Doc

I got the yardage stakes re-painted and set back out and christened the rebuild today. I was surprised at how much the indoor practice over the winter (15 yards in the basement) helped out my outdoor debut this year. Pretty good groups out to 30 yards. I'll be checking out the 40 yard pin next time out. I was surprised at the lack of bugs this year. No black flies, no mosquitos, no gnats, just lots of deer flies. But even they weren't too much of a distraction. I thought with all the rain we had this year that the bugs would be ugly, but so far, no problem. Maybe all the larvae got flushed with the flood. Things are pretty comfortable in the woods where my range is. It's been kind of ugly-hot the last couple days, but up on the range it's not really all that bad. Anybody else getting out and shooting the bows? I'll be dusting off the shooting bench for the rifles pretty soon too. I'm finally getting ahead of the flood damage repair and the early spring yard work so it's getting to be time to play.

Great production! I loved the variety and quality of the pictures, and the music, and everything about it. Thanks for posting it. Doc

ALL BETTER!! I drove myself crazy trying to figure out how to get that thing back up the hill and onto a pad that was half washed away. Finally I got smart and decided that instead of trying to get the thing uphill, I would just move it a about a yard or so forward down onto level-ish ground in front of where it used to be. Sounded easy ..... ha-ha. I've got to say that those two barn beams that it is all built on and that compressed cardboard butt weigh a ton. I had a good heavy iron bar to lever that sucker around, and after a fashion got it where I wanted. All that shoving around and everything still stayed together. Not bad for something that was built almost 40 years ago. Now all I have to do is move all the stakes and start shooting.

I am happy that my post was able to offset some of the negative remarks that some members on this forum have been pushing onto us. I have always believed that the biggest problem that gunowners and hunters face is their unwillingness to organize or see value in organized defense of our 2nd amendment rights. Such a small percentage of gun-owners really put their money where their mouth is, which makes those who actively campaign here against gun advocacy organizations even more difficult to stomach. I will admit that I could do a whole lot more as far as active participation in the NRA, but as a very minimum token of support, I believe that membership even by itself, is an effective way to finance the political lobbying, negotiating, and the other activities that the NRA takes on in our behalf. It really requires a tiny amount of money and is a very easy thing to do. In the face of the constant barrage from those that would do away with private ownership of firearms, I as a gunowner, really do appreciate those that are willing to take the simple step of joining and being counted as well as assisting in financing some very necessary activities for safe-guarding our rights, traditions and culture.

Frankly, I doubt there are any places in NYS where pistols are permitted with "little to NO questions asked". I don't think that has been the case anywhere in NY for many decades. So I tend to doubt that that is the "brunt" of any problem here in this state. And frankly I kind of doubt that that is a problem anywhere with any firearm that is legally purchased. Another thing that is really beginning to rub me the wrong way is the way some on this forum take such glee in badmouthing the various organizations that advocate gun-owner's rights and the NRA in particular. These same people readily admit that they have no problem enjoying the freedoms that have been hard-fought and maintained for them (apparently with zero support from them) while they take some perverse pleasure in trying to convince anyone who will listen that the very organization who has been fighting for those rights is something evil. Apparently they are completely unaware of the powerful organized wealthy forces that have been hard at work trying to abolish the 2nd amendment, and eliminate all private ownership of firearms. It takes little imagination to picture what our gun ownership abilities would be if the NRA was not a significant force between us and the Brady bunch. I needn't list off the long numbers of powerful political and media figures past and present who have worked diligently to eliminate private ownership of weapons from our country. Those here who are bent on the destruction of organized gun advocacy (NRA) apparently share a lot of those same views. In case they mistakenly confuse their pseudo-intellectual views with some kind of feigned open mindedness I guess I have to say that I am not impressed. You are simply a part of the same group of anti-gunners that we are all familiar with. We all have a lot to thank the NRA for, and they still have a lot of work and continuing vigilance and political activism to accomplish in the future. They are not an organization that has outlived its usefulness, and in fact they are even more important and necessary to 2nd amendment protection today and in the future. To sit here and run the organization down is simply doing the anti's work for them. Because organized gun owners is the one thing that frightens anti-gun advocates the most, and they understand that organizations like the NRA are the only ones standing between us and the elimination of firearms in private hands. So yes, I do find it a bit offensive to read hunter and gun-owner comments that spit out the name of the NRA like they are some kind of allies of criminals. Sorry, but I have a pretty low opinion of those that spew the doctrine of the Schumers, Kennedys, Boxers, Fiensteins, Bradys, and a long list of other private gun ownership enemies and continue to try to destroy the reputation of the one organization that has done more to defend our ability to continue to own firearms. The motives of such people are clear, and they shouldn't be all that surprised to find out that their anti-gun views are quite offensive to many and likely most of the members of this forum.

