Doc

As a little shot of realism, your statement is most likely a fact. However, That is not a reason to encourage the continuation of the extreme liberal (and even socialistic) policies that have driven this state for decades, with votes for Cuomo, or even witholding votes for either, or splitting the vote among fringe parties. The fact is that some kind of protest statement has to be made against the Cuomo's of this state, and a Paladino vote is about as good a protest vote as I can think of. As long as we keep throwing up our hands and giving up, the liberals will continue to be encouraged that their idealogy is a winning one in this state. My feeling is that even the most socialistic of politicians will reverse a lot of their reckless irresponsible ways if they perceive a genuine threat to that way of governing. That's just the way politicians react to those kinds of threats. In fact, just the presence of Paladino already has many of the candidates who are responsible for NY's condition calling for cleaning up the mess in Albany (even though they are responsible for it). The stronger the showing of Paladino, the more you will see politicians retreat from their liberal ways. Sure, I wish Paladino had turned out to be a stronger politician, wise in the way to conduct a campaign. But, it doesn't matter as much whether Paladino wins the election or not as long as he comes in strong enough to put the fear of God into these liberals. That's where we come in. This is not the time to simply wring our hands and throw in the towel. This is the time to move ahead with the protests that have been started, and vote accordingly. What I fear most is that voters will sit back in the corner wringing their hands and not vote, giving Cuomo, and others of his kind, a landslide victory that they will interpret as a mandate for the continuation of the reckless policies that continue the downward spiral destined to bankrupt the state. As I said before, I will hold my nose and vote for Paladino and hope for the best, and know that if nothing else, I will have registered my protest and perhaps help to show these politicians that there is something afoot out here amongst the voters that had better be taken into account. It's called making the best of a bad situation. Doc

But it used to be considered pretty common knowledge that predators were part of those population cycles. At least that is the way I always read it. As small game numbers increased, predator populations would prosper, thrive and grow. Working in concert with small game disease and deteriorating food sources they would eventually reverse the small game populations to begin the down side of their cycle. Then as the small game diminished, the predator population would correspondingly begin the downturn of their cycle. I suppose there has to be a point where both the predator population and the small game population both are at their high points in the cyles, but it would only be for a short, temporary time. I'm sure it never works out all that neat and tidy, but generally that is the way it's supposed to work. Doc

Which kind of goes back to the original question ..... Is culling effective or not. Because if it is, then the reverse of taking out the runty, deformed, and inferior bucks, would not be a good thing. If such selective culling has no effect, then trophy hunting would also have no effect. So I guess the question still remains can selective harvests (of either sort) really impact the quality of the herd at all? Which experts are we to believe? Doc

We're not going to get into a critique of typing and spelling are we? ...... Lol. That's destined to piss-off just about all of us ... ;D Doc

You know, if I had to go through all that to do my whitetail hunting, NYS is probably not the destination I'd be heading for .... lol. Doc

I'm not sure what aspects of destruction you are referring to regarding the Pataki administration, but I certainly hope you are not pointing to Pataki as a Conservative governor. However, I believe in my last reply I included the sentence: "It is very hard for anyone to blame New York's problems on anyone of a conservative idealogy since the state has never had such a thing in its politics (Republicans included in that statement too)." I am not a Pataki fan and he in no way represented conservative principles. And in addition I have to say that I have not noticed any particular improvements since good old Elliot and our current governor took over, so what's your point? You want to blame decades of state trashing on Pataki and ignore Paterson, Spitzer, Cuomo, Carry, Rockefeller, etc. That's a bit of heavy duty selective memory wouldn't you say? Now, as far as Bush and Clinton are concerned, remember this thread is about a New York gubernatorial campaign and election. Neither one of those guys had much to do with the condition that NY is in today. So, I would say that anyone who has paid any attention to NY politics over the many past decades will be very hard pressed to honestly say that we have ever had anything that didn't fit the mold of tax and spend super-liberal fiscal mis-management. Again, (Republicans included in that statement too ..... All two of them). I really don't understand how that can even be argued. So we know where our current condition comes from. It didn't all just begin with any of the modern day politicians. People and businesses fleeing the state is not a recent phenomenon, so I would conclude from that, that the idea of continuing to elect one liberal after the next just might not be working all that well for us. So how on earth could anyone be so enthralled with the condition of this state that they would vote yet another one of that kind in? Haven't we had enough? Don't we ever learn from decades and decades of past experiences? .....apparently not. Doc

