Doc

Did it have any rattles?

Ha-ha-ha..... It's not just on rifle ranges that self-professed "experts" get over-eager to jam their unsolicited, so-called expertise on you. I have seen that at archery club and league shoots where some guys feel it is their God-given duty to lay all kinds of criticism on you about your equipment, form, and style of shooting. It is just part of human nature that overcomes some people that simply has to be relied to with a smile and a nod of the head and then complete dismissal. I think if you want an environment that is free of that sort of thing, you have to invest in your own private shooting range. And even then there is a possibility that a relative or friend may try to lay unwelcomed expertise on you ..... lol. But at least on your own range, you only have to listen to it once if it really bugs you too much and you can eliminate the problem quickly.

I am not a real big fan of coyotes, but I hesitate to say with certainty that every dead and dined on fawn is the work of coyotes. I have come across dead fawns curled up without any trace of physical trauma. I have seen road killed fans that all of a sudden disappear into the bush perhaps to be found later by someone who assumes it is another coyote victim. We know that there are no shortages of predators out there or other carrion eaters (from the ground and the sky) that can kill of take advantage of a fawn carcass that can die of any number of causes including health deficiencies. So yes we can swear at the coyotes, but understand that there are many critters that leave dined-on fawn carcasses scattered throughout the woods.

I have a rangefinder that I use for entertainment while I am on deer stand. I pick out various items around the woods and try to guess the distance. I check my guess with the rangefinder. I am unbelievably bad at guessing distances. I truly do need a rangefinder if I am going to be anywhere near right.

2004 Yamaha Kodiak 400 4WD It does all of the plowing for my 1000' driveway, and this year it even did a fair job of bulldozing some flood damage gravel out of a field. Work that you would never expect a machine that size could ever do. I was impressed. It has brought home a pile of deer too fro just a few yards from the house to over a mile up on top of a very steep hill (some people call it a mountain .... lol.

I guess the reality that even we have limits as to how far we can solely finance every fix to all the worlds ills. It is time for countries to begin taking individual responsibility for cleaning up their share of the mess that they create. We do. Trump is simply saying that we no longer will play the role of the fool when it comes to matters that impact the entire world. Frankly, I am glad the message is out there now that we no longer supply free meals. Even we have our limits. We have to apply pressure to the different countries to act environmentally responsibly, not supply all the resources to do it for them. I think that is Trump's message and determination, and all I can say is, "it's about time, what took us so long?".

Time to spray or is it a bit early yet? According to my last years calendar, I seem to be a bit behind last year in terms of spraying the fruit trees.

Anybody see any signs of tent caterpillars or gypsy moth caterpillars or Japanese beetles yet?

I have found that deer are pretty much slaves to their food sources. That happens to be what ever wild resource that happens to be available at each time phase of the year. In other words the deer are not dining in the oak stands in June. They are not feeding on greens in the winter. They can change feeding patterns overnight when one source stops producing and another begins. The same thing happens when the changes in cover occur as a natural phase of the time of year. Bedding areas do change seasonally just as the feeding patterns do. And then of course there are the rut related changes in patterns unique to the Fall. Even changes in human patterns where massive changes in land use have occurred can make changes in deer patterns. I have always found that the most reliable and useful scouting occurs during or very near the season that will be used when deer movement patterns are most current and representative of what will be happening during hunting season.

I am enjoying the fact that we have a president who can look beyond some of these liberal feel-good issues and make some measured decisions that rely on something other than emotion for a change. Watching the left go through another emotional meltdown also provides a certain measure of satisfaction too.

If it happened in their national waters, perhaps. But as I understand it their tests are going into international waters. It's all fair out there. Plus there is the thought that it may serve as a smart preemptive strike to be a bit on the aggressive side in the name of self preservation and the preservation of our allies. Perhaps the answer is that it is better to engage now rather than wait until they have a stocked arsenal of improved and capable nukes. It wouldn't bother my conscience any if we were to take on an act of aggression against a budding nuclear power that is determined to use them when they finally get them developed.

In the spring, I really cannot get the work done around the house as it is. Hunting just hits a very low priority. Plus for so long, we have had a very thin population of turkeys in my hunting area that I likely would feel bad if I took any out. And then there are the bugs. I have a very low tolerance for swarms of black flies ..... actually, no tolerance at all. So I reserve my hunting for the fall and winter. No gobs of household and yard work to be ignored, no bugs, and no shortage of deer and squirrels. It's just a freer time of the year where I can pursue my hunting activities with full energy and dedication without worrying about what is not getting done back home.

Given all the efforts and successes that we have done voluntarily internally here in the US and the volumes and volumes of environmental law that have been adopted by states and federally, why do we have to pour jillions of dollars into some international slush fund to duplicate what we are already doing. Is it really necessary that we fund the environmental activities of the rest of the world. Yes there were many countries that signed on to the accord, but you can bet your bottom dollar that they were motivated by the free-ride provided by US tax dollars offered up for the use by their own countries. When will we get it through our heads that we can no longer finance every country's activities. We are not a bottomless money pit available for the use of every country slick enough to figure new ways of scamming us out of our financial resources. For some reason, we have figured out all kinds of ways of exporting our own internal versions of welfare around the globe for even international concerns to take advantage of. It can't continue.

