Doc

Why does everyone seem to go there. Do you think that impugning one's motives automatically lends strength to your arguments. Is it so hard to believe that perhaps chas0218 may actually believe that achievements worked for are the most enduring achievements. I know that all these snide remarks sound cute, but if you are serious about discussing the issue, those kinds of comments are not productive. That is how so many discussions seem to devolve into mindless flame wars.

That thing is HUGE! This isn't one of those photography tricks that they use to make fish seem bigger than what they are is it? There is a way to hold the critter out at arm's length in front of you that exaggerates the size of it.

What a great point! In most cases, what you see now won't be anything like what you will be seeing next bow season. But I will say that it looks like the deer population is in pretty good shape.

There are a lot of free internet sites that show amazing photographic aerial detail of even land with no roads or structures. If you already have an outhouse on the property, you may be all right, but it still would be a good idea to check in with the zoning officer down at the town hall just to make sure. Our town is mostly zoned as agriculture-conservation, and we have had full-blown zoning since about 1975, and sewage restrictions long before that. As to what may be grandfathered in, the Zoning Officer would be the only one to know about that. You would be amazed at the intrusiveness of a lot of zoning even on vacant land. As I always say, nobody really owns their land. They just rent it from the government. The rent is your property taxes, and the government landlord overseer tells you a lot of what you can do with your land.

Yes, Last Man Standing and Tool-time have been the funniest shows on TV. That Tim Allen And his writers are a very talented bunch. I still watch Tool-time re-runs whenever they show up on TV. Was it a political decision?.....Well, they didn't really say it was. But the wacky way that that the entertainment industry feels that they must control the political world and all the people in it, I would not be surprised.

We had a 3-holer when I was a kid. I believe that the multiple holes are just for spreading out the contents in the pit to make the pit last longer before the building had to be moved. It really is not fun to dig that huge hole and then move the structure to a new pit. So anything that could make a pit last longer was a good idea. By the way, most towns now have zoning laws that regulate acceptable sewage systems. You might want to check down at the town hall to see what the regulations are. Outhouses are pretty obvious structures, and aerial surveys, or a visit from the local zoning officer might have you tearing down a structure that you have a lot of time and energy invested in.

I saw a couple deer that were losing their winter hair. Boy, they were a scaggy-looking pair ...... Yuck! That's disgusting! Looks a bit like mange....lol.

It's hard to imagine too much bad that youth seasons can bring about that would impact my hunting. I don't know about turkey seasons because I don't turkey hunt, but as far as the youth deer hunts, I seldom hear any additional shooting beyond what is already there with the small game hunters. So I have never felt that it has much impact (good or bad). The only thing I fear is that we establish these seasons and proudly pat ourselves on the back and feel like the good work is now done.......end of problem. Of course we all really know that it is not, but as long as we have done something, we all drop interest in carrying the effort any farther than these few "feel-good" days. What an interesting study it would make to create a database that tracks the few participants in these youth days to see just how many of them actually continue to buy adult hunting license in the subsequent half-dozen or so years into adulthood. Maybe we would all be surprised at the good news (or the bad).

And yet there was a huge distancing of the DEC from public involvement when the DEC region 8 headquarters ended their hosting of The National Hunting & Fishing Day, an event that drew thousands of people.......Exactly the opposite of what is needed. By the way, does anyone know if Region 8 was the only one to withdraw support of National Hunting & Fishing Day, or was it an action by the entire DEC?

I am glad to hear about school districts being active in bringing school kids into the wonderful world of the outdoors. But it really is the place of the DEC to at least be co-organizers, not just merely participants. Here's the way I see it. The most important tool that the DEC has to control the wildlife populations, is the hunters. That means that they need to become "hunter managers" as well as wildlife managers. In the interest of doing the best job of that possible, it seems that one of their activities would be fostering the largest crop of hunters every year that they can. That in itself should be motivation for interfacing with school kids every chance they get. I am not talking about being a mere participant, but they should be the initiators as well. The opportunities are there and need to be explored more vigorously. Having a couple of special youth day hunts is nice, but there are even bigger, more effective actions to reach the potential entry level future hunters that could have huge impacts on the declining hunter population. And I believe that the DEC is the proper organization that should lead that activity.

