Doc

The point of this post is to note that those that have a problem with the gun season lengths in MYS are barking up the wrong tree if you want to change harvest quantities or quality with deer season lengths (shorter or longer). There seems to be a situation here in this state where season lengths reach a point of diminishing returns. Longer seasons do not automatically lead to higher harvests or hunter participation.

I would really like to hear a lawyer say that. I would not be surprised to find out that landowners are still liable for any existing hazards that are present on the property. How about uncovered wells, dangerous and unstable structures, etc. I'm thinking that there may still be plenty of liability situations for a sharp lawyer to work with.

They allow you to pay taxes on it.

Here was my solution: I decided that I don't want people so close that I can hear their arguments or listen to their kids. So I went to Western New York where I could live in the country and still have good lucrative employment, have lots of land at a dirt cheap price, and stay the hell away from neighbors, and build my own place to my specifications. This gave me some darn good hunting land that I can control the hunter density on. Taxes are relatively cheap because we don't demand a pile of services. Every morning I wake up in a nice quiet valley surrounded by wooded hillsides. Every weekend I get to wander the hills and learn the deer movements. It's like year around scouting/hiking/camping surrounded by nature, peace and quiet. The bad parts: for about 35+ years I had a 45 minute to 1 hour commute to work. That's a lot of driving time. It's kind of relaxing when the roads are bare. But they weren't bare all the time....lol. It's a lot of gas and vehicle maintenance. It is 15 miles into town for shopping. Geez....I don't even have street lights and sidewalks. I just looked at what I valued the most and went for it. Never a minute of regret. The good news is that I live in my hunting land and every one knows it. That goes a long ways toward solving the trespass problems. Its not a complete solution, but it works a lot better than having land that is abandoned for most of the year (and everyone knows it).

Interesting that the buck in the top picture (op) is bedded down right out in the middle of a wide open field. They usually pick a more secluded spot.

When you obtain hunting permission, do you always make the landowner sign something in case he forgets months later that he granted you permission? Have you ever had a landowner forget that you are one that he gave permission to? Do you think that asking him to write out a permission slip is maybe getting a bit too pushy or might make him start thinking about legal liabilities that he may be signing up for (rightly or wrongly)? Do you have a check list of issues you want to address like where to park or places where the landowner might have a conflict with your hunting, or some description of the vehicle you expect to be using, or permission for hunting partners, etc.

Ha-ha.... I guess everyone has heard of "suicide by cop". Well, it could be that we have now heard of someone trying to commit "suicide by hunter".

I remember a time when I was heading home when a shot went off that was close enough to make me hit the dirt. It was after legal shooting hours, but apparently that guy thought he knew better than the law. I don't know if the shot was at me, or even toward me, but that little incident changed my whole perspective on legal shooting hours. Look, it doesn't matter how clear you can see a deer that is standing out in the middle of a hay lot. The standard applies back in a heavy over-story hemlock woods too. It applies just as much to that foggy, rainy, heavy overcast day as it does during a clear evening. And it is not all about how well you can see the deer, but also how well you can see what is behind the deer or back in the brush behind the deer. I wonder what kind of fear and panic that guy that shot felt when he heard me cussing at the top of my lungs. I wonder if he realized what a stupid, wacked-out stunt that was. I hope he learned something from that incident. Maybe if we are all lucky, he learned that legal shooting hours is not just a suggestion that you abide by if it is convenient. Believe me, that deer is not worth finding a hunter's dead or wounded body when you go to begin blood-trailing.

There is an unwarranted fear of state land. People have developed a picture of hunters behind every tree, blazing away at anything that moves. They have heard that all the deer on public land have been shot and that public land is a hotbed of drunken crazies that will shoot you if you stand still long enough for them to draw a bead on you. Frankly, it seems to me that most of the hunting incidents that I hear about, happen on private land. And slob hunters seem to show up on all kinds of land, public or private. In fact it is usually private land where guys wander out wearing full camo in gun season, apparently feeling positive that they are the only ones on the land, and obviously unaware of the concept of trespass. But anyway, people are convinced that if you can't find any private land, you might as well not go hunting. That coupled with the fact that more and more land is getting locked up may very well account for the reduction in the hunter population.

I remember the wide-eyed expression on the faces of my two sons the year that my wife took my boots and put them in the ashes of the fireplace and then made tracks from the hearth to the Christmas tree and back. That kept them believing for a couple more years.....lol.

Yes, 3 deer about 20 yards off the corner of the house just watching us. My guess is that some hunter dropped the game syllabus out of his pocket and the word has already spread. Now all we need to figure out is where they are getting the calendar from.

Ha-ha... That was my new word that I invented "Quitcherbitchen". It seemed to fit at the time.

Actually, as hunters, we are already an interference to Mother Nature's management efforts. We do have our noses stuck deep into the process some of us remove animal numbers. Others apparently work on adding numbers. Right? .....Wrong? .... your guess is as good as mine. But as long as we are paying the big bucks for all these college educated dudes, I guess whatever they say, and whatever laws they conjure up, that is what I will abide by. I don't always agree with them, but they are the ones we pay for the management processes. Might as well use them.

Yeah the driveway is all plowed and the front yard is criss-crossed with deer tracks and so all is well in the world. In a few hours, the driveway will be filled with cars of our family members. The din of conversation and laughter will fill the house. This year we are having some nice big prime ribs as the main entrée. And the men and boys will all gather around the living room recounting each and every detail of all the hunting adventures (win, lose, or draw). Oh yeah, and all the young hunters will be passing around their phones with pictures of harvested deer and trail cam pictures. Every year the Christmas gatherings get more and more important and meaningful. Ah yes, these are the traditions of Christmas. I hope you all have those same or similar kinds of festive gatherings as our family has been blessed with. It is a great time of year. Merry Christmas to all of you and your family members.

