Doc

It might make a heck of a hobby ....... brewing beer from some old vintage breed of hops that you harvest yourself. hey, it's something worth looking into anyway. I don't know a thing about it, but my interest has been tweaked a bit.

So when you are out by yourself and get a big old bear, just exactly what do you grab onto to drag him out. My impression is that it would be kind of like trying to wrestle a huge bag of jello out of the woods. Doc

My prediction is that once the chase phase has begun, I will be seeing deer everywhere but on the trails. I will see deer in places I never would expect to see them, and they will be just about impossible to get set up within bow range as they ram around the woods at full tilt pestering every doe they can come in contact with, unless I just happen to get lucky (that would be a good day to go out and buy a lottery ticket. The part of rut that I have the most luck with is when the bucks start spending hours wandering around, tending and creating scrapes. That's when they are the most careless, and on the move and scent-checking deer trails. Once that is over, all bets are off and the next phase of rut should be called the "luck phase". ;D Doc

I have found early scrapes at this time of year. Last year there was one that was complete with a licking branch over head. It's not a super common thing to find this early, but it does occasionally happen. What does it mean? ........ I'm not sure. I don't know whether it is a buck that is a bit ahead of his time or what, but it just shows how little we really know about rut behavior, or scrape behavior. Doc

I came across something kind of interesting that's a living piece of township history. I found a vine of hops (a beer making product) growing wild in a hedge row. Hop farming used to be a big crop in our town about a century ago. But nobody has grown hops commercially in the valley since that time. This one plant has survived all those years. I'm not sure, but this may be some old variety that may not even exist anymore. I'm going to do a bit of investigation. Also, I want to see if I can get some seeds off the thing. It's amazing what interests an old guy ..... ha-ha. Doc

And right there in just a couple of short paragraphs is the entire reason that I am not really warming to AR and the attitudes that go with it. I could care less about all the genetic modification hogwash, because as Sampotter pointed out, it is a ridiculous notion in a wild deer population. My concerns with all this AR stuff is strictly related to what such a law may do to the already diminishing hunter population. And even the attitudes and the condescention that goes along with the AR arguments, may very well be something that is driving more hunters from our ranks than we even know. Doc

I agree that hunters who have been around a while and have had a chance to assess the real power of the deer's sense of smell probably should not be sympathized with if they swallowed the Scent-Lok lies, but I am also aware that every year there is a new crop of hunters, many that don't have a clue as to what is a reasonable claim. I have heard some of them parroting back the marketing claims and they were prepared to part with some pretty hard earned cash based on those claims. That just ain't right. Of course, Scent-Lok is just the tip of the iceberg when it come to misleading statements or downright lies. It's become a regular practice in all of industry and especially in the field of hunting and fishing products. It has gotten to the point where you can't believe anything they have to say. That ain't right either and reflects badly on those manufacturers who really have come up with some worthwhile products and can't achieve credibility because of the perpetual liars hawking their bogus products. I applaud this law suit. Whether it will actually do any good or not, only time will tell. Doc

I really had my heart set on a new gun and scope this year, but maybe having another year to save for it will mean that I can get a better quality rifle and have a little extra time to figure out exactly what I want. Anyway, what the heck, my shoulder cam take one more year with that 12 guage shoulder mangler. ;D Doc

I just recently picked the bow up and began this year's practice. Right now I am shooting about every other day. Things are going pretty darn good right now so I try not to over-do it too much. I'm pretty careful about not getting too fatigued. What I found out in the past was that if I practiced until I got tired, pretty soon I was practicing-in some bad form and on occasion I would develop some target panic which showed up as a massive uncontrollable flinch...... Not a good thing and not very easy to un-do. Right now, for the first time in a few years, I have put a 40 yard pin on my sight. I don't shoot at deer over 30 yards and really prefer shots that are 20 yards and under. But for practice there is some value to shooting the longer distance as a confidence builder for my actual shorter hunting shot distances. It works. 20 yard shots become a "chip-shot" that is very hard to miss. Doc

