Doc

Here was my experience with my pop-up that I got last year. I set the thing up nested neatly into some pines. I thought it was good enough ..... lol. A group of several does came out at the lower end of my small field (about 150 yards away) they moved up the field and at about 100 yards, the one larget doe stopped and began the old head bobbing, foot stomping, routine. Everybody but her was fooled. By the time she got done, they all took off although I think the others really didn't know what her problem was. The next day, I set it all back up again, except this time I tucked it back behind the limbs of the pine trees, and brushed it all in with goldenrod. When I got done, it was an absolute perfect camo job. In fact about a wek later when I finally decided to try out the new set-up, I actually got a bit confused for a few minutes as to where I put it. It was a good set-up and is the way I should have done it in the first place. But this time, nobody showed up. So, the moral of the story is camo or not, those things still stick out. Do your absolute best job of concealing and brushing it all in right from the first time you use it. I'll be trying it out again this year. Doc

How was the golf ball supported? Was it sitting against a dirt bank? Or was it sitting on top of something? It looks to me like it might be a case of how much resistance (inertia) to moving back the golf ball encountered. for example if the ball were supported so that only its weight caused the resistance (as in sitting on top of some horizontal rail or something), there might not be enough inertia to cause complete penetration. If you were to set the ball against a dirt embankment where its rearward movement were obstructed, the results might be considerably different. That sounds like a fun experiment. Doc

See, that's why I don't use any of that crap ...... lol. It all just adds a whole lot of confusion, and I haven't really established any proof in my mind that any of it does any good. Wherever the cost doesn't discourage me, the doubt definitely does. ;D Legality questions? ..... well that's just one more reason not to be bothered with it all.

Yes, that reminds me of another important feature ....... ditches. Back years ago when I put in my 1000' driveway, it ran right through an area that traditionally had standing water (a swamp). I cleared the whole thing by hand (axe, and brush-hook) about 40 ' wide and then had the guy with the bulldozer dig huge ditches, about 3 feet deep. The dirt from the ditches went up onto the roadbed to form an elevated driveway. So I had the ditches to conduct away water, and the driveway was the highest thing in the area so it always drained well. We're heading into our 40th year here, and that driveway is as solid as any professional county road, and it was put through the center of a swamp. I'm sure you're not dealing with a swamp, but there is still some virtue in having a roadbed that is higher than the surrounding ground, and some nice deep ditches to conduct away water. Doc

Assuming that I actually get out opening day, I will be on stand about 15 to 30 minutes before legal shooting time and will likely stay around 3 or 4 hours. Then I will probably go back home for some chow and then head back out for a bit of careful scouting. Then I will get back on stand about 2 or 3 hours before quitting time. It's not the same as opening day of gun season. That day is a little more ridgid in terms of sitting all day. That is the day when I expect other hunters to become my drivers (beaters), and opening day is when they are at their most plentiful and usefulness. Bow season opener is a whole lot more subtle, and other hunters do not play any part in my hunting (and I hope they never do .....lol). So, things are a lot more relaxed for bow season.

everything is way over-priced, and archery equipment (including broadheads) is no exception. I've been rebelling against all this gouging for a couple of years. Well, at least "rebelling" is what I've been calling my recent cheapness. I don't buy anything anymore unless it is to replace something that broke. They can take their $40/3-pack broadheads and stuff them up ........... Well, let's just say that I am not interested in adding to my broadhead collection anymore along with other assorted piles of redundant archery equipment.

I haven't really set any goals yet. I'm having a hard time assessing the deer situation here so far this year. I thought I had it figured out as being a pretty good year with lots of deer, but recent sign (or lack of it) is leaving me with some doubts. I seldom have to make any decisions right away at the beginning of the season. And it won't take a lot of time to figure out just how fussy I can afford to be.

They're just messing with you and your hunting. I hate that. There's no reason to be that way.

That's a pretty iron-clad definition. I don't think that leaves a whole lot of room for interpretation or question. I do think it would have been clearer to straight out say that if it is a food attractant, it is automatically assumed to be illegal bait or food for deer.

