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

Is this another government list that can be obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and wind up published on a web-site somewhere like the pistol permit listing did? probably wind up on some militant animal rights sight ..... lol. If this is a "protected list" that is exempt from FOI petitions, I have to wonder why that same protection was not given to the pistol permit list. Oh well, that's another topic. Anyway, anything that gets the name and address off the trap tags is a good thing. The only problem is that I have a nice collection of those copper name tags already bought and attached to each trap. Doc

Yes, a lot of this stuff is schedule driven. All that downsizing (or is it called "right-sizing" now?), left the workforce understaffed. Not a problem ....... just require mandatory overtime and multi-tasking from those that are left. Oh and add a few fancy titles so O.T. pay doesn't have to be payed. I understand how it is since that was one of the factors that convinced me it was time to retire ..... lol. I have even seen some of that stuff interfere with planned hunting vacation schedules. So I'm not completely unsympathetic to those who say that they need all the help they can get to maximize the output for the little time they have available for hunting. Doc

It's been a pile of years (like 30+) but I seem to remember a JayVee Fishing Tackle Store over on or near Seneca Ave. I think it was above that where there was a large archery shop and indoor shooting range. We used to go there all the time, but I can't seem to remember the name of the guy and his wife that ran the place. That wouldn't be the same place would it? it used to be real handy when I worked over that way, but over time I was shipped up to Webster and the whole gang kind of stopped going over there. So I completely lost track of the place. Doc

This is not just a problem with soybean fields. I have seen the same thing with corn fields years back when we still had a few farms in the area. A jillion well-used trails coming off the hills and into the corn and never set up on the right one ...... lol. The same thing is true when acorns are plentiful. The deer just meander through the oak stands just letting the acorns randomly lead them wherever they go. During bow season, this can be a real problem. During gun season where you can reach out a ways, you can usually set up where you can cover more of the possible entry/exit points. Rifle country gets even better. That's what makes bowhunting a heavy duty challenge. Doc

For a lot of years, hunting licenses were so darn reasonable that hardly anybody ever worried about the cost and the lifetime licenses seemed so expensive. That's probably why everyone is having such a difficult time remembering when they were first available. It's a little different story now. What I have never heard stated by anyone is just where all that windfall of money is kept (invested), or if it is invested at all. If the DEC is typical of all state agencies, chances are pretty good that it gets spent as it comes in the door. If that's the case, you have to wonder with the massive numbers of hunters purchasing lifetime licenses recently, who is going to be paying DEC bills in the future? By the way, some of those bills relate to the mass mailings of licenses, copies of the game laws booklets (hunting and fishing for sportsmen's lifetime licenses) and other literature that we recieve free every year for the rest of our lives. Let's hope they are putting that money in some pretty darn good investment. Doc

I don't think you can use the impact bullet pullers on rim-fire ammo. Wasn't the original post about 22 caliber rimfire ammo that was tossed on the ground? Doc

So is this another list that we're going to find out on the internet some day? I wouldn't be surprised even though they it can only be accessed by police and the DEC. Just how far does the freedom of Information law reach? I guess the other question is, if they somehow exempted this list from FOI public access, why wasn't the pistol permit listing protected the same way? Doc

Are you getting out of bowhunting?

No, I don't think so, but that vision may have changed a whole lot from one generation to the next and continues to change at an ever accelerating pace. I think it is a natural human trait to try to achieve success in the quickest and easiest way possible. Today, the methods equate to attempts to buy that success. That is simply the fastest and easiest way to become a successful hunter with all the accompanying bragging rights that come with those successes. Lets face it, it doesn't seem to matter as much about how we achieve our harvests. Recognition seems to focus more on size, score, or number of points, and never a whole lot of emphasis on how it was done. And so we find a lot of people constantly spending gobs of money on new equipment, and spending fortunes on changing deer habitat, and buying all kinds of hunts in areas of the country (or continent) that are known for supersized versions of the species. The TV ads are just one promise after another of instant success, and products designed to eliminate challenge from our hunting, and we are gobbling up all those products as fast as our wallets will allow. None of this is really new. We all tried to get an edge even back in the days of longbows and recurves. I had all kinds of trinkets and gadgets all over my recurve back then that were all promised to make my bow faster, quieter, more efficient, etc. I have also bought a wall full of bows over the years with each purchase promising to make my shooting better and my arrows quicker. The only difference today is that the whole idea of faster and easier paths to success are more likely to reach reality because of the explosion of technology and our own improved financial conditions that allow us now to afford things that we never would have been able to consider before. So, is all this a bad thing? Not everybody agrees on that. There are many who would see no problem with using whatever technology and methods that are available, no matter where it leads us. We even had remote controlled computer hunts proposed and I believe it was actually in practice for a very short time. We have many hunters that want to raise there own deer to shoot, using the latest in animal husbandry techniques. There's even high priced hunts that involve semi-wild, closely confined animals. Some have no problems with that. All these choices are individual decisions based on our own perceptions of what hunting should be. As heritage and culture continue to be washed out of our reasons for the hunt, hunting will continue to accelerate toward some unknown form of the activity that morphs into something unrelated to what it used to be. Whether that is acceptable or not is what will continue to form the arguments of the future. We each have a different point of limitation and some have no limits at all. No, nobody has lost sight of "why we go into the woods in October". That "sight" is just evolving. Doc