The most damaging thing that we have given away over the past decades is our technology. In the later years of my career, I saw it happening first hand as more and more of our equipment was being designed and built overseas. We actually exported our design work by training foreign professionals to do our job and supplying them with whatever design info they needed to quickly get them up to speed. I was asked to go over to Taiwan to assist with this nonsense and I flat out refused. That was back in the 80's, so we've been doing it for a long time. We had foriegn outsourced companies come over here and steal our designs and patents. No that is the wrong term. We gave it to them so they could do our jobs (much cheaper) that we would have otherwise done. I had to laugh when NAFTA was being discussed and the proponents were telling everyone that the Mexicans would simply be doing the jobs that Americans refused to do. That was a pile of crap back then and it's a pile of crap now. And it gets even worse when you're dealing with european and asian nations. What they can't currently do, we will train them to do. Yes, there are a whole bunch of reasons for all this, many of which you have pointed out. But when we started to export designs and technology, that was the beginning of the end. That was our last bastion of excellence, and our companies gave it away. So today we not only don't make anything here anymore but we don't even invent or design anything here anymore (other than worthless trinkets). What's left? We can sell services back and forth to each other until the actual wealth eventually vacates the country. Doc

Actually you could make that count even one more bow. I had one that was a complete tear-down that converted an old PSE Citation from one with hunting limbs to target limbs along with a complete paint job. So I pretty much had two bows in one. Never needed a bow press at all on that job either. That's not one of the 11 because I sold that one along with the hunting limbs. A guy made me an offer that I couldn't refuse. It's one of the few that I ever sold. Doc

Sometimes I wonder if very many people really know what the underlying problems of NY really are. It is very hard for anyone to blame New York's problems on anyone of a conservative idealogy since the state has never had such a thing in its politics (Republicans included in that statement too). So basically, the state has always been governed by liberals (extreme liberals) and we have the financial results to show for it. Do you like those results?? Are you happy with the levels of taxation, and the out-flow of jobs and residents? Do you like our current unemployment situation? Well relax and enjoy the next installation of liberal leadership. Cuomo is cut from the same cloth. Is there anyone who is denying that? ...... anyone?? Frankly, at this point I would sooner vote in Darth Vader than Cuomo and I would have complete confidence that it would be an improvement. This year's election is likely to be a reaffirmation of that definition of insanity: "doing the same things over and over and expecting different results". Doc

I would think that if there was any kind of breeze that it would get flapping and moving around, and catching the deer's attention. How do you keep that from happening? Doc

Exactly the reason I don't hunt in the rain. I have had a very unhappy experience watching the blood trail dissipate right before my eyes. Fortunately a circling search pattern turned up the body, but the actual blood trail was completely gone. The rain was pretty light when I shot, but as is often the case, that was just the beginning of a serious downpour that washed away ALL sign. I count myself pretty lucky to have been able to have collected that deer. Doc

GET AWAY FROM MY MONEY!!!!! You can't have any. It's mine ....mine .... all mine. Ya hear....IT'S MINE!!!!

I hope that nobody is surprised by all this. How did anyone ever expect that Americans could compete in the global job market with the Koreans, Chinese or Mexicans or any of the citizens of 3rd world nations. I talked of this decades ago, and the only surprise is how we have been able to continue to develop our own overseas competition against the American worker, and still be able to maintain our standard of living. It really is all smoke and mirrors, and has absolutely no reality or foundation to it. Perhaps this is the correction that has been delayed through some crazy accident of economy. At any rate, now we are at the state of not really being involved in the manufacturing anymore and for some reason we continue to think that this never-never land can continue to thrive. It's hard to understand how we ever thought that we could sit over here in our 1/2 million dollar homes and our two or three cars per family and compete with those who don't even own such things. How on earth did we ever think that was going to work out anyway? Doc

Yup! That's just exactly what the DEC and politicians love to hear as they prepare to hoist up the fees again in the near future. They simply love to hear all the testimonials about how sportsmen are such a convenient soft touch, totally satisfied as the government reaches deeper into our pockets and slashes what little effectiveness the DEC may have left at the same time. Ever wonder why the DEC has become the favorite target of budget-cutting slashing by the Governor and legislators, and such a popular source of state revenue? It's all because we are in a position where all we can do is sit back and take it. And then there are some who want to declare that even with all the budget slashing and the gutted services and operating personel, it is "still a bargain". As we continue to watch this latest round of DEC lay-offs (200 head more), we continue to encourage these politicians to keep on cutting because we think it is "still a bargain". Instead of patting these guys on the back and indicating that we think all is well in the world of state game management, we should be letting them know that this continued abuse of hunters, trappers and fishermen cannot continue forever. We should make it clear that we do not approve of this constant financial abuse forcing more and more hunters to join the ranks of those that have already deserted hunting. We should be emphatic that we do not approve of the constant elevation of fees that accompany the continued gutting of the game management organization of the state. No it is not a bargain. It is a constant and continuing ripp-off, and there is no way that we should be encouraging it to continue with positive comments. Doc

