NFA-ADK

Good luck with them FastEddie, he looks like a 3.5.

I know a guy who was prosecuted many many years ago for a salt lick and lost his license permenatly. Just a FYI. Not sure what the penalty would be today but I don't worry about penalties that don't affect me. I know many are against baiting but if it was allowed in high population areas where they want deer taken down like LI it would help. Many other states use bait to help population control and it seems to work. I also find it funny how so many stores have this and yet it seems to disapear from the shelves. Yep many out of state hunters lol, right.

Still hunting I agree for the most part unless your tracking then you get a pretty good picture but still hard to determine exact age. Tree stand hunting is a different world. Usually you can see the deer come in and have a chance to observe them for a while before determining if they are shooters. I am told I am only allowed to shoot 130+ class bucks which are usually 3.5 or older. I would be tempted to shoot a 10 pt or double drop tines or double split brows but would get kicked off the private land, public I would be happy.

Shoot whatever makes you happy. If you can get 2 doe early you have plenty of time to get a big buck or take a 4 or 6pt if you want. As long as you are not in an AR zone you choose what you want. Like some have said dont worry what others think, do what makes you happy. If you see no deer and a buck is big enough to shoot then do it. No matter what you do someone will complain lol. Just have fun and be safe, good luck this year! Hope to see some of your success!

I keep logs but I can not be in the woods all the time. Up north November 4th- 24th prime time 10th-18th I do believe the fluctuation (In activity.) is due to lunar cycles but can be overrun by poor weather causing most activity to happen at night or delay it until colder weather comes in. Weather simply can wreak havoc on your hunt. I believe in the theory that if the temperature is 20 deg. above normal deer shut down. EX: If your average is 40 and it's 60 deer seem to shut down. Warm weather forces them to stay put. This IMO seems to delay the rut from what I have seen. Regardless of lunar calendar or weather I want to be in the woods as much as possible the last week in October and first of November on LI. Then November 5th-as long as I can stay up north. Usually a 2 week stay is all work will allow.

Very nice to see the results of not shooting a deer. Good luck with him, this would be a target for me thats for sure.

Sorry but none of my FRIENDS would try to make a profit off me. That is why they are friends. Anyone who does in this manner would not be considered a real friend, just an associate. Note the first 3 letters in that last word! So by your logic I can make a profit of 5$ is ok but you will not allow your company to sell me a jet engine at half price so I can resell it for a profit. Only because the 5$ is more absorbable than a million dollar sale. And if I give you something to use that you need it is ok for you to resell it for profit and still need what you sold. Morally your ethics are out of tune. That is as nice as I can state it.

WoW And I wondered why the Government was doing all those drills in this area. Maybe they expected more civil unrest when people found out the EPA did this on purpose. No big deal, river is back to normal levels according to them. Yea right! Crazy! But they expect people to believe this. Well now they get to put in the treatment plant and keep all the EPA workers working. Unreal!!! Don't worry about this we need to stop hunting in Africa, that is much more important then the health of the south western states land, water, people and animals. Crazy!!!

We usually get to the stands just before or at first light. I have been in stands an hour before sunrise and I must admit I do like it but have found it is not always needed and would rather sleep in bed vs a tree stand. The higher the deer population in the area I hunt sometimes dictates an early entry. Low populations have much less chance of spooking the deer. The distance to travel to the stand also can cause me to want to get in early. Long hike going through many different area's and I want to be at the stand by first light or earlier. The residential area's not so much as the hike is less than 300-400 yards with many less than 100 yards and very little disturbance to get in.

Love the owl shot!

Wrong D-Bone they need to release them on LI especially in the spots where people complain the most about this lion killed in Africa. This was requested by the locals in Africa who live with lions. They said how about you live with a 500lbs cat and see how you like it. (They said a150lbs mountain lion would do for now.) We will begin to release them in areas with deer problems, starting with the Hamptons, and will release the 150lbs wolves on the north fork somewhere in the Mattituck area. We will keep the animals in the area to keep the deer population low but a few people and pets might be in harms way. Simply put people will need to get indoors at night from now on until this issue is resolved or the cats and wolves are removed, just like in Africa. If you live in these area's I will advise you to keep your animals inside from now on. (We will release them later tonight from the local zoo, two pet stores and one rehab facility.) 15 total, 10 wolves and 5 mountain lions.