And of course the most important item in all of that is that snickers bar (especially the kind with the dark chocolate).

And vice-versa. I have no interest in screwing with anybody else's hunt either.

That stand is an absolute "thing of beauty". It really looks like a very professional job. Speaking of those railings, the only thing with the height is that they are suitable for a good gun rest. Nd it looks like they are. The other thing is that they are not too high to interfere with any close-ish bow shots. I built a stand years ago that I referred to as my "condo". What I did find out was that the railings that I put on it were positioned so that they interfered with arrow clearance when it came to close bow shots. The reason I mentioned the kind of tree that it was built into is because of the emerald ash borer which is sweeping through NYS. This may be a case of the stand lasting longer than the tree. My understanding is that no ash tree will be safe from these things, and they can kill a tree in pretty short order. This is something anyone building permanent tree stands is going to have to be mindful of from now on. Doc

My neighbor has to hunt close to the property line because his property gets real skinny and there is a 200' deep rock walled ravine that pinches him off and forces him over my way. I also understand that any deer that he sees probably will have come off my property, and anything that he shoots probably will run onto my property. I understand that and have no problem with that. On the other hand, I see no reason for me to push up against that side of my property to interfere with whatever he is trying to do over there, so I stay a good long distance from that property line. It's just a decent thing to do. I don't want to be in a position to mess up his hunting. I actually stay out of that area for that reason even though it is my property. That's why I really don't understand this nonsense of stands being built right on the property lines if it's not absolutely necessary. It's just some more of this hunters in competition with other hunters for deer that I have talked about in other posts. Doc

Is this something actually quoted from some official source or a response from someone official who really knows, or just a home-made definition of what constitutes "bait"? I'm thinking that I might make the same kinds of assumptions myself, but it would be interesting to know what the official baiting definitions look like or how this stuff is officially interpreted by DEC personel or judges. Anybody have the real authentic scoop on any of this stuff?

Years ago, I tried the old "drag-rag" trick with some 2-year old Tink's 69, and did actually have it work. A buck came in just like a beagle with its nose to the ground. I put the container in the center of the trail with the thought that it would stop him for a perfect broadside 20 yard shot. When he got to that container it was like somebody zapped him in the nose with a cattle prod. He swapped ends and left there are so fast with me just standing there wondering what happened. I tried the same trick several times in the next few years and nothing happened, so I eventually figured I would save myself the money and just forget about all that nonsense. So yes, there are certain conditions where it works and certain deer that it works on, but is it worth the money? For me it just isn't consistant enough to warrant all the cost and effort. Not only that but his reaction when he got a whiff of the stuff at full strength left me wondering how many deer that you never see actually spook from the stuff? Doc

Yeah, they really are a bunch of ill-tempered goats ..... especially toward each other. And of course I suppose we have all seen the video of the deer kicking the hell out of the hunter. I will say that I have come across a whole lot of fawns and never had a deer come busting out of the brush and trying to come after me. I think the difference is that the deer that I encounter are totally wild and have a healthy fear of humans. Any of these "wild" animals that hang around people a bit too much really seem to lose that absolute fear of humans and often they start acting what we would consider to be ... weird. It's not a real good condition. We see it in coyotes, coons, bears, etc. and deer are no exceptions. Doc

So I assume that if you want venison cooked in your house, you probably have to do it yourself? :-\ Doc

