Doc

I just heard on the news that the government intends to step up the number and the grossness of anti-smoking commercials. Now let me start out with the fact that I have been off cigarettes for more than 4 years and I am in no way a fan of smoking. So really I have no dog in this fight other than the fact that I am getting more than a bit disgusted with seeing pictures of diseased lungs and other disgusting health maladies being posted on my TV set. I payed good money for my TV, and I also pay a hefty amount monthly for cable, and I don't feel that a TV should be used to disgust the viewer. Yes we can turn it off if we don't like it, and I have indeed switched channels because of some of that garbage advertising. And it has happened where I turned from one channel to another and ran into the same kind of advertisement. There comes a point where the rest of us (who are now in the vast majority) are being put through a campaign of poor taste and disgusting images simply because of the over-the-top zeal that has gripped the entire mentality of those concerned with insisting what's best for the rest of the population. This all has been bad enough, but when I heard that they are going to be going deeper into this bizarre and repulsive campaign I started to wonder just when people are going to say "enough is enough". It no longer matters whether we are fans of smoking or not. It's getting into an area involving just plain decency and good taste of forced TV programming (at taxpayer's expense I might add). I don't smoke and I am offended by these gross images constantly being forced into my TV viewing. Just a little rant that was touched off by that news item ...... It doesn't do a bit of good and yet I feel just a little better having written all that down ..... lol.

I have been in heavy wind storms in the woods where just about every other sound is over-powered by the sound of the wind whipping through the trees. Also not every breaking tree makes a whole lot of noise. Plus deer don't always react to every sound in the woods. Some of these deer that have been around a few seasons like to locate the origin of a sound before they react. I think that something like this could easily happen.

Anybody have any theories as to how this extremely early seasonal change might affect the turkey breeding season? Does anyone think it may touch off early breeding? I don't have any idea, so I'm just asking.

That's a great idea! By the way I also used their comment feature on their website to give them an ear-full on their wonderful marketing move.

That is an old saying that I grew up with. It doesn't always work though ..... lol.

I'm surprised that doesn't happen more often. I have seen trees and heavy limbs come down in the woods several times over the years, and they weren't always that far away. And some of the crazy winds we have been having this year ..... well, the woods can be a dangerous place .... lol. By the way, I wonder what is wrong with the carrion eaters there that they haven't stripped that carcass long before the picture was taken. That deer would never look anything like that at that stage of decomposition if it were laying around here.

I never do use any locking systems, even when mounting it to a tree. The area where I use any of my cameras is on private (posted) land and in areas where nobody ever goes or even wants to go. The creek/swamp area where I will be using it is not a very friendly place to casually hike around in, and if you don't know where the beaver channels are located, walking around in there can get you pretty wet .... lol. Also, with the amount of cattails and swamp grasses and downed willow trees, you would pretty much have to step on it in order to see it.

I know they have an excellent gasketing system, but they really don't make any claims or warrantees relating to total submersing. Yeah, maybe it would be alright, but I can guarantee that at some time each year that swamp will get flooded, and with a nearly $200 camera, I really don't want to take the chance. I took the whole float system down to the pond to check it out, and it is very stable. As far as current and wave action, there are only a couple of areas where there is any, and I'll be staying away from those. Even in the most violent floods, the creek takes so many twists and turns that almost all of it never really gets a whole lot of water movement going. It just slowly comes up and then slowly goes down. I suppose the swamp kind of acts as a reservoir, and the water just simply spreads out rather than forming a torrent. I'm very familiar with how this body of water works since I have been around it all my life and spent a huge amount of time as a youngster trapping every inch of it. I have provided a generous length of rope to tether the whole thing off with so the angles should be very shallow and there should not be any tendency for tipping. It's not the kind of floatation system that would work everywhere and in every kind of situation, but it will work well in this specific waterway. I just kind of figured that I should make some attempt at trying to avoid potential disaster. I'm fairly confident that it will work in the situation that I will be using it.