I have had friends and family in both big retail and small. Both offered disounts to employees and family. Some would even offer to friends. Thier is a big diffence between offering a discount and making a profit from that family discount. Plain and simple that is theft regaurdless of what store it is. Bet if you asked your employer instead of posting the question on the internet they would say the same. If you want to help a friend invite them into the store and introduce them to the manager and ask if he can get a discount as a personal friend. Many managers are hunters and fisherman just like us and have no issue giving a discount to a close friend of yours. Otherwise making a profit from your empoyer in this way is ethicaly WRONG, don't do it.

DAM!!! I guess it would be hard to keep him out, lol. He seems pretty big to take down that tree! Good luck with him G-Man I hope he does not destroy everything! Lord knows he can, or she can. That sucks after all that work, one day and destroyed.

Great to have you. Good place to get an idea of our thoughts thats for sure. Yes thier are a lot of unhappy bow hunters who feel they are unjustly being targeted. It seems the DEC could care less about our input as the number one sudgestion of earn a buck was ignored. Many experienced hunters are more pissed off that the kids they are mentoring have no chance at a buck for the first 2 weeks after all the hard work they put in. Another instance of the DEC targeting bow hunters, shame.

We practice many different type of shots during practice. 180 Degree turn and shoot, we sit but rarely kneel as this is not a common position to shoot, but I did it yesterday due to an overhanging branch causing only one open gap to shoot. We often shoot with obstructions to see how bad deflections are and how to know your arrow path. With your target at 40 yards any object at your 20 yard pin will be hit at 20 yards. Same at 30 yards with a 40 yard target. Simply put if an object is on your pin and is at that yardage of that pin it will get hit. So if your shooting 40 yards and have a branch at 20, your 20 yard pin must not be on the branch when on target at 40. Neat little trick to know. Fun shot! Set up a target at 40-50 yards in a ditch where you can only see the top part of the neck (Back is just out of view or slightly in it, level ground.) If your dirt mound is at 30 yards then your 30 yard pin would be just above the dirt when shooting and you can still get an X. (Your 40 yard pin would actually be aimed in the dirt.) Most shooters have a hard time with this shot but man it is fun! I call it the no see them shot but you need some distance for arrow to be able to drop in. Really fast bows might need more than 50 yards, I am shooting about 275fps ish. One of the reasons this is a favorite shot is you are literally an inch or so above that mound at 30 yards and have to be precise to get a perfect shot and can loose an arrow if slightly off into the dirt. (Most shoot over the target on this shot as many are afraid to shoot with a pin in the dirt.) Trick is to use your 30 yard pin on the high part of the dirt so you don't loose an arrow. This can be done with one target blocking another 10 yards apart so if you miss you are still hitting a target instead of dirt.

Wow great looking deer! Thanks for sharing. I hope to see you get your target buck this year if these are the little guys! Awesome!

No I would not, you are undermining the business for personal gain. That discount is suppose to be for personal use, ex: yourself, family and friends, not resale of items for profit.

I just wish more anti hunters could understand this. We are the leaders of conservation, not them. Many get the impression we are a bunch of blood thirsty killers with no though about our prey and I have found this is usually the furthest from the truth. Not that some do not start out that way but I do not see many who stay that way once life lessons are learned though hunting. Most are blind to the truth and really have no clue about conservation. But they will protest any killing of animals due to their uneducated and twisted point of view. After the protest they go for burgers at the local tavern and tweet about how great the protest was then it's back to watching Bruce Jenner get an award for killing some poor sole, wait I mean coming out. Twisted yes but apparently this is the world today. Yet we are the ones who are wrong, arg. Most just will never get it and as much as I try to explain to the laymen it is basically fruitless. Believe me I try hard to explain hunting other than population control most do not understand why we do it. Sorry for my rant, great article!

