First-light

Leaving in an hour. Haven't been there since I closed down the place in late muzzleloader. Going to do some hiking and look for some sheds. I pick up my new Suzuki 400 camo quad today at Arkport cycles! It's been a while since I have had one, kept on borrowing my neighbors when I needed to do some things around camp. Have a great weekend!

Real nice stuff! Nice deer NY T Hunter

and all this debating will be forgotten about..................

I just read the article in outdoor news. This is amazing, 7 years without a contract, no raises. They have down sized and not replaced retiring officers. 292 ECO statewide, more to retire. Well I guess game violations will go up with less man power. it's a sorry state out there, these people at times have to put their lives on the line.

The key board is like sitting behind the steering wheel of you car, it's real easy to curse and flip the other guy the bird. We all should do a better job.

I think you are right G-man. I see a lot of hunters moving to impliments that are more challenging as their hunting matures. If not that many get more selective in the game they take. I have made similiar moves and hung up my shot gun 3 years or so ago for a muzzleloader. I intend on building a flintlock in the future so i can use that. I also want to get back in to a recurve or long bow. It might make a good entry level weapon for some and be a fall back for others in their later careers I see this happening also. It's a great way to try something new. The "challenge" is what keeps me going. Keep raising the bar and it will always be fun!

It amazes me how they come up with their numbers. As a hunter from L.I. you always prepared to stop on Rt.17 for a deer check, then once again at the major bridges. At the deer check stats were taken. Think about all the deer that get transported to L.I. and butchered there. The butcher would have to log all the different areas and information about the deer for the DEC. I just don't see that happening. I could be wrong but in this economy who has the time to do this or the man power.

I'm with ya, the sooner the better, N.Y. needs to get over this.

Nice win by the RANGERS! Never in Ranger-Bruin history have the Rangers come back from being down in the third period! The curse is over 5 goals. LETS Go RANGERS!

I just couldn't imagine this starting again, WTF. All was good in Pleasantville. Bubba your the one saying some of us guys love drama or even live for it, your stirring the pot big time. Let it go.

I walked into a pawn shop/antique store in Watkins Glenn years ago. In a room there were about 6-8 mounts of some beautiful Whitetail deer. Thinking back these deer had to score well above 160. I remember reading a plaque under one of the bucks stating the date and time and shooter. Were these real? They looked real but I always questioned how this shop ended up these great mounts. They were all for sale, maybe replicas I'll never know.

Thanks guys. Burt- I'm no pro by any means. If I had to pick one of the two that makes me sucessfull at it.....I can't... it is both! As for your predicament, here's what I'd do. Cover the fields first. They will stand out here most obvious. I don't put to much faith in them because they are the areas covered first by any and all looking for antlers. If you keep tabs on the fields throughout the shedding season and don't have much competition, you can bring home a mess of horns if that's where they were. From here I'd move along to your bedding areas. Try to cover as many trails as you can leading into these spots. You'll never accomplish it thouroughly enough in a day so sometimes you just need to go back and follow a different path. The terrain will tell you how fast or slow you need to move. Most of my sheds are spotted within feet of me so don't expect tall tines to jump out at you like a neon sign. One pass through an area that turns up nothing might turn up a few next hike. We never rescue them all. :'( North facing slope, south facing slope, east and west. Cover them all in the same fashion. Obviously your souths are gonna melt out first and like I've said before, they are hot spots...but deer are free and travel where they desire so you can't rule out any other slope directions. Once you get on some antlers, you start to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I've been hauling in a mess of oldies this year in one location and never found a freshy. Now that a few freshys are showing up at a different spot not far from here tells me where they've been spending their time doing daily things. My search expands now around this area untill I think I've covered it good enough before I move on to the next. You just gotta keep doing that untill greenup or when you run out of time or propperty to hunt. Heck even durring the dawg days of summer I've caught a few. If you're not looking you wont find them no matter what time of year or how good a spot. Staying focused on picking out any piece of an antler or anything that looks like one I'd have to say will be your best bet. Good luck! Thanks! I report back on Sunday.

Nice, going to give it a go this Saturday. Hope is doesn't rain that much.

Those are great, that is a river otter? We had three of them in my sisters pond in Westchester. You could be entertained all day watching them.

2pt's against the Flyers a hard fought game. I'll take it! Do I dare say Go Canes! 1-1 in the third.

WNY, Yes your right, you did say there would be more overhead in a previous response, that is a fact.

Thats because you apparently dont understand the way things like that work in a business environment. They dont hold your $25 at the clerks office, it all needs to be accounted for, on the way in and on the way out. How about the refunds? They arent gonna give you cash back, it would have to be a direct deposit or check, all of which cost money to make happen. While they are holding the money, the need to keep account of it. Like I said, too much overhead. I am going to make a point here like it or not. Now Pat has earned his rep on this board but in the last couple of days has been real good with back and forth talk. Starting a statement saying "Thats because you apparently dont understand the way things like that work in a business environment." is a negative and condescending. Pat's post was good and maybe the response should of been plain and simple-I think there is too much overhead for that, I don't think it will work. Look at what just happened, now Antler and Bubba are joining in on the kill. You as a moderator are asking Pat to tone it down and he's trying. I think you could of done a better job responding to him.

Yea publishing names could get sticky but I think a hunter would love to see their name "up on the board". There could be so many options available to the hunter. Pat good idea, DEC wants to keep down the population you get more back for a doe, least back for a buck 2.5 or younger.

Wooly, do you think it's the time you put in or your knowledge of where to look that makes you a pro at this? Probably go hand and hand. I'm going up next weekend I have some nice bedding areas a north facing slope and a field to check, what would you do?

In the air tonight, Phil Collins

It's amazing that the sow left her two cubs with those guys while she fished. Those guys have some balls being with all those bears. I guess with fish so plentiful the bears weren't going after them.

What better way to get guys to report, shows you when, where and how you harvested your deer.

I would like to see an interactive website from the DEC. Gives you real time information about what's going on in your area. You report your harvest and see the numbers appear on screen. Take it a bit further how about the name of the person and the information about the harvest. That way you will know if your neighbor who has been bragging about the nice 8 pt and two does hanging in the barn reported his deer. I know you can report online but the two times I tried it didn't work. This day and age all kind of information can be calculated real time to give you an update about the season.

This is an amazing photo shoot from F&S. http://www.fieldandstream.com/photos/gallery/hunting/2011/03/grizzly-bears-cubs-photos-wild-fight-war?cmpid=enews040111

I've seen some real big ones come out of there, pretty big territory and thick but it's in the perfect area surrounded by agricultural land.