Doc

"He said he fired shots into woods on his property southeast of Indianapolis shortly after noon after hearing a disturbance he thought was a coyote attack." ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- What the heck does a coyote attack sound like? And exactly what did he expect to accomplish by firing shots into the woods? One thing is clear, even though the odds would seem to be a jillion to one, random shots into a woods do apparently find a human once in a while. For those that think it's impossible, this is just a reminder that "stuff" happens when proper respect for rules of safety are ignored ...... even when the odds seem totally impossible.

I Googled "PETA kids" just to see what that was all about. There really is an effort focused on turning children into hunter-haters. The real bad news about that is that all this is being done with none of it actively being refuted by hunters. It's all going on under our noses, and the only clue that we have that it's working is the continued decline of hunter numbers. We have a lot of other things to blame it on, but I really don't think many hunters realize the successful role in destroying hunting that PETA is having with their $30 million dollar marketing budget. Just to put that number in perspective, that is more than the NYS portion ($21 million) of the P-R funds that form a majority part of the fish and game operating budget of the DEC. We love to mock and ridicule those wackos, and consequently ignore them. But I think while we simply make fun of them, they are having a whole lot more long-term effects than we are willing to admit to.

The only reason that the mechanical broadheads were even invented was because bow-hunters often have bow tuning issues and/or arrow tuning issues and/or shooting form shortfalls that will send even an arrow with the best fixed blade design spiraling through the air in an unpredictable direction. In order to fix those basic set-up and form problems, inventors decided to eliminate the planing features on the broadhead. That doesn't mean that the tuning problems or the shooting form have been cured, it only means that a band-aid has been applied that masks those problems. However, for many that does the trick and does eliminate some of the inconsistancies. I guess whatever it takes to get the job done is what you have to do. For a lot of people, mechanicals have made the difference between a kill and a wound. I guess it is just one more potential variable that is put under control. For myself, I do spend hours practicing form perfection, and bow tuning, and have had pretty good luck with fixed blade heads.

I haven't seen the hawks taking any downturns either. They must be on the up-swing side of the cycle. I can hardly drive anywhere anymore without seeing them perched on a power line or up in a big old dead tree.

I'm pretty sure that predation has to be factored into that cycle too. And I'm also pretty sure that the studies that all led to the length of these cycles were probably done decades ago. So I have to wonder how any conclusions arrived at years ago have been impacted by the general statewide rise in coyote population, and the continued un-checked population of hawks.

Ok now say "rabbit habitat" three times real fast ..... lol.

Results of this testing are exactly what I would expect. No surprises at all.

It seems like there are better ways to educate a young hunter than simply flaming the hell out of him. It's likely that because of the tone of the replies here, no one will ever get a chance to engage him in conversation to perhaps straighten him out on some of the troubling parts of his post. We've probably heard the last from this kid.

HAWKS!!! They're everywhere, and they are very efficient at getting rabbits and other small game. With universal blanket protection everywhere, they literally are a growing population with absolutely no checks. I have watched them patiently sitting up in a huge old cherry tree down in a small green-field that I own. The rabbits are naturally drawn out into that field to feed, and the hawk has easy pickins. I've got little rabbit-fur piles all around the field.

The one thing that bothers me about the system of consigning antlerless tags is that some guys wind up with a seemingly endless supply of tags which promotes the "brown and down" mentality. I'm talking about the idea that with so many tags in their pocket, it creates a bit of a killing frenzy where they may not be as careful as maybe they should be and begin to become a bit reckless. I have seen some of these "tag collectors" who enter the woods expecting to blow everything flat as quickly as possible. It's a mentality that I really don't like being around. The other thing that is not terribly attractive about that system is that it impacts the true lottery odds in areas where the numbers are not so large. It has a concentrating effect that takes permits out of the system and concentrates them in the hands of a few, depriving some hunters of having a chance to be selected at all. From the DEC's perspective, I am sure that their intent is to get as many tags into the hands of those that will fill them. That's their goal when they set the numbers (rightly or wrongly ..... that's another subject). They want to see those tags used. I suppose the sign-over system helps them do that.

The $10 thing is illegal, but I didn't see anywhere that Robinson said how many of his buddies constitutes "a few". 15 tags among a whole gang of people may not be over the legal limit. ....... or did I miss something? Let's see ....... if the WMU is giving out 2 permits per hunter as they did here in 8N and each hunter gets his 2 permits and has 2 more permits consigned to him that's 4 legal permits per hunter. At that rate it would only take 4 of his buddies to get 16 permits. Other than paying for them, the 15 number would legit. I figure if those guys are quite successful in the first year and the acreage hunted is rather small, there may not be enough deer left to hunt the following year ....... lol. My take is that no piece of property can or should withstand that kind of ridiculous pressure. The doe herd would have to be terribly over-stressing the habitat to handle that kind of carnage. Warning! ........ The DEC does monitor certain forums for admissions of illegal acts. I have read about arrests being made because of comments posted on forums. Be careful what you post and understand the law before making admissions here.