Ha-ha .... try not to think about that when you have your next deer steak. I have seen video of a deer eating a bird. Also seen pictures of them eating fish. Those damn goats are weird critters.

There is some truth to what you say, but I believe I have seen a lot of situations where there were just enough hunters in the woods to keep the deer on the hi-alert mode where they tend to move primarily in darkness, and not enough hunters to keep deer up and moving. Which can be a big player in getting our deer. I see that a lot on private land. It is all locked up with a couple of guys sitting there keeping the deer in survival mode and not moving from wherever the have found sanctuary. That can make for a long cold boring day.

Well, it may be true that they regularly put on presentations in the schools. I have to admit that being retired, with no children or grandchildren still in school, there may be some happy surprises there as to any DEC involvement in the schools. That would be great if it is happening already. Has anyone actually heard of such school presentations? As far as social media is concerned, I am not sure how many people (kids or otherwise) actually go out of their way to find internet information on conservation or activities of the outdoor world if they don't already have an interest existing. About the only thing that I have seen the DEC do along those lines of public interface was to sever their hosting of National Hunting and Fishing days at the region 8 headquarters. That's not exactly the kind of positive P.R. that I am suggesting .... lol.

I quit smoking 9.22 years ago, and yes it has simplified some hunting situations that I used to get involved in. No more quickly looking for a safe place to butt out my cigarette so I don't start the woods on fire. No big cloud of smoke wafting out from behind my stand......lol. and no watching the wind suddenly change, blowing my smoke in the direction of an approaching deer. And that constant motion of smoking probably wasn't a real great thing to be doing when you are trying to be sneaky. But has quitting smoking really upped my success? ...... Not to any extent that I could swear to. The fact is that when those circling winds started going in a direction that I didn't like, smoking gave me an instant visual warning. Somehow it made sitting for hours a bit more comfortable and who knows, maybe having a cig or two might have kept me on stand a bit longer than I can do now. No I didn't quit smoking to assist my hunting. In fact hunting had absolutely no part in my decision to quit. I think my stroke had a lot more to do with it and maybe the constant weazing at night and the crap that I was starting to cough up on a regular basis decided the matter a little more than hunting. ...... Ha-ha-ha.

I remember that back in the olden days, schools would periodically have what they called "Assemblies" which were often chorus or band programs put on for the benefit of the entire school population. Also, they used to have outside public service activities where subject matter experts of all kinds would offer up a presentation. These were well attended by the entire school population. Don't they do that anymore? That was what I had in mind for DEC/school interfaces. More kids reached. More kids exposed to conservation, natural resources, the benefits and needs of managed resources of the day. Maybe some conservation history and the benefits of people partaking in outdoor activities of all sorts. It may even serve to open the minds of future landowners to include the need to have hunter involvement on their lands. Camping, hiking, hunting, fishing, and other outdoor activities can no longer simply be handed down from one generation to another. That worked back in the day when the culture was more rural, but now just like all competing products and techno activities, we need active sales efforts to keep people engaged in the outdoors. It is time to be thinking about such things.

I am not aware that anyone was told that their houses would be washed away. In fact more likely since they knew the water level was controlled, they likely never envisioned that anyone would manage it such that their houses, lots and property improvements would trashed. Frankly, I cannot imagine what it must be like watching your home being washed away a foot at a time over months and months.

I have been sitting here whining about the floods in my driveway, and all the inconvenience that that causes. I have had a couple of entire days when I was either locked in or out because the water would slowly come up and cover our driveway and then eventually go back down in a day or so. No erosion, or even much noticeable current, but a damned big inconvenience. But now I have been watching news footage showing what is going on up along Lake Ontario shore line, and it makes my difficulties seem pretty darn petty. Those people are getting their homes and grounds shredded by huge pounding waves that are pulling away breakwalls, and porches and destroying their actual lots that the houses are built on. It is flooding streets and other houses that aren't even at the edge of the lake. And worst of all their tragedies are government agency controlled and managed. It is not simply a condition of natural making, but lake levels are established and managed and so there is human intervention responsible for what is going on. And unlike my situation, the water doesn't just come up and then go back down within a day or so. These people have weeks maybe months more of watching their property being chewed up my the lake. Sandbags are a joke in that situation. My heart goes out to all these people who are victims of lake level mis-management.

