Doc

Good points, I think about that scenario each time I am hunting. How about the guy in full camo who is still hunting and just like a deer he materializes from anywhere. It makes my heart skip a beat! Lol .... This is where somebody usually comes up with that phrase, "Well, you're supposed to always be sure of your background and what's behind the target"...... kind of like you only take a shot while hunting where all vegetation has been cleared and every deer poses in front of some earthen backstop. Nope! that almost never happens. I once performed an experiment where I sat out in the woods wearing my ghillie (sp?) suit behind the house and had my wife step out and try to spot me. It took her a full 5 minutes and then she wasn't completely sure until she walked a whole lot closer. I was in the woods, but we keep that area picked up and cleaned up pretty good, kind of like a park and I was simply sitting down leaning against a tree. that was at about 40 yards. So, if I were stupid enough to do that during deer hunting season, just what chance would another hunter have of seeing me sitting behind a deer that he was drawing a bead on? Let's put that scenario into rifle country and have me 100 yards away. Think about that, all you people that feel comfy wearing your camo out there in gun season.

That I have experienced and that does get my blood boiling. That pretty well kills the area for that hunt ...... :-\

I certainly agree that TV hunting shows may be the worst thing that hunting has ever had to endure. I do think that they give unrealistic pictures of hunting. I think that generally they are bad for the hunting image in that they portray hunting as "no-fail" activity in which all kinds of super-weapons are used, and the prey has little opportunity to win. They also tend to foster unrealistic expectations, especially among some of our younger or newer members, and now even some of that seems to be creeping into the expectations of many of the people who should actually know better. Also, I find that an opportunity to be a bit educational is being lost. The hunter-heroes are more interested in promoting themselves than they are in serving any useful function that might benefit hunting. And of course they spend way too much time hawking products, to the point where many of these shows just seem to be primarily infomercials with a vague hunting theme added in. The only way that these programs have any value is if you look at them purely as entertainment and don't even try to make them anything more than that. They're not going to be educational. They are not going to realistically portray any kind of hunting that 98% of the viewers are used to experiencing. They simply are a story-book presentation of what hunting could be in a very contrived land of make-believe. It's a story to entertain the viewers. We really shouldn't even try to make anymore out of than that. So, when I see guys like Shockey, Waddell, or Barta, etc., I understand that what ever goes on there is strictly for my entertainment. That includes their personalities as well. So I never get all that hung up on personal characteristics of these players. I understand that however they come across, it is most likely because that is what has been determined to sell the program and the advertised products.

For me, more is better. I have known a few people who wound up with a little half-moon cut over their eye with a little trickle of blood running down. I've even seen it with Jim Shockey. I think eye relief requirements might be quite individual. What kind of recoil do you expect? certainly, with a .22, eye relief should be no consideration. But with my nasty old 12 guage, I put a nice long eye-relief leupold on that critter. There is also a consideration as to how your body reacts to recoil. I have a fairly loose reaction and my shoulder tends to ride a long way back when absorbing recoil. So I pay a lot of attention to eye-relief. That's why I say that it seems to me that each individual and each gun has its own requirements.

Actually, I don't. He is not afraid to show himself in some rather humbling situations, and does. However, there is no shortage of hunter-heroes that make a regular practice of hacking the bad parts out of their videos so that they can maintain that unblemished expert image.

If they still refuse permission do you rip the pie back out of their hands and walk away? ...... ;D

So, how do you feel about those that do hunt woodchucks, crows or anything else they don't intend to eat? Are they living in their "bloodthirsty days"? ....... : Maybe those people that trap and take animals that they don't eat are bloodthirsty too? I suppose those that give away their venison are probably also just exercizing their blood lust with their hunting. They obviously are not hunting because they like the meat. How do you feel about those people? .... just curious. No seriously, I do support your highly evolved sensitivity, and appreciate the fact that such attitudes fit well with this century's political correctness. A few more of us could use a little more of that kind of enlightenment. Maybe next year I will adopt the more tender-hearted attitude and give up predator hunting. I'm no darned good at it anyway, and there is no way that I'm going to start gnawing on some coyote's leg. Doc

That's good to hear. For a guy with as much energy and drive as he has, paralysis is probably the worst sentence a guy of his age could ever have to live with. It's good that in this age of technology, there are ways that a guy with his gumption can modify his methods and still do what he wants. As far as the grizzley bear with a bow, I have thought about that and absolutely know that that is nothing I will ever do (with or without back-up). I can just hear the back-up gun now ....... CLICK! ??? Doc

Tred Barta ........ Now there's a name that I didn't expect to see here but I do kind of agree. Yes, he did come off as the Rush Limbaugh of hunting, but I always believed that he tried to speak his mind on issues, and always did his hunting according to a rather rigid set of ideals. Doing things the hard way didn't always result in politically correct results, but they always did reflect genuine, uncensored, true to life results without all the bad parts laying on the cutting room floor. I was always entertained with his hunting shows simply because there was no trite script or redundant, boring, staged, predictable results. Also, unlike a lot of people, I took all his arrogance and pompous talk in the spirit in which I believe it was given ....... as humor. He had a good show and I was very sad to hear about his physical difficulties. Nobody deserves that. My favorite episode was the grizzley bear hunt.