No matter what activity it is, if you get enough people together, you will find the same cross-section of personalities in the shooting sports as you do in anything else. That's just a fact of life that can't be avoided. Doc

The dairy farming has completely disappeared in my area and most of the pastures are turning to brush-lots. The other thing I've noticed when you go up into the flatlands is that a lot of farmers don't pasture their cows anymore. The whole darn operation takes place inside the barns. All of their old pastures are full of grain crops. No woodchucks there. So the only woodchuck that I have seen recently was down in my driveway and he was just running from a thicket on oneside of the driveway to the thicket on the other side. Not likely to ever get him. So I guess if I'm ever going to do any woodchuck hunting, there's going to be some serious travel involved. Doc

Ever try to concentrate on a shot when you're practicing and while at full draw you hear that whine in your ear or feel a bug or two bouncing off your face. Those stinking bugs drove me right off my archery range today. There was that and also that annoying trickle of sweat running down the middle of my back. Tomorrow the thermocel goes out with me and I'll be starting my shooting earlier in the morning. Maybe a shot of Yard Guard wouldn't hurt either. I just started my regular practice for this year and am trying to make an attempt to get out there every day, but ol' Mother Nature is really trying to mess with me. Any of you guys starting to get into a regular shooting routine yet? Yeah, I know some of you never stopped, but I've had quite a few months without any shooting at all and it's time for me to get started. But I can't ever remember a year when the mosquitos were as vicious as they are this year. Doc

I guess that all speaks for itself. There's not much point in replying to that one. I just hope that isn't coming from anyone hunting in my area.

One thing you probably won't find in NYS is an expert bear hunter. Anyone who has gotten one here has probably done it accidently while actually hunting for deer. Doc

Hi sits ...... Good to hear from you again. :

There does seem to be a bit of a "bandwagon" effect going on these days where a lot of hunters are saying they are for AR without a whole lot of actual thinking about the ramifications. They have heard other people talk about it, they get visions of huge bucks all of sudden becoming easy to get and say, "why not". Yes, I do believe that some of the more devoted AR fans would just as soon that the ones against AR would get out of the way, one way or another. But whether that comprises a significant number of them or not, I can't say. I get the feeling that most would still rather persuade the rest that AR is a good idea.

I'll bet they wouldn't kick you out if you showed up with a replica. I really do like the idea of historic re-enactment. There's an awful lot of history that we can simulate and experience in that way even in these modern ages. What's really interesting is the extent that these guys go to to learn the details of life back in the pioneer days. Each one of them develops into a historian in one fashion or another, and takes the time to learn and understand about our own heritage and culture for a change.

I think I remember hearing somewhere that law enforcement agencies will take any ammo that you want to get rid of and dispose of it. but I don't know if that is true or not. Doc

I'm going to have to remember that one. That was great!

Where the heck do these guys come up with this stuff? That was hilarious! Doc

Of the whole damned bunch of them, Shockey has always been my favorite. His shows always seem to have a sufficient amount of variety and also an added element of honesty and credibility to them. I don't know why it was so surprising that these programs that we watch for entertainment have such an ugly business-like aire behind the scenes. And I don't know why it suddenly occurred that having that as an occupation might just take the joy completely out of something that I love. but there was something about this particular program that got that point across. No, to me that is not hunting. That's just another day at the office. Doc

That's too bad. I spent a lot of years in field archery, and it was a huge activity not only for me, but our whole family. Well, I guess I should be happy that I got a chance to enjoy it while it was big. Things change and I guess occasionally, we DO throw out the baby with the bath-water. Doc

I'll tell you what. The internet has gobs and gobs of all kinds of wild game recipes with most of them being venison. I've done searches, and always come up with more recipes than I could ever even read. Doc

I guess I would suggest the same thing here as I do whenever we talk about getting DEC opinions on legalities. Try to get it in writing! It may not completely save your butt, but when it comes to legal interpretations, it is always a good idea to be able to show (with tangible evidence) that you at least tried to get the correct answers and were operating under the best advice that you could solicit. When dealing with telephone calls, it is amazing how short memories can get when the wrong advice was given out.