OK, my cam-float device has been modified from a Moultrie mount to a the new Cuddeback. Now all I have to do is go over to the creek/swamp and do a bit of scouting. I am going to use a lot of the same techniques as I used for trapping years ago. I think I am ready now in case of a flood. The styrofoam easily supports the camera and the rope will allow the whole thing to simply float up and down instead of floating away or going under water. The problem is that I am going to be trying to take pictures of the critters at ground level, and that whole area has a habit of flooding up to a couple feet above surrounding ground level. So I had to get a bit creative or run the risk of periodically dunking the camera for a several hours at a time. I know they are semi-water-proof, but I wouldn't expect them to tolerate a full burial in water for any period of time.

The flash pictures were very good. clear, sharp and good color. Yeah, I think the deer picture was a pretty tough test because the time was just about when the camera was thinking about going to flash. But it was the only deer pic so that's the one I decided to post....lol. All the other pictures were some grumpy old ugly guy with a scruffy white beard. The 4 "D'-cells work great. They do add to the overall weight. The one thing I don't care for is the fact that you have to remove the cam from the tree in order to make settings, and to install or remove the SD card. That seems a bit awkward. But the attachment to the tree if via a sliding insertion into a pre assembled mount on the tree, so it happens fairly fast. Over all, I think it is probably worth the exorbitant amount of money ($189 at opticsplanet.com) they are asking for it. I'll know better as soon as I get a feel for how long the thing will keep on functioning. It really seems built like a tank, and manufacturing and design takes in a lot of thought about some of the strength and ease of use. Now I have to go downstairs and study the wonderful custom designed "floatable cam mount" that I built for the Moultries and figure out how to adapt it to the Cuddeback. The shape, size and mounting features are all totally different, so it may not be an easy thing to do.

All is well in the trail-cam world again. I got my Cuddeback Attack (White-flash) the other day and was able to test it out last night. I'm pretty happy with the quality and other things about the way it works. This picture was taken at a very ugly time of night when the sun had just gone over the hill. It was that time when the camera has to figure out whether to use the flash or not. I do think in this case the flash would have been useful, but still it isn't that bad of a picture. The sharpness could have been a bit better, but it really isn't that bad for a trail-cam. Apparently the trigger speed is as they advertise I took several pictures throughout the day where I walked at different speeds through the picture area and for the most part, I wound up pretty close to the center. I was never able to get anywhere near out of the picture. So I'm happy about that. I think it's going to serve my purposes very well.

I don't know ..... I'm no vet, but I do know that that joint is a fairly complex part of the leg and by the looks of it, it will never function again. I have seen deer that got along just fine with a rear leg completely missing, but they didn't look that unhealthy. I kind of wonder if there isn't more wrong with that deer than just the obvious problem.

I enjoyed that one too. I never see any coverage on the olympics archery competitions. The networks simply ignore that as a sport. It was great to see some in-depth video of these people who are expert shooters. Some of them are simply "shooting machines".

I'll tell you what's real ugly ..... my brother-in-law was shooting 5 arrows at 5 different spots and still got a robinhood.

On what basis did he grieve the taxes? I would guess that it was on the basis of assessment...... the grievance system that I am already aware of. I think he might have a hard time taking on the school district claiming that you need tax relief because they are not operating efficiently and frugally ..... lol. But then, maybe there is some kind of legal remedy for getting relief from a spend-thrift government organization like the local school system. If there is I would like to know about it so I can use it.

And of course the most important reason of all that they shoot what they shoot is number 4 ....... Because the bows and equipment that the pros shoot are given to them free from their sponsors and if they want to keep their sponsors they darned well better shoot their bows. In your 100 yard test (make that 100 meters), perhaps you might want to invite Darrell Pace along just to get a real good comparison between the accuracy of a super hopped-up compound vs. a recurve in the hands of a guy that puts most of his emphasis on himself rather than the speed of his equipment.