Saw one about a week ago (a live one ...... lol) in our front yard down by my driveway. It certainly was not a "new-born" and was quite far along in growth. We don't really get to see a whole lot of them here because there is not a lot of open fields. Farming has left the community quite a few decades ago. So usually, I have to practically step on them (which happens more often than expected, but not real often) in order to see them. So with so few opportunities to actually see them, I am not the one to talk about any fawning trends that I might see now or in the past. Not enough data points.

I am still wondering if this is a developed and proven technology yet or is our government mandating something that will in effect outlaw non-compliant firearms simply because they are unable to actually make the concept work. The other concern is: if this technology does exist, how much additional cost will this add to gun ownership. Or said another way, is excessive cost being legislated into the firearms market in an attempt to squeeze out more private gun owners? Is this simply another law aimed at frustrating and costing legitimate gun owners out of the market?

Like nyantler, I am always curious as to just where some people really want to draw the line when it comes to gun ownership. All I ever hear is that the NRA is evil and that wackos believe that the books and books of worthless redundant laws might actually stretch the meaning of common sense and many are really designed to harrass and frustrate legitimate private ownership of firearms in general. In fact some of these arguments make me wonder if these people really believe there is any legitimate reason for private ownership of firearms. I'm just saying that we have entirely too many people that are totally committed toward eliminating private ownership and use of firearms. We probably don't need gun control zealots speaking for them from supposedly within our ranks.

There are an awful lot of places that look real good from the highway as we vacation through them. You never really get to see the ugly aspects of various locations until you have spent some significant time in them living day-to-day life. You can read all kinds of statistics and opinions, but nobody can evaluate any of those places for you because we all have differences as to what specific features are important to us, and what ranking those features really have for each of us. I have vacationed in an awful lot of places that in the middle of bass season looked like paradise, but reality told me that I would never really like some of the other seasons. We all have lived a significant amount of time here in NYS. We all know every little negative aspect because these stick in our minds a lot more than the positive features. We know state politics here because we live with it. We don't know the state politics in other places as well as we are familiar with all the little negatives here. The one thing that stands out is that for all the negatives that we see here, we all still are here. How bad can they really be?

The effects and success of quitting smoking is different for each individual. I will honestly tell you that I have quit for 3-1/4 years and still have times when I have a quite powerful urge for a cigarette. The difference now is that the urge only comes occasionally and passes very quickly and is easily overcome. I used Chantix, but I'm not sure I could swear that that was what finally created success. My feeling, looking back at it is that for the first time in my life, I really wanted to quit and I credit that attitude change with the success more than the Chantix. I was developing a chronic cough. I was coughing up some nasty looking gray goop. I was told by my cardiologist that he was quite sure that he was hearing the beginnings of emphysema in my breathing. I had also had a stroke a few years earlier which I had been told could be aggravated by smoking. All those things taken together finally convinced me that I probably shouldn't be procrastinating any longer and that no matter how hard it might prove to be, I perhaps had one more good run at it left in me, and failure this time would most likely lead to all kinds of nasty consequences. 48 years of moderate to heavy smoking had taken its toll, and I truly convinced myself that I had just one chance left. I still don't know what kinds of permanent damage may have actually taken place, but I can say that the chronic cough stopped within a week. The nasty looking crap that I was coughing up stopped almost as quickly. There has been a marked improvement in my blood pressure, but medication is still required. So perhaps I dodged the bullet. My Dad had emphysema and died of all kinds of complications that were due to his condition and also due to the fact that he never could quit. One would have thought that that would have been sufficient motivation for me to quit right then and there, but like so many people I made excuses and continued smoking for another 8 years. Finally the symptoms got to be something that couldn't be ignored or explained away. I hope it doesn't take all these ugly symptoms and problems to properly motivate you. I waited way too long and still may pay the price for my procrastination and excuse-making ..... I don't know. I know it is an ugly tough addiction and for many is the toughest challenge we will ever face. But when you sit down and honestly look at the possible alternatives, the motivation will come and so will the success. Good luck to you.