As per countless threads across many hunting forums over the years that have asked about the reasons for hunting, I have found "meat" is actually a long ways down the list. Even among those that really like venison, that particular reason for hunting is still a long way down the list. If you ask the same question of a woodchuck hunter, "meat" moves even farther down the list. If you ask a predator hunter, it moves even farther down the list. If you ask a crow hunter, it generally drops off the list entirely. And of course the guy that goes to the dump to shoot rats, well ....... I'm thinking that if meat was the only reason that I hunt, I would probably be hunting black angus in a barnyard somewhere ..... lol. I hope we never get to the point where the only justification for hunting is food. That's one argument that I won't even pretend to support. Doc

We eat every bit of the venison that I get, but in all seriousness, I have to admit that it is not my favorite tasting meat. That doesn't really have anything to do with how much or how little I enjoy the hunt. I do not hunt for the meat. I eat the meat because I hunted it.

Great video. I love to see NYS bowhunts! Thanks for posting it. Doc

Look, if you hold out long enough and are real selective, you will eventually find one of those deer that come with aiming spots. They may be pretty well faded out by the time the season comes, but they're still a lot better because you can really settle that sight pin down on one of them spots. Not only that, but they are a lot easier to carry out.

The hunting club thing is something I never experienced. I think I would have liked that. It sounds like a lot of fun. Doc

I'll bet it gets real crazy for them during hunting season.

Ha-ha .... I haven't had that happen yet. I don't know whether I would actually get mad or start laughing. Doc

Good observation! I've noticed a consistancy in the tone of his posts. He's a pretty unhappy critter ..... eh?

Actually put them to good use .......... Great idea!

Question: You guys that have hunted food plots during gun season .... how productive are they once the guns start sounding off? In other words is there any reason to even plan a gun stand that relates to open daytime feeding? Doc

What the heck, if a deer understood how lethal those antlers and hooves can be, there wouldn't be a hunter left in the woods. Imagine trying to stop a charging buck with a bow and arrow. It's good that they haven't figured it all out yet. Doc

I wouldn't be surprised. If so, the lifetime license money is blown. So what are they going to do the following years? If they haven't been putting that money into some interest bearing trust fund, they have some real serious problems ahead because there was a masssive amount of hunters who went that route last year, and never again will be contributing any income for DEC funding. And yet those hunters will be absorbing some heavy annual publishing and mailing costs on the part of the DEC. Do I sense another license fee hike coming? : Doc

After watching that show, it all came clear to me why they have to hunt places where the odds are heavily slanted in their direction. They don't have a whole lot of time to spend in stands without getting some good entertaining viewable footage. When they say time is money ....... I guess these programs are some extreme examples of just what that means. They HAVE TO produce results and in a timely fashion so that they can have regularly scheduled programs. It's a job, not a hobby. Doc

I don't think you will find too many that would disagree with you. In fact even the guy that did it would probably have to agree if it had been pointed out to him. Some people just plain don't think. Kind of scary to think those people have guns in their hands ..... lol. Doc

I've had ATV's for years (25 to be exact) and never had an accident with one, but that doesn't fool me into thinking they are the safest thing in the world. I have had occasions where they got a bit squirrelly on me and I know that if I had been going any significant speed, it might have gotten messy. One of the problems is that people see these ATV races on TV or watch the advertisements and think they can go like hell with them. It really doesn't take a whole lot to get them bouncing like hell. They do flip over backward relatively easily, especially with passengers. I have also found out that on very steep grades and with fresh leaves piled on the ground, they will lose traction and slide down the hill like a bobsled. Used very carefully, there's probably nothing bad that's going to happen. But they are not a toy! Doc

Lol ..... I had one of those beaver conibears go off accidentally as I was nesting it down under water in a ditch. It didn't get me, but I spent a few minutes checking all my fingers and hands to see what probably was broke. Of course I was soaking wet from the water the thing threww all over me. I never finished the set. I just handed the trap back to my Brother-in-law who had loaned it to me and told him I would stick to my leg-holds. Muskrat conibears were touchy enough, I really didn't need things that can break bones. Doc