I'm a "30 yard max" shooter myself, and really I try to keep my shots within 20 yards and am able to do so just about all the time. I also use a rangefinder. Frankly I don't worry about trajectory at all. It's all built into the setting of my sight pins. So I could be shooting some ungodly heavy poundage bow and the lightest arrows possible and the only difference I would see would be shorter practice sessions due to fatigue, and some squirrelly arrow that might hopefully hit what I was aiming at....lol. I think it often gets forgotten that bowhunting is an up close and personal kind of hunting. So I guess I have a bit of a different perspective on this "trajectory vs. accuracy" spin-off on this topic. I'm not sure how the thread got pushed into this direction, but I think it has evolved into a pretty interesting subject.

I know you can grieve your assessment, but I don't believe there is a process for grieving taxes. As far as plummeting property values, I have yet to ever see that reflected in assessments. Assessment is like a ratchet .... it only works in one direction. Also, property values only affect assessment. It's the tax rates constantly crank up the tax bill, and that is something you only get to contest when school budgets are up for vote. Funny thing about those votes though .... when the budget gets turned down, you can almost count on it coming back at you for a revote. The difference? ..... a little tinkering around the edges that barely touches the bottom line and certainly no reflected effort that involves any fundamental study involving efficiency and frugality. These school administrators have worked this all out to a science and they know exactly how to push a budget through.

I hate to see critters in that kind of shape. But next time some animal rights wacko starts giving you a hard time about blowing a deer flat, drag out that picture and show them some of the alternatives to hunting, and the way Mother Nature usually has wildlife meet their end.

Good reply Bill. Arrow speed (and flat trajectory) are wonderful things as long as it is achieved in the right way. Accuracy related to speed is only relative to distance mis-judgement and that's the end of it. Speed does not improve form or make a bow and arrow set-up more forgiving of shot or form errors. In fact, a whole lot of shot and form errors can be found in the squirrelly set-ups and touchy equipment that guys use trying to squeeze that last FPS out of their equipment. There generally is nothing more reliable and repetitive than a good old heavy arrow lumbering its way down to the target. There are a whole lot of shooting hiccups that a heavy arrow can absorb without flight disruption. Your other point about guys winding up over-bowed in their quest for speed is a good one. I have seen that one a lot. I have seen guys shaking and breaking out in a sweat just trying to draw their bow past the peak of the force-draw curve. Ever watch these guys that point the bow to the sky and put every ounce of their body into just drawing the bow? They do everything but holler out a karate yell .... lol. And then when they get it drawn, their steadiness is shot. Yes, they have a very fast set up and their arrow misses the mark ....... very quickly. So to say that speed equates to accuracy is not exactly true. It only flattens trajectory, and often that takes the place of pulling off a good shot.

Huh????

I'm looking forward to the hunting report and pictures.

They finally found an advertising method that caught on with the public ...... lol. I don't know how it is in other areas, but the dollar stores around us don't really do a whole lot of advertising. Quite frankly, I think I have spent a lot of extra moneyat other places simply because the dollar store escapes my attention. But sales like you are talking about probably have the attention of the whole community. And then there is always the possibility that that store simply was mis-managed. I would guess that not just anybody can run any kind of store. There must be some natural talent toward the basics of making money in order to be successful at any retail ventures. Maybe the store owner just didn't have that talent. I've noticed that people can run any business into the ground with very little effort ........ look at Kodak ..... lol.

Frankly, I'm glad people do put in some thought as to what hunting is and what their thoughts are regarding various methods, rules and other things that pertain to how we conduct our sport. When you consider the alternative of just saying, "anything is ok with me", I think that would eventually be a whole lot more disruptive to hunting than any kinds of disagreements and discussions.

You just insist on making a complete ass of yourself don't you? Well, you're doing a heck of a good job of it.