This was the worst storm I have ever seen here in all my years here. My wife described it best when she said that the whole hill behind the house was a sheet of water flowing down and bringing all kinds of leaves, stones, logs, and mud with it. Somehow the bulk of it missed the house but my archery butt was right in the path of the water that jumped out of the banks of a ravine crick. You can imagine the force it took to push that thing that far. It's super heavy, but if that storm had kept up any longer, It would have pushed the butt right on down into my yard and it might have smashed into the cars.

I think I will enlist the services of one of my sons and my brother-in-law. They owe me a few favors ..... lol. Thanks for the offer though. I really appreciate it.

your choice of organizations shows quite a contradiction there ole Doctur? NYB which is anti crossbow to the bitter end and the NRA that supports crossbow hunting in NY State. seems you have a problem pickin sides there fella ;D , LOL, ROTFLMAO, so on and so forth. Absolutely correct..... they do disagree one that one sole minor issue. So what? Being a realist, I do not demand that my advocacy organizations agree with every little position that I hold. It would be stupid to expect that wouldn't it? I look at their philosophies and their achievements in an overall sense and then decide if I can live with those issues that we disagree on. Both of those organizations have successfully passed that evaluation as far as I am concerned. Do I agree with every stance each of these organizations have? ..... like probably 99% of the members the answer is no. Do I pack up my toys and go home because of it? ...... the answer is again ,no. Some people use these kinds of minor issues as excuses to belong to nothing. To me that is the bigger contradiction for those that claim to support organized advocacy for bow and gun hunting.

So far I haven't done anything other than look at it in disgust. All my time has been taken up moving mud-packed leaves and gravel off the lawn. The entire face of the hill was just a wall of water which dumped everything in my grass. Quite a mess to clean up but I finally have gotten the last of tons of mud, leaves, sticks, stones, logs, gravel removed. I also have a picnic area at the other side of the house that was in the same condition. This is where we are having a family reunion this July, so that had to have priority over the archery butt too. I'm getting close to tackling the archery project now. I'm not looking forward to it but I have to get at it pretty soon. I hope I can get some help moving it. If not, I will have to get creative with a come-along and some leverage. The first phase is to dig out a flatted pad for the thing to set on. The 2nd phase is to get it up on it. It hasn't been a great year ..... lol.

Well the answer to that question is a lot different today than it was back in my tournament days. The NFAA course has an 80 yard shot on it so that's how it was 20 some years ago. Today all my shooting is tailored to hunting, and I never considered anything over 30 yards to be appropriate for live critters and my shooting ability. So today I restrict my shooting to 25 yards max and practice at 30 yards. I also throw in a few 40 yard shots just for fun, but serious hunting practice takes place at 30 yds.

When finger shooting, I use the split finger style. No particular reason .... That's just the way I was taught and have never had a reason to change.

Yup! I still shoot aluminum arrows. I have a collection of them that takes both hands to get your fingers around. Sure, some of those are tournament sized arrows for competition. But the hunting arrows that I have are sized correctly for my bow, shoot perfectly out of most of my bows, kill deer, and hit the bullseye. I really don't know what more you can ask of an arrow. But anyway, I have more arrows than I will ever destroy for the rest of my life, so I seldom throw money around just to get rid of it. So until I can find any reason to change, Arrows will probably never be on my shopping list for the rest of my life.

NYB and NRA. NYB is the only organization that is an advocate for my bowhunting issues in NYS. The NRA is a time-proven effective advocate for gun ownership and 2nd Amendment concerns. I also consider them the only reason that the Kennedys, Schumers, Boxers, Fiensteins, Bradys and scores of other gun-hating nuts past and present, have not succeeded in eliminating or making impractical the private ownership of firearms.

