Doc

If I had my Bushnell TC setup to watch my plots, I could just program it to take say 1 pic every 5min, for the first 2hrs of daylight and the last 2hrs before dark. With that setup, that's only 48 pics/day. With regular Duracells, I get 4000+ pics before they die. Given how much ground deer cover in 5 minutes, can that arrangement ensure that you will catch the exact point where the deer come into the field? That first picture of them, they may already be in the middle of the plot. I like the idea that you can choose only a certain number of hours to be photographing. I think that generally there is not much deer activity in fields to photograph during the middle bunch of hours.

Yeah, I think that's what I said.....lol.

You clearly made a point that you indeed missed. Like you said a food plot lures dear into an AREA and a bait pile lures a deer into a spot, rather a specific spot. You guys really want to know the real difference between the DEC's view of food plots and bait? In my opinion, it is that food plots are individual contributions to habitat that the DEC doesn't have to pay for or support in any way. In other words, food plots allow hunters to do the DEC's work for them free of charge. There's nothing about baiting that does this same habitat enhancement thing.

But there still is the question of battery life. Isn't that a concern for a camera that is taking pictures all day?

But the real important question is, what about the snakes, and poisonous bugs. I won't even go hunting down south because of those kinds of critters. I don't go anywhere where the daily regimen includes shaking the poisonous things out of your boots and clothes every morning.....lol. That all isn't said entirely in jest. I have seen TV shows depicting guys walking through thick chest high grass in Africa. I doubt there is a trophy anything that could coax me into doing that.

If you want to see where politicizing of game management can lead, just look at the history of the New Jersey bear season.

I'm still trying to understand why it requires a survey to determine how many deer hunters there are? What the heck..... every state sells licences. I would guess that every state tallies up those sales. What is the problem with collecting and using real license sales figures? These people are so enthralled with the black art of statistics that even when real honest to goodness numbers are available, they still rely on some miniscule statistical sampling.

Oh now you've done it! I imagine ol' WNYBuckhunter will be explaining why it is impossible for you to have seen what you saw ...... ;D . He should be in here momentarily demanding pictures, hair samples and casts of tracks and maybe even a DNA report all on a notarized form......lol. You know what you can do with that comment Doc. If youd get off your high horse and start reading instead of skimming comments and ASSuming, youd see that I dont demand anything, but Im not going to take your story seriously unless you back it up with evidence. I dont give a rats ass what you think of my opinion. If you are going to make a claim and someone calls you on it, and you cant back it up with evidence, dont start crying foul. See, I told you you were taking all this way too seriously. Where is your sense of humor. Now that reply was funny right there, I don't care who you are. The fact that it was based on all of your previous replies does not take away the fact that it was funny. As I said before ..... "relax". There's no need for worrying about rat's asses and high horses ..... lol.

I'm just guessing here, but perhaps since the deer are out there for awhile, you might be able to pick up their presence as the pictures go by and then frame by frame go back to the entry frame. I'm picturing something like a movie where if something is added to the picture, you generally can see the change. Like I say that's just a guess. It would be interesting to hear from someone who has used one of these things to explain that point.

Oh now you've done it! I imagine ol' WNYBuckhunter will be explaining why it is impossible for you to have seen what you saw ...... ;D . He should be in here momentarily demanding pictures, hair samples and casts of tracks and maybe even a DNA report all on a notarized form......lol.

Yeah, I think I got the gist of what you've been saying.

Actually, such baiting techniques violate the "feeding" prohibitions as well.

I don't know about any of your facts that you think prove that it's impossible for someone to have seen a mountain lion in NY, but you sure do seem to be on a super-serious crusade even in the face of proof that we now know that at least one mountain lion has indeed been shown to have passed through. This latest documented visit also implies that we have absolutely no idea just how many others have done the same thing before. But anyway, I am just suggesting that you calm down a little and try to keep perspective on things before always jumping into the combative mode. It makes conversations a bit more pleasant. However I must say, if it is that necessary for you to shut out any possibilities that any sightings might be real, I sure don't want to disturb your beliefs. Maybe it all has something to do with your comfort level when walking to a stand in the dark ..... I don't know ;D . Frankly it doesn't matter that much to me. But, I learned a long time ago never to say never.

It sure does raise a question about how much technology is too much. Every year they come up with more stuff to take the "hands-on" parts of hunting out of the equation. If only they could couple all this up with set-guns they might be able to reduce deer hunting down to simple set-up and collect. Aren't we all looking forward to that day? ;D

Experiences relative to hunting permission probably varies by region. I have not had a lot of luck with the permission thing. The usual excuse ....... "We already have people that hunt here". I even had a door slammed in my face without another word as soon as I mentioned I was a hunter. I don't know .... maybe we just have a tough neighborhood ...... lol.