For years I went through that phase of trying to have the newest, fastest, and the best until I switched over to my "tightwad" phase. Actually it was the realization that even my oldest of bows had killed deer just as dead as my newest ..... lol. But I have to admit that I should at least have a spare release. The one I'm using now is starting to get some age on it and who knows what might happen. Also, I remember years ago when my brother-in-law lost his Barner. He got real lucky because I happened to have an extra one in my tacklebox at home. But for that day, he was out of business until we got home. Doc

That's the one thing I really miss about the old compounds with the steel cables that had the "double tear-drop" fittings. All you had to have was an old spare string to remove and manipulate the bowstring. A 30 second job. I was always able to completely strip any bow down into it's individual parts or re-assemble it with just an extra long bow string. Doc

Don't forget all the hawks that are around. I think they take a lot more small game than people realize. Of course there is nothing you can do about those because they are protected. At least you can help thin out the coyotes a little bit and maybe sell a few hides to cover expenses. Doc

Pterodactyls cost money. The can and string is cheaper. I've been thinking of switching over to drums for communication, but not many still have the skills required.

I am living dangerously with absolutely no spare stuff that can be used with my current set-up. I have lot's of releases, but they are a completely different style than what I am using now and I would have to do some major re-accessorizing to use them. I suppose if something catestrophic happened and I couldn't do an immediate replacement, I could pretty quickly ressurect one of my old hunting set-ups. I have 11 bows hanging on the wall that are in shootable shape and all have accompanying releases, arrows, etc. .... Let's just hope I don't ever have to resort to that though..... lol. Doc

That last little part about food plots being legal is not simply a minor difference. That is the difference as far as hunters are concerned. As far as the DEC is concerned, there are other concerns that involve disease spreading situations that we have already talked about. Doc

Well, so far it has not turned out to be a huge problem, and has only happened twice. But I was just curious as to whether I was actually missing something or whether this is just a natural happening with these trail cams. Doc

Lol ...... That could be a good thing!!!! Just imagine how much Cuomo will get done and none of it good for the state. Sometimes it is really bad news to have someone in there that gets all of his agenda accomplished. Especially if that agenda is Cuomo style liberal agenda. How much more of that crap can this state take? Better they should do nothing! There is no way that I could vote for Cuomo even if his only opposition was a mad-man. I don't just say that it's time for a change. I really am for a change. A vote for Cuomo in this state is simply a vote for status quo. It's a vote that only accomplishes one thing, that being to encourage the leftist thinking that paralyzes this state. If you like the current and past pinko state government (including Pataki and Rockefeller) then Cuomo is your man. He's guaranteed to keep the state on its leftist course. I'm at a point where I will try anything else ..... anything. If for no other reason than a protest vote. No, I don't really expect the upset, but I will have my objections registered via my vote. Perhaps if we can make it close enough, it will send a message that there is a growing discontent that should not be ignored in the way the next administration conducts itself. Doc

I had two pictures tripped that don't seem to have any critters in them. However, I did notice that there were some leaves that were out of position from one picture to the other. Makes me wonder, this time of the year with all the leaves dropping from the trees, and some pretty good winds blowing leaves around, is it possible that the leaves could be setting off the camera? How big an item does it take to influence the motion sensor. I understand that it probably is different from one camera to the next, but has anyone here had things other than animals set off the cam? Doc

It is kind of fun just to see what's out there under the cover of darkness. It's kind of like throwing a line out in a river and seeing what you can catch or running a trapline. I am expecting to eventually get a better look at some of those coyotes I've been hearing. I've got to admit that I look forward to going out and seeing what I've "caught". It is just plain ol' fun. As far as patterning using a camera, if it all looks like random movement now, imagine what it will look like when the rut begins to have some real influence. Things are going to get real crazy, and I expect to see some deer that have never even been in the area before. But I have seen the accusation of trail cams supplying some kind of mysterious unfair technological advantage and began to think maybe I was missing something or simply under-using the capabilities of the cameras. ......Apparently not. That's good, because I would rather use it for just a fun activity of snooping on unsuspecting critters that think they are fooling somebody by only moving in the dark.....lol. There has to be a few surprises out there. Doc

By the way, did you realize that you have to keep that string taut in order to get those cans to work? Long distance is real tough. But the rates are great! Doc