Doc

Ha-ha-ha.....The grass always seems greener on the other side of the fence, doesn't it? Well, you can run, but you can't hide. The Feds are getting cranked up again with their national attack on the 2nd Amendment, so it may not be just state encroachment that you have to worry about. So, unless you are getting set to flee the country, relief will likely only be temporary.

So seriously....What exactly is the motivation behind the vegan fad? Is it morality of some sort? They don't like to take a life for their sustenance? Or is it a health concern...They think they are going to cheat death if the don't eat animal protein? I don't get it. I do know that we are not going to get out of here alive. I'm not even sure that it has been proven that vegans live any longer, or even as long as meat-eaters. Frankly, I believe we have one shot at this thing called "life", and I love my prime rib just a little too much to deny myself that luxury. I don't know enough vegans to ask them why they choose to go meatless, so I am asking the general membership here to educate me on why this is their chosen feeding habit. I tend to suspect that it boils down to some kind of liberal political statement meant to convince anyone who will listen to them that there is some display of superiority or higher mental evolutionary development that they are displaying with that choice. And like all libs, there isn't an ounce of reality or truth in anything they have to say.....lol.

Yesterday I was out wallowing around in the snow measuring and driving stakes in the ground, laying out the garden. There's a pretty severe case of cabin fever setting in that is bordering on insanity.

I suspect that as a percentage of each kind of vehicle running around out there that one accident with the automated vehicle is probably quite significant. These start-up failures are going to be quite traumatic for somebody. I just hope I am never on the receiving end of either style of vehicular accident......lol.

He and his kind would rather hang out a public open invitation that says "There are no guns here, so come on in and help yourself to the carnage"

I have no problem with strengthening the background checks for gun purchases, but how about funding the activity such that extra waiting times is not necessary. No one ever looks at making government agencies work smoother, smarter, faster and more efficiently. Instead their first thought is to increase the harassment value on gun owners. That makes the effort fit in with the other harassments that gun owners already endure. And let's face it, harassment is exactly the purposes of most of the gun legislation and not serious efforts at thwarting crime. They cannot eliminate all guns through legal, constitutional means so their recourse is frustrate gun purchases.

Sounds like the new system that has taken the place of the Citizen Task Forces that used to be sometimes used to gauge public opinion on required deer populations. Apparently that didn't work out so great so they are tweaking it a tiny bit to get input from all the anti-deer forces and the hunters to justify permit numbers and other population-cutting activities. Well, maybe that isn't really all that fair until we see results from this new procedure. Hopefully it won't turn out to be just a lot of venting from residents that have just sustained a few thousand dollars worth of damage to their prize shrubs....lol.

The bullheads are always biting best a week before someone tells you they are running. How many times have I heard people say, "man, you should have been here late last week". Around us it is a pretty small window of time. It's a lot like the smelt runs.....by the time you hear of it, it's over. Bait, we used to kill them down in West River and swamp (north of Naples) using big pollywogs. I have also heard a lot about chicken livers. And of course there is the old standby of night crawlers. I think the pollywogs worked well in swampy areas because of the natural populations that they are used to feeding on. They are harder than heck to keep on the hook when you cast them so cast very gently.

I finished up my trapline and chores just before boarding the school bus. I was always walking around the school hallways with a big old hunting knife on my belt. Try doing that today.....lol. Nobody thought anything about it back then.

This idiot never saw a camera that he wouldn't pose for. What a ridiculous looking weirdo.

On three different occasions, I have come across guys in full camo including face-paint. And this was on some very heavily pressured state land. I have to say that it is very un-nerving to all of a sudden find somebody that is only a few yards away when you first see them. I always have to wonder what the heck is going through a guy's mind when he knowingly does something stupid like this. I have to think if he is so uncaring about his own safety, he must have absolutely no concern for mine.

Yeah that's the bottom line. We all set our limits at a different place. I just don't feel comfortable blazing away at a running deer. Obviously a lot of people do. Those 5-shot volleys that I hear occasionally says that there are people who hunt like they are on a cleared and back-stopped rifle range .....ha-ha-ha. I do get a kick out of those who claim to know exactly everything that is behind the deer that they are shooting at. Unless they are hunting in a cleared gravel pit, that likely is not really the case. It makes a nice little phrase during hunter safety training class, but if we want to be honest, we are really only sure of what we can see and what is visible at any specific split second. But like you say, do what you are comfortable with.

