Doc

So far over here in my chunk of Ontario County, we haven't had a lot of ticks on the squirrels. Maybe it's just a matter of time, because I have found ticks on deer. The squirrels are full of fleas though. Generally, I skin them right in the woods as soon as I get them and leave the hide behind. I carry a big zip-lock bag for the skinned carcasses. All the guts and skin stay behind for the critters to feed on. Doc

Now there is a stand that I could get along with. Love those railings! Doc

But when you mow it, you have to remove it from the plot .... right? Unless you've got some kind of mower that chops it up real fine won't you have a problem with it choking out additional growth. Would a bush-hog mulch it up enough so you wouldn't have to find some way of picking it up? Also, what are the sunlight requirements for food plot crops. I can see where a lot of the plots might be real small and be in the middle of a mature woods which would cut down the number of hours of direct sunlight. Is that a problem, or is there some food plot plantings that might do better than others in such conditions? Doc

You ought to try eating a few if you can get yourself to do it .... lol. They really are great tasting when cooked right. They sure can be a pain when you're trying to listen for approaching deer. More than once I've gotten all excited only to find out it was just a squirrel. Doc

Lol ..... Don't be wishing your life away. But I can verify that for the most part, retired life is great for a hunter and fisherman. I think in your case, a nice multi-million dollar lottery win would be just the thing. Doc

I am about the last one anyone would want to ask about equipment. I have entered a phase in my life where I am trying to use every last dollar's worth out of the equipment that I've got, and I haven't bought anything new in years. I think some people call it being cheap! It's been so long since I bought a release that I can't even remember the name of the one I'm using now. However, I think you are doing the right thing by going to the store and actually checking over as many as possible. Doc

Getting a deer with a bow before getting one with a gun is a very unusual thing I think. I'll bet most of us went from gun hunting into bow hunting. Doc

Well, you all can probably tell by the way I worded the question that I am not real crazy about taking any of the challenge out of my hunting. But to be honest, I must admit to having hung up my recurves and longbows and taking on a bunch of compounds over the years. I have to admit that the old wooden arrows got replaced by a bunch of aluminum ones. I sure didn't buy all those releases because I wanted to increase the challenge. The years have been one huge "buying spree" trying to find the perfect set-up that would basically, one by one, take challenges out of shooting. We all in our own way do things to put things more in our favor, which is another way of saying that we are trying to decrease some of the challenge. Some of us get involved with food plots. Some of us would like to see baiting legalized. Some continue to chase the elusive arrow speeds to try to make our bows perform more like guns and remove some of the challenges that our archery equipment offers. And on and on. And yet I believe all of us would say that we want challenge left in our hunting and we all seem to want to have it both ways. As far as styles of hunting, I'm sure most of us really would like to go on a guided hunt some day. Some areas of the country and some species can't be legally hunted without a guide. In some cases hunting without a guide would be a complete waste of time. So in most guided hunts, the guide does the scouting and pretty much everything else other than the shooting. How does all that fit into our idea of personal hunting challenge. So now I have to wonder where we each draw the line. How far are we all willing to go in terms of using equipment that takes some of the challenge out of our hunting. In terms of using guides or super-managed herds and habitat, how far does it all go before you start to feel that you are really playing a rather minor role in your hunting? Those questions are not that easy to answer are they? It's all kind of interesting things to think about, and the answers are all different for each of us. Doc

One by one we are all making our way back here from the old Empire Forum. Welcome aboard! Doc

I'm over here in Ontario County. I hunt in my back yard in rather steep, hilly, non agricultural area, that is mostly mature woods on top and dense brush in the valleys. Much of the low land is beginning to get covered with multi-flora rose that creates huge areas of man-killer, impenetrable cover for the deer. I've got a small amount of land (almost 40 acres) but spend most of my hunting time on the state land next-door. I have an ATV that gets me to the top of the hill, which gives me a bit of an edge over other hunters in that I can get up the hill still relatively fresh and then have the energy left to hunt some of the back country that most hunters don't have the stamina to hunt. Climbing that hill is real heart test ..... lol. I don't hunt out of the area like I used to do. I used to hunt all over the Naples area, but now I stay pretty close to home. I've been hunting the same area since I was a kid, and probably know that particular stretch of hunting turf better than anyone else because of the thousands of hours I have spent there over the years. Thousands? .... yeah I think thats accurate. Well anyway it's been 55 of my 66 years. As far as fishing is concerned, we have a whole bunch of options in the area. West River down by Naples supplies the bullhead fishing in the spring. Almost everybody around has stocked ponds that I have access to. We have finger lakes all inside of a short drive. And if I want to get into a bit of a ride, there is always the canal. Doc

