Doc

One thing we can probably say for sure is that bad or unsafe shooting habits are determined by the mentality of individual hunters ......... not the weapon they are using. I have never seen a normally careful hunter all of a sudden turn into a wild-eyed, drooling, maniac just because somebody put a shotgun in his hands. Most likely it doesn't happen the other way around either. ;D Doc

Steve- Go back an re-read the original proposal. It's about as close to a free change as anything you will ever find in the DEC. Nearly everything is in place. Very likely, it may even be a cost reduction because it would eliminate all the scurrying around by DEC biologists and other personel, from deer processor to deer processor, taking notes that later have to be manually inputted into the computer to come up with the "reporting rate". Now whether they want to be bothered with any changes, that's something else. I can't really guess about that. I would say that the lack of replies that I've gotten from them on the two occasions that I sent in the suggestion would indicate that maybe they don't really want to rock the boat.

Anybody got a decent recipe for those stumps???

Yes, I have heard the term applied to foxes, coyotes, bobcats, rats, woodchucks, skunks, possums, coons and all other kinds of critters. One dictionary defines "varmint" as an animal considered a pest. So that definition could apply to almost anything including deer and bear. I don't want to speak for Bernie P. but I think he was really meaning a forum on "NY predator" hunting (excluding bears).

Back in the day when I used treestands, and also smoked, I would notice things about cigarette smoke. I noticed that on quiet damp days, the smoke would tend to sink downward quicker. I would notice that when the wind was almost still, the smoke cloud would hang together in a more thick cloud than on days of high wind. I would wonder on days of heavy wind how far out my scent would go before it was dissipated. I would notice that as it hit trees, it would deflect and sometimes move into areas where I didn't think the wind should have been blowing it. I used to watch it start off moving in the direction of prevailing wind and then sometimes reverse or take sharp turns to the right or left, sometimes turning and moving down a trail that I was expecting to see the deer coming from. I always wanted to know just what kinds of features made the smoke react that way. I used to watch the smoke see-saw back and forth on occasion, and yes I would occasionally see it touch down on the trail that I was watching even though the prevailing wind wasn't in that direction at all. All those observations just made me wonder even more about how much damage was being done during that one brief moment that the wind shifted and deposited scent molecules on the trail and the brush surrounding the trail. I realized that the smoke was merely making visible what my own human scent was doing invisibly. So that is what my interest is in the science of scent properties and movements. I am surprised that finding information on that subject is so darn difficult. With so many people creating scent based industries, you would think that ther would be no shortage of research on scent. That's why I keep asking the question about any possible studies that anyone might be aware of. I think the subject is huge, and should be of interest to all hunters. We can only go so far in scent-proofing ourselves, and it sure would be useful to understand just where we can expect our scent to wind up and why and in what concentrations. It would also be useful to understand what consequences an occasional gust of wind in the wrong direction might cost us and for how long. It would be interesting to know just how far scent can penetrate into a thicket. It's funny how much I actually learned on this subject simply because I smoked ...... lol. But it was and is pretty obvious that whatever I learned only brought on a whole lot more questions and really highlighted just how little we know on the subject. Someday I hope to find out more info about scent if I ever locate a source.

Chances are that any homeowner will probably shoot first and then find out the legal impacts later. I know there was one Bristol farmer who did exactly that. I don't know whether he had a small game license or not, but I'm sure that wasn't the most important thing on his mind when he took out one of the boars that was harrassing his livestock a few years back.

Ah, a prophet. My crystal ball is broke, so I won't be making those predictions until several years have gone by and I have actual numbers and experience to look at. You never know, maybe the sky will fall ..... lol. I'll be honest, all we need is an incident like up in Swan Lake where the 4 year old girl was fatally shot in her grandparents livingroom by a deer hunter's rifle bullet, and you will hear Ross Perot's giant sucking sound as the politicians can't repeal that law fast enough. Logical reaction? ....... Probably not, but we know how the emotion of such an event would take over in an area where a rifle law was brand new. Especially in an area where anti hunters are just waiting for us to stub our toe. Right now I love jamming our safety record in the face of the anti hunters and the anti-gunners. I don't want anything to reverse that record. So I'll just wait until time proves the case before I start making too many predictions.