Thank you for at least starting some thinking about one of hunting's biggest challenges. These are the kinds of discussions we should be having instead of all of the hot-button fad management issues. Probably the first effort that should occur is to try to list all the reasons that hunting access is being denied. I know that back in my early days, posted signs were an oddity. Farmers had no time to go wandering through the woods, finding his lot line and tacking up posted signs. Most of the farmers didn't even get to see a lot of their land, or even care who the heck was hunting on it. The land provided firewood for heat, and occasionally syrup, and other than that, non-tillable land was just something that they inherited from those that came before them. Today the family farms are broken up into smaller parcels and are owned by people who jealously guard there little piece of heaven. Others have experimented with allowing hunters on their property only to have it all abused and eventually over-run and totally out of control. And then there are the litterers who treat the landowner's property like a landfill throwing used beer bottles and candy wrappers and such wherever they happen to consume the contents. Also much of these smaller parcels are already saturated with friends and family already hunting there. Now we have the growing problem of hunting leases where a handful of people will band together and tie up large tracts of hunting land. It gets posted up and frequently goes under-hunted. But the landowner gets his taxes paid and usually a bit of cash left over. All these things are just natural evolution of land use over time. All understandable and not likely to reverse unless some very creative and imaginative thinking is put into figuring out new and innovative ways. But now we know how we got here and what is driving these land lock-ups. Maybe this is now the place to start brainstorming solutions. Let's have at it.

You know, instead of us here in the "lib" states whining and stamping our feet over the fact that our high state taxes are causing us to lose out on the full potential of the tax cuts, maybe we ought to be doing something about our state legislators who run the state government like they have an endless pit of free money. It seems to me like you all are getting ticked off at the wrong people. Maybe it's not so bad that we are getting a boot in the butt by having our tax situation being highlighted with this tax law. A little reminder of the conditions that we have allowed to fester here is not a bad thing.

Actually, when it comes to safety regulations like legal shooting hours, it is myself that I am worrying about. And that applies whether I am hunting my own land and trying to be protected from trespassers, or hunting public land. These people who are always talking about that cardinal rule of being sure of the target and what's beyond for some reason make exceptions when it comes to stretching the shooting hours into twilight conditions. I like the idea of minimum standards when it comes to safety. And I always like strict adherence to all hunting safety laws.

So, has anyone tried the socks they are advertising on TV? 3 pairs for $19.99 price is decent.....but do they work 35below.com

It is pretty scary how many people think that game laws are just a suggestion and can be abided by only if they feel like it. I wonder what other laws they have found to be just a suggestion. I know that I will never feel completely secure when trying to walk home when the light is fading. It kind of makes you wonder what is in the minds of others who think they can see in the dark and just how far they are willing to push the envelope as you are walking by.

One of the aspects of coyote predation on deer that I have always been curious about is the deer that die during a harsh winter that they don't even touch. Just the running of deer in deep snow or crusted snow when temperatures are bitter cold and the winter season is stretching into the spring season, is a source of stress that can turn lethal. As I listen to coyotes chasing deer across the side of the hill, I have to wonder what the cost is in valuable calories and critical fat reserves, even when they never lay a tooth on them. I have never really seen any studies on the impact, but I know that depending on the severity of the winter, many deer just barely make it and come into spring pretty close to depleted of essential fats. Yeah, we know about weather related starvation losses to the deer herd that has indeed impacted deer numbers in some areas for several seasons. What we don't know is how many of these casualties are victims of excessive stress due to chasing during critical times in winter. Just a source of curiosity.

Look, you have to call an end to the day at some point. I would personally like it not to be up to each hunter's discretion. Personally, I have hunted locations and conditions where even legal shooting hours were a bit questionable. A heavy hemlock woods with heavy overcast or rain can become pretty darn challenging toward the beginning or end of legal shooting hours. Move those hours apart another another 1/2 hour on each end, and in those conditions you have a very hazardous situation. The other thing that sometimes has me calling it quits early is the importance of finding that "first blood". I would just as soon not have to rely on flashlights to locate those initial drops of blood.

Why are you guys so concerned about what someone else is dragging home to eat? Is it some kind of bragging thing that is supposed to convince people that you are some kind of superior he-man hunter......lol. Is that what all this chest-beating is all about. Take whatever size deer that fits your needs and stop worrying about what others are taking.

An interesting news story from The NY Times and other mainstream media outlets indicates that in an effort to preserve his Iran/nuke deal, Obama got in bed with the Hezbollah drug dealers. Yeah, sounds like a made-for-TV crime drama, but there's a lot of people taking the story seriously. https://nypost.com/2017/12/18/obama-protected-hezbollah-drug-ring-to-save-iran-nukes-deal/

It sounds like you guys keep a loaded gun in the house or garage. What do you do to disable it from access to any in-house or visiting minors? You can probably tell that I have zero experience with muzzleloaders....lol.

I suppose opinions are primarily based on what your idea of hunting is that you were raised believing in. To me, hunting has a lot to do with challenge and accomplishment. Yes, there is a lot more stirred into it all, but the primary ingredients for me is matching wits with a critter that is a survival expert in their own environment and that has opportunities and a willingness for evasive escape. My version of hunting has no slaughterhouse mentality that regards hunting as simply killing or food gathering. To me a hunting trophy is not something that you buy. You earn it. There is a long ways from what is called canned hunting, to what I consider to be "hunting". Personally, when I say I am a hunter, I don't want anyone confusing what I do with any of these guaranteed hunts. Hunting has been too much of what I am and what my life has been about to be degraded by the one-sided activities of canned hunts.