Doc

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).

I have always talked about getting a gun safe and using it also to store a few important papers, guns, ammo, powder and other items. The problem I'm having is with the fire-ratings that they assign to them. They are usually rated relative to a temperature value for a certain time. The problem is that they never indicate what temperature or time is adequate for safe storage of paper, ammunition, and the guns. How hot does the average housefire get? How long is that temperature maintained (on average)? How hot before ammunition or powder explodes? This would be some nice info to have before laying out the bucks. Anyone ever see this kind of info detailed anywhere? Any of you firemen have any of that kind of data or know where it can be found? Yes, if you simply want a burglar-proof/kid-proof place to store guns, a lot of that stuff doesn't matter. But for protection of materials and property from fire damage, there is a whole lot more to consider than just temp/time if you don't know what is adequate. Maybe these things are way over-built against fire .... I don't know. Or maybe they don't make a gun safe that will adequately protect some materials from fire .... I don't know that either.

How could AR not work? It kind of stands to reason that if you are forced to pass up almost every buck you see, you have to eventually see more and bigger bucks. Is anyone really arguing about that? Hey, what the heck .... if everybody was forced to stop hunting completely, you would get that result and more. Just imagine all the neat sway-backed, toothless deer pictures you could get.....lol.

Wow! ...... was he ever bugged by that camera. He didn't like that at all.

Some kind of Rorschach test I think.

Euthanized???? ......LOL. What the heck, they freakin' killed it. Man this media-speak is really something isn't it? Anyway, that is not the first rabid beaver that I have read about this year. I have never heard of it in rodents before this year. What if it got into the NYC rat population ..... Yikes!!!

Great carriers of bird flu when populations get too large. But anyway you really don't have to justify it. We shoot woodchucks, rats at the dump, and various predators and don't seem to feel that we have to justify it. I will say that I have never seen more crows flying around everywhere in my life and if anything looks like it needs a bit more control, they are it.

Well you know how they tell you to "pick a spot" when aiming? It's a little easier on these.

Or not implementing ARs might be a start

You know, if that became an every-day story, I would predict a dramatic decline in home burglaries. There's got to be a bit of a deterrent to reading that burglarizing homes has a very high mortality rate. The problem is that the pinkos have convinced the general public of the evilness of firearms in the home.

That kind of says it all doesn't it. You people don'y like the way things are going? Those last couple of sentences might give you a clue as to how to fix it. That goes for just about any hunting issue.

I'm saying that when people start with the hate-talk over these subjects and start acting like it is the most important subject in their lives, they suffer a hell of a credibility problem when talk is all they do. At some point you would think they would realize that they really aren't changing anyone's mind and move on to more credible ways of making a difference. As far as the letters are concerned, that's a great way to support your position (for those few that actually do that). Attending DEC meetings is another. But what % actually do that. Pretty darn small from what I have seen. Unfortunately, those efforts seldom trump the support of those organizations that have the lobbying infrastructure and who already have the ear (in an official way) of the legislators and the DEC. Yes, if you are lucky enough to get some sort of landslide grassroots letter campaign going, you may be able to overpower the established advocacy groups .... may be able. Letter writing campaigns do on rare occasions actually work. It's just not as reliable as an organized approach. And by the way, letter writing campaigns are another tool of organizations. But then as we have heard from Steve, letter campaigns are corrupt and apparently cannot be trusted .... lol. As far as the politics of game management, I think you've got your work cut out for you if you want that changed. I'm not even sure it is a real great idea to lock public opinion completely out of the mix. After all it does give the whiners their only avenue of recourse weak though it is. But if that is a goal, you have a long way to go because politics is interlaced with the whole system and runs all the way up to the governors appointment of the DEC commissioner.

We had a short rain (as far as anything that would mean something). It came down prtty good for a slong as it lasted. One thing I noted was that it wasn'y flowing dow the driveway like usual. The ground was sucking it up like a sponge. We need a LOT more.

Ha-ha .... I'm not far behind you, but I guess I never will catch up. Happy birthday ..... oldtimer. There ain't too many on here that I can call that.

Look, I've been listening to the "real whiners" for a few years on here. It's always those that refuse to put their money and effort where their mouth is. It is those that do not have the courage of their convictions to get involved in even the most basic ways. I am not an AR guy, but I definitely will stand up for those who have the where-with-all to climb out of their armchairs and go out and get organized, or pay their dues and offer support to those that advocate for their activities, and by the way have to suffer all the stone throwing from the peanut gallery that feels comfortable simply sitting back and whining. I am not saying that on every issue where you may have a disagreement you need to jump right up and create an organization. But I will say that when the opinions move beyond just a casual disagreement and start with the over-the-edge doom and gloom statements and the hate-speak, I would think you and others might be moved to take some action. I mean to listen to some of the comments here you would think the world is coming to an end. Wouldn't you think that with all this hatred of AR, and all the predictions of it ending hunting as we know it, somebody by now would have conjured up an anti-AR organization to push those views forward? Don't you find that strange? This isn't exactly a new issue you know. From the venom in some of these replies, you would think that more would be done than just some thread in a forum.

Oh for crying out loud. Now we start with the conspiracy stories. The DEC supposedly accepted tons of unsigned input and you are blaming AR groups? What is the matter with you people. You will find any kind of silly story to justify maintaining your ability to simply lay back and stay uninvolved. The only thing that empowers any of these organizations is the unwillingness of the whiners to actually get off their butt and take them down or replace them. That's how the desires of the few influences the situations of this so-called "silent majority".

This thread was not about one single issue, it was a rant about entire organizations. Apparently the NYB is to be looked at as some kind of evil empire and those who believe in AR should have no right to organize and advocate their beliefs. Yes it is the so-called silent majority again who whine a lot about those who convert their beliefs into action, but don't have enough passion of their own to replace these organizations or sway their beliefs. It's a whole lot easier to sit back on some forum and snipe at the efforts of others than to try to change or replace them. That is a symptom that a lot in the hunting community have .... a lot of whining and damn little action supporting their beliefs. So I have little tolerance for those that just want to sit back and throw stones without doing anything really constructive.

Actually, I have always assumed that laws dealing with releasing an arrow (hunting or otherwise) mirrored the laws dealing with the discharge of firearms. Ah but, that is an assumption. I have never seen it written ...... and you know what they say about "assume" .... lol.