Doc

And by the way we should also be making the following plea in light of the up and coming season: Gun hunters- PLEASE Don't Take Bad Shots.

I realize that on an internet forum, we can say anything and claim it as fact. However, pure BS is usually pretty easy to spot. When I read things where it is claimed that bowhunting is "too easy", that starts to flunk the BS test and just like all the other anti-hunting organizations and individuals, it reeks of just some more anti-hunting propaganda. I remember a few years back when animal rights organizations announced that their primary target in their anti-hunting campaign was going to be bowhunting. Well, it sounds like we are hearing from one of the infiltrators now.

Of course, what you are conveniently forgetting is that most of us bow hunters are gun hunters also. Actually, if you read your own post, I think you will see where the real divisiveness lies. You seem to have a bitterness toward bowhunters that probably has no place in the world of hunting. I mean, I have heard less anti-bowhunting rhetoric from PETA publications.

Keep your eyes open for a milkweed pod. Dry it out and put it in a zip-lok bag and keep it in your pack. When you are in your stands, turn a few of these tings loose, and answer all the questions you may have about how certain wind directions react at your stand and beyond. Usually you will have some surprises. Try it in different atmospheric and weather conditions.......more surprises. Back before I finally came down out of the trees, I found that there are some damp or rainy conditions when the wind at certain stands started right out blowing almost straight down to the ground. It always seems to be an education in what happens to scent after it leaves your immediate location. A small notebook to record these revelations can always serve to answer your own question in the future.

There's an old saying that "Figures don't lie, but liars figure". Heck we had old Chuckie Schumer and Pelosi whining about the damage to the middle class with these tax cuts even before the first word of the bill was written. And how the hell do you expect any credible comments to come from the "fake news" people in the mainstream media. Haven't you caught on to the media bias against all things Republican? It might be prudent to at least have a reconciled tax bill constructed by both the House and the Senate before we start flipping out about the content of a bill that isn't even written yet.

Well, probably what you should do is throw down that other "weapon of challenge", the crossbow and wait for the season where you can use the most effective and humane weapon .....the rifle. I'll bet crossbows are subject to deflections too.

I am seriously thinking about performing a Moog-ism, and pulling out my old Damon Howatt recurve, and going old-school. I also have a Bear Mustang take-down recurve that I might mess around with. That is if I can still pull either one back. I'm thinking I might try full instinctive, the way I started bow hunting way, way, back in the old days before I got led astray by the lure of technology.

Cut the tags into small pieces. Using a small pot, fill it with water and add the tags. Put a pinch of salt and seasoning as required. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes and serve the tags over a bed of noodles covered in tomato sauce. One season's tags will provide 1 serving.

This is the most interesting reply in the whole thread. I believe this just might be true. A shorter season would put a bit of urgency and intensity back into the season. People have become so comfortable with having an almost unlimited amount of time to get their deer that they seem to lose complete interest after the first couple of days. I think a lot of hunters suffer from burn-out long before the season ends. And then I have to wonder how that burn-out impacts their desire to go out in subsequent years. Yes, it is nice to have so much season that you can fit hunting days into a tight schedule. But when you can postpone your hunting almost indefinitely, you have to wonder how that effects the dedication and intensity and motivation. How does that translate into deer movement? I know there are days after opening weekend where it is hard to remember that deer season is even open. It gets to a point where you hear fewer shots than you did back in small game season. Just enough hunters to keep the deer aware that there are still hunters out there, keeping them in survival mode. But not enough to keep deer moving through the day to offer actual opportunities. I don't know, maybe deer hunting would become a lot more active, exciting, and intense if it were shorter.