According to the Canandaigua Daily Messenger just the other night, they still have not made any changes. As I understand it, it is written into law, so I don't know how fast they can actually change anything and according to the article, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is digging in their heels on this issue and may not be in any mood to issue any extensions. They claim that there is some sort of deadline in 2 or 3 weeks. I have to say that if they insist on playing chicken with those funds, we may wind up not actually have any fish and wildlife activities within the DEC or personel to carry them out. According to the article That $21 million forms the lion's share of funding for those kinds of activities within the DEC.

I think this one will take all kinds of awards.

Yup! sure enough, all those invisible deer are crawling out of the holes they were hiding in. I've got them wandering all over my yard and through the woods behind the house right in broad daylight. I guess they checked their calendars and the word is out that the season is officially over ...... lol.

It sounds like there may be a huge disaster on the horizon for the DEC. $21 million of pittman-Robinson and Dingle-Johnson federal funds distributed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are in serious jeopardy as far as the NYS portion is concerned. I know we talked about this a long while back, but I assumed that since the news on this issue went dead that the legislature did the proper thing and amended the language in the budget that would allow the general budgeting to raid these funds. I just read tonight that they have not solved this problem, and that a deadline is nearing that is only 2 or 3 weeks away where we could lose this year's allocation. For those that are unaware of what is happening, there are some very strict strings attached to the use of those excise taxes that sportsmen and women have been paying with each purchase of hunting and fishing equipment. The money is to be used only for approved fish and wildlife projects, and cannot be stolen by the state government for general use in balancing state budgets or being spent on general government favorite projects. However the language in Cuomo's budget permits the State Department of Budget to go into the various Conservation Fund dedicated accounts that hold the PR/DJ money and take whatever funds it desires for any reason it states. The long and short of it is that the fed is not going to allow that and will redistibute NYS's share to other states very soon. $21 million is apparently a very significant portion of the DEC's operating revenues, and apparently the loss of those funds will in effect drive the final nail into the DEC's coffin. Like I said, we talked about this a long time ago, and the fact that the issue has not been resolved over all this time kind of sounds like they are basically saying "the hell with the DEC, we want that money to spend". It also sounds like the state may not be done with the Conservation Fund raids and want to leave the language in place that allows them to do that at will.

Yes ..... a farmer in Bristol shot one that was bedeviling his livestock. I believe they theorized that about 5 of these russian boars escaped a defunct farm in Livonia. That was a few years back, and the Canandaigua Messenger carried the story along with pictures. That's probably not the only case, but it is the only one that I have heard of where somebody actually shot one. Also, I saw photos of a small band of hogs taken in the Allegany Park. I will say that until recently, the legality of shooting one of these things was not all that clear. So it is likely that people might have had opportunities to knock one off but didn't dare pull the trigger.

Yeah, that might help the blender do a better job.

Add this one: When seconds count, the police are only minutes away.

Isn't it amazing how these candidates all-of-sudden become staunch pro-gun candidates during campaigns. I remember all the dancing that Schumer did when he came up with his childhood hunting stories out of the blue. And yet he never saw a piece of gun control legislation that he didn't love. They all lie, but they can't run away from their voting record if they have one.

I'm not sure why, but we do not have a lot of these tulip poplars where I live. However, I did run into a few of them over along Canadice lake just a few miles away. So for my local hunting, these don't really have any significance. However, when it comes to white oaks, we have several different varieties of them, and they are a powerful deer magnet during the occasional years that they are bearing. The acorns don't last very long because every critter in the woods likes them. What I read somewhere was that it is the lower level of tannin in the acorns when compared to the red oaks that makes them preferred. However as the red oak acorns lie on the ground, the rain leaches some of the tannin out of them making them a food source preferred a little later in the season. As far as regular poplars are concerned, they are pretty much just a "weed" tree. Not really good for much other than in some areas they seem to be preferred as a "rub" tree for whatever reason.

That is super mean stuff! They warn to wear rubber gloves when working with it. The usual way of keeping it is in a jar of vinegar. What I have read is that that is supposd to tone it down just a bit (probably so it doesn't burn a hole through your stomach .....lol.

That's all because they are very, very clever....lol.

Can you imagine? ..... Now you know why I'm so desparate to get this process figured out. Our Arbys in Canandaigua doesn't have the little packets out on the counter anymore like they used to. So I can't pirate a small supply for home.

Ok ..... so maybe the trick is to use the blender to get it as smooth as possible and then add the other ingredients and blend it some more. Maybe with mayonnaise and stuff in with the horseradish, it may blend it even smoother. We were trying to blend the horse radish by itself with the intention of adding the other stuff after. Anywy, I ran a copy of that page you supplied and I'm going to give it to my wife to experiment with. Thanks for the link.

Sorry for mis-directing your thread ....... I just couldn't help myself ..... lol.