Doc

This is the exact sentiment that I have everytime the hunting elitists among us try to force further regs and restrictions on the sport. Right now the individual hunter is the master of his own needs, with very good control of customizing the activity to suit their own abilities, wants and needs and reasons to stay in the sport. That is the best of all worlds for keeping hunting a solid well-participated activity that remains healthy off into the future. We don't need anymore of this regulating hunters out of participation. But is it the best biological approach for the critters living in the habitat? Well, as a matter of fact, I believe it is. Already we may be seeing previews of what can happen when hunter numbers dwindle and hunter populations and participation becomes so small that hunters are an insufficient force unable to adequately control deer populations in some areas. I don't think we need that trend to continue if we are going to stand a chance of remaining the prime deer population control off into the future.

Depending on how tough a drag it was, probably my first call is to my chiropractor to set up an appointment.

We will see pretty soon. Somehow they account for time zones and that sort of regional variation. I would think that daylight savings time would be a piece of cake. I'm thinking they do, because I haven't seen any way of changing the time on the thermometer.

Somewhere buried deep in the archives, lives a thread that I posted here about this very problem, a year or two ago. As sportsmen/women, we understand the importance of oaks in the animal habitat and diet. If this stuff effects even a majority of oak trees, the results will be disastrous. I hope Cornell or somebody is working on a disease-resistant variety of Oak trees right now, because it sounds like they will be required.

I have to wonder how much of the diminishing hunter population is due to these kinds of arguments about what size or age of a deer is adequate for taking pride in a harvest. So many people think it is their duty to tell you what is a trophy, or what deer you are entitled to feel proud of shooting. I'm thinking hunters are getting tired of constantly being told that the deer that they were so proud to take is really more of a thing of shame than something that they should be proud of and enjoy the meat from. The sport is being taken over by elitist that are only too ready to criticize you for shooting this deer or that deer and then explaining to you, on and on ...ad nausea, how bad a hunter you are to take a deer that size. We used to do a version of that back in the old days, but it was done in a teasing and light-hearted way that was clear to be all in fun. Today these elitist hunters are quick to explain, in all seriousness, what a piece of crap you are for taking a small deer and then explain in detail exactly why you are to be considered to be scum. Frankly, I am getting sick and tired of it and I'm sure there are many who simply threw in the towel in disgust and left hunting completely. Who really wants to take up a sport that can in most places be damned tough at best, and then when you are finally successful, you are mocked and ridiculed about what a bad hunter you are for shooting the deer that just a few minutes before you proudly thought represented success? Yes, some are more than happy to be driving hunters out of the sport with this nonsense (more deer for them), but they are taking a very short-sighted view of the phenomenon of shrinking hunter population and the political ramifications of the future of hunting.

So, I guess my idea wasn't as dumb as it sounded...... I'm just a little late with it ...... lol. Ok then, how about the satellite wall clock then. I haven't seen any of those around. The idea of a clock with no moving parts that are simply driven by satellite signals and always with the perfect time has to have a good market. And apparently the technology must be dirt cheap. That thermometer that I bought was only $17. Imagine a clock with a couple of small batteries and a pc card. You can't get any more simple than that. And it's always right with no setting or problems when the power goes off.

Ok, I bought and installed a wireless thermometer and noted that it had a time and date display on it, and yet I had to set nothing. So apparently it picks up on some signal that automatically sets that info right out of thin air from a remote source somewhere........WONDERFUL! I noted that the display box that sits on my coffee table is not really huge, and so I began to wonder what size the receiving and interpretation unit is in there. Of course I didn't pull it all apart to find out, but it did get me to thinking about a watch that is never set and has absolutely no moving parts. So my question is, why can't you make a watch using this technology and create the perfect watch that is always right and never needs setting. Just a digital display of what is coming in over the air waves. In fact why don't all clocks use this technology? What am I missing? Is the receiving technology not sufficiently miniaturized to an extent where it could be used for watches? It seems like an invention whose time has come. And for wall clocks, I don't see why they are not already marketed. Powered by batteries (no cords or outlets) and always undisputable correct time displayed. Yes we are talking about a technology that I know nothing more about than what I saw on this wireless thermometer. But some of you may understand it more sufficiently to explain why this stuff can't or shouldn't be done. Inquiring minds want to know.

Yes, the devil is in the details when it comes to new technology, and no one wants to get into these details. We have a special kind of driving condition here in the northeast that involves snow ...... and lots of it. And so when car manufacturers begin stripping away every last pound to achieve high mileage or allow marginal technology to even work, my mind immediately flashes to driving through a foot of snow up my 1000' driveway, or trying to make enough speed along ice covered roads to beat the draining of batteries before I even get home. It is a unique driving condition that is not exactly unheard of in our area that no one seems to want to rate or even talk about as they brag about their ecological successes. But to me, I rate snow performance right up there with mileage, cost, and reliability.

That sounds like the same quote twisting that the fake-news media uses. I didn't read any of that into the response but let's twist it any way we need to support our anti-business agenda. It is so funny listening to all this anti-profit and anti business rhetoric from those that have no problem sucking up their share of business generated cash.

When green transportation can compete in cost, reliability, maintainability, and performance, it would be dumb not to support the industry.

I'm pretty sure that if the deer "takes a knee", it is the only humane, ethical, and sporting thing to do to deliver the coup de gras and put the thing down the rest of the way......lol.