My hiking and scouting and observation at this time of year are great for checking populations and seeing what number and quality of deer are out there, but the truth is that the activity and patterns are constantly changing such that when fall hunting rolls around, the patterns are completely changed by the time I spend the first hunt in any stands. They are critters driven by the ever-changing elements of food and cover and early summer observations and stand building, seldom improve actual hunting success. The same is true (to a lesser extent) with deep winter scouting after the season has closed. This is one of those activities where past performance often does indicate future results. Keep a good log book.

Ha-ha-ha..... Sometimes they just act like the goofy goats that they are. Probably a severe case of spring fever....lol.

So, can anyone explain to me why it makes sense to struggle with cast iron when today there are frying pans of new technology that defies sticky eggs. The new copper clad pans will fry an egg even if you choose not to use any oil or grease or whatever. We gave away all of our old frying pans including the Teflon and ceramic ones and replaced them all with copper clad ones and haven't regretted it for a minute. They all look brand new with literally nothing that will stick to them. No "seasoning" or difficult clean-up as in cast iron. So, other than some historical experience, what is the purpose of wrestling around with cooking technology of past centuries?

Why do they have to "simulate" when they have real moving targets whenever North Korea fires off their test missiles. That would be funny if we routinely shot down every test they fired.

The garden is surrounded by a 4' high welded wire fence with a strand of electric wire about 3" above the ground and another powered strand just above the welded wire fence. I have not lost a plant to a critter in the 10 years since installing all of that stuff. Even the chipmunks get wacked. And it is not just an inconvenient jolt. This fence leaves the bodies behind. Berries- Last year I wrestled with plastic netting, and wound up with a mess that I will never fight with again. We'll see if the birds beat me to them this year. I am not expecting a problem, because I never had a problem getting to the wild berries in time to get a pile of them. Also as a kid I used to pick berries for a farmer, and he never used any netting. I don't remember any of those plants being picked bare or even significantly by the birds or other critters. I have put in enough berries so if need be, I can share some of the harvest and still have more berries than the two of us can eat.

Damn Grampy ...... I'll never get to see 60 years old ever again, you young whippersnapper ....ha ha. Congratulations on reaching one of the magical milestones. Life just keeps getting better from there. It's almost time to start writing your memoirs, isn't it?

Isn't it amazing how light the recoil becomes when you're shooting at a deer instead of a paper target?

It looks like a bumper crop for blackberries this year, judging from all of the little clusters of berry-buds (whatever you call them). I put in a new berry patch year before last, and they are going crazy this year. The wild ones are producing like mad too.

Ha-ha..... I am not into that stuff that derives pleasure from pain. All of my rifles have had a primary requirement that they do not hurt to shoot. A few years back our county finally allowed rifles for deer hunting. Before I purchased a deer rifle, I made sure that all candidates were easy on the shoulder. I wanted a gun that I would want to target shoot with as well as kill deer. Over all the decades of deer hunting with a gun, I had been using a 12 gauge Ithaca Deerslayer. That gun was truly a pain, and practice with it was as few slugs as I could use to get the scope zeroed in and kept that way over all those years. When rifles were finally allowed, I happily went to a .270, and have been a happy shooter ever since. I can shoot that thing until I get tired of blowing the center out of the x-ring. It is a very pleasant gun to shoot, and that keeps me on the target range longer because of it. I have no intentions of shooting brown bears or elephants at any time in the future so It is all the gun that I need. By the way, the Ithaca serves as a decoration in the gun case and is a loaner for anyone that I hunt with that needs one.

So, is it merely governmental dysfunction? I don't know. To me there seems to be a pattern to it and having it happen so many years in a row, there does seem to be some direction to it. Frankly, I don't really see the issue as having that much real significance that it could serve as a political football. Let's face it, in the greater scheme of things, crossbows truly are pretty much at the bottom of the priority list. Perhaps that is the actual reason for this legislation having such a hard time progressing. Maybe it is just relegated to the bottom of the list because of it's lack of real significance. As far as the political path that this thread has taken, I don't believe there is any need for an apology. When discussing the functions of government and legislation, politics is kind of built into the discussion.

That is a very interesting question. Why is this legislation having such a difficult time. It used to be thought that the NYB was the force behind keeping the xbow out of bow season, the thought being that bowhunters were highly organized, and that no one was speaking for the crossbow interests. But that is no longer the case. The crossbow interests are now heavily organized, so it appears that the playing field has been leveled. It appears that there may be something besides organizational lobbying efforts from either side that is running the show. Any theories?

We have become quite the lazy people with the internet haven't we? It seems that we spend our time scanning the internet to find thoughts and ideas from insignificant sources that we can repeat as our own. We no longer form and express opinions of our own, but are content to simply become gatherers of the opinions of others. This particular section of huntingny.com has almost turned completely into that sort of a mindless activity, hasn't it? There seems to be some kind of satisfaction achieved by those that can use the internet to speak for them, never having to express an original thought of our own. It is interesting to watch our culture change, but also very boring and meaningless. It is also a bit scary how easily some are led by the opinions of others. We are becoming a "cut-and-paste" society, at least some portion of it is.