Doc

Is that a "home-brew" trail-cam set-up, or a hand-held snap-shot?

I'm a big fan of the .223, probably because I just bought one a year ago ..... lol. It's a nice flat shooting caliber which is cheap to load, and has plenty of energy to do the job without ruining pelts. It's also a good economical caliber for summertime practice.

Well, I'm not sure about neighbor relations and all that nice stuff, but with the experiences that we had with dogs vs. our sheep, there is no doubt in my mind that dog predation on livestock is a serious offense, that definitely warrants an immediate call to the sheriff's office as an official report that get's logged in. The pictures of your visitors afterward should have been another additional call to the sheriff's office along with the identity of their owner. Even if nothing ever comes of it all, those are the basic responsibilities that a farmer of livestock owner should take on when something like this happens. Sheltering dog predation is never a good idea for the sake of other livestock farmers or pet owners and should always be reported. That is how the dogs that eventually put us out of business were finally stopped, and it would never have happened without the other sheep owners in the area reporting attacks with as many details as possible.

The only way to prove a dog is a killer is to catch it in the act, or check it's teeth for hair right after the attack. The sheriff found some of the dogs that were killing our sheep by checking the teeth of suspected dogs for wool jammed between their teeth. Kind of like elementary CSI ..... lol. Of course in your case, too many hours have already elapsed, and presence of goat hair could simply be due to a dog coming across the goats that had already been killed and taking advantage of a free meal. Also, since the dog that you captured wanted to eat you too, checking its teeth probably wouldn't be real practical. I have a sneaking suspicion that you have found the culprits. The next problem is proving it. If somehow you can prove it, and trace these critters back to their owner, you have a good case for recuperating some money for the damage. I know that even that would be poor compensation because I am assuming these goats were more pets than some kind of commercial enterprise. But some form of financial retribution would be better than nothing. And maybe it would teach the dog owner something about responsible pet ownership. At any rate, it doesn't look good for proving the case that these dogs were responsible. By the way, I agree with Cynthia ...... that dog looks pretty under-fed and neglected. He looks pretty "ribby" and boney in the hind-quarters. It may be a case of animal abuse.

That's a pretty highly rated camera although for a "white flash" it is a bit pricey (~$200 ?). However, as your pictures clearly show ...... you get what you pay for. I'm throwing that one into the mix for my "white-flash" camera hunt. That quality looks like something I'd be interested in. Don't like that price-tag though. Thanks for posting the great pics!

As I understand it from several articles, the claim is not that the state has absconded with the funds ...... yet. The mis-use that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is alledging is that language has been written into the NYS budget bill that would allow the misappropriation of those funds and the pilfering of those funds for addition to the general fund for use of general budget balancing. Even such language when written into law is a breaking of the rules for these funds to be allocated to the DEC and hence the promise to withold the funds.

I saw a farmer over in Ionia that was feeding pumpkins to his sheep. They seemed to like them, so I would suppose that deer would go for them as well. I have thrown out old butternut squash that had gone bad, but found that they would eat them quicker if I broke them up first. And then they would disappear in a couple days.

Which model Cuddeback is this one?

I think that would do. There's also an L50 now that looks pretty good and goes for well under $100. Also there is a couple of Cuddebacks and Stealthcams that have great pictures but the price increases significantly. So again the battle will be between cost and quality. I'm pretty sure that I'm ruling out the homebrew versions because of cost. I'm seriously looking at buying two, so cost is a big deal.

Great picture. Love the quality! What was the make/model of the camera.

Actually, for field tips there are a jillion different targets that will do a decent job of stopping a lot of arrows. I am really curious about those targets that will stop broadheads without being shot up almost immediately. I haven't really found one that will do that yet. Most are way too expensive for the number of broadhead shots that you can take without having them begin to "leak".

There is a little side issue that bothers me too. If Cuomo (and other politicians) are so blatant and bold about pilfering such high visibility U.S. funds, one has to wonder how much of the less visible DEC funding is being misappropriated.

Seems as though that should be mounted on a frame with wheels and come with a remote control. I'm surprised there wasn't one or two dislocated shoulders.

My problem with 3-D targets is that you essentially have just one aiming spot. That can be murder on arrows. and broadheads makes arrow damage (destruction) almost a certainty.

Yeah, it's going to wind up a wrestling match between function and cost. I am starting to lean more toward getting more than one of them ..... maybe as many as three. So I can't get too "high-end". That $60 price tag makes the D-50 a real attractive unit. I have quite a chunk wrapped up in my IR cameras for deer, so now I am starting to get a little more sensitive to price on any additional cameras I buy. But then I have quite a bit of time to make up my mind, and I really do appreciate all the suggestions.

Yes and upon taking a second look, I have decided that he is walking on his tip-toes. That's why I didn't recognize them when I first checked the picture. They do this to disguise their footprints to look like squirrel tracks.

Yup, the "home brew" choice looks like the best way to get the best pictures ( http://www.chasingame.com/index.php?id=41 ) . However, being the cheap skin-flint that I am, I can see the cost getting out of hand. Also, I would probably like to have 2 or more in operation. Also, I'm not sure I could actually handle all the know-how required to successfully pull it off. So I'm probably back to the commercially grown trail-cams. I'll take a look at the Moultrie versions.

Bill - What's the broadhead target made of? How long does it last? I'm always looking for a good broadhead target that doesn't cost an arm and a leg and that lasts for a while. Right now, I am using those cheapy styrofoam targets that Walmart sells (actually their price has been creeping up a bit in the last year or two). I usually get a couple of years out of them, but there is quite a mess left behind and I have to keep my broadhead practice to a minimum.

I see the multi-flora rose has gotten a real good foot-hold in that one spot. That's some pretty mean stuff but good for rabbits. Do the dogs ever get those thorns in their paws?

Ok, I'm going to be putting deer aside for a while and try to get some good wildlife pictures down at the creek (swamp) ...... beavers, muskrats, mink, weasels, waterfowl and any other critters that hang around a swamp. Probably start doing that in the spring. Since I'm not concerned about affecting travel patterns like I am with deer, and since I am concerned with good quality pictures, I am looking to purchase the regular white-flash version of a trail cam. IR is out for this purchase. Perhaps if the price is right, I might be looking at more than one. Anybody got any recommendations?

Anybody doubt for a minute that that deer knows exactly where that camera is? ...... lol. She's got it pegged for sure.

Yes, it can be irritating as hell when you do everthing exactly the way The "experts" describe, or exactly the way it has worked all your life and things just refuse to cooperate. Each bow seems to be a unique case with its own tricks and peculiarities.

That's what I was wondering about as I watched the program. How does a guy go from doing something like that with the constant adrenalin rush to holding down a 9-to-5 job in society? Do they ever really get successfully re-absorbed into society?

It all turned out good here. I had a huge widow-maker hanging from one of my trees over on the side of the front yard. Wasn't sure how I was going to get it down. It's down now thanks to the wind. It might not be such great news up on the hill. The ATV trail up the hill might require a bit of work.

There pretty clearly is a hole and a complete break in the rib. I think I would have to work pretty hard to imagine that as anything other than a slug hole. Cars will break ribs but not leave a nice round hole behind. Crows, buzzards, coyotes and foxes do not eat holes through ribs. In fact when carrion eaters are finished with a carcass, the ribcage is usually intact. Certainly they do not start out that early in the process by burrowing a small hole through a rib. No, if you are going to make any assumptions about how this critter met its end, a bullet/slug wound is probably a pretty safe bet. What the circumstances around that are, is anybody's guess.