Doc

That TIP DEC is probably something that all hunters should be using. It seems like there is some extreme financial hardships with the DEC these days that is making the law enforcement branch all but totally ineffective. Yes, they do make some occasional high-profile, highly publicized, enforcement campaigns, but they are really too infrequent, in a too localized area to have much of an impact on poacher activities. Really, how many COs have you actually seen more than a few feet from their car? There's a reason for that. They know that that is the best way to reach the greatest number of law-breakers with the least amount of resources expended. However I don't imagine for a second that just about everyone understands the limitations that they have. And there are some that take advantage of those limitations. So, if we witness a violation, or know of some illegal activity going on, we probably should be lending a hand here.

I suppose it stands to reason that if the weather is such that natural sources of food are still available, they won't be as dependant on feeders. Also, with temps and weather conditions being so mild, they don't have the same level of caloric needs.

Pretty tough to pick one. The quality of both seem to be comparable. Probably from a contest standpoint, I would pick the heron pic. It just seems to be a bit more detailed and interesting.

I would consider checking with one of these rental places to see if you can rent a posthole digger for your tractor. If you are doing a bunch of them, that is the only way to go. And unless you see this as an on-going activity, it really doesn't pay to buy one. They're not very cheap. We already had a digger that went on the back of my Ford 8N. It made the job very easy. As far as how the holes are back-filled, I never put anything back but the dirt that came out of the hole. I can understand the idea of using gravel, but where I was putting the fence, that wouldn't have been a very practical thing to even consider. I'll tell you what the grape farmers do. They now have a device that mounts on the back of a tractor called a post pounder that simply drives the posts into the ground like a pile-driver. It works pretty darn slick. Of course it would have to work well when you consider how many posts those guys put in. That eliminates all digging and back filling and puts in a very solid post. If you have any grape farmers in the area, you might try renting their services for an afternoon. I'm not sure if they would do it for you or not but it might be worth a try. I put in another section of fence of "driven" posts where I used purchased creosoted cedar posts from Agway. I drove those in by hand with a post mall. Now that was a job.....lol. That's not something that I would be even considering or recommending today. That wasn't fun.

I have only seen one in our area in my entire life. I believe that even if there was an open season on them, that I would not take something that is so extremely rare in our area. By the way, I am curious as to what the procedure is for releasing a bobcat from a trap. That has to be kind of a fun thing to watch.....lol.

He's healthy looking because he ate up all of my yews! He also trimmed up our Rhodedendrun (sp?) for us. He knows where all the good stuff is ....... lol. Notice how terrified he is of the scents and sounds around the house and cars. These guys have a calendar and a hunting syllabus, and know when it's safe around the homestead. I also noted that there was no sign of him being alarmed by the flash. He was too busy concentrating on eating my stuff ..... lol. I am very happy with the picture quality. Remembering that we are talking about a $70 camera, I think it will serve my purposes just fine. Perhaps it could be a bit more sharper, but those pictures are "as taken" with no post-processing done to them. A little color correction and increased contrast, and I think they will turn out pretty good.

Sounds like a massive project. I don't envy you with that pruning saw on locust trees. I have seen good chainsaws dull up in nothing flat on that stuff.

Good question ..... lol. You can't get much closer to an occupied building than right inside of it.

Ok ...... All is well in the land of Moultrie L-50. The moral of the story is: "Don't try to test out a white-flash camera inside the house. By the way, there is that damn critter dining on my yews for the second night in a row. Oh ..... you can't see the yews? .....THAT'S BECAUSE THEY ATE THE DARN THINGS UP!!! I'm going to have to go out and a little heart-to-heart talk with him ..... lol.

That's pretty much what I thought ...... lol.

Do you think that some of it is a result of today's pressure to have success? You know what I mean? Everything today has to do with rack score, and constant success. Could it be that it has kind of coerced a win at all costs kind of mentality? I know that quite a few hunting public personalities have succumbed to bending, or breaking the laws just for an extra edge to maintain their public image of being infallible hunters. That kind of got me to thinking how much some of that might be involved in your average poacher mind-set. I'm trying to imagine what frame of mind would make hunting success so important that these guys would go to some of the illegal extents that they do. And I'm not talking about the market poachers who have a money motive. I'm talking about the average guy who will break whatever law he thinks will give him an edge in a hunt (more than likely the majority of poachers). Yeah I know, I'm probably just overthinking it a bunch and the truth is probably more like they are just a bunch of dirt-bags with no real reason for their poacher-mentality ....... lol.