Now that definitely sounds more like what I would like to see. I mean, I am really getting turned off on these wacky near-fictional portrayals of hunting to the point where I seldom have the Outdoor Channel or Versus on anymore. The deer hunting shows have become only slightly more interesting than the bass tournament shows ... ;D Unfortunately, the couple of episodes of the QDMA show that I did see were strictly about the agricultural aspects of food plotting, and there might have been one episode on prescribed burning which I thought was pretty interesting. The ones I saw were interesting, but still not something that I relate to a whole lot. But apparently I missed the best ones that had content more directly relevant to my interests. Most likely, one of the reasons that I didn't catch more episodes is strictly due to the title of the program. I'm not really in a position to practice QDMA since most of my hunting is done on state land, so I wasn't really trying to catch that particular program. It sounds like I missed some of the better hunting TV programming. :-\ Doc

Absolutely. And a long as we sit there and watch that kind of stuff over and over and over and over, I'm sure it will never change. However some of us are starting to tune out, and if that ever becomes mainstream, it will start to take a bit of ingenuity to get viewers back, and might not be so profitable in the long run. But you're right. Any time you can re-use the same script over and over, and go with mindless cheap repetitive productions, you probably wind up with extra profits in your pocket. And viewers that will sit there and watch repetition, are probably getting what they deserve. So for those lazy hunting show producers, and those that are satisfied with those kinds of time-worn productions, it turns out to be a win-win situation. Personally, there's very few of those programs that I can handle anymore, so here's at least one hunter that the advertiser's money is no longer reaching. If I have the Outdoor Channel or Versus tuned in, I pretty much put something else on if a deer hunting show comes on, because I know exactly what I am going to see before the show even starts. Also, as soon as I see somebody flopping down in a chair inside a box-blind looking out at a herd of semi-domestic corn-fed bucks, that's an immediate signal to switch channels. What I hope is that someday, someone will experiment with some actual instructional and fact based hunting shows that actually try to be of some value to the viewer instead of this constant parade of hunter-heroes who continue to put on these dramatized, near fictional hunts. Maybe something that actually has a wildlife biologist or two as hosts, or somebody that might want to show some actual tips and techniques regarding the science of hunting and the planning, and execution of some of the various peripheral aspects of hunting. As just one simple example, I wouldn't mind a whole lot if one of the guides actually took over the show occasionally and discussed some of the art of tracking, or how they approach scouting, patterning and setting up on game. Wouldn't that be a lot more interesting (and useful) than watching one more guy in a treestand or box-blind taking another deer? Frankly I get a bit tired of watching these actors pretending to be the brains behind a hunt when in reality, it is their guide that has all the skill and is the one totally responsible for the success or failure of the hunt, but is never heard from. I'll bet some of those guys could give out some real useful info on setting up and outfitting hunting camps. For those that might be planning a hunt out west some day, it would be interesting to have someone explain exactly how to organize such a hunt and how to keep from being ripped off by guides and outfitters, or explaining the most common mistakes that hunters make when planning such an event. The bottom line is that the content of hunting shows is only limited by the imagination and creativity of those who produce them. I'm simply saying that I would prefer to see some of the other aspects of hunting presented by some people that really know what they're talking about for a change instead of the paid actors that portray hunters. I don't know, maybe most hunters are happy with just watching an endless parade of deer being taken in the same way week after week, year after year, decade after decade. Maybe I want too much from hunting shows. But the fact is that I am quickly losing complete interest in tuning into these fictional representations of hunting, and I am always looking for something that has a bit more to it. Of course the way hunting TV programming is set up these days, and the way most hunters apparently are so easily satisfied with whatever comes their way, I really don't look for any changes or improvements. So most likely I will simply be watching less and less of it all (which maybe is actually a good thing). Doc