Yeah it's me. I'm starting to get to be an old fixture around the internet hunting forums. I find it interesting to discuss hunting on these kinds of forums, and get different perspectives on hot topics. Some people don't care for the fact that I can't seem to answer the most simple question without writing a book. I'm working on that, but not making a whole lot of progress.....lol. Occasionally I may get a bit passionate on my views and rub people the wrong way, but I hope in the end, all those that I have had some of those heavy discussions with, wind up realizing that we really are all on the same side here. I am look forward to discussions here because of the more local nature of a New York forum. It's always interesting to hear about someone out west taking their 500 yard shots across the prairie at some animal that I may never see, but my real interest is in local hunting in local areas under situations and conditions that I am more accustomed to and can relate to. Now all we have to do is get people here and we're ready to go. That will happen eventually. Doc

I hope the folks at Realtree feel that way, because I'm going to be sending a bunch of PM's out to their NY members pretty soon. You never know what the reaction may be, but I guess I'll be finding out. Doc

Here are a few of the things that send me out with a bow every year: As I've explained, I am pretty much out of the trees now and spend 99% of the time hunkered behind some deadfall or brush heap watching deer trails. Several times I have had deer almost within touching distance at eye level, and I don't think I have ever had another experience that got my heart beating and provided that huge adrenaline rush like that. Just being there eyeball to eyeball at that distance with a creature that for the most part has senses that simply make fools out of most hunters is an experience that I just can't get during the slam-banging chaos of gun season. The challenge is something that complicates the harvest and always keeps everything over in the "question mark column" right up until I actually lay hands on that critter. Doing things the hard way (the archery way) provides such a feeling of satisfaction when it all finally comes together. The hours of practice finally pays off. The intense scouting and scheming to work myself within bow range, provides a pay-off that is truly something to be proud of. It's not like sitting on the edge of a field and popping a deer at one or two hundred yards. You have to know your stuff to get within 20 or 30 yards of a deer, and occasionally within a few feet. I didn't just get close, I got "bow" close. That's extra special. The other thing that drives me to be a bowhunter is the fact that with the hunter density reduced, the hunting results are usually a product of my own merit. I am not counting on someone else accidently spooking a deer my way. If a deer comes within bow range it is generally because I scouted and read the sign well enough to get myself that close. i worked out the proper location at the proper time, and have removed the element of luck to a large extent. And then of course there is the challenge of the weapon itself. Mastering archery techniques is not exactly a simple thing. So for those of us that do, there is quite a bit of satisfaction to that too. Developing the mental and physical disciplines to send that arrow into a rather small "kill zone" is not really something you have to worry aboutas much with rifles and shotguns. There is so much to go wrong in that final moment when you have to pick the right moment to draw without being busted, and have to achieve the proper anchor, back tension, arm position, head position, exacting stance, and then finally the follow-through, all while under the pressure of a deer, up close and personal .... Man that is some kind of satisfying achievement when you can make all that stuff happen. Absolutely none of that is required with firearms, and absolutely all of that is required with a bow. All this doesn't take one thing away from my enjoyment of gun season, but the sense of accomplishment with gun kills simply doesn't measure up to my bow kills. It never has, and never will. Doc

What if hunting could be made easier? What if you were certain that you would harvest a nice wall-hanger buck or two every season. What if you developed a fool-proof system of deer hunting? Let's say that someone invented a real scentproof clothing system, and you developed a property that was highly managed so that you could guarantee several encounters per season with gigantic bucks. Let's also say that the animals were somewhat conditioned to not be quite so alarmed by your presence. Let's also assume that you were allowed to used simpler weapons to shoot that were not quite so physically and mentally demanding at a time where the deer you were hunting were not spooked out of their minds like our usual gun seasons. Or maybe you were the first one allowed to rifle hunt an area that was previously bow only. Or perhaps you went on a guaranteed guided deer hunt where the scouting had already been done by the guide and stands were picked out for you and the herd consisted of guaranteed monster bucks. Would you still enjoy the hunt? What elements of the hunt if any would you miss the most if they were removed from your hunting? would easy hunting be as interesting and satisfying as the more challenging hunts that most hunters are familiar with? Doc

So, as the title of the thread says ......... Why do you bowhunt? Is it just to extend your deer hunting season, or are there things about bowhunting that actually make you prefer to pick up a bow for your deer hunting and endure all the little (and big) frustrations that come along with the activity. Doc

Yeah .... lol ......I have to sit down and read the instructions first and get it all set up. I'm a great one for buying stuff and then waiting and waiting to actually use it. Somewhere down the jobs list is an entry to "get the trail-cam out". Problem is that list keeps getting longer and longer. Doc

I'm sure it has happened before, but I have never seen a site disappear that fast without any warning. If we had known that was going to happen, we could have gotten names and addresses of members. Actually, that site was huge and actually somewhat influencial in the world of NYS hunting. I saw several references to the site in various news articles and such. Well, I guess there is no way that it is ever coming back, so now we have something new to develop. This site should become as big as the Empire site was if we all get the old "word-of-mouth" machine going. We need to talk this site up to anyone we can find and hopefully it will start to grow. I think the other thing is for each of us to post as much as we can so that when newcomers get here, they will find something that looks established and "happenin'". Doc