That's a pretty good event and I try not to miss it each year. The only thing is that it does tend to be repetitive. Back when I was a member of Avon Bowmen, we used to run a small archery range that provided bows and arrows and gave some kids their first experiences with archery. I guess they don't do that anymore. I kind of get a kick out of the buckskinners that set up camp each year. They really get into it and have some pretty authentic gear and activities. But really, it would be great if they could figure out a way of introducing something new each year for those of us who make it an annual event.

I spend a lot of time over there walking and fishing. It's like a whole different world from any of the other finger lakes. Fishing can be great, but I understand from some of the locals that the hunting isn't all that great. I can't say that I have ever seen a whole lot of sign over there when hiking around. But, I have no first hand experience with actually hunting there. A large portion along Canadice Lake's east side is solid mature pine plantation and is a very sterile kind of woods ....... not real good for hunting. The rest of it is good mixed hardwoods surrounded by old fields and farmland. As far as fishing is concerned, I would give it mixed reviews. On any given day it can be as good as anywhere, but there are a lot of days when it really is good only for sight-seeing. Keep an eye out for poison ivy. They seem to have more than their share over there. Also, there's another poisonous plant that I have seen over there that I can't remember the name of. But it is supposedly bad stuff that can have some rather nasty long-lasting effects. It's tall and has a super-huge queen anne's lace kind of blossom. Don't mess with it!!! I saw it on the Lake side of Lake Road along Canadice Lake.

Yeah, I did a bit of internet searching and pretty much getthe same impression. There are some chemical cures that last about 2 years, but they all seem to be requiring injections into the cambial layer of each individual tree. That's not exactly practical for turning back an invasion of these critters. Also I guess most of these limited remedies are fairly expensive. So the firewodd thing is the only defense and it is not a foolproof defense. It doesn't look good, and all the triagular shaped boxes are not going to stop what looks like the inevitable. By the way, it turns out that the EAB is another accidentally introduced invader. It's not even native to this hemisphere. I guess we don't ever learn.

Do they really have any procedures for slowing the advance? I haven't heard of any other than campaigns against transporting firewood from one place to another. I guess what I'm getting at is that this activity looks like a pretty expensive operation. I just hope it has more purpose than simply satisfying curiosity. To me it sounds like a foregone conclusion that we are going to lose our ash trees. That's a shame, but in our area something has been killing them off for decades, and we have darn few that ever really amount to anything.

By the way, a part of this original post that got lost along the way is about the sale of Hemlock and Canadice Lakes to the state. For those not familiar with this area, this is a pretty big deal over here in the western finger lakes because both of these lakes are the only ones of the finger lakes that are not commercialized and ringed with cottages and basically sealed of from the public. They were formerly owned by the city of Rochester and have been (and still will be) used as a water reservoir. It's been a long fight, but these two lakes have been saved from development and will continue to provide excellent hunting and fishing opportunities. That was a pretty amazing and noteable achievement for a time when the state is pretty much in a financially busted situation. Doc

Have you ever had somebody try to kick you off your own property? I have heard of this happening, but never had it happen to me. Apparently some trespassers think a good offense is better than a good defense, and assume that you don't own the property and pretend that they do.

Has anyone ever seen a scope mounting system for a Winchester Model 94. The top-eject system seems to pose a rather unique problem for having a scope right above the ejection port. Is there a solution? Doc

I'm still trying to understand this study that is being conducted. There seems to be a massive effort trying to track the spread of the emerald ash borer. What are they going to do once they find out it is here? Do they have any counter-measures in mind that can do something about it, or is the information gathering just something to satisfy curiosity? Anybody know?

Sorry, the point I was making was that I was having a hard time understanding why a thread about harvest reporting was being side-tracked into a discussion about the definition of the word "poaching". I guess you missed that point and maybe it wasn't made all that clear. As far as the rest of your comment, I guess I'm not understanding your point or something. As you said, the reporting system is about as simple as anyone can make it, so reporting that tags were filled and unfilled shouldn't be any particular big hassle. I really don't understand what you are getting so excited about. It's not really a huge change as far as hunters are concerned. But anyway, that's your opinion, and that's what I asked for. Thank you for your reply. Doc

As I said previously, Do NOT put the drill bit in a powered drill. I repeat...do NOT!! It's not necessary and it could pose a hazard to your string. Use a pair of vise-grips to hold and work the drill bit. The reduced wall thickness of the aluminum tru-peep makes the operation very easy and there is no need for a power tool. Done in this way, there is no way that you can even come close to the strands of your string. Doc

Now why in the heck would they require any kind of license? Wouldn't it be a shame if an opportunity to rid an area of these critters had to be passed up because a person didn't have a license. I can't understand that stipulation. Doc

Now there's a thought ....... lol.

