Doc

Interesting you should say that because I have noticed the same thing. Not only that, but those that do show up seem to be mostly gone by noon. They're a bunch of part-timers. I'm afraid that even the hunters we have left are suffering from a huge lack of enthusiasm. A lot of them may be gone soon too. The bad news is that where the gun hunters have thinned out on state land, the bowhunters, hikers and bikers seem to have increased during bow season. There seems to be a shift from gun hunting to bow hunting, and now we have a lot of non-hunting use of state lands during bow season too. I'm not sure whether that is true on state lands or public lands in general across the state, but the parcel that I have hunted for 50+ years has changed in that way. Doc

I found a fabic shop that sells camo cloth and bought a chunk of it that's about 3' tall by maybe 12 or 15' long. Then I had my wife sew on little straps that could be formed into loops with velcro about every 3' along the top and bottom. With just a minor sapling frame, I can erect a temporary wall coming out from beside any large diameter tree or brush pile, brush the whole thing in and have a pretty good blind in a short period of time. The whole thing can be folded lengthwise once and then rolled up in a small package that lives in my backpack. It's always there if I find a hot new place that I haven't had a chance to build a blind at yet. Doc

So I went to the site entitled "Who's Packing? NY" and noticed that they have nothing stating who they are and why they created the website. Unless I missed it, the authors of the site seem to have gone out of their way to be anonymous. I sure would like to know just who is behind publishing that info on the internet. Yes, I see that our own state government saw fit to make that info public record ........ and that is an unneccessary invasion of privacy in its own right, but who are these people that thought it should be made available on the internet and what is their agenda? Doc

Yes the government has successfully completed an experiment in mass behavior modification, and the people loved it. I think we can look forward to this technique of massive public service announcements followed by ever climbing prohibitive taxation to get the citizens to "behave" and have government approved behaviors only. Now that they have proven the feasibility with cigarettes, I expect to see them coming after whatever they consider to be improper eating habits with the same zeal. Also, alcoholic products have not yet caught their full attention. That's probably not real far off into the future either. No, I'm not saying that tobacco is good for you, and I quit smoking myself. But what I am thinking is that the government is taking on a new role of behavior modification that makes me just a little nervous when it comes to the day to day habits of the people. It just makes me wonder when they might decide that hunting or gun ownership is an undesireable activity and start applying some of the same techniques to those kinds of things. Can't do it?? Too big a lobby?? Too many people involved?? No, that's the beauty of the cigarette experiment. The very same factors were involved. If it can work there, it can work anywhere, and now the government knows it. So yes, you are lucky to be saving all that money by not smoking, but remember the reasons for not smoking never used to have anything to do with cost. Cost is the government tool that was used for smoking erradication. And it has worked so well that they're likely to be using that tool on a lot of other things. Doc

Fortunately you don't run into those kinds of people very often, but any time you get that many people in the woods at one time, there has to be a certain percentage of irresponsible wackos out there. We can only hope that we survive them. Doc

That probably doesn't meet the requirements of self defense, and most likely even if you missed them, you would still be in a whole lot of legal trouble. I think the proper reaction would be to quickly put some big old heavy trunked tree between you and them and then hunker down. Nobody wants to see a gunfight develop out there in the woods .... lol. I will say that when somebody shoots at or toward another hunter that is dressed in blaze orange, you have to wonder if it is accidental or intentional. Doc

I haven't paid to have an arrow fletched in 45 years. That includes new arrows. I now use 4" vanes for hunting (R.H. helix). I used to use 5" profletch vanes years ago. I have that jig that does 6 arrows at a time. Sorry, but the name of it escapes me at the moment. Doc