It sounds like we can write off having the use of rifles in southern Ontario County this year. As I suspected was happening, the bill never came out of the Senate committee due to their activity on the higher priority budget work. I'm not sure exactly where that leaves the bill as far as its future. I'm not sure whether once they get time to begin with it again, it will pick up where it is now, or whether they will go back to square one with it. The article in the New York Outdoor News wasn't clear on where the bills go from here, but they said that the bills died a "natural death" for this year ...... whatever that means. Doc

It sounds like we can write off having the use of rifles in southern Ontario County this year. As I suspected was happening, the bill never came out of the Senate committee due to their activity on the higher priority budget work. I'm not sure exactly where that leaves the bill as far as its future. I'm not sure whether once they get time to begin with it again, it will pick up where it is now, or whether they will go back to square one with it. The article in the New York Outdoor News wasn't clear on where the bills go from here, but they said that the bills died a "natural death" for this year ...... whatever that means. Doc

Ha - if that is the criteria for entertainment, those info-mercials must be darned entertaining because there sure are an awful lot of them on these days. : Yes, I suppose some people are easy to please when it comes to entertainment. It probably comes from the fact that there is so little else on TV to compete. That explains the popularity of all the re-runs on TV that are constantly forced at us and apparently watched by someone. And after all, that's all these hunting shows are. They just change the deer and change the hunters. The rest is the same as it has been for decades. I already know what a deer looks like, and I have spent some time sitting in a treestand so I don't need a TV program to show me that, and the only thing new that these shows depict is exactly what non-lethal part of the deer's body the arrow will wind up in. :-[ Personally, I wish there was more to them, and I don't watch very many of them anymore. It seems to me that with a little creativity and just a hint of imagination, it wouldn't be all that difficult to branch out into something that might be just a little more informative and fresh and really entertaining. Maybe that's expecting a bit much, and perhaps I'm being a bit picky and demanding. :-\ Doc

The problem is that they have gotten so predictable and identical to the hundreds of programs before them that they aren't really even entertaining any more. I used to be real enthused that finally there were hunting programs on TV. But it didn't take too long before I realized that I was watching the same program over and over and over and over. Just different hunters and different deer. I rarely watch any of them anymore. What's the point? Doc

And when the raccoons are through with you, the coyotes will take over: http://articles.cnn.com/2009-10-29/entertainment/canada.singer.killed_1_coyotes-taylor-mitchell-canadian-folk-singer?_s=PM:SHOWBIZ Doc

Years ago, I was a victim of rain. I lost a fairly well hit doe due to a sudden downpour that began beating down just after I stuffed an arrow into her. I never even found the first blood or the arrow or anything. I spent the remainder of that day and part of the next day doing the "concentric circles" thing to no avail. There was absolutely no sign of any blood left at all. Finally, just as I was about to give up, I heard a commotion of a bunch of crows, and I went to investigate. As I approached, I saw a couple of the crows fly up from the ground, and I walked over and there she was. The hind quarters were pretty much eaten, probably from coyotes and/or foxes. Needless to say, I was pretty darn disgusted and didn't really take that whole event very well. Since then, if it even looks like there is a good chance of a rain storm, I won't even go out. Blood trails can be ugly enough without Mother Nature applying an eraser. Doc

It's about time that somebody tried to make these people responsible for misleading claims. I get mighty darn tired of being lied to by marketeers who have about as much integrity as your average burglar. I have heard youngsters that are new to the hunting and fishing community parroting back some of the ridiculous claims that are spewed on TV and the printed media and I absolutely hate the fact that these hucksters are out there trying to victimize these young people and others who may be new to the sport. I know that they will barely be able to feel any penalty that may come out of this, but at least somebody has the guts to fight back against this constant barrage of lies and deceit that these manufacturers and their marketing lackeys lay out there on a daily basis. Enough is enough. Doc

It's the "revenge of the animals" that has come to a neighborhood near you! Check this out: http://www.theledger.com/article/20091005/NEWS/910055061/1338?Title=Woman-Recovering-After-Lakeland-Raccoon-Attacks 74 year old lady was attacked by a gang of 5 raccoons in Florida. Not a happy event, they got her down on the ground and did a pretty nasty number on her. Doc

