Doc

Yupper . That little metal clip (ultra nock) made a Ka-zing sound when I released the string . The string loop makes a very light pfffffffffttttt ! No comparison ! : Now that I have hearing aids , I can tell the difference between the ka-zing and a pffffffffftttt with no problem . There is no doubt in my mind that a pfffffffffttttt is far superior to a ka-zing. In fact I would rather have 4 pfffffffffttttts than one ka-zing. I think taking that thing off was an excellent move. In fact if I were to hear just one ka-zing, my ultra-nok would be off so quick it would make your head spin. And I really mean that! Doc

The fact is that very little happens in today's word that doesn't impact a whole lot of other people. One example comes to mind immediately. When someone is very stupid and does something that unnecessarily causes his death (perhaps your example of the motorcyclist that refuses to wear a helmet and then gets into an accident). First of all, if he is not killed, then we may have a vegetable on our hands in a hospital room that becomes a huge burden on his family until finally their finances are exhausted and then both he and his family become wards of the state and WE pay. If he croaks, his family is again usually devastated with the loss of the breadwinner, and again we may wind up paying the bill to keep them fed, clothed, educated, and supplied with cable TV. No matter what the situation, whether its helmets or blaze orange, there is a very high likelihood that we will be impacted, and even to a greater extent, spouses and children are also impacted. So yes, if some how magically everyone who decides to practice stupidity were truly the only ones to be effected, I might have a different attitude. Also, your comment about the jerk in camo who sneaks onto your land and gets blown away, is another very good example. I don't care who you are, just try to live with something like that. Yes that could be a huge effect on somebody else's life. I'm not a big fan of government worming their way into our private lives, but every day, the ripple effect of acts of stupidity affect more and more people other than the person who doesn't seem to know how to properly conduct their lives. It's a shame, but I do believe that if you had the data, you could put a price tag on stupidity that is payed by every taxpayer, and I don't think anyone would be real pleased with the bottom line tab. Doc

Well, precedent shows that this "all or nothing" argument doesn't hold water. Where in all the states that have helmet laws, is there even one that requires people to wear helmets in cars, trucks, tractors, etc.? Your line of reasoning would demand that in order to be consistant, helmets should be mandated on all motor vehicles. Of course that would be stupid and senseless and make about as much sense as demanding blaze orange during bow seasons. Yes, I hope members here are able to make judgements as to where some lines of reasoning make absolute sense and where they are simply being stretched as foolish extensions designed only to muddy the waters of the actual discussion. Anyone who equates the usefulness of blaze orange during gun season with it's use during bow season, is not really being serious about this discussion. With muzzle loader seasons there may be some logical comparison and room for discussion of a blaze orange law. But, first things first. As to the need for a blaze orange law, there were links posted earlier on this thread for those that are interested in the facts of the argument that show that without a question blaze orange saves lives in a whole bunch of states and has the potential to save more in states that have yet to see the wisdom of such a requirement. Those that didn't read it should now go back and do so. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/00044112.htm http://www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/safety/docs/Hunting_Associated_Injuries_and_Wearing_Hunter_Orange_Clothing.pdf http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:3MRuEfjx3l0J:www.dfw.state.or.us/resources/hunting/safety/hunter_orange.asp+Reasons+for+mandatory+blaze+orange+while+hunting&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us All of these articles definitely show why such a law should be adopted by this state and why there is no serious argument against that point. If there were some logical imposition or reason for not having such a law, I could understand the opposition. But there are no legitimate reasons and no sensible reason to oppose such a thing. Frankly, I don't get it. Is it some kind of rebellious fashion statement? The only thing I can imagine is that the opposition is coming from those that want to exercise their right to stupidity, or have some sort of desire to commit "suicide by hunter" : Doc

I have noticed that for every deer management, hunting, or behavior theory, there seems to always be at least one other theory somewhere that contradicts it. I have very little faith in any of these theories regardless of where they come from or what so-called credentials they come up with. All these things make good reading but usually wind up to be people trying to apply logic to things that are by nature illogical.

Actually, I am very happy there is a limit as to how close hunting activities can encroach on the privacy of residents. I think it helps avoid a whole lot of problems between hunters and people trying to carry on the normal business of living and being allowed the expectation of not having people wandering past their windows or touching off a shotgun next to their bedroom. From a safety standpoint, 500 feet is no where far enough, and if the law does not specify, it should state that shooting in the direction of a house or building is illegal. I'm not sure how the law is worded, but the direction of the shot is more crucial than the distance. If that's not part of the law, it should be. Doc

Ka-zing????? ;D

You're right! that guy had one thing on his mind and was not about to be distracted. It's just a good thing I was not standing where the doe had just gone or I would probably have hoof prints on my face today. Doc

There, That sounds like a good way to do it. I was trying to picture manhandling this big bag of jello that has no handles of gripping features. Sliding the thing out in quarters on a tarp sounds pretty reasonable to me. Doc