Yeah, there are a few things that irritate me. Like the hunter that was posted within the 500 feet of my house and was so drunk he could hardly maintain his balance. And way more than once I have had hunters come up to me in the woods just to chat a bit (which I love to do). But then they stand their with the gun cradled in the crook of their arm with it waving back and forth across my mid-section or legs. And then there was the guy who rested the muzzle of his shotgun on the toe of his boot and leaned against the stock. These things put me in a bit of a bad position because I feel compelled to briefly come unglued and I react badly when I see such stupidity. It's a shame because I really do like to chat with people just to hear what they have been seeing and even get to know them a bit. And then occasionally some of them do these wacky things. Another thing that cranks me up is when I see on TV some of these Safari hunters (and guides) who grab the barrel of their gun, lay the stock horizontally over their shoulder and have the muzzle pointed at the back of the head of the guy in front of them. What the heck is that all about? Yeah, those kinds of things irritate me, or maybe to be more correct, they scare the hell out of me. Doc

I don't do a lot of turkey hunting, but I think I can see where turkey hunting might be a bit more dangerous than you might think. First of all there are a lot of goofy hunters out there who still take "sound shots". It sounds stupid, but it still happens. Then you have hunters sitting in the woods trying to sound like a turkey. Then you set up decoys that could conceivably draw fire from anywhere within 360 degrees. Some of that could be in line with the hunter. It's still something that requires an awful lot of irresponsibility to happen, but there are a few additional factors that kind of make the odds of something ugly happening a bit higher. Doc

Wooly- It just goes to show you that you can't see everything that's in the woods. Especially someone who is going out of his way not to be seen. I'll never understand the mentality of hunters wearing camo during gun season........ never. Doc

Yeah, it can be a pretty scary thing. I often thought that if my house got caught up in a forest fire, there is no way I would ever make it right. I could replace the house with the insurance, and maybe even put up a better one, but it would still have no resale value sitting in the middle of a black burned out area. Who the heck would want it? That's something you don't usually think about when you build in the woods. But it sure does make you paranoid about fire. Doc

Looking forward to seeing the video. Hope you post it here. Doc

I've got 1 box of 50 rounds that I reloaded that I just keep around because the look so Purdy.....lol. .223, nickel plated cases, with Hornady V-max bullets. Man they shine like jewelry. I just can't bring myself to shoot them. Doc

The one thing that scares the heck out of me is having people smoking in the woods when things are tinder dry. My house sits just inside of the woods, and things here would be a disaster if a carelessly disposed of butt got things going. When I used to smoke, I used to field strip the butt and then take the crap out with me. We have had a few occasions when people were not so careful. Doc

Yeah, I guess I agree. As long as they stay on or don't get stolen, or don't expire without me remembering to renew, I guess I don't care what color they use.

Japanese beetles are chewing up all our wild berry plants. Aren't those things supposed to go through some sort of cycle. This is our 4th year of infestation. My fruit trees are taking a beating and so is everything else. Between the tent caterpillars and the beetles, I have a constant battle. Anyway, it looks like if I'm going to have any of those berries, I'll have to go to the fruit stand or supermarket. Doc

There is something real scary about a half ton of critter with teeth sticking out the side of its mouth, and that is getting more and more ornery with every generation. Someday you might have to be heavily armed when you walk out to your car in the morning ...... lol. That thread that we have about walking around in the woods in the dark may take on a new significance. Doc

Back when I was shooting NFAA competitions, I was a member of NYFAB. They were basically the NYS branch of the National Field Archery Association and sanctioned all such competitions. In fact when we opened up our public archery range back in 1965, we affiliated ourselves with NYFAB and therefore NFAA. You don't hear too much about NYFAB anymore. Of course I have been out of the NFAA competition archery scene for quite a few years, so I'm not sure just what the structure of competitive archery is anymore. Doc

I'm just curious ....... What would you do if NYS started adding on annual stamps that you now had to buy in order to use your Lifetime license as Lawdwaz suggested? I'm curious how Lifetime license holders would react if the state tried to pull something like that. I'm not even sure how I would react myself since I am a holder of a lifetime license. Doc