Now, that really does look like fun. But I suspect that with my not-so-great eye/hand coordination, I would go broke with repairs and replacements. Are those videos "real-time" or are they sped up. The speed looks tremendously fast. I think I would be all smashed up in a tree inside of a 1/2 minute or so. I never could play video games that required flying. It requires abilities that I just don't have.....lol.

I cannot count the times that I have seen the blaze orange long before I could see the form of the hunter. Many times that has been the queue that it is time to move or put some distance between us to avoid hunting too close. On the other hand I have had a few occasions where I didn't see hunters in full camo, and got way too close for safe hunting until thankfully they said something. So blaze orange is not just something to avoid target misidentification. It can also be a clue to unsafe conditions setting up around you. Another part to that is that it sometimes can tip you off that you are wasting your time when you see that little piece of orange up where you are expecting deer to be coming from.

I guess it all depends on whether he is running at me with a giant club.

Ha-ha-ha......The only March madness that I have ever experienced is the madness that comes from the cabin fever that is taking it's toll on me right now.

Anybody sell a "Grafting for Dummies" book. I don't even understand the lingo

Ok, I am looking through the scope, following the deer and just as my trigger squeeze fires, a little bit of blaze orange shows up in the scope. I'm not talking about muzzle flash either. There's more than one reason for not taking running shots. I am also trying to figure out how you are looking through the scope for brown to appear and at the same time following the deer and at the same time determining that he is at the high point of the lope. That's a whole lot of stuff going on all at the same time. No, I think I will stay with my usual thought of letting deer that are running pass without a shot. If I've done my hunting right, he won't even know that I'm there.

But that does not really stop Harry Highschool from taking the gun that his dad bought for him to school, does it? So it make me suspicious that there is more to these age change proposals than meets the eye. Perhaps some wording that involves "possession and use", and not merely purchases. It certainly is something to keep an eye on when Cuomo and his merry band of gun-raiders propose this change here in NYS (and you know they will).

What I meant is that I see so many people at the range shoot off arrow after arrow trying to develop that perfect shot routine that is the same cadence for every shot and they never get to practice shots that get delayed at full draw. It does affect the shot sequence, and it doesn't hurt to simulate what happens when draw hold starts to push the limits. Trying to settle the pin back down when you have been holding longer than you practiced can have surprising effects if you have not practiced that scenario very much.

Perfect shot timing and procedure is a luxury usually afforded only on the practice range. Since a deer seldom is a wide open stationary target, it's pretty important to be able to incorporate some variability into your shooting procedure. They don't often pose for the shot. It is amazing how often they will move their vitals behind a tree or some brush while you are trying to tick off all that perfect timing of the shot. You may have to hold at full draw a lot longer than is comfortable. Occasionally you will have to let-down and wait to start all over again. Every practice session should include some variability so that you know what will happen when the unexpected happens.

I don't manage the deer. They have been doing that themselves for centuries, and the DEC takes care of making sure we don't hunt them out of existence. So all I need is enough land to hunt on (about 40 acres). And the state adds a bunch onto that too.

I have noted the exorbitant prices of lake front property, the ridiculous taxes, the lack of privacy, and the crazy overcrowding of lakes in our area, and opted for forested land and lots of it. Things are very quiet where I am with the occasional exception of a chainsaw off in the distance, or the birds. And then there is the deer grazing in the front yard or once in a while a fox or coyote will sprint across the yard. I like the idea of simply walking around our hill when it comes time to hunt. I have nobody bobbing around in a boat staring in our front window, or some noisy party going on that isn't ours. Also, there is far less maintenance or occasional disasters from Mother Nature.

It is no wonder that you have problems figuring out the lead on a running deer. Consider that no deer runs in a straight line, and there is no such thing as a standard speed for all deer. So not only must you compensate for the fore & aft lead, but the deer is also moving in a significant up and down motion as well. I suspect that most successful running shots are more the result of luck than skill

How about some sensible application of adequate caliber and shooter competency? It needn't be just one or the other.