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

That is not surprising. And when they say "public safety personel", you don't suppose they are including insurance people in that do you? On their website, they termed this as some kind of "motorist's" interest Unless AAA has a rep, I would interpret that as insurance interests. And perhaps "forest property owners" might just be the lumber industry. I wonder how they feel about deer? Resource based businesses? ....... well who knows what kinds of anti-deer interests might be represented there. That's exactly my point, there are an awful lot of people eligible for these CTFs that would be quite happy if there were no deer at all. The only hope is that the hunter representatives have a huge persuasive personality that can steer decisions in the negotiation part of the process toward the pro-deer side of things. But the big objection that I have against the whole process is that it introduces such things as financial interests, politics, and public opinion in something that should really be based on sound biological management principles. Just where does habitat quality and availability get factored in and other factors that used to be considered when setting the goals and limits. I don't know, maybe I'm being a bit too biased (and I know I am), but it seems to me that somebody let the foxes take over the administration of the henhouse and even invented a process for them to do so. Doc

I guess I really don't understand what the big hurry is for reporting kills. Why do they have a 48 hour deadline right now. I'm not even sure why they would make it a 7 day deadline. Frankly, I would set the deadline at the end of the season. Nobody uses the info prior to then anyway. In fact, with their reliance on their "calculated harvest reporting rate" I would think that harvest reporting deadlines would be the least of their concerns. Doc

I'm afraid that I am not much of a fan of the CTF system. It seems like a part of the deer management system that apparently has a huge influence on harvest and deer density targets that has absolutely no element of science involved at all. The whole thing is based on how the different parts of the public feel about the deer levels. As I look at the various "stakeholders", I am struck by the number of them that involve "anti-deer" financial disciplines vs. the pro-deer stakeholders. I am also aware that when the final discussions happen, the whole thing turns out to be a negotiating process which naturally lends itself to overwhelming influence by those of stronger personalities. That really doesn't seem to be anything that belongs in wildlife management. I agree that public concerns should be solicited and taken into consideration, but they should not be implemented as a part of the official decision making process. That's what we pay the DEC for doing, and we expect the process to be free of emotional and unscientific inputs. Doc

I'm convinced that the whole trick is getting yourself mentally ready to quit. I had tried a few times before, but was not quite convinced that I HAD to do it. This time, it really wasn't all that hard because somehow I developed the attitude that I HAD to do it. Did the Chantix do it's job? ..... or was I just finally ready to quit anyway. I'll never know. But the Chantix did provide a confidence builder that probably helped in some fashion. Anyway, I'm glad another person has taken up the committment to quit ....... Good for you!

One thing that would really improve the system would be if the recording (computer) would repeat back the info that you just gave it as a verification that everything did indeed go through and was interpreted correctly. That could be followed up by a yes or no response from the hunter. I have used other automated systems that do this and it does serve as a second chance to correct info that was erroneously interpreted by the computer.

I quit 2/18/08. I used Chantix. I'm not sure whether to credit that stuff or the fact that I was just plain ready. A little wheezing at night and coughing up some real nasty looking stuff, and having had stroke 8 years earlier kind of helped. But you know, even today I still get a pretty powerful urge at times to have another cigarette. Of course I know better, but it is amazing what a heavy-duty, entrenched, long lasting addiction that is. Of course doing something like that for 48 years, it's no wonder that it had such a strong grip on me.

That's pretty expensive.

I will say one thing for the drives of the good ol' days. They sure did get the deer up and moving and keep them up. That may account for the fact that there used to be so much more shooting going on back then. The most popular driving days occurred after opening day. That is the time when now the season seems to go absolutely dead these days as far as shooting is concerned. Doc

One word .............. EXPENSIVE ! I know it's a lot more expensive than regular wood, but you would never have to replace it or worry about breaking down through it after a couple years. The stuff is "forever" isn't it? I know that if I were going to all the trouble of hauling all those materials into the woods, dangling around in the trees assembling and building one of those things, I probably would want it to be there for as long as I might want to use it. Of course I am not envisioning building a condo up there. I am talking only about a hunting platform. How expensive could that be? Doc

I remember back in the old days, huge organized drives were very common. Apparently hunters have gotten a bit smarter (at least in my area). They don't seem to be as prevalent as they used to be. They used to shoot anything that was alive in the thickets. I do remember getting caught in the middle of one of those things. I just hugged the ground and hoped they would get by real quick. I remember hearing some of the drivers doing some of the shooting. Not a real safe situation. Doc

Is that legal to use 4x4s to do drives? Don't I remember somewhere reading that it is illegal to take game with the aid of motorized vehicles or am I just wishing I had seen it somewhere .... lol. Doc

I have been involved with drives in my younger days, but long ago quit doing what most people think of as drives. I do still occasionally do a short push to my brother-in-law as a kind of two man drive. However that looks more like one guy still-hunting toward the other than anything you would really call a drive. I have concerns about the safety aspect of a lot of the more traditional drives. Most often they involve fast moving deer and even running deer which I don't shoot at even in non-drive hunting situations. I realize that if drives are properly organized, and the participants are super safety minded individuals, there is nothing about a drive that should be unsafe. However, that's entirely too many "ifs" to suit me when it comes to the possibility of slugs flying in my direction.....lol. The other thing that has soured me on drives over the years is the feeling that hunting for me is a one man activity, and any deer that I harvest, I want to be the result of my own personal initiative, skills, and abilities. Hunting successes resulting from gang activity really doesn't do a lot for me anymore. Doc