Some people are naturals at shooting and others need to really work at it. At 1 hour per week, I roughed it out to a total of 12 hours between now and the archery opener. Take away a week or so for buying equipment, and you are really pushing it. I think you will need to be a bit on that "natural" side to pull that off. It can be done, but personally I would arrange a whole lot more aggressive practice plan. I always hunt from the ground. I can't do heights anymore. It does increase the challenge somewhat, but does not mean that you are doomed to never get deer. Furthermore, I don't think there is a more exciting way to deer hunt. I have done both treestands and ground stands for quite a few years, and there is nothing that can prepare you for the overwhelming panic and excitement of having a nice buck closing the distance between him and your blind while you are right there on his level, eyeball to eyeball. It will really test your nerves if you can pull off the shot under those circumstances. Doc

Yes, I believe that I said all that in the last paragraph of my reply. You did? Your whole reply sounded like you were blaming the govt for releasing the list on the internet or sponsoring the website or something similar. Maybe I was misunderstanding what you said. If it sounded like I was saying that the government created the site, I'm sorry for not being clearer. As a matter of fact the 6th reply on this thread was a comment where I stated that it appeared that the authors of the site had gone to extreme measures to ensure that no one knew who they were. The government complicity is in coming up with the list in the first place, especially if they knew it was eligible to public publishing. That really amounts to the same thing as making the list public themselves because they would have had to have known that somebody would eventually make it public. Also, it is not clear as to how it is determined what information is accessible under the Freedom of Information Laws. There has to be some discretion as to what is accessible under the Freedom of Information Act and what is not. I know that there is a whole batch of personal, individual census information that is not available to the public via Freedom of Information Act, so there has to be a mechanism somewhere that prohibits private citizen info from being made public. Were proper safeguards followed when it came to this list? I don't know. The fact is, if the government wasn't so determined to insert themselves in the middle of our lives, and create their lists, there wouldn't be any reason to even ask that question.

Exactly! It's not a system that you will find me defending.

There is nothing here that I can argue with. I really don't have any facts to prove the case one way or the other. I do have some concerns, but no data that shows them to be valid. This is one of those things that I may develop an opinion at some point off in the future when we have some actual results. Right now, all of the rifle experiments in the more populated parts of the southern zone are relatively new. I'm not even sure how many hunters in these new rifle areas have actually gone out and invested in a new rifle. I also realize that at the present time, we are enjoying a relatively safe set of hunting seasons so we don't really have a whole lot of accidents to draw data from (fortunately). Let's see how it all holds up over time. Then maybe I can come up with an opinion that I can get a bit serious about. Heaven help us if we start coming up with rifle hunters that start picking up the rapid-fire habits that we often think are the sole trait of shotgunners. Doc

To be honest, I don't even know how the term poaching is defined with the DEC. Is it illegal taking only, or does it cover any and all infractions or does the DEC even use the term? Do we even care? If there is a law, obey it. That seems simple. What you call someone who doesn't is irrelevant. Doc

On first set-ups, it may be worth a few extra dollars to buy from a local pro-shop. The time that he will spend with you will be worth something when you start adding up all the costs. Ebay and the big box stores and mail order will not provide that service. Yes, he likely will try to sell you some stuff that you may not need, so be sure you have a shopping list in mind. Keep it simple. Such things as releases and peep sights and stabilizers and fancy arrow rests, and expensive sights are things that you may want to grow into as you find you need them. I would be very hesitant trying to tell you what of those kinds of things you absolutely need. Everybody kind of comes up with their own kinds and styles of accessories as they find a need for them, so I would be careful of advice that tries to talk you into the more expensive and exotic equipment ........ unless money is no object....lol. Keep it basic. After hours and hours of practice, you may begin to see where some more sophisticated accessories are necessary or will be of some assistance. You have a pretty aggressive schedule to go from needing equipment to being hunting-ready by October. It can be done if you are willing to work at it enough. Good luck. Doc