Doc

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.

Vacation??? .....Vacation? ..... What is that? Oh yeah, I remember how that used to work. Aside from an occasional required domestic activity, or some other rare obligation, I have every day off. I am retired and just loving life! It does make you kind of picky and choosey about when to go out....Ha-ha. I guess that's another way of saying lazy.

Some of the warnings on that stuff are a bit scary: NOTE: Do not apply to skin. This repellent is for clothing and fabric goods only. Repellents that contain DEET are not recommended for skin. Avoid contact with face, eyes, skin or breathing vapor mist. Sounds like you want to be sure that it is absolutely bone dry before putting anything on that is sprayed with it.

I am curious as to just how much crap can one hunter carry while hunting. Already I hear people complaining about how awkward crossbows are to manipulate through the woods. I know for a fact that hauling arrows and compounds and such can get mighty tiresome after a while. Carry both??? .... Are you kidding?

I know that it just isn't right the way that he treated you, and nobody likes any form of abuse of power, but I would let myself cool down a bit before taking any action and ask yourself a question about whether you really want to make an enemy of a law enforcement officer of the DEC. That is one of the most far reaching legal arms in the whole realm of law enforcement. To me it doesn't sound like this guy is completely mentally stable. Take it as far as you want to, but understand that he has resources that you don't, and give it lots of thought.

When does something like this cross over into malpractice? We are always complaining about the litigious antics of patients being one of the reasons for high medical costs, but who is to say that this mis-diagnosis will not result in some life changing perhaps even crippling problems or worse. Lyme disease often has lifelong reactions and complications and a lot of these complications are time-sensitive. I think that if it were me I would me more than just angry.