Thankfully, I don't have to make that choice since I am retired and can hunt whenever I want. Besides all this studying of moon phases and such puts me in mind of witchcraft and is entirely too complicated and contradictory for me to bother myself with. However, I will say that the one part of rut that I find to be the absolute most frustrating is that time when we begin to see deer running wildly through the woods like a pack of dogs are on their heels, with the does trying to keep one step ahead of a pushy buck. That is the time when trails are abandoned and entire home ranges are uprooted, and every bit of scouting and patterning goes right out the window. During that time, you would have just as good a chance of getting in bow range if you were standing in the middle of a parking lot as you do in the woods. ;D When all that crazy nonsense is going on, I spend a whole lot of time wishing I had stood over there, or maybe over there, or more likely, wish I had a rifle in my hands. There was one time during that crazy period when I actually got a buck that was chasing a doe to come real close. I did that because when the doe came barreling through, I repositioned myself to cover the ground that she had just run over. Sure enough, here came Mr. Goofy trotting along with his nose to the ground like a beagle. Only one problem ....... he was traveling just under a full run and wouldn't hold still. I can't make that kind of moving shot. So I made a little vocal noise (a bleat) to stop him for a shot. Nope, not on your life. So I whistled. He never raised his head or even slowed up. So I hollered at him. Nope, not interested. So I jumped out and waved my arms. I'm not sure how I ever would have gotten the shot off even if he had stopped, but I was getting desparate. Well, as it turned out, he never even slowed and all I could do was just watch him leave along the same direction as the doe did. So when I say that is the most frustrating time of the year, it is with good reason. Doc

I'm drawing a blank on your question. I guess I never heard of the kind of formula you are talking about. Usually, the broadhead weight that you choose, based on speed concerns with light heads or kinetic energy considerations for penetration when choosing a heavy head is compensated for by the spine of the shaft that you use. Maybe (probably), I am misunderstanding the question. Doc

Because hunting is actually a very safe activity, that is no reason to relax known hunting safety precautions. That's something we all learn in hunter safety training, and very good reasons. It's never good to develop the "It can never happen to me" attitude. To put a bit of a humorous but accurate spin on it all, even though the odds are a bit long for becoming a hunting accident victim, that saying that the NYS Lottery people developed applies equally to hunting accidents. You know the one that goes something like, "Hey, you never know!" Your odds of being a victim are pretty low, until you start willingly doing things that promote target mis-identification or make you harder to indentify a "no-shoot" situation for other hunters. Then, Hey, you never know. Doc

I expect to see some pretty impressive harvest pictures this year. No excuses of not having the nice bucks around ...... Ha-ha ;D

If I can actually remember how to post pictures, here are what the pins look like. As you can see, I am not the world's best craftsman, and I'm sure any of you can probably come up with pins that look a whole lot more professional. But the one thing I will say is that these are fully functional and have been working well for me for quite a few years. Doc

Actually, they were easy to make. I had an old Cobra sight that had the little dinky colored balls on the end. They had all the hardware for independant vertical and horizontal adjustments which I used as-is. I threw the pins themselves into a drawer and got some long screws with the same thread as the original Cobra pins and cut the head off. Then I took a hacksaw and sawed a shallow slot down the center of the stud approximately 1/16 deep. Then I used some thin, stiff wire and wrapped it around and awl until it made a loop and the gave it a few twists so that I had one loop with a twisted pigtail coming out. I snipped off the pigtail about 1/16 from the loop and stuck it in the hacksaw slot. Then I took a heavy pair of pliers and pinched the slot in the stud shut, crimping it onto the loop's pigtail. Then I soldered the whole thing to completely lock the loop into the stud. A little bright paint, and the thing was ready to assemble back onto the original Cobra Mounting bracket. I made up a bunch of them until I got them just the way I wanted them, and have been using them ever since. The things are virtually indestructible. I've had a few occasions where that feature was tested ..... ha-ha. If I can remember it, I will take a few pictures and post them here to help clarify the process. They were kind of fun to make and made a good winter project when I was getting a bit of cabin fever. Doc

Our Southern Ontario County rifle bill suffered the same fate. The budget fiasco supposedly kept them from having time to get these "lower priority" bills passed. They said that these rifle bills "died in committee", but I don't know how dead is dead. Does that mean that at some time SOON, they will begin to continue the process, or does it mean that they will have to start all over again at the County level. Because if the latter is the case, I kind of doubt that the Ontario County bill will make it through the County Board of Supervisors another time. It was only a fluke of procedure (weighted voting) that got it passed this last time. Doc

Actually, I could say the same thing. The only problem is that we don't have AR. Yes indeed, I have seen more larger racked deer in recent years, and it has been a significant difference too. I don't have any AR program to point to, but I do believe that hunter pressure has diminished significantly to the point where an awful lot of bucks are escaping harvest. In our case unlike PA, general deer populations are coming up too primarily because permits have been cut I suppose. Notice that none of this has a thing to do with AR. That's the problem with anecdotal endorsements of any policy. You always have to wonder whether they are attributing the right causes to what they are seeing. Doc