I wonder what would happen if the DEC started a small campaign of TV spots to boost outdoor activity participation? Or how about making arrangements for some school assembly programs, based on the idea of youth health benefits of outdoor recreation? The youth hunts are good probably, but they should be only a start toward bolstering up the current threat of cultural changes that have driven kids onto the couches with their electronic gear. I think there needs to be more effort expended, not only for hunting, but just the general health of future generations.

You guys have got me thinking that a pro might be the better way to go. I'll get an estimate and see what it looks like. There's lot of things about this set-up that makes nervous.

Now you get a chance to sharpen up the skills on your left hand.....lol. What in your shoulder did they repair? How long did they estimate before you could start using it in a "heavy-duty" way (like shooting the bow)? Was the malfunction caused by shooting the bow, or do you think it was something else? Let's get those left handed typing skills up to speed with a whole lot of questions .... lol. Anyway, I hope all the healing process and PT goes well and you are back ship-shape in a hurry.

The tree is about a foot in diameter at the base and probably 30' or 40' tall. It's not huge, but big enough to hold a few surprises.

My own personal observations kind of tell me that hunter numbers or at least hunter participation is not anywhere near what it used to be. And the threads that I have read here sound like I am not the only one noticing that. All that along with occasional articles that proclaim the shrinking hunter numbers has me pretty well convinced that it is not all a myth. Today we have a license for every kind of season and prey and weapon that has artificially expanded the amount of licenses sold. So I don't think that is a reliable gauge of hunter numbers. I do believe that the decline has many natural elements to it. Simply noting the cultural and societal changes and the flooding of competing pastimes seems to show a shift of interests and participation. Also, the shortage of huntable lands is a relatively recent trend started by the decline of family farms, and the mass exodus from the cities into the rural countryside. All those things point to the fact that something besides a couple of special youth seasons is required, or at least somebody should begin talking about solutions instead of pretending that the evolution away from a hunting culture will somehow solve itself.

Ha ha ha....... did you ever watch Tim the Toolman when he gets all ramped up to take on a project. I just hope the results don't come out similar.....lol. I will be putting it off for awhile until my Brother-in-law comes down from Canada. He's pretty good on these things, and the two of us together can really get into some trouble. He'll probably have some idea that involves dynamite.

It is interesting that as we watch the future of hunting slowly sink into the sunset, we have pinned all our hopes for boosting recruitment rates for the hunting ranks on a couple of early youth seasons and seem to be patting ourselves on the back for having solved the problem. Is there anybody working on other aspects of returning hunting to being a "cool" thing that kids are eager to get into? Is there anyone working on a media campaign to get kids back into outdoor activities. Any DEC/school activities, assemblies, and programs aimed at selling outdoor activities to kids? .....Anything? Or is everything riding on early youth seasons as the one and only way to save the future of hunting, fishing and trapping and other outdoor activities? And while we are at it, what are the plans for extending adult participation into the future. We are so focused on youth recruitment, I don't suppose that anyone has noticed how quiet the woods are getting after opening weekend. There seems to be a lessening of enthusiasm and actual man-hours in the woods from the adult hunters after the original excitement of opening day. I honestly don't think that it is only the youths that are losing interest in hunting. I think there is a heck of a lot of work to do in this area before we start thinking a few days of special youth seasons are going to save the day. The DEC is so happy doing special studies, have they spent anytime figuring out what's happening to hunting and how to fix it? We hunters are their only control tool on game populations. I would think they might be a little more interested in reversing the trends than simply declaring a couple of special youth seasons.

So what they are saying is that there will be no garden because I will never get the tiller out there this year in the swamp I call a garden, and all the fruit trees will have another year with no fruit.