Wolc123 the X-Bow is much louder than a compound, not even close. Plus the anti hunter is very against this weapon. Mike Rossi that is typically what we do. Target doe after we get our bucks. If the DEC does not give out extra tags for any reason they are shooting themselves in the foot. I never targeted doe until last year for population control. I was not successful, if this is the reason they give no tags to a hunter it is moronic on LI if population control is what is needed. If I do not get any extra tags then I would probably not hunt until I can shoot a buck. And then I could care less about population control if the DEC figures I did not get a doe last year so no extra tags this year? If I get the extra tags I will hunt the first 2 weeks where I know doe are abundant, I just like being in the woods. Not sure I would shoot one until the opportunity is presented in the first 2 weeks but I admit I trophy hunt unlike most I know. Otherwise many hunters I know are in it for meat and this will not affect them on LI. The real trophy hunters I know do not shoot doe until after the rut so they would not even hunt the first 2 weeks out of fear of spooking the bucks and or alerting them to their presence. So for me, if I get the extra doe tags no much will change, no management tags then I go back to targeting buck only. One thing is for sure, taking away the opportunity to kill extra deer and yes this incudes bucks will only hamper the effort to lower the population. This will not go over good with many hunters. Not all of them trophy hunt but they would hate to have that opportunity removed and will push back.

Bold statement Wooly but I have to agree for the most part. We can be very self centered and selfish. But I see the flip side where many hunters are not and it shows in many of the new hunters that are brought into our world by thier mentors. The conservation these deer hunters do or try with food plots and trees and clearing the land tends to help all the animals. I understand we do tend to target deer, bucks especially but its in our blood. Do we all practice real conservation, probably not like you are expecting but those billions of dollars you want to dismiss goes to many of the parks and conservation in general. That will preserve much of what exists now for future generations. "Most will talk a good story, but ultimately, they're clueless to nature and real conservation." Not much I can argue about that quote.

You are making way to much sense. Do you belong here? LOL

Sorry for writing a book! Love this stuff! Regardless of the exact genetics all buck by 3rd generation wieghed the same. That to me says the food is the key factor in getting your deer to optimal wieght and health. They where much smaller with smaller racks and by 3 generation all weighed the same. Now in so far as antlers. We could discuss it to no end if we wanted. The way I look at it is this: Each buck will have a genetic code for the antlers they grow. (One part from Buck Dad and one part Mother Doe genes 50/50 roughly.) As they grow to the healthiest and has the best food available that will give him the best antlers. This age is usually anywhere from 4-8 with largest display of antlers in the 5.5-7.5 age groups. Throw injury, drought, parasites, disease, rut exhaustion and winter hardship into the equation of trying to get a healthy rack and its amazing any deer ever have a symmetrical set in the wild. Will the deer in your woods grow to over 150+ inches in bone? If the nutrients are available it is possible is what they are trying to say. Will every area do this, no. I agree with you dbHunterNY the genes in this study could be the same for 2 of the deer and one might be different. Not the greatest control but the results show that if given the opportunity all deer with great food become exceptional deer in the eyes of most any hunter, regardless of exact rack configuration. Think joe already said this. Deer have one hell of a LIFE!!! Think about if you actually had to survive in the woods as a young baby deer to your first birthday. Ponder that for a second. First thing you deal with is a swarm of parasites. The ones from mom and the hatching spring black flies among others. Then your chassed by a bear, coyote and even the fox tried to attack you! (Thanking mom for all the life lessons.) Any injury, sickness and or infestation of parasites can cause a deformity in your antlers! If the food you are getting is just enough to survive, you rack will show the results of a hard life. (Deer antlers get the nutrients last, the body comes first.) Deformed antlers can be caused by many things but when consistently seen I would think it is not due to poor genes alone yet more to poor nutrients from the food they are eating along with other hardships and stress. Or as Joe said the hunter is misjudging age and never giving the bucks in the area a chance to age. Interesting topic I must say!

Nope, I believe you hit the nail on the head. Sounds like they want more control, surprise? Soon it will be the home of the Free and Brave but in Russia. They will have more "Freedom" than any American. What will you do when they start putting camera's in you area to "Protect people". Our society seems to not want freedom and would rather have more government control over all our lives. Or maybe I am the one who is a conspiracy theorist? One thing is for sure we are going in the wrong direction and NY seems to want to lead the pack.

Sounds like a great plan, hope you have a weekend filled with nature, a great friend and good times! Looking forward to your pics!