Doc

I get up early to make those 6 cold fried egg sandwiches that I take with me for breakfast and lunch. That an making a thermos of very hot coffee will keep me on stand for opening day of gun season. For bow season, I have a tradition of snapping on the lights on my lighted archery range in the woods and taking a shot at 20, 25, and 30 yards just to be sure that all is well with my shooting. I turn the lights off and head up the hill to my stand. That happens every morning that I go out.

When bait materials are not being used for illegal hunting, it then becomes another prohibited exercise which is known as "feeding" the deer. The only justification possible for selling those materials is when they are legally used out-of-state. And like you have mentioned, that probably is not what is really happening at all. The real answer to your Dad's question is, "Because it is a legal loop-hole, and they make plenty of money from the illegal use of bait materials."

I don't delete anything....

There was a few years (during the mid 80s) that I had my bow set at 72#. The reason? We had a couple of moose hunts planned, and I mistakenly thought that the heavy poundage was required. But with that successfully completed, my attention went back to whitetails and I dropped the poundage back to 60 pounds. There were some joint and muscle problems developing that encouraged me to do that. I am convinced that if I had continued at that higher draw weight, I likely would not be bowhunting today. Now, with advancing age, I have knocked a few more pounds off the 60#, and I still have penetration to spare, and a shallow enough trajectory to satisfactorily handle my 25-30 yard maximum hunting shots. In hindsight, there probably was never any good reason to ever exceed 60 - 65#, and most of my hunting could likely have been just as successful at 55-60 pounds. In my opinion, anything beyond that for a male with an average frame, only risks potential damage and a shortening of bowhunting years. Archery does stress human joints and body parts in many unforgiving ways.

My bow is set for 57#

Our NYS tax dollars at work. This creep never saw a photo-op that he didn't dash in front of.

I'd have to put on an addition just to have a place to hang the mount.

Not going to last very long in Honeoye ...... If you believe any of that long-range forecasting, check it out: https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/ny/honeoye

Wasp is still in business: https://www.wasparchery.com/

I got to say that anyone who pays any attention to a forecast that is for 5 days away has to be reminded that these meteorologist clowns are doing well to accurately forecast the weather for the next day.....lol.

Ha-ha-ha-ha..... I would not be sitting in 110 degrees in Arizona hunting Coues Deer. That just would not ever happen!

I have been noticing that a lot of flowering crabapple trees are looking the same way in and around Canandaigua. I'm wondering if it is the same ailment. These are all good mature trees that are just croaking, or nearly so.

For bow season: I want days with the highs in the 50's for the first part, and a good steady predictable wind direction. And NO rain or howling winds And: Toward the end of the season, I want snow but not the kind of bitter cold where I have to dress like an Eskimo and wind up with shooting problems. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For gun season: For opening day, I want a nice comfy day with the sun shining and a whole bunch of critters to look at while I'm waiting for a deer to come by. And: For the rest of the season, I want about 5 inches of good tracking snow covering the ground for a good bunch of days of still hunting. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For both seasons: I want to see a lot of deer. Any deer. Even if I don't get a shot. The season is always a lot more exciting for me if I just get to see a lot of deer. Oh, and I wouldn't mind getting a poke at a coyote.

I saw one in Potter County, PA back in the mid-80's

Once a day ....... 24 shots (average). I have had other years when I shot so much that I would begin to shoot fatigued. That just made bad things happen, and then trained in form and shooting errors. So now I shoot just enough to keep the shooting muscles in shape and then quit.

Looking back over this spring and summer, it occurs to me that we had every variation of weather that could be imagined. We had soaking rain that rotted the seed in the garden along with colder than usual temps. Then at some point, it all turned to drought where the dirt in the garden baked up and cracked like bad concrete. I watched the little pond out behind the barn become a puddle and now just a damp spot in the bottom. Now we are seeing temperatures that are getting close to 90 and today it did hit 90. The grass is now getting a nice shade of tan. The new grass that I planted earlier is now quite dead. Summer is finally here, but the problem is that it is supposed to be going the other way ..... lol. What the heck have we got coming this winter. Nothing will surprise me.

My first bow kill was while I was still hunting my way home. However, my preferred style of hunting is stand hunting where I have more control over the situation (Known yardages around the stand, adequate cover for drawing, walking and hopefully unaware deer for the shot). Also, the older I get, the more I begin to sound like a charging rhinoceros crashing and thrashing around. I guess, I have lost my "sneak". With the right quality snow, I do a heck of a great job of still hunting with the rifle, but then I don't have to be sneaking around at 25 yards max from the deer with a rifle. Another nice benefit of stand hunting is that I can carry all those fried egg sandwiches and the pail of coffee to really enjoy myself.

The grass is ways greener on the other side of the fence..... or so it seems.

And of course we all know that if it is on the internet, it must be true ..... lol.

Point well taken. We all whine about the shortage of access to open hunting land and how crowded hunting conditions are killing hunting. Well, we have enough crowds without trying to attract more. Relax and hunt the piles of deer that we got and get over this trophy craze. You need guaranteed trophy deer takes, go to some game farm and get your trophy-fix taken care of.

Yeah, I was hoping you might have some room for dropping some pounds off the draw weight, but it doesn't sound like you have much room for changes there. I have kept my practice sessions down to a couple dozen arrows each day. I don't want to risk any injuries either.

I guess that depends on who you ask and their level of experience hunting other states. It also depends on what standards you use to judge the quality of the deer hunt. I guess if you are looking for a trophy deer behind every tree, NYS may not be the best state to hunt deer. But it sure isn't the worst. Frankly, I have a ball deer hunting here in NYS and enjoy every minute of it.

That's true! That message of getting as far away from the road as possible has been drummed into everyone's heads for so long that hunter patterns have changed over the decades. I get way back in there because I have an ATV to get me up the hill so I can walk back on the flatter top-land. And it usually is to no avail, because I still see plenty of guys dripping with sweat and huffing and puffing like a steam engine after having dragged themselves and half a garage's worth of hunting gear up that killer hill. So here we are all clustered up on top of the hill with all the deer snoring in the wild rose patches down next to the road.....Ha-ha. I got so sick of my wife telling me about the huge bucks running around the yard while I was miles up the hill. So now I make sure that I spend adequate amounts of time down near civilization.

Clothing variation is always a big problem with me. When things get cold, I start piling on the layers. Next thing I know, I am having collisions between the string and all the puffed out clothing. Also I can get so much clothing on that it starts effecting my stance and head positioning. Most times I wind up having to make sight adjustments depending on what I'm wearing. This year, I am going with a heated (electric) jacket to keep the bulk down, but still stay warm enough. The guys on TV don't have to dress too heavy because they just have to stay warm enough to last until the guys chase the deer out of the pen and past the stand.......lol.