Doc

This should be required viewing in our schools. Maybe it would provide some small form of balance in the way such things are portrayed to our youngsters.

It does sound like the work of dogs. When they got into our sheep, it was obvious that they were doing it for "sport". They just chased, killed (or wounded) and then moved on to the next one and then finally left without eating any of them. I would not expect that behavior of coyotes. They are in it for the food.

The shooting is relaxing for sure. And the tuning is fairly relaxing too as long as everything is proceding according the plan. But I have run into some problems that seemed to defy normal bow tuning science. That was NOT relaxing at all ..... lol. I have a shortage on patience sometimes.

I'm quite sure those are squirrel tracks.

Are you sure that's not a mink or an otter?

Most likely, it is all food-related. As soon as the snow buries everything green, they have to cover more ground looking for food. I did notice a lot of areas where they are pawing through the snow, and have to work off some calories just to get a bit of calory intake. The way this year has been, this is pretty much the first time they have had any extended period of snow cover (at least in my area).

So is a sasquatch called bigfoot because it only has one big foot. If it has two big feet shouldn't it be called a "bigfeet"? Which of course brings up another question ...... Is the plural of sasquatches "bigfeet"?

This is likely the most intelligent response that I have seen on this whole thread, and I fully expect to see no rebuttal for this one. Chances are good that this comment will be purposely ignored.

Actually, I get more of a kick out of catching the occasional photo of some of these other critters rather than just looking at one deer after another. There is something fascinating about seeing just what is cruising around out there when you're not there. In fact as soon as I get a chance, I am going to pick up one or two "flash" trail cams (IR cams just don't cut it as far as artsy-fartsy quality is concerned) so I can get a few good quality critter pictures....... Probably next spring. I want to check out the swamp across the road.

On the way into town today, I saw some yards and fields that looked like a barnyard. Even if the same deer spent the night circling around several times, there still had to have been an awful lot of deer in these spots. It's obvious that there are some places that don't even get touched by hunting season.

I go just one more step than I have been reading here. I use an electronic powder scale and trickle each load. I found that my RCBS powder charger could come up with some variability, especially with the rod-shaped powders (probably due to "bridging"). So I purposely set the powder charger a couple of tenths under and use the trickler to bring the weight up to perfect every time. Yes it adds time into the process, but re-loading is usually done when I don't have a lot to do anyway (winter time). Along with meticulous procedures for the cleaning, priming, case trimming and bullet seating, I know that each loaded cartridge is as identical as I can possibly make them. I don't set any records for reloading time, but I do get the consistancy from my cartridges that can't even be bought, which after-all, is the primary purpose for reloading in the first place.

My gosh.....can you imagine walking to your stand in the dark and hearing something like that ..... lol. I'm sure that could send some guys running and screaming out of the woods, never to come back.

Back when I was a kid, my folks raised sheep. We had several attacks from feral dogs such that after being in business for about 7 years, we had a flock that was significantly smaller than when we started. We were driven out of business by predation too. It was a pretty sad thing going out to the barnyard and finding dead sheep all over the place as well as others that were so wounded they had to be put down. Of course back then, coyotes were unheard of in our area, but today I often wonder how anyone can successfully raise sheep, goats, or those alpaca things or any kind of small critters with the coyote numbers exploding across the state.

Seems to be new diseases coming out all the time. Wait until one crops up that is transmissible to humans. Imagine the implications for population control of deer if we didn't dare eat the meat.

To me, there is a point where it all becomes an ugly killing frenzy. I guess each case has to be evaluated on its own merits. I do know people that are quite poor who do supplement their diet with venison. For these people it is not a sporting activity anymore and simply is a way of adding valuable protein to their family's diet that frees up some grocery money for use on other necessities that the rest of us take for granted. So, they are looking for all the tags they can legally get, and the whole activity takes on a lot different meaning than for most of us. However, that is not the case with other people that try to grab onto and fill every tag they can get and simply go on a killing spree. I can only consider these people "game-hogs".

It all depends ....... if those 4 guys were spread across an area like Hi-Tor game management area, those 13 harvested deer wouldn't even be noticed. Do that on a property that is 20 acres or so, and it would be a tragedy for future years.

I expect that some day we will be reading about some hunter using that old Indian trick of throwing a deer hide over their shoulders and wearing a mounted deer head and antlers on their head. It probably would work pretty good ........ for a while....lol.

I don't know whether they have improved those 3-D deer targets any over the years. Mine is over a decade old. But I remember when I first shot an arrow into it, I thought I was going to have to destroy the arrow to get it back out. That stuff just put a death-hold on the arrows. I had to lay the damned thing down on the ground and stand on it to pull those first bunch of arrows out. It wasn't until I got the kill zone softened up pretty good that I was able to easily remove arrows. The other thing about the 3-D targets is that basically you have one aiming spot unless you get goofy and start shooting the head or butt or guts. So if you are shooting multiple arrows, you run the risk of constant damage. I built a 4' x 4' corrugated cardboard, compressible butt that even now after more than 20 years still stops arrows. It has one soft spot that I probably could rebuild, but I hang a bag target in front of it now. 4 separate aiming spots keeps arrow disasters from occurring. For broadhead tuning and sighting in, I buy one of those cheapy styrofoam targets about every other year.

As far as a bow is concerned, I go to great pains to clear every last obstruction out of my shooting lanes, and eliminate all interferences and points of contact between my arrow and anything on me or the bow. Why in heck would I purposely shoot my arrow through a plastic mesh and not expect some kind of effect on the arrow's path. No, the windows come down, screens and all.

Isn't it animal tissue that is the basic cause for the origin of some of the animal diseases such as CWD? There was some talk about how it was taxidermy waste that started the CWD in NYS.

I've had a beard and mustache since the beginning of bow season in 1972. I wouldn't even recognize myself if I were to shave it off. It does require trimming about every 4 days or so.

Some guys just like to push the safety envelope a bit ..... lol. No, we manage to shoot enough of each other just using live deer. I don't think we really need to set ourselves for drawing fire with decoys ..... lol.

Unless I missed it somewhere, I still have not heard how many guys these 15 tags were split up amongst. If you had a dozen guys with 15 tags ....... what's the big deal. If they had 15 tags apiece, that's a completely different deal. But Robinson never said that, nor has he clarified how many people were there that got the 13 deer. Same deal ..... 13 guys getting 13 deer is just some good hunting. Two guys getting 13 deer would be a whole different story. There's some key info missing here........ or did I just miss it?

Generally speaking, my wife and I only require one deer per year per season anymore. That would be a max of two deer (one bow - one gun). That's plenty for us. So I really don't care how many I'm entitled to. As to engaging in "sign-overs", why would I even bother. I'm not trying to set any records for quantity of deer ...... lol.

The mesh screens on my blinds have zippers to simply drop down out of the way. When I'm in it, the windows are always wide open. If a deer notices the difference, or can see that a window is open ....... it's already too late.