I don't know what there is about it, but a wood stove does seem to throw off a warmer heat, or at least it does feel warmer even when the thermometer has the same reading. How could that be? ...... But when we were burning wood, I swore that was the case too. Doc

An article in the latest New York Outdoor News claims that Fishing license sales dropped 11.3% following the fishing license fee hike. Good work DEC! Yes, some of that was the fact that so many lifetime sportsmen licenses were sold (80,000), but the remainder of the dip was from a fisherman's revolt of sorts and that was a direct result of the fee increases. Are these people out of the sport forever? ...... I wouldn't be surprised. The article was a bit short on details of the hunting and trapping license sales, so I don't know if there was a similar drop there as well. Anyone who thinks that sportsmen have deep pockets and can serve as a bottomless source of revenue should probably read that article. Doc

Here are some hunting shows that I would like to see: 1- an in-depth discussion of blood trailing 2- a discussion of scouting here in the northeast. If it had to be a multi part series, that would be fine. 3- a close up look at back-packing hunting camps with plenty of ideas regarding equipment, and weight and space saving ideas on packing, as well as camp set-ups. 4- a complete discussion on ground standing, including purchased ground blinds along with on-site built blinds. Designs, and other important considerations involved in hunting from the ground. 5- A shooting primer (long-guns and hunting pistols), showing the most effective ways of getting accuracy and setting up in the field. 6- archery basics, along with equipment building, care and maintenance. 7- a total discussion on rut behavior and timing (multi-part if necessary) 8- an in-depth discussion of the science of scent. How it travels, the effects of brush on scent dispersal, how and how long scent attaches itself and lasts as an alert to deer. What increases the effectiveness of the deer's sense of smell. How weather (wind, rain, temperature, etc.) effects scent, etc. These are just a few of the unlimited supply of hunting related subjects that nobody ever seems to want to try to show. The point is that TV hunting programming doesn't always have to be the same old boring format that we have been drowned in over the recent decades. It's time these guys started to use a bit of imagination and creativity and branched out into the many other hunting related subjects. Yes, they can still include the traditional shoot-em-up hunts, but once in a while, toss in something that's a bit different than the previous thousands of hunting shows that have already been aired. We hunters aren't that simple-minded that we can only handle the same show, over and over and over and over. Doc

Back in the mid 70's, we had a wood stove installed in a small room off the side of the livingroom. The system worked great in that there was a natural flow back through the entire top floor. I live in the middle of the woods, so the wood supply was easy. All that was the good news. However, if my time was worth anything, it was probably not the cheapest thing in the world. There was always ashes to remove, wood to cut, skid down to the house and then buck up and split, carry, stack and store. Then there was the carrying wood into the house, along with the occasional weird bug or two that would show up inside. There was a constant film of dust on everything that kept the wife busy trying to keep up with. I had a pretty regular schedule of cleaning out the stove pipe to remove the creosote build-up that is usually responsible for chimney fires. What a crappy, messy job that was. But the final straw was the day we had a muffled explosion inside the stove that actually blew hot coals out on the floor through the damper. I remember thinking that if we hadn't been home, our house would likely have burned down. That was the end of our use of wood for heat, and I can't say that I really miss it at all. Doc

Well, good ol' cynical me has a neat "conspiracy theory" kind of thought as to why they might want to maintain some control on coyote harvests. It just might be that they are looking down the road a bit and are taking note of the constantly shrinking hunter base, and just might be interested in alternative deer population control aids through predation. Yeah that might be reaching a bit, but who knows? More likely it is like Emily says. They are a fur-bearer and therefore a financial resource that needs to be managed, not eliminated. I know as deer hunters we have a different viewpoint on that ..... lol. But I have been a trapper, and I understand the value of having an additional species to supply income. Doc