Years ago, I found a folding camp stool that was made out of tubular aluminum and has a canvas type material for a seat. It weighs nearly nothing and fits nicely in my back pack. Since that time, I have seen all kinds of miniature fold-up stools for sale, but never bought one because my aluminum one works fine. Depending on how far you walk to get to your stand, weight and size may be a consideration. I have used the folding camp chairs and there's no question they are super comfortable. But they do tend to be heavy and they don't fit in my pack. That's ok when I am just heading down to a stand by the garden (just a few hundred yards from the house), but when I am heading up the hill, weight and size become things I have to consider. Doc

Bill- I have designed and built what works great for me as regards low-light visibility, and focus requirements for older used-up eyes. Actually they are not pins at all, but brightly colored rings. Each sight is a threaded pin with about a 3/16" ring crimped and soldered on the end. So my sight picture is looking through the peep sight and centering the bulls-eye (or aiming spot on the deer) inside the aperature. I got real tired of my sight pin covering up the spot I was trying to hit, and concentricity of using circular sights is such a natural sighting feature that I decide to experiment with "rings". Now I look through my round peep sight and center these small rings, and center the bulls-eye in those other circles. What I found was that it gave me a completely unimpaired view of the exact spot I was trying to hit and the pin was of a size that I could see it even beyond the end of legal shooting hours, so visibility was enhanced in lo-light conditions. I've been using that sighting system for years now and have not once missed squinting at those tiny little colored balls at the end of my pins, covering up my bullseye. Doc

Midday certainly can be productive. But I generally use that time to carefully move around and check out other spots to see what's going on. You can't beat in-season scouting (when done with the proper caution), for finding out what the latest feed, travel, and rut conditions are instead of finding out later what they were. What I have found is that the mid-day times are slow enough that my time is better spent updating myself on what's happening and where. Doc

Bill- Thanks for the link to that article. Since running into that hop plant the other day, I have been doing a whole lot of reading on the subject, and I am quite amazed at the art and science behind hop growing. It's not exactly like growing corn or planting a food plot ..... ha-ha. We had a history of hop farming on the old homestead (part of which is my land today). The previous owner referred to an old foundation behind the main barn as "the hop house" and apparently it was used for drying hops back in the day when the crop was a boom-style industry here. I'm guessing that the vine that I found is some kind of descendant of that crop. By the way, I have seen that hop plantation display in the Farmers Museum in Cooperstown. That whole museum is just a amazing thing to see and I would recommend it to anybody regardless of your level of interest in farming. Again thanks for the link to the article. Doc

All TV shows are about profit, but for some reason programs other than most hunting and fishing shows recognize that occasionally you have to change up the story line in order to keep your viewers. Most TV programming shows an understanding that unique and different are good qualities to have. I think that one of the reasons that I find Jim Shocky's programs a whole lot more entertaining is that he devotes most of his programs to something other than deer. In fact, it is almost a rare event that his shows contain any deer hunting at all. Some of those up close and personal moose hunting shows are actually pretty awesome. In fact, all those clips that begin his shows are pretty darn exciting even without being part of an individual show. And a shockey black bear hunt is one that gets away from the typical treestand overlooking a garbage pile style of hunting as he conducts mostly spot and stalk bear hunts. These kinds of hunts are way different from the constant diet of standard format deer hunts that I burned out on several years back. I've got to say it ...... most of them are just plain boring. And when I think of all the basically untouched hunting subject matter that could be the focus of 1/2 hour shows or muti-part shows, I almost get a bit angry that these hunting show producers think that we hunters are such simpletons that they don't even have to try to apply a bit of creativity to their programming. Doc

I have 20 and 30 and 40 yard pins on the bow right now. When the season begins the 40 yard pin will come off leaving only two pins (20 & 30 yds) Those are separated enough so there is no problem identifying which pin to use. I am shooting 57# and using aluminum arrows, so we're not talking blazing speed here, and the two pins seem to cover everything out to 30 yards pretty nicely without much of a built-in error of trying to eliminate one of those two pins. Doc

What do you put the rope around? ..... the neck? Won't that destroy the hair? In fact any kind of dragging for any distance would run the risk of rubbing hair off and destroying the pelt, wouldn't it? I've seen that happen with deer. And of course, there is no prior agreement as to exactly where the bear will decide to expire and I would imagine that quite often they make it to areas where mechanized transport can't go (even ATVs). Also, there are a lot of bear hunting areas that do not allow ATVs, or landowners that will not allow ATVs on their land. What do you do then? Doc

Right now there is just the one vine which is covered with hops, but not enough to be used for anything. I have to look into how to propagate these things and then see where I go from there. Doc

That 3" depth is kind of weird. That does sound like they are digging for some kind of mineral or some natural or artificial attractant.