In fact, I was directly responding to the previous posts that were talking about: "HUNTING with a crossbow is MUCH more movement, than a vertical bow. As it sits in your lap, the limbs flop side to side on the forend with the slightest nudge. Crossbow is also much heavier, and almost clunky to carry and handle. It seems to catch every limb and vine, on the way into the stand. And with the wider profile, deer pick off the crossbow, much more so than the slim vertical profile of a bow." and "Let me tell you, getting the crossbow off the hook is harder than my vertical bow, and getting it on target is not as easy as you seem to think it is. The scope is actually a bit of a hindrance at 20 yards, as it took longer to get the deer in the scope than it does to get my vertical bow sight on it. I also had to double check that my limbs were not going to smack the tree next to me (stand is in a clump tree), and had I not leaned back a bit, it would have. Sorry, but there simply was more movement involved than with my compound. Laying the crossbow on my lap the whole time? No freaking way, its too bulky and awkward." Perhaps characterizing all that as "whining" was not exactly the right term, but it sure seems like a bunch of good reasons to leave the damned contraption at home .....lol. Having been blessed with a healthy sense of logic, I think that I don't really have to experience everything to be able to figure out the basics of what it is like to actually use it. But perhaps there was something in my reply that was actually untrue that maybe having a crossbow in my hands would have cleared up. Did I actually say something there that wasn't true?

See the gun next to the stool? That could just as easily be a crossbow with bench rests all around. Hell, lay it up there on some sandbags if you really want the hot set-up ..... lol. This is an excellent reliable gun stand and likely could double as an excellent crossbow stand that provides some pretty good 15 yard broadside shots to the trail. Just lay it up there just like I do my gun. Sight down the scope, just like I do my gun. Take your time and wait for the shot to develop, as long as it takes for the deer to fiddle around and finally get where I want him, just like I do with my gun. Slowly increase the pressure on the trigger, waiting for that "surprise triggering" just like I do with my gun. Unfortunately, I can't do any of that with a vertical bow. There is a finite amount of time that I can hold that thing back. And of course there is no way of obtaining the "bench rest" with a vertical bow. I often wonder why people have fought so hard to stuff crossbows into bow season and then turn around and do nothing but whine about how heavy and awkward they are. My gosh, just simply use all the similarities to guns to your benefit. Take advantage of the similarities instead of fighting them. As long as you have a range finder and a properly constructed and located stand, there is no excess weight or awkwardness and no wiggling while you are sighting and trying to get the deer within chip-shot range. By the way, speaking od carrying awkwardness, I remember seeing that poaching-crook, Busbice hauling his x-bow with some kind of sling that put the thing against his back so the limbs were protected with his shoulders. Looked like a pretty slick way to transport the thing to the stand-site. Probably not the best way to still-hunt or drive deer if that's what you want to do. But in a properly planned and executed stand-hunt it sure would be a great way to carry the thing to your stand.

That is one more super advantage of crossbows. Just like a rifle, there is none of that over-dressed nonsense to be concerned with. Just pile on the clothes as much as you want.....lol. There is no "form" concerns. All you have to be able to do is to look down the scope and pull the trigger. I guess I'll pass. But thanks for the offer.....ha-ha-ha.

Wholesale extermination of any species probably is not something that we really want to do even if it was possible. However, here in NYS the coyote is pretty much the "top dog" on the food chain with no real controls other than man and disease. That isn't a real good situation either when there seems to be a reluctance of humans to step in as a form of population control. That only leaves massively contagious diseases to run rampant in wide-swinging uncontrolled cycles all of which has it's own set of problems for domestic and wild animals. One thing has become apparent, and that is that try as we might, we will never wipe out the species. The best that we can hope for is to merely provide some minor control on the population which in the long run may be beneficial to the coyote itself and the surrounding critters and even our own concerns. That is the principle behind hunting/trapping from a conservation standpoint.

So how is it that we have comrade Cuomo for governor and that pinko Schumer and Gillibrand as senators, and a nice shiny new "Safe act"? Any way you look at it, the same people that elected that merry band of commies and that assault on our second Amendment are the same influences that will come to bear in any Constitutional Convention.

I cannot bowhunt in temperatures that are in the mid 20's.The amount of clothing necessary to stay on stand causes too much bulk which interferes with the string, my anchor, my form, and everything else that it takes to execute a decent shot. It even changes my sight settings. It's not like gun season where you can just throw on more clothing. So I will likely be passing on that day. Damn, this morning was cold enough ..... lol. Might be a day to try some still-hunting. I usually can stay a little warmer if I am moving.

