Doc

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.

I always get a bit nervous about heaping new restrictions on hunters at a time when hunter numbers are falling. In the long run, it could do more damage to game management than good. As bad as dwindling hunter population is, there is also what I perceive as dwindling enthusiasm where hunting has become a 1 or 2 day event for many (maybe even most) hunters. I think plaguing them with all kinds of heavy restrictions or rules that limit their opportunities or bag limits will not reverse that trend. Let's not always be looking for ways to frustrate people out of the sport with all kinds of new restrictions and regulations.

I think that if you are looking anywhere for a nice buck on public land, you will have to modify your methods to a more aggressive style of hunting. Unless you get very lucky on opening day, and catch the older deer by surprise in the initial hours, it doesn't really take them long to adopt a "hunker down in the daylight hours and move in the darkness" survival mode. Their reaction to the pressure of heavily hunted public land is nearly flawless, and you will have to eventually carefully invade their "survival hideouts". Sitting on stand for hours will be pretty much a waste of time after the initial first hours of the season. The older bucks didn't get older by stumbling around aimlessly through the woods making a target of themselves.

Well, I guess in truth nothing really needs "thinning". Mother Nature will take care of populations through wildly fluctuating populations that go in and out of control strictly by heavy epidemics of disease and starvation. I have heard that argument from every anti-hunter I have ever encountered. I guess our attempts at wildlife management is indeed a complete waste of money since Mother Nature already does the job for us. As far as that nonsense that hunting causes coyote populations to increase, that flies in the face of the experiences of ranchers that have successfully kept coyote populations at bay to the benefit of their livestock. It truly sounds like some kind of study that was funded by PETA.....lol. I suppose that since coyotes manage their own populations, then disease and starvation must also be a major factor in increasing the populations in the same way that hunting and trapping does. At some point one has to call BS on that crazy illogical theory. As far as the impacts of coyotes on other species, I am not as concerned about that as many are. But in spite of arguments to the contrary coyotes do reside at the top of the food chain here in NYS, with no natural predators other than the anemic and unmotivated efforts of hunters and trappers. And I think that the general opinion of biologists is that no species should be allowed to go uncontrolled ..... even if they do look like cute little fuzzy puppy-dogs.

I remember years ago, one of the major networks did a hatchet job on hunting that they called "The Guns of Autumn" or something like that. The impression left was that all hunting consisted of canned hunts. I'm expecting another one of these assaults on hunting to be aired anytime. I really hate to be associated in any way with these kinds of representations in the name of hunting. I would have no problem with it as long as they didn't call it hunting. What could possibly be the big thrill of resting your gun through the fence and drawing down on some deer laying there chewing its cud next to the feeding trough. I suppose it is the same mentality as those scum-bags that shoot farmer's horses and cows every year.

Can you imagine some lowlife that will probably be spinning some yarn about the great hunt that he had. It's a shame!

That's pretty tough hunting when you need a periscope to see over the snow.

There is something I will have to check out. Was that a whole-body suit or just a heated jacket?

If there is any season where the crossbow/muzzleloader would be appropriate, I would guess weather like this would be it. I will be looking for success stories with the bow here with our forum members just to show that it is possible .....lol.

Yes there must be some way that it can be done, but I find it real hard to imagine. I find myself having to change my sight settings when the weather changes to the point where I have to start piling on the layers. There is a strain to reach a complete anchor. There is an awkwardness to the whole shot set-up, and a definite variation in accuracy (not making it any better, I might add). Maybe there will be some success pictures appearing here to prove me wrong. But so far I haven't seen any.

Probably the biggest "demonstration of ecological illiteracy" is the failure to recognize coyotes as being at the top of their food chain here in NYS, with no natural control other than communicable canine diseases and starvation. The only other population control is the so-called "He-Man Coyote Haters". As in all issues of hunting vs anti-hunting, there are damned few animals that die peacefully in their sleep of old age, and it is the lucky critter that meets his end with a bullet. A little bit of knowledge of the effects of rabies, distemper and mange gives you at least a small clue about the fact that these coyotes are not really the cute looking puppy-dogs that we see as family pets anymore than the deer are Disney's version of talking deer. They are animals that occasionally require some thinning. And those that do not get removed are likely to be relegated to an end of crusted up mange, or wandering around in circles being driven mad by rabies, and a similar end with distemper, or a lingering death of slow starvation. There are no wandering veterinarians with syringes of cures out there in the wild world to keep these cute little doggies healthy and not spreading diseases back and forth. So before we get all wrapped up in the anti-hunters world of anthropomorphism, let's understand that the coyote world could probably use a few more of those that we disgustedly label "he-man coyote haters". We can try to do the job of coyote population control or we can kill them with kindness by simply allowing them to multiply completely out of control because we think they are cute little fuzzy doggies. I have always believed in the role of hunting and trapping as we continue to rob the wild critters of their environment. If we are going to eliminate their habitat, I think we automatically inherit the responsibility of trying to keep their numbers in harmony with what shrinking lands we have left for them. Setting coyotes aside from that service simply because they remind us of Fido is not really doing them any favors.

