in the dark. It's amazing all the different things your imagination can picture having ahold of it. It only has happened once, but that was enough to get me a bit nervous as I walked toward it trying to get to my stand.

Gun or bow ..... it makes a difference ..... lol. The problem may not be getting into the stand. It may be trying to get out of it after making a bad shot.

Isn't it funny how short our memories are. Anyone remember the overwhelming national attitude back in the 911 days. Today everyone is asking why we went to war like they never agreed with the decision in the first place .... lol. Very short memories. That is one thing that other agressive countries are starting to catch onto. These are not the world war days when the American public had some actual resolve and a whole lot of backbone. Any aggressors today understand that there will be hell to pay for a little while until our public starts doing their thing. So a little patience and it's pretty well understood that we will back off. Once again we are hearing the results of that very same thing. But one thing that I have noted is that since the war started there have been no more successful attempts at terrorism on our soil. Who gets credit for that?

Actually, being a numbers nut, I am surprised that I have not bought a chronograph. I have both archery equipment and guns and the results would be kind of interesting. But for the bow, it would probably be just a once or twice use ...... just to have an answer when somebody asks how fast the arrows are going. For the guns, the fact that I reload means that it would be a useful purchase. I am definitely not a speed freak and in fact I think that excessive pursuit for speed can lead an archer far away from accuracy. Plus I am cheap and cannot (or will not) afford to pay the prices to chase speed. However, there is nothing wrong with some healthy curiosity as to what your set-up is yielding. And if a guy has multiple uses for a cronograph ..... why not get one?

I have always wondered how well such products work. But I have kind of come to the same conclusion as Steve B. I have watched deer sort out the track of a single doe from a whole herd of does. They seem to have no problem at all identifying the components of multiple scents. Tracking dogs never seem to get misled by huge mixtures of scents. So I have to wonder is you can use other scents to mask you own. On the other hand, I have also seen bucks following the scent of a "drag-rag" where obviously my own scent would have been well mixed with the doe urine in the rag. In the two instances where this worked, the bucks seemed to be ignoring my scent being mixed in to the trail. So this will be a good intereting thread filled with all kinds of theories I hope.

I'll bet they did .... but nobody knew about it ..... No internet LOL.

Somewhere I heard that most treestand falls involve entering or exiting the stand. Unfortunately that is the time when most are unhooked from their safety equipment and yet in the most awkward part of the climb.

What a fantastic site! Thanks for the info. They also have an e-mail address where I can inquire about things that were not covered on their site. Maybe they have some data on ammunition and powder temperature requirements. I'm still going through the site and truly appreciate the link. No it doesn't answer every question but it did hit on a big concern that I had. I found it in a Q&A section and regarded the temperatures and duration of fires: 13. Is 1700°F a high enough testing temperature? Yes! The average business fire in the United States burns at approximately 800°F for 20 minutes. Fireproof safes and fireproof filing cabinets are UL tested to withstand a temperature of 1700°F for an entire hour.

Well, maybe "a kiss of death" is bit strongly worded. I have had a lot of situations where the fawn was the first of a group to spot me and react. Also it may be just a bit overstated as to how much of the survival stuff is "taught" as opposed to instinctive. Also, I have had a lot of fawns involved in my trailcam set-ups and have found that most of the time it is the fawns leading the does around. Watching does and fawns out in the yard, it is always the fawns that come out first with the doe following. So while there may be some things that the does teach the fawns I think that we don't give instinct enough credit. I also believe that taking the doe does not mean the fawns are doomed. Their survival is more a function of their instinct than guidance. Also, in terms of whether to take fawns or not, I will stay with my attitude about all deer harvests (bucks included) .... Take whatever makes you satisfied. I'll never pick on anyone who has shot something that I wouldn't (unless I just plain want to give them a hard time about something .... lol).