Doc

Oh boy ....... politics and religion. Two discussion topics that are guaranteed to wind up to eventually erupt into warfare. Probably not the best of forum topics. Always excellent trolling bait though......lol.

Hey ..... Mr. personality is back. Slipped off that medication regimen again eh? Well, these things happen. It's always a treat to see you and your ugly personality on display again. You really have a knack for making a real a$$ of yourself. Some things never change.

Actually, in one case that I know of, they are not being replaced. If they fall down, they stay down. I am sure that its a budget thing, but I know that one DEC guy actually got out of his car two years ago and walked up on the hill along the property line and I'm sure he must have passed at least a dozen downed signs. Well, they're still down.

What a great way to begin eliminating worthless budget items. maybe some more of these useless, ineffective gun laws should be eliminated. We have way to many politically inspired laws that have not proven themselves in crime prevention or prosecution. Why shouldn't they all be held to the test of effectiveness and removed if shown to be not worth the cost or gun owner harrassment.

Interesting. I wonder what the regional DEC biologists would say if you told them about this observation. how do you suppose they would explain it? You might want to send them an e-mail.

Slightly off topic, but my wife planted some "granny smith" apple seeds from some store-bought apples, and sure enough she has some 1" high seedlings started. They're growing like a weed. So I just may have some free apple trees to plant pretty soon. Not exactly rehabilitation, but there may be a few new apple trees in my hunting area that weren't there before.

If you live in a part of NYS where they are illegal to trap, you have to figure out some way to release them. Same thing is true with bobcats. They are not legal to trap in all parts of NYS, so if one stumbles into your fox or coyote set, be ready for an exciting time releasing them ..... lol. If you haven't given it some thought and planning before-hand, you might just wind up with a scrambled face.

So, how on earth do you lose track of $26,000 and forget that it is locked in a safe. There is a lot of money out there in households and apparently, there are some who have so much that they can't even keep track of it....lol. I say that the guy simply does not need that money returned.

Mostly, I am confused as to why there are two different signs printed up to perform essentially the same function. As far as I have observed, they are both still in use, and used interchangeably. As far as preference, I have no real preference. Either one will stand out just fine, but putting them on a separate board will make them last a lot longer than simply nailing them to trees. Which only lasts until the growth of the tree pulls the nail heads through the sign (Something that I have seen happen inside of one or two years. Lastly, I would say that there is plenty of room on either sign for perhaps a little more detail of what the land is used for (in fine print), for the benefit of anyone who happens to stumble across a line of these signs. Never mind all the pretty graphics ..... just explain what the land uses are as briefly and as clearly as possible.

So, how does the hunting in England compare to here (in general)? Do you have a lot of open land in England to hunt in? Is it mostly a "pay-to-hunt" kind of hunting environment. Are there a lot of wild species to hunt there? One thing I never seem to hear or read about is just what hunting is like in european countries. My impression has always been that hunting is all but non-existant there and that what hunting exists there is pretty much insanely regulated and rather expensive to engage in. It sounds like that could be a wrong impression.

I like the Consumer Reports with their unbiased, extensive, standardized, testing and reporting to guide me in terms of quality. I find that to be much more reliable than just a couple of anecdotal comments here and there. Browse through a few of those reports and then you will have a better idea of how the quality of each auto source really is.

I honestly don't have a clue. As soon as we adopted the notion of global economies and new world order, etc. and began decades ago to export everything we ever knew about making a product, and invested gobs of money educating foriegn workers to do our jobs, and plowed money into foriegn infrastructure so they could successfully ruin us, the wheels of US decline began to entrench itself, and there is nothing that I can see that will ever turn it back. That's not to say that there are no solutions. I'm only saying that I am not smart enough to know what they are.

And the only way that is going to happen is when the American family has finally reached a 3rd world's standard of living. You want to successfully compete with them for your job, you have to learn to live like them. That's pretty much an economic certainty. Those prices don't become cheaper just by wishing them so. Why do you think our jobs went overseas to begin with. Cheaper wages, no environmental corporate harassment, and a willing corporate mentality that sees no problem with screwing the American worker and economy. Don't be blaming the American consumer, just understand that the glory days of our country are slipping away, and there appears to be nothing that can turn it around. When we have reached the proper level of ruin, the jobs will return. Just simple economics 101.

Speaking of lumber quality, be careful of some of these package deals that come from some of the "big-box" building supply outfits. often they take the opportunity to pass off some of their super low quality lumber.

