Doc

Just like you, I am setting limits on what is acceptable to me and how I think the rules should be drawn up...... yes, just exactly like you. Just as you have decided that guns don't belong in bow season, you are putting limits on technology in bow season, aren't you? I mean if you are being honest about maintaining any special seasons, the whole concept is based on technological limitations. In fact your statement about being "100% against inclusion" is an exclusionary statement.....right? That is a judgment on your part that some technology belongs in bow season and some does not. It is absolutely no different than my position. That is what makes a "special season". It is all a judgment for or against specific technologies. We may have different ideas on where to draw lines, but if we believe in "special seasons", we all draw lines.

A 1000' driveway through the woods and a stretch of swamp, off a sparsely populated stretch of highway doesn't seem to be much of an attraction for trick-or-treaters. We haven't had any Halloween visitors in the 46 years that we have lived here. It seems that the villages and more densely populated places are far more productive for the little beggars.....lol.

I realize that. And it was not too many years ago that people were talking about setting up a computer hunting system where you sat on your couch at home and remotely maneuvered a camera and a remote weapon to harvest their deer. That was called a new technological advancement in hunting too. And even though they finally (and correctly) made that illegal, I'll just bet there were a lot of people, perhaps even yourself, who lamented that unfair blow to hunting technology opportunities. I always have to wonder about those who cry about selfishness, elitism, and exclusionary attitudes, and the fact that we ethically should be using the most efficient and humane weapons during bow season and yet have no problems excluding gun hunters (young, old, infirm, and both genders) from participation on bow season. Yes, all of these same old tired arguments have been spewed out from the first day that Allen hung the first eccentric on a bow and filed his patent. We don't seem to be able to exercise any form of self-control when it comes to polluting the bow season with technology. So maybe you're right. Maybe it is time to simply eliminate "special seasons" altogether and just get right to what so many people are clamoring for. Drop all the pretense and just go for what ever technology can supply that will get that deer down in the quickest, most humane, and easiest way possible.

The problem with the white-flash cameras is that intruders can see them go off too ....... and steal them. I'm quite sure that's what happened to a $200 Cuddeback that I had watching a deer trail that crosses my driveway. I thought it was concealed pretty darn good, but there is no concealing that flash. All I found was the cut strap laying on the ground.

Ha-ha-ha..... Sometimes I think I would rather not even know. And then of course, you could move over to that stand and he may never show up there again. I have played this "cat and mouse" game between two stands that were within sight of each other, (but not bow range). It gets frustrating some times.

Is there really anybody who can seriously say that there has not been a marked increase in attention to crossbow R & D in recent years? Come on..... let's be a little honest here. Technology is all consumer inspired and marketing driven. And right now with every other ad being about the latest and greatest crossbow, they are receiving the consumer attention and dollars needed to spur on a new wave of technology with no end in sight. So I don't care if crossbows have been around since man began to eat meat, there is no honest doubt in anyone's mind that there is a modern day new wave of interest in research and development of crossbows. So, I really don't have a clue, nor does anyone else, as to what a crossbow will look like or do in the future. But we are getting a few clues from some of the You-tube innovations on display on the internet. Like I said, they have a whole new platform to invent off of now, and the dollars and consumer interest to propel that technology forward. You ain't seen nothing yet.

I assume that you are against the whole idea of "special" seasons since the whole concept is truly exclusionary. What makes those seasons "special" is the fact that the weapons eligible for participation exclude some in favor of others.

It is a brand new platform for modern day technology to begin working on. The fact is that anyone who has been paying attention has already seen improvements that are amazing just within the past few years. A little time on You-tube unmasks some of the prototype activity going on in the development of crossbows. And folks, you ain't seen nothing yet. Oh, and in terms of legal restrictions, don't count on them being cast in concrete. Legal restrictions are simply temporary placeholders that any well organized group of marketeers and consumers can change at will, just as it all happened with hunting bows and archery equipment.

I hate hunting in the wind. What I have experienced is that the deer that are up and moving, are super paranoid. Their senses are being screwed with and they know it.

I suppose the maturity of the animal that graces the table is a big deal to some. Those that are fans of veal or lamb chops may have a different opinion on the necessity of maturity of their entrée. Those that have dull or missing teeth might think that an old tough "mature" chicken, or bull, or goat, or deer, is not necessarily the best thing that they have ever gnawed on, so they may not be fans of maturity in their main course. I guess I just see these critters as what they will eventually become if I shoot them.....my meal. Of course if you wait for a deer to get mature enough, it might be easier to hunt those blind, half-deaf, sway backed, old-timers that can just barely drag their tired old carcass through the woods. I guess if you wait for their maturity to progress far enough, hunting may become a case of mercy-killing .... lol. I suppose that may be why Mother Nature seems to provide an over-abundance of the more palatable younger deer for those of us that are a bit more discerning when it comes to the quality of their meal......lol.

I constantly see signs in the windows of stores that say this. It is the "up to" part of the phrase that makes it not a lie. All that means is that somewhere in the store there is something that has been discounted by 40-50%, but not necessarily everything. All it indicates is that discounts start at 0% and go up to 40-50%.

Anyone remember what the first compounds looked like? And look at where a few decades of technology took compounds. Does anyone really expect that crossbows will now provide a whole new platform for unimaginable technological advances. Take a look at the old Allen compound and specs and performance numbers. That's where compound technology started and now we have another brand new starting point. Don't be shocked as crossbow technology begins to take off.

Are those pop-up blinds water-proof? Maybe that's the answer to these soaking wet days.

If all this rain was coming at us as snow, I think we would be in trouble right now.....lol. I would like to have a little snow (its better than trail cams), but I am a bit fussy about how much. I still have to be able to get around.