I can understand how other forums might get a bit protective about someone advertising another forum on their site. They probably would assume that we are trying to pull members or participation away from them. Doc

Yeah, I think we all get out as often as possible. It is possible that just the changes in today's lifestyle and the increased demands on our time is what has caused the changes that I am talking about. I fixed all that ....... I retired ..... lol. Doc

Boy! the price is right. You'll probably have to put a pile of weight on top of either one of those units, but given enough time they should work. That pull-behind roto-tiller looks like an interesting critter. Of course the price tag isn't nearly as nice. But that would work up a much nicer seed-bed. Doc

Over here in Ontario County, 5 years ago, bears were the last thing that I ever would have thought of. Last year, we had a legal open bear season here. I have had bird feeders twisted up and ripped out of the ground and garbage cans dragged up into the woods with the contents scattered nicely through the woods. Everybody in the area for several valleys around have been having similar problems. Talk about a rapid change. And the DEC swears that they have not planted any in the area but that all this population explosion is due to wandering bears deciding to set up housekeeping in the area. However, the fact that we have an open season on bears does not mean that hunting them is a practical activity right now. If anyone gets one here, it most likely will be just a super-lucky event. Those critters have a huge range, and it will be a few years before the numbers offer up much of a realistic opportunity. But the way the population is growing, it may be a hunting opportunity that will be practical in a very few years. Doc

Bow season was a wipe-out. Some of that was because I had a specific buck that I had seen, and I spent most of my time after him in an area that I usually don't hunt, and it just didn't work out. Also, for some reason, the deer movement seemed to be a bit more nocturnal than usual so there wasn't a whole lot of opportunities anyway. I filled one doe tag in gun season. And here comes the excuses: I think everyone kind of agrees that the weather during most of gun season sucked. Warm weather and lack of snow really messed things up a bit. I also noticed the same thing last year as I have noted in recent past years. The hunters have turned out to be not too reliable in terms of applying consistant pressure. What I mean by that is that the first half of opening day is fairly lively with a lot of shots heard around the valley and then it all shuts off. After that, there never seems to be the same level of hunter participation for the rest of the season. There is just enough to remind the deer that hunters are in the woods and that they should keep their movement nocturnal and sit tight unless somebody steps on them, but not enough to kick them out of their sanctuaries and up on their feet. There are some weird hunter patterns developing that makes it appear that not only do we have fewer hunters, but their dedication and enthusiasm has been slipping such that they are only part-timers. Even opening day, state parking lots begin to empty before noon. It's weird! I honestly believe that the nature of today's hunters is completely different from what I've seen in the past. Saturdays and Sundays don't really seem to be all that special anymore. I think there is more going on than just the much publicized downturn in hunter numbers. I believe that those that are left have lost an awful lot of passion and dedication for the sport. The result is that there are just enough to put the deer into their super-survival mode and tactics, but not enough to move deer. That at least is the observations from my little hunting area. I don't know if others are seeing the same thing. At any rate, that is all the excuses that I can conjure up for a pretty dismal season last year. I'm not sure what I'm going to do different this year to make things come out a bit better. Probably the first thing I will do is to not be quite so darn stubborn with focusing on a specific deer during archery season. Time for a little reality check in that regard. Doc

I just figured out that the Realtree forum members can be sorted by state for all those members who supplied that information in their profile. It turns out there are 35 NYS members of the Realtree forum. If I can compose an introductory letter that informs them of this forum and provides this web address, it wouldn't take much for me to send them all a PM. Does that seem like a reasonable idea? Doc

So, anybody got any suggestions how we can get members? Have we covered all the other major forums and made an announcement. I only belong to one other forum and that is Realtree, and I know it is on there. It's pretty tough to launch a hunting site at this time of year. Everybody is off doing summery things. However, I know there are a whole lot of people that have been real disappointed that the other site diappeared, and would probably jump at the chance to join here if they were just aware of it. The trick is figuring out how to let them know. So we need to figure out a few ways of getting the news out. Any thoughts? Doc

Well, I'm no help either. The only thing I've ever put in was a field of birdsfoot trefoil. The deer do seem to like it, it's easy to grow, and it is the toughest stuff I've ever come across..... nearly indestructible once it has been established. However I have never heard anybody recommend it for deer food-plots. Most everybody that I've ever heard seems to be hung up on commercial food-plot seed that is especially formulated for deer. Probably that isn't the cheapest way to go, but it is what is recommended for drawing in deer by those that claim to know. The one thing that I have never seen in their ads though is any comments on whether it is low or high maintenance. My theory is that almost anything green will attract deer if it is the only green-field around. I have hunted down in north-central PA and the area I was hunting had little tiny hay lots right in the middle of the woods. They were mostly alfalfa. That's not on most hunter's food-plot recommendation list, but it sure did draw the deer anyway. Doc