Doc

I can't. My impression of a deer's size is unique to my own mindset. As is everyone else's idea of deer size. I don't belive there is any such thing as a universally agreed upon big deer or small deer unless it is an extreme of one or the other. Doc

Take a steel 6" scale and stick one end of it in your eye and have someone read the distance to the lens of the scope. It's a bit painful, but it will tell you if you are the recommended distance from the scope.

"Professionalism" ...... Now there's a word that you don't hear used with most hunting conversations unless you are talking about somebody that makes their living off of hunting ..... Lol. Of course there are other possible reasons to add to the list. Maybe we could add ego, or need for acceptance among other hunters. And then there might be a need to rank oneself against other hunters. Or how about inability to measure hunting success and satisfaction in any other terms than inches of antler? Yes the list of reasons is endless. Frankly, everybody has their own personal reasons for setting their hunting trophy goals where they do, and it really is nobody's concern where or why those goals are set where they are. At least that's the way I look at it. Doc

I think they must hold some permits back just in case some late applicants show up with preference points or landowner applications. I never did figure out how they hold a pure drawing when there are all kinds of different dates that people are applying. It's not like everybody throws their names into a hat and then on a given date somebody pulls names out. The drawing is always going on while new names are being added. You have to have some extras laying around with that kind of lottery. However, when one year you have a WMU with 23,600 potential permits available and you rate the odds as "high" for being selected, and then the next year you slash half of them to come up with 11,300 available, you would think that the odds would be something different than they were the year before. :-\ Doc

I have never found deer to be that predictable over any period of time. They may travel through the same general area, but deer usually are following their nose and their food. The deer that I have seen couldn't walk a straight line if they had to. Very short attention span. Another thing that I have noted is that during any phase of the rut, bucks tend to randomly travel crosswise to major deer trails. I think this is on purpose in that they can scent-check more trails that way to locate receptive does. So yes ther may be some periods of the year when deer will be habitual, but you can never count on it. Wouldn't hunting be a simple thing if they always did? Doc

That sounds like the thing I bought a few years back. It's made of plastic. It really helps steady things down. The other thing I do is incorporate some propped up logs around my gun stands that work as shooting rests.

One thing that should be remembered when using more than one tree to hold a stand, is that all year long, each one of those trees is doing its own thing and swaying in the wind and not always together. That constant pushing and pulling on nails will snap them eventually. I've had it happen. Nails do not hold up well against fatigue forces so it is always good to check all areas of the stand every year. The only exception that I have ever seen was a stand I built out of pressure treated 2"x8" which were held to the trees with heavily galvanized 5/8" diameter lag-screws. That stand is going on it's eighth year and shows absolutely no sign of anything breaking or coming apart. I have reached the point where I don't use treestands at all anymore, but I will guarantee that that stand will be there long after I'm gone, and may even outlast the trees that it is fastened to. Doc

I honestly don't have a clue about the inner workings of the permit draw system. The way I would interpret it is that there is no second permit draw if they say "none". So you may be limited to only one draw in 4F and not eligible to submit two draws for that WMU. I'm thinking that if you want a second draw, it would have to be some WMU other than 4F. However, I am just guessing.

Well, as usual, I'm confused. When I look at WMU 8N the odds of being selected for an antlerless permit as well as a second permit is supposed to be HIGH then out comes the latest issue of New York Outdoor News which shows that the number of permits to be given out in 8N this year is less than 1/2 of what was given out last year. So they can apparently cut the number of permits in half and still have a high chance of being selected in 8N. I suppose that's possible, but it sure does sound peculiar to me. What in the heck did they ever expect to do with all those permits last year? They're looking at a 10% overall statewide cut this year, so you may want to take a closer look at your WMU just to see if there are any surprises. Some of them are cut a whole lot more than just 10%. Doc

This year, we have bunnies everywhere. They hardly even get out of the way of the lawnmower. But, I have seen this before in other years and by the time the season gets here, they all disappear. Of course it doesn't help that they sit right in the middle of the yard waiting for any hungry hawk to spot them ...... the dummys! But this year we have so many of them around, there just might be a huntable population around when the season opens. Doc

Well ............. That's another way ..... lol.

3" group at 75 yards offhand is still a lot better than I can do anymore. Good ol' wobbly Doc! I won't even take an unsteadied offhand shot anymore. I have to be steadied against a tree or in a kneeling position or prone or something. It's hell to get old. Of course it beats the alternatives. ;D Doc

I'm guessing that if you had powder stored in the safe, there might be some hazard to guns, papers, and other valuables stored inside the safe in the case of a fire. In my case and maybe some others that would be a real possibility because a fire-proof safe would be the most likely place to store such powder. So if I had a fireproof gun safe, I might be tempted to reserve a spot inside for my gunpowder. So I guess one question that someone might ask is if a safe went through a typical house fire and had gunpowder inside of it, do the temperatures get high enough to ignite the powder. If so, the damage to other valuables inside the safe is obvious (fire on the outside and now a fire on the inside). Knowing that little tidbit could make the difference between whether it is a good idea to store gunpowder inside the gun-safe or have another fireproof container designated for gunpowder storage. I've always been a bit nervous about storing gunpowder on a shelf in my shop downstairs ...... talk about an accelerant!! Anyway, thanks for the info, and I will be checking out the link you supplied right now. Doc

Maybe ...... or maybe it's one of those crossbred coywolf things. ;D Either way, I'm sure that's a very tiny man.