I'm sure we would all have some little tweaks we would like to see happen to the NYS Constitution. My question is, just who would you like to entrust that to? Would you let those that keep electing Cuomo as Governor, or the same people who put Chuckie Schumer and Gillibrand in as our Senators? Would you trust the authors and supporters of "The Safe Act"? Here in The People's Republic of New York State, in this age and location of liberal mentality just who would you entrust to tinker with this document? Most likely it would be turned from a constitution to a manifesto.

Cold fried egg sandwiches......and lots of them!

I am a creature of nature that has a place in the food chain. I also have the genetic nature of a predator that enjoys the chase. I also enjoy the knowledge that I can have a part in maintaining myself and my family through my own efforts. There is an element of self-sufficiency involved in getting my own food. There is also a cultural, historical, and heritage aspect to existing in nature and gathering food from the environment as our ancestors did. I also think that given the location of where I was raised, and the fact that hunting was a treasured recreational act of that era by all friends, relatives and associates, there was a social aspect to hunting. All of these features taken together forced me to be a hunter. I don't think it ever really was a choice.

NYS Constitution: https://www.dos.ny.gov/info/constitution.htm 48 PDF pages of some pretty difficult and heavy reading. But what I saw was some pretty basic stuff that I don't think I want the pinko-commie-libs of NYS messing with ..... lol.

Check your shorts!

Wind direction and the effects aren't discussed a lot because so few people really understand what causes it at various hunting locations. I always check both the TV and the computer for predicted wind directions, and seem to find that in my individual hunting locations the wind has a mind of its own. There are little subtle variations of topography in combination with developing thermals that finally steer the wind in several directions. When you get around deep ravines in hill country, you can often see results that look absolutely nothing like what is being predicted. I would love to see a discussion here about wind direction (causes and effects), but I doubt that between all of us we have enough understanding to be very credible. About the only thing I can offer is to repeat the value of milkweed seeds so that at least you can see what is happening with your scent. You probably will be shocked to see how there is no one wind direction.

Ok....Apparently there will be a proposal on the ballot to hold a Constitutional Convention for the NYS Constitution. I have to admit that I am no student of the NYS Constitution, and currently have no idea whether it needs revisions or upgrades. Since this is NYS, I am assuming that it probably does. However I am concerned as to how we would keep control of such a thing with the heavy liberal influence that this state would likely have for the majority of the delegates to such a rework of the state Constitution. I am just now aware of this proposal and have not yet updated myself on what is in that document, and that is something I intend to get involved in. Probably most on this forum are probably in the same boat, so I thought it might be useful to have a discussion on the proposal (pro & con). We'll be asked to vote on it, so it might be useful to have some opinions offered. My gut feel right at the moment (subject to change) is that considering the potential outcome and the current political climate in this state, I am thinking that today's crowd are not mentally qualified to arrive at changes that I would be in favor of. Given my meager amount of knowledge of this document, if I had to make a decision right now, I would be against the proposal. Any thoughts, opinions, or facts????

My pet peeve is how the best deer spots are those areas that can never hold a consistent wind direction for more than 5 minutes at a time. I suspect that is why they are the best deer spots.

0' - 0" is fine with me......lol.

Everybody seems to think that everything that will be invented already has been invented. Well, let me assure you that technology does not stop at 2017. What kinds of things are people looking at these days? Where are they trying to make crossbow technology go into the future. Well, take a look at this design direction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKGjRoSofA Yes, it has a long ways to go before the design can be considered hunting technology (that's why it is still in the realm of future technology), but it gives you an idea of where the minds of engineers are heading, It shows that if you can imagine it, it eventually can be done. This is one extreme example, but now with a stock to work with and to hold canisters of compressed air or battery powered implements to drive mechanisms, we are now entering an all new era of bow design that was never before imagined with vertical bows. No, it's not here yet, but then neither were compound bows back when bow seasons were established. By the way, this line of discussion is not an argument for or against inclusion of crossbows in bow season. I am simply looking downstream at where "bow" season is likely to go. I am recognizing the mentality of most of todays hunters to minimize challenge, and picturing where that is likely guiding bow season technology. Sometimes a little studying of history gives some insight into the future.