Yeah, I guess I am just one to let people tell their story and unless I have some personal stake or knowledge about it, my conclusions about whether it is true or not are kind of kept to myself. I have no interest in publicly trying to prove someone is a liar. It's just not my style. I tend to just let it slide.

I'm sure that not everything is absorbed 100%. I'm also sure that not everything is retained many years afterward, and I'm sure there are others who are just obstinate, and stubborn who are prone to going against anything that is told to them (kind of like cutting off their nose to spite their face). But at the very least they have all been exposed to rules of safety and weapon handling rules which is more than if the program didn't exist. Also, from the classes that I have attended and assisted with, I would say that while everyone is totally enjoying the experience, the students I have seen are also taking the proceedings quite seriously. What I have seen is some very enthusiastic kids & adults that really get caught up in the course. On the other hand, I have seen people afield who obviously didn't pay attention or consciously decided to ignore everything they were taught. There is no one safety program, item, or law that is a cure-all. Each element of safety has it's necessary place and is only effective when they are all used together.

I don't suppose you have a useful comment on what I had to say, do you?

I de-barked mine. I think it has to help because bark only gives a place for bugs to live, and for water to be held against the wood. Neither situation would be good for making them last a long time. I guess I never really heard what the old-timers used to do, but I do remember my Dad spending hours peeling posts, so he must have heard that it was the thing to do. My posts didn't sit around for more than a few weeks before they were in the ground. I'm not sure whether letting them dry would make much difference. But anyway you probably won't be doing anything with them until spring, so it sure won't hurt anything.

It's difficult to understand the mentality of a poacher, and what it is that drives them to break the laws. There seems to be some kind of pressure on some people to impress people with their hunting achievements that makes them try to cheat in any way possible. I don't get it.

I guess I don't know why anybody would relate any stories here. It seems that the first reaction is to attack the person's credibility. Who needs that? The best policy apparently is to just keep it to yourself.

I think the reasons for the decline in hunting accidents might be a bit more involved than simply the hunter safety program. While that has for sure had a huge impact, I am curious about what role the seemingly decreasing hunter participation has had. I'm not talking about the slightly diminishing number of licensed hunters, but rather the actual numbers of hours logged by hunters today. Perhaps it's just a regional thing, but over the decades, I have noticed a huge change in hunter activity. While even opening day seems to be a lot more quiet than years gone by, an even more stark change has occurred and is getting more and more obvious with the way the woods almost goes dead in the bulk of the season after the season opens. I see a lot more "part-time" hunters that only hunt half days, and hunters that show up only on opening day. If my observations and conclusions are anywhere near correct, perhaps we have a case of much fewer man-hours of hunting going on which limits the opportunities for hunting mis-haps. Could that be a major contributer to the great news contained in these stats?

I put in a fence about 30 years ago using black locust posts. They're still there and still strong as iron. That was without any creosote or any other kind of preservative. Also, some of them are in standing water. The problem is that I had to go to another guy's place to get them. Our area has been cleaned out of them from back in thedays when we still had farming in the area. Those things sure are murder on the saw.

Definitely deer. The cages were too heavy for rabbits to tip over, and there were deer tracks all over the area. I put things back, and got a good look at my mangled yews. I'll be surprised if any of them survive. I should stake a couple of coyotes out there as watch-dogs.....lol.

We watch a lot of movies, and the best by far that I have seen in a long, long time is War Horse.

Ok ...... sounds like it's time to expand that garden a whole bunch ..... lol.

Look, if you have deer rubbing trees 6' up, I want to start hunting that area ..... lol. You have a world record mutant.

Winter kill? ........ There's going to be a winter kill alright. If I can get my hands on those critters I'm going choke them. I HAD 24 yews that I planted on a bank out back. The area is too steep to maintain with mowers and such, so I figured I would put in these yews that get about 3' in diameter and would be like a ground cover. I made some small welded wire cages to put over top of them to protect them from the rabbits. The other morning I got up to find each and every cage pushed over and each plant bit down almost to the ground. I had 2 years invested in these things and they were growing like crazy. Just got done patting myself on the back for such a great start for these things. I've got to check and see if I can get a nuisance permit to kill 'em all. I can't figure out why they picked the one year where they don't have the slightest worry about food, but I am POed.

Yeah, it's hard to tell from the picture just how high and how big this rub is. Sometimes it is useful to include something in the picture that gives you some idea of scale. So how high would you estimate the top of those rubs are? I'm not all that familiar with moose rubs, but I would think if a moose worked those over, they most likely would be twisted and busted flat. I don't think they are very gentle....lol.