Of course you're right, price and quality drive purchases. That's what makes a smart consumer demand certain products. But who is it that exported technology, money and jobs to those third world countrys that are now kicking our butt. That wasn't the American consumer. And the other thing that we have to get over is the idea that we are the only consumers who are driving markets. Every day we get to be less and less relevant as far as consumers. Buying American no longer achieves anything at all other than guaranteeing that you are paying more for a product of the same or less quality. Also, as a lot of these replies on this thread indicate, the choice to "buy American" no longer exists in much of an effective fashion for U.S. consumers. And if you do manage to "buy American", the only thing you are assuring is that the product is being marketed as being made in the USA. Most of those products turn out to be packaged or assembled in the USA, but the real skilled work that has any potential for a decent family income is still foriegn sourced. Other "made in the USA" products simply have their corporate headquarters here. It's all a Con-game, and none of it was designed or implemented by the American consumer.

So now you all are starting to see just why our economy can take cyclical ups and downs, but never any real meaningful and permanent forward progress. We don't make anything anymore. We are simply a "service" country. We flip a mean burger, and have the art of selling trinkets and gadgets (produced by others) down pat, but we really don't crank out any hardware. I'll say it again....if we want to compete with the chinese, we are going to have to live like them. U.S. industry cannot (will not) support our current lifestyles. But then, none of this is new. It's been going on for decades. We (U.S. corporations) have exported our technology, our expertise, and consequently our jobs to various 3rd world countries. We have even exported our demand for products overseas by raising (with our jobs) the standard of living of foriegn countries until they have made our internal consuming (U.S.) less necessary. Some strange things have happened to what used to be our domain, and apparently we all slept through it. And I guess U.S. corporations have absolutely no feelings of loyalty toward the country that spawned their success.

Ok, that is more what I was expecting to see on the other page. Actually, it appears that they want to do an even better job of monitoring and managing bobcats than they do whitetails. I really like the idea of trying to factor in "sportsman-effort" into their harvest data. That is something that should be part of whitetail harvest reports. However, I am curious as to what makes them think that harvest reports on bobcats will be any more successful than the pitiful rate of reporting on whitetail harvests. If they have come up with some magic bullet that has solved the report rate problems, I would think that they should plow the methodology back into whitetail management calculations. I am also trying to figure out what rationale the antis are using for opposing this plan. What possible line of reasoning could they be using that anyone would take seriously? Yes, I know they would like hunting and trapping taken out of the management of wildlife. But that is not a credible or practical position and it is not likely to be taken any more seriously than any of their other previous attempts to push that agenda.

Actually, I missed that link and only scanned the page that you referenced. I'll have to check it out.

I don't see a lot there to be either for or against. That web page sure is short on details. So it's pretty hard to work up much of an opinion given the fact that this really isn't a plan at all but rather simply a very brief fact sheet on bobcat biology. I'd have a problem figuring out exactly what it is that I am commenting on from what is written on the linked webpage..

I still don't understand exactly how the micro-stamping works. Does it mark the primer? Actually, the identifying marks would have to be on the firing pin. That's a pretty small area to be getting very many identifying numbers on. I would guess that the printing or whatever must be pretty darn tiny and the engraving for such a miniscule series of numbers must be pretty state-of-the-art. How long would you expect such delicate markings to stay legible during the repeated impacts? Are they going to require test firing of each weapon and inspection to ensure that each device is functioning adequately? How about the jillions of guns already spread through the public. Are they going to demand retrofits? I'm thinking the whole thing is pretty much just somebody's pipe-dream. My thinking is that it is hoped that after such a law is passed, very few, if any, gun manufacturers will be able to comply. Too bad for the gun manufacturers .... eh?

I think its possible that this article is only skimming the highlights of how this mild winter impacts the critters of nature. But it was interesting to read some of the expected results. It appears that the results are not always so obvious. For example, I expected the milder temps woule result in a mosquito explosion, and they are saying it will be just the opposite. I am curious how this weather might impact such species as gypsy moths and tent caterpillars and other pests.

How practical is that technolgy? I understood that it wasn't all that reliable and would add considerable cost to firearms. But then maybe that is the real purpose of such a requirement. Much like most gun laws, their only real effect and purpose is to add harrassment or cost into gun ownership.

I've got a Marlin bolt action .22 with a tubular magazine that holds 20 shorts. It's a hand-me-down from my Dad that I had since I was a kid. I guess that gun would be illegal in NYC too.

Lol ...... Is it the fingers or the toes that you have a couple extra of?

I think entirely too much is being made of the way he destroyed the laptop. It appears that some have a phobia about using a gun. Probably a version of the same phobia that creates anti-gun people, but we just don't recognize it. I'm not sure what it is about guns that makes people so paranoid, but this certainly is not the first time that a gun has been used to destroy some piece of equipment. We used to consider it a lucky day when a TV set showed up at the dump......lol. I would guess that if he had used a post mall, everyone would have thought it was pretty funny. Frankly, I thought poking holes in it with a .45 was funny.