Here's what I have found over the years, and bare in mind that I am only talking one small area of one small valley in Ontario County (one small county) and is not backed up with stats and is only an impression that has developed over a whole bunch of years (50 0f them to be exact). First of all, there has been an exact opposite change depending on whether you are talking gun season or bow season. During bow season, back when I first started (1960), throughout the entire archery season, short though it was, I never was aware that any other bowhunter existed ...... anywhere in the valley. I pretty much had our entire chunk of the valley to myself with only my Dad and a brother-in-law. I still remember the shock when I saw my first bowhunter still hunting through the woods, and by the way, almost all of my hunting was done on state land at the time. Today, it is likely that anyone who spends a lot of time on public land knows that that is not the situation anymore. Now, you not only have to find a spot that has deer, but also find a spot where your hunt is not likely to be interupted or deer patterns constantly disrupted. So my experiences show that bowhunter numbers are massive compared to years ago. I am still getting the impression that the bowhunter numbers are continuing to grow. Gun season hunter population and participation changes are exactly the opposite. Even though actual deer numbers are far larger, the sounds of the hunt are much less. It used to be a case where you could track the movement of a buck across a hill by the shots. Hunters were everywhere. State parking lots were full and overflowing on to the sides of the road. Cars were parked all over the place. We used to go about 3/4 of the way up the far hill on opening morning and get on stand while it was still pitch dark. Looking down on the valley, the view of headlights and tail lights on opening day traffic looked like a long snake with very few empty spots as hunter's cars headed south. Today, the traffic on opening day really doesn't look a whole lot different than any other week day. The shooting these days is a fast and furious little burst at daylight and then around 9:00 or 10:00 it tapers off to just an occasional shot here and there, and the afernoon gets to be absolutely boring. The days after the opener are even worse. Of course there are a lot of reasons besides fewer hunters, but judging by the half empty state parking lots and the empty roadside that used to be lined with parked cars, I have to believe that hunter numbers have diminished significantly. I'm not talking about licenses sold, but rather the actual numbers of guys afield. So it looks like a lot of gunhunters have moved into bowhunting, and most likely the over-all numbers of deer hunters are slipping severely. Certainly, the level of participation in gun hunting has collapsed regardless of what license sales are doing. We have a lot of 1-day hunters and/or 1/2 day hunters that are buying up the licenses now. My guess is that a lot of those probably will be quitting within a few years. That's just an opinion, based on what I have seen. Doc

Actually, that's a rather typical coyote. It's just a very, very small man holding it up. Doc

Setting the eye relief on a scope- The scope has the ability to move or adjust in a fore and aft position within the mounting rings. So how do you know where the right location should be ...... exactly. With the gun empty, close your eyes and pull the gun to your shoulder with your face in your natural position relative to the stock, as if getting ready to shoot. Open your eyes and see if you have just the right full sight picture without adjusting your head position back and forth to accomodate the scope's position. If it's not right, slide the scope fore or aft and repeat the procedure until finally it comes up with exactly the proper sight picture. Tighten down the rings. I just got done watching the whole thing explained on "Gun Nuts" on TV just a few minutes ago. Quite a coincidence .... eh? Doc

It's kind of like those car ads that show somebody ripping around the curves on some mountain-side and bragging about how the car will do way more than any safe and sane person would ever do.

I have never been able to figure out the fire ratings and relate them to anything practical. For example, if I had a safe, I would also like to use it for storage of important papers and documents. However, I have absolutely no idea what temperature paper/photos/etc. ignites. Also, when it comes to ammo, I have no idea what temperature ammo will start going off and wrecking every other thing in the safe. So if there is a sticker on a safe claiming that the safe will withstand a fire with temperatures of 1200 degrees, how do I know if that's adequate. Then there's the question of just how hot is it in a typical house fire, and for how long. You would think there would be someplace that would have stats on that, but I haven't found it yet. So whatever figures the safe companies throw at you, that's only half the story. They're telling you what you get, and what you also need to know is what do you need. Doc

Probably the biggest problem I have with bowhunting in that kind of extreme weather is the amount of clothes I have to pile on. Trying to get string clearance with all that stuff sticking out is just about impossible for me. Also, trying to get good form, alignment, and consistant anchor, etc. is another thing I don't have a whole lot of luck at. My shooting falls completely apart as soon as I have to layer-up to that extent. And eliminating some of those layers resulting in hypothermia is not an option. Doc

Wow, what a disturbing view of your fellow hunters. So can we assume that in your mind you have decided that you are now the perfect hunter? ;D It's beginning to sound like you are the only hunter you can stand.

Fawns and does ..... We don't have ag fields or pastures or any other good open areas to spot deer. So unless They cross the road, driveway, or lawn, I have to get a whole lot more intrusive than I want to at this time of the year.

I'm pretty much done by that time.

That's fair enough. Not everybody watches the same TV programs. Lol.... I'm not sure the barefoot, loincloth thing would do much for me either.

Sorry if you got offended, but your "bloodthirsty days" comment kind of made me figure that you felt anyone who shot animals without eating them was simply bloodthirsty in nature.