First of all, I enjoy plopping my butt down at the base of a tree in the woods without worrying about some poisonous snake sinking hi sfangs into that butt. I also like to reach into a drawer that has not been opened in a while without worrying about some spider injecting some flesh-rotting venom into my hand. I also like a climate that does not reduce my home and all my belongings to a three foot high pile of kindling. I also like to live in an area that doesn't fill up with water up to the soffits for as far as the eye can see. I also am at an age where I don't like to have to use ropes to repel back down the hill to get home. I also like to have a climate that provides a growing season that is long enough to have a shot at a garden (this year is not a real good example of that in NY .... lol). For the most part, my little chunk of NYS satisfies all those wants and needs. Not too many other states satisfy all those requirements. But anyways, I had to face the same decision back when I retired. After weighing all those things that are important to me, I find myself today still sitting here in NY. Sure I still gripe about NY politics and taxes. But I'm sure I would find those same things and others to gripe about regardless of where I moved. There also is something to be said with "dealing with the devil you know". I'm too darned old to be out dredging up a whole new set of things to whine about. I might also mention that my family and friends and entire social network resides and exists here. That's always kind of handy and many times has to be a consideration. For the most part, I have learned to appreciate the truth in that saying that "the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence". Maybe it actually is, but I will leave that for others to discover. I have spent a whole lifetime learning to cope with NYS and all it's problems. It's not really all that bad. Of course you didn't post your question to find who agreed with your decision to move, but I guess I'm simply not in a position to tell anyone what states are better to live in. I haven't really been able to find one.

Yeah, not all of our fawns come in a scrambled up condition either ..... lol. Here's one from a couple years ago that was still in one piece and breathing. Apparently enough of them make it through to maintain a good healthy population here. But I guess a certain percentage become critter food.

Here's a little perspective relative to school spending. Back in the 60's when I graduated high school, we had one school that had been there for decades. It contained BOTH elementary, junior high and high school. We had one principle and a vice principle and a secretary as the total administration. Our graduating class was 50 students. Oh, and by the way, we had exactly one bus run that handled all students from Kindergarten thru high school. Today the average graduating class is not that much bigger (about 60+). However, today there is another additional school (the elementary school), complete with a bloated administrative staff, and something they call a school district superviser. Far more than double the staff, school square footage, maintenance, heating resources spent, etc., etc. Today you can find school buses just about anywhere at any time of the day. They have the early bus, the late bus and all kinds of special transports for every excuse you can think of. School trips ...... anywhere, anytime, for any excuse. Strangely enough even with these massive increases in taxpayer expenditures, unlike us poor deprived students of the day, there seems to be a complete breakdown of basic learning. Reading, writing, comprehension, math skills and also by the way the graduation rate seem to not be responding in a positive way when we simply throw money at our education problems. The more we spend the worse the education. Why is that??? Nobody seems to catch on to the fact that quality of education is not really related to money spent. Teachers may shoulder some of the blame, but there seems to be a whole lot more wrong with our educational financing than just some teacher's salaries. Over-all cost per head for education has gone through the roof (even when adjusted for inflation) and nobody is even looking at that number. To me the blame lies in the taxpayers themselves. All you have to do is mention that "it is for the children" and taxpayers mindlessly fall all over themselves pulling the dollars out of their pockets. And all that without a single thought as to how the money is being spent or whether we are getting anything for our buck.

Ha-ha ..... Let them start tearing up golf courses and thousands of dollars worth of suburban landscape projects. We will instantly become the neighborhood. People will be falling all over themselves trying to attract hunters to their property. The bunny-huggers will be hard to find and awful darn quiet .... lol.

It's funny nobody has suggested getting rid of all gun seasons completely ..... lol. I suppose that reply coming.

Fawn pieces 2011. That's all that's left. Weird how the piece of hide seems to be twisted up.

Ontario County. There's no telling what exactly happened to this one. There's not enough of it to tell. It is possible that with all this crap weather it might have died of natural causes and simply is being finished off by other critters. A couple years back I found a dead fawn laying up against the barn ...... not a mark on it. Last year there was one up on top of the hill that had obviously been fed on (See attached picture). Even that one, you really can't tell whether something killed it or whether it was simply found dead and was being fed on.