Oh relax for crying out loud. Just because I do not get all hostile and disagreeable whenever someone thinks they saw a mountain lion, and simply because I have not made the subject the center of my universe doesn't mean that I can't have an opinion. If that bothers you, then maybe internet forums are not for you! Probably too much has already been made of what you think it should take to convince you. Frankly that discussion doesn't interest me. For me, if someone thinks they saw a mountain lion, I am not going to make a career out of trying to prove them a liar. That sort of thing just doesn't interest or entertain me at all. I don't know whether as a child you got frightened by a mountain lion story or what, but man, you take this stuff way too seriously. :

Yeah but look at what we would save in Social Security entitlements ...... ;D Also, judging by the teenage pregnancy problems, perhaps the younger deer would be as super-prolific as our human teenagers ..... eh? You sure wouldn't want to leave the breeding up to those 60 and 70 year olds.....lol. Ok, I understand what you are trying to say. I just thought it might be a good time to lighten things up a bit

No, they didn't mention anything about that. I'll bet it does chew up batteries.

Just saw a different kind of trail camera in the Bass-Pro catalog. It's called the "Primos Deer positioning System" (Page 134 of their archery catalog). You set it up watching your food plot or some other kind of field. When daylight comes it starts snapping pictures every 5 - 10 seconds throughout the day. Yeah, that's a lot of pictures, but they have software that allows you to review the whole day in 3 minutes. What good is it? ..... Well it tells you where the deer are coming out and when and how long they are staying there. Once you determine a pattern, you just slide a stand in there and wait for them to show up. Yeah I know, it seems a bit like cheating ;D . Anybody going to be trying one of these things out? It's only $119.99. Pretty cheap by trai-cam standards.

Well actually I haven't read all the articles, so I really don't know how many different places per mile actually had any sightings, or collected any evidence. So it's hard to know just how obvious a trail it left through those states. Maybe he just had an affinity for walking through mud, and had a scalp problem that was causing hair loss and had a constant state of the runs. Chances are pretty good that a lot of those cases weren't taken all that seriously or investigated all that thoroughly until this one got smacked in Conn. and they started back-tracking it to it's origin. However, whatever the tell-tale signs were, what it does clearly show is that apparently it really is possible for a mountain lion to cross NYS. I've got to say that it is kind of hard to believe that this was the only one ever to take the big hike. So I guess I won't be so quick to tell someone who claims to have seen one that they are nuts . Actually I have always felt that when someone claims to have seen a mountain lion, I can only say that I wasn't there, I didn't see what they saw, and I know of no reason why anyone would lie about it. So I have always concluded that at the very least, they truly believe they saw one and now I have to allow for the possibility that perhaps they did. Beyond that, I really don't have any particular interest unless somebody tells me they saw one behind my house. That might get my attention. I already played the role of the skeptic in the past. I remember when the first reports of local bear sightings occurred. Also there was the deal when people were claiming that coyotes were in WNY. I guess over time I have become a little more accepting to these possibilities.

I was up on the hill and didn't feel a thing. Neighbors did.

No, just explaining that sign that is not located in tilled soil might not be as easy to come by. My little excursion up the hill made that obvious. I went up to check one of my cameras, and seven pictures of deer were tripped off. The trail that the camera was watching had absolutely no tracks in it and that was a dirt surface with no leaves on it. And I did notice that the ground was harder than a bullet. If hoofed animals couldn't leave an imprint, then I don't see how other critters could. So the point still stands that just because there is no evidence of a sighting available, doesn't mean that it didn't happen.

Actually, considering that up until the 40's and 50's, agriculture represented virtually all of the rural land use, I would say that the percentage of land that has been effected by some form of development is likely a lot higher than 30%, even if that development amounts to no more than putting up posted signs. Almost all of the farms have undergone some form of sub-division, some areas worse than others.

Really! with this cat stomping in every piece of mud to leave tracks, and leaving a layer of hair all across the country, and crapping up a trail across America, how come he made it all the way across NYS and almost out the other side without someone in the state noticing all this sign that he was leaving everywhere?

What fields???? We have no fields. And don't tell me about the ground. I just came off the hill and the ground is like a brick. There are no tracks (as in zero tracks). Even the ATV made no tracks going up the hill. There is no mud and unbroken ground is as hard as pavement even now. And yes we have had a lot of rain and it has all pretty much just run off. In fact we had rain just last night and there's not a bit of moisture left this afternoon. Lol... you flatlanders check out your farm fields and think you have looked at the whole world ;D .