Oh damn!! That looks like an ash tree. Doc

Most of what you mentioned doesn't bother me a whole lot. I have used scents back in my early years, but for the most part I don't mess around with a lot of that crap anymore. For one thing it's all too expensive and has a very spotty success track. Those that want to spend their money that way, are welcome to try it but it's not really the same as baiting where you are trying to condition the deer to rely on your bait source as their food source. I guess that is where I personally draw the line. I'll admit it's a pretty fine line of distinction, and I probably would get too terribly excited about defending that position one way or the other. Probably the one thing that I find most disturbing about baiting is the element of selfishness or whatever you want to call it, involved in trying to lure deer off your neighbor's property and on to your own with the intent of "hoarding" deer. Deer hoarding is a misleading term because it is practically an impossible thing to do, but I do think that that is what is behind the mentality and motivation of baiting. Personally, my hunting philosophy is to hunt the deer the way I find them. I don't like trying to condition them or change their behavior just to make my hunting easier. That's just a personal limitation that I put on my own hunting. If I come across a food source that the deer are already using, that's simply wild animals feeding themselves as they traditionally do and finding that food source is a part of hunting. If I supply that food source, well then that's something else that looks more like behavior modification and also starts looking more like farming than it does hunting. Again, that's a personal distinction that I make for my own hunting. I like hunting wild, un-messed-around-with, animals. Doc

That's weird.....Unless the dog was doing something off-screen, it looks like he was simply an "innocent bystander". The deer had to go quite a ways to get to the dog. The owner of the dog may or may not have had any warning about what was going on or what was going to happen. It does look like an urban location and probably not a place where people expect to find fawns and such. This is just another unfortunate result of wild animals moving into cities and other plases of dense human population. I just keep thinking that that could have been somebody's kid instead of a dog. Doc

Yeah, there is a difference in attitudes that make my reactions to them different. I do know a lot of people that simply don't care to participate in hunting themselves, strictly because their interests don't run in those directions. They are simply "non hunters" and probably make up the majority of the public. And then there are those flaming, in-your-face, people that will do everything to be-rate and belittle the activity and anyone who participates in it. And of course they generally use their most obnoxious ways of expressing themselves. I've encountered them, but can honestly say that none of them are considered as friends. Doc

In a moderate to heavy rainstorm, I do not hunt in the rain at all with my bow. It doesn't really have anything to do with scent conditions, but rather it has to do with the realities of having difficulties bloodtrailing under such conditions. However, as far as scenting conditions, rain is a mixed factor. Moisture enhances a deer's reception of scent, but a heavy rain will knock scent down in a short distance. So they can detect scent better in moist conditions, but are not as likely to encounter it during a rain. This is based on some info that I gathered on studies done with tracking dogs. By the way, serious dog runners seem to be the only people that really worry about understanding the workings of scent. I find it strange that scent marketers and scent-proof clothing and chemicals manufacturers don't seem to have published anything on the properties of scent but there are hound organizations that have done some significant studies that are directly transferrable to the way deer recieve and process scent, and how various conditions impact their use of scent. But anyway, getting back to your question, I tend not to hunt in the rain, but I will say that I have seen a lot of deer movement during drizzly wet days when I did get caught out there, and it always seems to me that the deer are walking around in some sort of funk, or really don't seem to be at the top of their game. Also, scent broadcasting range is shortened considerably during a rain. A hunter can take advantage of that and with a gun where you have a better chance of a short bloodtrail that probably makes a good reason to be out there, rain or shine during gun season. Of course being a creature concerned with my own comfort, I try to avoid rainstorms from that standpoint too..... lol. There is a lot to be learned about the physics of scent and how it moves through the woods. I'll never understand why there is not more info published throughout the hunting community on a subject so central to what we do. However, I have noticed that when you ask detailed questions about the characteristics of scent and the effects of external factors on scent molecules, nobody seems to know anything at all about it. But if you are interested in the subject, check out what experts on tracking dogs (bloodhounds, search dogs, cadaver dogs, etc.) have to say. They seem to have taken the subject a whole lot more seriously that we hunters. Doc

And as I understand it Paladino is a pro-gun candidate. I always have a hard time with these choices because in the past, I have had the candidates that seemed to say all the right things all turn out to be liars. Even some that ran with Conservative endorsements turned out to have a huge wide liberal streak. Here comes another one speaking all the right words. What do you all think of this guy? ....... any thoughts? Doc

I an amazed that after all these years I still have not developed a check list. I should put that on my "must do" list. Doc