Right now the thermometer says 2.5 degrees F. Yesterday and the day before I saw 13 degrees in the morning. I am trying to imagine anyone going out dressed for that kind of weather with a bow and still able to draw it back to full-draw and maintaining any sort of form to successfully hit whatever they are shooting at. Has anybody ever successfully shot a deer with a bow in those kinds of temperatures?

I understand that coyotes look like our fuzzy domesticated family dog, and they do produce cute little puppies, but it is important to remember that they are wild animals that belong in the wild. The appeal of coyotes is often used by the PETA crowd to tug at the heartstrings of the Disney in all of us, but that only reflects an unrealistic view of wild critters and how they relate to the human population.

How about one of those "big game" air rifles. They claim to have plenty of power, and I would imagine the sound is probably not really all that bad.

I have to say that wild animals living in urban areas are always a potential hazard to themselves and the other normal residents of those areas of condensed human activity. Especially those that have the meat-eating equipment that coyotes have. The problem is the same as any predator that becomes too familiar and unafraid of humans. It becomes a case of a ticking time-bomb awaiting just the right circumstances and the right predatory personality for a mis-calculation by the coyote resulting in a tragedy. The real problem is that these urban populations of wildlife are impossible to control.

13 degrees out there. I am trying to imagine the layers upon layers of clothing I would have to have on in order to stay on stand for more than 15 minutes. And then I am trying to imagine how I could ever pull my bow back and still maintain any kind of consistent form or avoid clothing interference to accurately get the shot off such that I could get anywhere near the vitals. How on earth do you guys do it? I know that for me it would be absolutely impossible.

This is something that I have to constantly remind myself of. Hunting and fishing are recreational activities, and whether I eat or starve is not something that is at stake. Taking a relaxed attitude will make the activity a much more enjoyable pastime.

Well, we have had republican governors here in NYS. Yes, it's a rare occurrence, and most of those Republican governors were more liberal that most Democrats....lol. But it is possible to elect a Republican governor in NYS. What we need is to get out the upstate vote. Will it happen? ...... I certainly hope so. Brian Kolb is a great guy!

I will tan the hides and make something out of them. Or more likely my wife will make something out of them. But first I have to start getting one or two. Mostly, it is another activity of challenge like most of my hunting is. Also, it makes the damn winter go by faster.

Ok, I have bedeviled the deer herd long enough. It's time to dust off the .223 and check out the caller, and go out and educate some coyotes for a while now. Anyone else starting to think about it yet?

I always figured that tag soup was the only edible product that can be made out of any unfilled tags. They're not good for anything else. Why they are unfilled is irrelevant.

One other difference is that one is legal in NYS, and the other is not.

Apparently your idea of hateful is a whole lot different than mine. But One of the most abusive personal attacks that I can think of is implying that someone is lying. As I said, if you are going to engage in that sort of thing, take it offline and do it with PMs. Nobody really wants to hear it here. Also, it is pretty sad when you criticize someone for posting on a forum. What the hell do you think a forum is for? I've got to say that I really don't get the connection between random senseless flaming and trying to insert the race card. But I do see where some think that playing the race card always works even when it really has no relationship to the subject Anyway, I know that I am not going to influence the personality of those that get some kind of kick out of forum flaming. I also realize that excessive arguing against such unfriendly attitudes begins to sound like flaming also. So in the spirit of the season, I will cease my participation in this argument and simply offer the thought that perhaps if you really feel an uncontrollable urge to vent, do us all a favor and use the PM messaging.

All good guesses, but we really won't know until the final tally is completed and published some time in March. And then it will only be a statistical "hail Mary" activity ..... lol. And when they get all done, assuming their results are correct, it still won't mean anything because the only place that numbers really mean anything is the tiny area that we happen to be hunting. Even the township numbers do not indicate anything specifically where you are hunting.