Skillet

We just got back from there again. For Christmas, my Dad bought my son a hunt for a fallow doe. As always, it was a great time. They've got an awesome place, & they're great people. Is it high fence? Yeah. Do I apologize for that, or care how you feel about it? Nope. Doe was an affordable way for him to get something "exotic". He's having the hide tanned, to hang on his bedroom wall.

LOL. Troll?

On a side note, here's a "hats off" to your friend. Thanks for your service.

I'm sure most of you have seen this. I love it though. It gets more & more relevant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3Az0okaHig

Back when I owned guns, I shot often. Now, I crochet every Wednesday.

Anyone who robs your place should say screw the flatscreen, & take the dekes. There's some serious $ wrapped up in them babies. Congrats!

Does anyone have a mount on their crossbow for attaching your rangefinder? I saw it online, & it looks like a really good idea. There's a couple mounts available out there, & supposedly they fit most rangefinders. I know some hunters would look down on it, but anyone who hunts with a crossbow, knows the extreme importance of knowing your range. Crossbows have one hell of a trajectory. My scope comes with 20, 30, 40, & 50yd marks, but for example: Not being sure whether to use the 20 or the 30, can easily wound a deer. (BTW, I would not push a shot past 40) Most of my stands have 20yd marks all around them (rock piles, or biodegradable surveyor's tape), but with the crossbow, I'm more likely to go try a new spot. It seems like it would be nice to aim, push a button, see the range, & then drop my eye back to the scope & my finger back to the trigger. For turkey hunting, it would be killer. These mounts seem like they'd be pretty easy to fabricate yourself, too.

I have a sling too, Growie. The limbs on mine are so wide tho, that it's a real pain (I shoot an Excal, with the recurve style limbs). Especially in the dark. There've been a couple times I've been clotheslined by my sling, as the limbs catch on 2 trees I just went between. If my hands are free, I'll sometimes cradle the bow in my arms, just like a rifle.

Awesome. I've never had the chance to hunt geese. Congrats!

In all honestly, I love to hunt, but I don't enjoy the actual act of taking another thing's life. I shoot things mainly because I eat meat, & I accept that eating meat means I'm responsible for death. I'm pleased about making a good shot & I love following a heavy blood trail, but I don't lose sight of the fact that all of the excitement & bounty, comes at the ultimate price for another living being. It's respect. There's lots of opportunities I let pass, because I honestly felt like I didn't want to disturb the animals, or rob them of something they were enjoying. Call me a PETA member, but I swear, I think they do enjoy stuff. Play, favorite foods, maybe even a beautiful sunset (ok, maybe that's reaching). That may be just trying to place human emotion on a creature incapable of it, but I don't care. I know that when I pull the trigger, I want to have a good enough reason for doing it, to rob that animal of it's next sunrise.

I have a big problem with people killing & wasting game, that's traditionally used as food. Where that line is tho, is a personal choice. I mean, technically, we could eat coyotes if we for some deranged reason chose to. I kill lots of red squirrels, because I know they harass the greys, & I've been told they'll go into a grey nest & kill the young. I cut the tails off the reds, & leave the rest. Grey squirrel is my favorite game to eat, so I guess it's just a selfish thing I do, to ensure more greys being around. I have a tough time shooting woodchucks, because I don't eat them. I know they cause a lot of damage, but I don't like to kill them. I do shoot them sometimes, but it makes me uncomfortable. A little sad even. Predators I kill at every chance. Except, there was this coon that I trapped who I let go. She kept getting into the bird feeder, so I trapped her in a havahart. A lot of them hiss and snarl, trying to bite you if you get close. Not this one. When I grabbed the trap to pick it up, I accidentally put my hand where she could get to it. All she did was reach through the cage & grasp me by the thumb. She just held on firmly, & stared into my eyes. We had a moment, I guess . My heart melted, so I opened the door, & she slowly walked out, looked up at me & waddled back into the forest. I'll never shoot another crow. I have a lot of respect for how smart they are & they're pretty cool to watch. In general, I try to not kill if it I won't eat it, or if it's not causing trouble.

I guess this probably belongs in the taxidermy thread, but didn't want to start a new thread. I got the skull back from the beetle guy. He did a great job. Was it a real hunt? not really. I'm still happy to have done it though, & I think it's going to look cool on the wall at camp.

If you haven't gotten too established in NY yet, get out while you still can! If its too late, then my condolences, & welcome.

Thanks, Ants.

When did it become necessary to pass a NICS check to buy a muzzleloader? I think you're mistaken.

Spot on, Papist.

Haha

Yeah, the only exception will be when some habeeb decides they want to establish a muslim compound in the ADK's.

The urban areas are a given. There always have been too many deer in them, & there always will be. I think they serve as a convenient distraction. DEC likes to use words like "urban" & "suburban" to take the attention away from exactly what you said, Doc. That their idea of the areas with overpopulation extend far into rural country. I think that in most of the territory included, the average hunter present therein would argue deer are not overpopulated at all, but quite the opposite. That's at least true for a lot of us on this site, & it seems like we're a good cross-cut of the state's hunting population. The only real overpopulation I see is that of the idiots making these proposals & trying to ram pure BS down my throat. I saw a thread a couple days ago where people were talking about dropping a deuce in the woods, & how bad it is to leave soiled TP out there. Next year, maybe I'll get my 8N DMP's, just to use them to wipe my azz out in the woods, then mail them to the DEC. Merry Christmas!

And just how did we help tip it over, Rob? It wouldn't matter how many doe we killed, they've got an agenda, & a crucial tactic to achieve the agenda, is to claim overpopulation. This was coming, no matter what.

"Read the plan, form your own conclusions and post comments by 1/15/16." I'm sure they'll be paying a lot of attention to comments. Yeah. Right.

Yeah, I'm joking. I can be an A-hole, but a criminal? No.

12-47 yards. You, Sir, are a man who knows his weapon. Impressive.

If it's effective, & humane, & gets more people hunting, it should be a no-brainer.

Or you could poison them. Fly bait will kill pretty quickly. So I've heard. Just sayin.