Whenever I am out in the woods, I am taking note of deer sign, trails, food sources, and anything that at some point in the year will provide a reason for deer to be there. My best and most relative scouting happens right during the season.

I have put a lot of people on successful stands. Out-of-town relatives, first time hunters, etc., always get my best stands if they want them, and they always seem to have better luck than I do out of those stands .... lol. I have been on the receiving end of some of these out-of-town set-up hunts, and I have to say that they are fun, but not very satisfying hunts. It always occurs to me that the most important hunting skills are being done by someone else. The scouting, patterning and stand location selections are huge elements of the hunt, The rest is just shooting ability, or essentially target practice. That's the way I see most (if not all) of the hunter heroes on TV or DVDs. One scene, when they arrive at camp, they are shaking hands with the ranch owner or his guide, and the next scene they are sitting in a stand that a guide selected and set up. And what goes on outside the camera view, only the participants know (feeders, fences, drivers, etc.). That gets old and tired real quick for me.

Shockey's shows can be entertaining at times. It is way, way, over-advertised to the point of distraction from the point of the show, but he has broken out of the whitetail-only mode, and the photography and situations of scary danger are spectacular. I love his moose hunts, and that friggin charging elephant and hippo are tremendous shots. The scenery and landscapes that he winds up hunting in are not necessarily something that represent any of my hunting activities, but I do appreciate seeing the enormity of some of those places that I will never get to see.

Lol ...... I'll do you one better. I went to Naples Central from grade four to graduation. I was going to Naples before the elementary school was even thought of. Also graduated two sons and two grand-daughters from Naples. I still live in the school district.

How about those clear frosty days when a deer can't set his foot down without crunching those frozen leaves. Damn, I can't tell you how many times on mornings like that I have heard the deer coming in before I even saw them. Oh yeah.... they do love the clear crisp days just as much as the damp crappy days. I love those days. Everything seems to be more active. Of course those frozen clear mornings are also the days when every squirrel and chipmunk have you reaching for the bow thinking some monster buck is coming.

But let's not let the NRA off the hook too easily. This guy must have had a paper trail of votes cast as his record. I think that before they part with our dollars, they should be sure that they do their homework. And they should have been extra diligent when handing money to Democrats.....lol.

The thing that makes any concrete conclusions hard to arrive at is the fact that weather this time of year is generally pretty crappy. So if you think there is more activity on cloudy days, perhaps it is because there are just more crappy days this time of year.....lol.

I will admit that it only takes a bunch of bad shows to taint all shows of the same genre. When respected hunter-heroes get caught and convicted of violating game laws to make up their weekly quota of kills, or you catch sight of a 16' or so high fence in the background, or a deer comes by the "stars" stand with it's tongue hanging out from having been driven, or up in the corner of the picture you catch an unintended glimpse of a massive feeder, or entire programs go by without a mention of scouting or stand selection, Or the recorded pictures of the hit does not match the wound on the carcass, or the blood trailing that is done at almost a dead run ends with some cameraman having already reached the dead critter and looking back at the hunters still following the blood trail diligently, and many other tip-offs that the show is more of a commercial production than a portrayal of actual individual hunting efforts, It doesn't take long before suspicion spreads to all of them. (sorry about that huge paragraph.....lol) I cannot enjoy a show where I have to keep my eyes open for deception. The industry has ruined it for themselves by assuming hunters are not smart enough to spot fakery, and have created a huge credibility gap that even those who try to put on a credible show are susceptible to. And of course I have not even touched on the fact that these shows have morphed into hunting infomercials that don't even allow one to get wrapped up in the hunt before it is interrupted by never ending commercials. Yes it takes advertisers to fund any program, but when the time expended on commercials exceeds the time expended on the hunt or story, it really gets difficult to watch and actually become engaged in. The effort is not put into the quality of the show, but rather in the slickness of selling products. Decades of this nonsense have absolutely ruined it all for me to the point where I don't even watch them anymore.

The big problem I have had with scents is knowing for sure that they have worked .... Or was it a case of the deer would have come in anyway. The only occasion that was quite convincing involved a drag rag where the buck came in right on my track with his nose to the ground. That was very convincing. I do use a few drops of deer urine right on the trail exactly where I want the deer to stop. I have found that they can't seem to get by it without stopping to give it a sniff. So while other people are making noises to stop the deer for a standing shot (and drawing the deer's attention to themselves), I just let the deer's senses do the job for me. I can stop them in the middle of my shooting lane and in a position where their eyesight is obscured with no direct view to me getting ready to shoot.

I have to say that hunting shows have gotten pretty darn repetitive and outright boring. Anybody who has watched a couple of these could write the script for any of the others. There is nothing to learn on these programs/videos or any attempt to instruct. The entertainment value is diminished by the fake hunts where deer are farm raised and then driven past the hunter-heroes to shoot. And then there are the herds of hunting superstars being arrested for legal violations that are almost required to come up with a weekly show of success. Most of these "hunting stars" don't even select their own stands anymore. Their guides take care of all that for them. Also there seems to be little in these shows that I can relate to anymore since there is no local hunting or anything that resemble anything that I will ever experience. The last hunting video that I watched that was worth anything was "Bowhunting October Whitetails" with Gene and Barry Wentzel in which they put out a very informative program that actually was full of tips and techniques and was done here in the Northeast where I could actually relate to what they were saying, seeing and doing. And how long ago was that put out? .... Maybe the late 60's or early 70's. Nothing worthwhile has been put out since.

Nothing special about my knife other than the fact that it does anything I have ever asked of it. It is a typical military Kabar style knife with the top blade ground down to keep from cutting off a finger when reaching up into the chest cavity. The steel is phenomenal for keeping an edge, and it can be used for lopping off branches or any other unplanned needs.