I agree that the statement does not say that there are no peripheral benefits at all, but My interpretation of that Hurst statement is that he feels that all the fuss and feuding about the importance of AR is simply not worth the frantic demands and significance that some attach to it, and compared to other challenges that the DEC faces, it should not be very high on their priorities. In other words the whole issue of AR is merely a tempest in a teapot. And I agree with that. There are losses and negatives to constantly strapping restrictions on hunting as the knee-jerk reaction to every issue that comes up. And with the diminishing hunter numbers and participation, there had better be some very real and measured and studied reasons that are not riddled with a whole lot of unintended consequences. Especially when adding severe restrictions for some very questionable purposes. As far as Hurst being "called out" on that statement, I have not personally read any of that and as far as I know, he may actually have more support than critics from his associates. At any rate, I feel he is much more qualified and credible than any of us are on the subject, so I tend to take his words as being an opinion by a credible biological expert. And that is good enough for me.

Basically a home run! One thing that people lose sight of is that this guy has not come from a life of politics. And so may not have all the polish. But he is a quick-study apparently and is moving into this presidential stuff amazingly quickly. It sure did leave the Democrats nearly speechless as they tried to unsuccessfully respond. Every day I get more and more impressed with the growing skills that he is developing that already surpass most career politicians. Regarding support from the dems, remember legislation does not require unanimity. I did notice some of the Democrats that were bucking the party line there and were standing and applauding many of the things that Trump was saying.

I do have to say that the only time I have spent 2 hours preparing a cooking fire has been when I am doing a larger outdoor family event and decide to use a full wood fire reduced to coals to do the cooking. That is a serious attempt at putting out the best flavored food for a large group of people. However, fast charcoal cooking takes no where near that amount of time for a quick meal. In fact, I have a gadget that I bought that holds the charcoal with paper underneath and has the charcoal lit and ready to dump into the grill in about 10 minutes. Not really a problem. When I don't have 10 minutes to get the fire prepared, we use the gas range in the house.

Whenever these discussions get going, I am always reminded of the following quote: "According to DEC big game specialist Jeremy Hurst, while the DEC supports voluntary antler restriction programs, it does not see a critical biological need or compelling management advantage to mandate such restrictions, adding that agency biologists see no specific management benefit associated with the AR program and do not consider antler restrictions as necessary to improve herd condition."

I'm not familiar with this SportAccord outfit, but that odd-ball criteria about living creatures that they awkwardly just threw in there certainly does look like they have an anti-hunting bias and agenda that shows that they are not exactly impartial in their definition. I think they lost their credibility when they tossed that in there.

Many years of hunting has taught me that right from the initial shot on opening day, the deer are well aware that the game is on. They go into full survival mode and use every trick available to them to elude the invading team. And, by golly, they are damned good at it too. That is indeed a competition.

You're right, and it is unfortunate indeed that these people have to create all kinds of intricate facades and are not able to be honest, naturally occurring human beings. But my impression of all of them is that they are as phony as a three dollar bill. Each one of them is some kind of manufactured cartoon version of themselves. And then they try to lecture us on events and conditions of the world. I sure don't need an annual TV show to expose myself to that kind of arrogance and phony posturing. What they get from most is not respect, but at best, simple tolerance.

No gas grills for me. I am switched over completely to charcoal and wood. If I want to cook with gas, we do it all the time with the gas stove in the kitchen. But if I want that outdoors flavor, I need the smoke and flavor that charcoal provides. And if I am really serious about top end flavor, I have facilities over in our picnic area for a good controlled wood fire. Now that is "outdoor grilling" with all the benefits and features that I am looking for when I want a grilled chunk of food.

First of all, we are not trying to put a label on hunting. The idea of calling it a sport has been around a lot longer than any of us. We are not coming up with something new. Further as far as showing the infinite ways that it really does involve competition and strategy and winners and losers, and all the other aspects of sports, there really can not be any argument that it fits any definition of a sport. The fact that it may have additional features, emotions, or whatever does not preclude it from being a sport. All sports have their unique qualities and variations and challenges and independent features and differences, and hunting is no different.

These recipes aren't like the ones that end up with, "Throw away the meat and eat the board" are they?

Yes, but for those that do make it, success is like some kind of lobotomy was performed on them. It takes only a short period of time before they begin to believe that they are somehow superior people who need to spread around their liberal, pinko, political crap so that they fit the expectations of their cohorts. That's fine except that they are in our face with that BS constantly and always seem to have the platform to spew their crap in a non-stop fashion. These award shows are just another platform for them to barf-up their left leaning garbage, making them look like the complete idiots that they are. Why would anyone want to waste precious time listening to that. And yet the shows draw enough ratings to continue being in our faces year after year. That is the truly scary part of it all.

This is one law that could be self-policing. All you have to do is make it so that any stand in the woods after a certain day is up for grabs by anyone who wants it...........End of problem.

See, that's the reason I never got all excited about goose hunting. I have yet to see any agreement on how great tasting they are. And then, some of the recipes that people concoct sound more like they are trying to cover up the taste with all the marinades and stuff that they cook the meat in. If I have to bury the flavor of the meat in all kinds of glop and goo, then I don't see the point to spending hours out in a freezing blind with snot dripping off my nose and my clothes slowly soaking through. Come-on, can't somebody rant and rave about the tremendous flavor of wild goose meat?

Lol ..... I didn't watch the festivities because they seldom get it right. As far as I am concerned, all they have to do is look at which movie had the highest ticket sales, and send them a trophy. You don't have to wreck a whole night's programming to do that.