Nope, my phone is pretty dumb. It's not a toy, tool or interesting gadget....lol. It's a pre-paid unit that is only for emergency use. I never even turn it on. Our primary phone is still a land-line based phone system. Doc

What would be interesting is to study some of the rifle incidents and ask the question whether they could have possibly happened if a shotgun had been used. That kind of info would really be useful when Southern zone counties are considering whether to allow rifles or not for deer seasons. That info wouldn't even have to be just NYS. But I don't think anyone is actually collecting any data of that sort anywhere. I did hear a couple of incidents in 2008, in NYS that involved rifles one of which clearly would not have happened with a shotgun. This was a case in Marshall, NY, of a rifle bullet traveling 400 yards, entering a house and passing through a mattress of a crib that was occupied by an infant just a short time earlier. There was another incident involving a fatality in Swan Lake, NY, with a 4 year old girl victim that happened with a rifle, but was close enough that it probably would have likely happened even if a shotgun had been used. That's the kind of data that I'm talking about that would be useful if someone were taking the time to compile it. At least decisions could be made based on some kind of numbers instead of just theory, opinion and supposition. I find it a bit un-nerving that you guys so easily could come up with occasions when shotguns slugs penetrated occupied buildings. That means that the shooter was close enough to be within shotgun range. You have to wonder how these incidents might multiply if you have most of the deer hunters using weapons that are commonly used at 200-300 yards and farther. Considering that most of the time these kinds of incidents never even make the papers, And perhaps there are other house-hits that nobody even recognizes as slug holes, you have to wonder just how often this actually happens. You would have thought that that question would have made it worth somebody conducting a study just to get a few numbers to help make an educated decision. They study everything else. I guess instead we are going to conduct that study in real-time with new incidents. Time will tell I guess, but I wonder if anyone will really pay attention. That seems to be the only way to guage the safety impacts of the rifle decisions. We have to let some time go by and then perform a body count ..... lol. What a way to make decisions eh? Doc

I think most people will look at a big track and say that itwas made by a buck. We always associate big feet with bucks. However, it just isn't a foolproof method. Some does have big feet. I've seen some extreme cases of that. Some does are big, making deeper impressions. One thing that is fairly foolproof is that if you follow a track long enough, eventually the deer will urinate. The pattern of the feet at the point where the urine is located will tell the story. Also, bucks tend to urinate as the walk and does don't. The old deal about the bucks dragging their feet may hold up a bit. Actually, I know that they do occasionally do that, but I haven't had a chance to verify that does do not. I'm not exactly sure how to do that. Doc

Ha ..... Isn't that a rush, having a deer walking right at you while you are standing at ground level,with him getting closer and closer. I have had situations where deer have for some reason came straight at me, offering no shot, and just kept heading for a face to face confrontation. That situation can cause an almost instant meltdown. And even if you never do get a shot opportunity, that kind of excitement is something you'll remember forever. I never did get that kind of a rush from treestand hunting. Doc

What I like about a bow quiver is that when walking through thick brush or weeds, the bow and the arrows are all one package to more easily guide through the mess. With one hand you can keep track of both and avoid damage to both. A whole bunch of years ago, I was using a hip quiver. I was walking from the edge of a field of some pretty tall goldenrod into the woods, and somehow something snagged an arrow and pulled it out of the quiver, pinwheeling it out in front of me where it landed with the nock on the ground and the broadhead supported on some goldenrod about shin high and pointing right back at me. Fortunately, I saw all this happen an was able to stop quick enough to avoid getting speared on it. When I got home, that quiver went in the trash. Doc

Wow! that's crazy. I never heard of a place that outlawed treestands. Well anyway, It's not the end of the world. Deer can be hunted from the ground. It's a little tougher, but I do it all the time as do a jillion other people. There are some drawbacks, but there's an awful lot of hunters that take an awful lot of deer from groundstands every year. Doc