k burke

I don't see it as condescending at all. Yes, they are providing numbers down to single digits, but they say they are estimates and I'm sure they are based on a limited survey to hunters. Are you suggesting that wildlife sciences should only be rounded to the 100's, 1,000's - or just "a lot", "a bunch", etc. I'm being facetious, but what do you see are the other options? A census of the animals and if you're not certain every animal is counted there's no benefit to trying to quantify them? I'm with Phade, I think the main benefit is the trending of the estimates. And I'm sure there are just as many unlimited variables in a population of individual sales people as there are with wild animals. From my understanding he was referring to 98% accuracy of predicting the individuals who quit vs. just the number of sales people who quit. I guess that's all just to say it's better than nothing and better than some individual just giving a general opinion of "a lot", "a little", etc.

You could also try calling the public range at Blue Mountain Sportsman Center. It's just south of Peekskill (I think that's within an hour of Beacon). I don't think they have classes, but I'm sure the range master would be more than willing to assist if/when you have your own gun or they can direct you to an instructor.

Morning all, I'm planning on hunting the delaware river for the Sept. goose season. I've been trying to find the answer to a couple of questions: 1. are regs. like the border water fishing regs - i.e. that you can hunt from anywhere on the water so long as you have a license from one state and don't hunt from shore? (I'll be jump shooting during a canoe trip) 2. what would the regs be if I'm hunting on a NY license, but staying in a campground in PA? If I clean the birds for the table, will it be an issue keeping any in PA? Also, if anyone sees some other issues I need to be aware of, please let me know.

Have to wonder if this makes the tick regurgitate like the jelly, etc.? I've never had a problem just pinching them lightly with my fingers (a paper towel in between helps the grip and is good incase the tick is very engorged and ends up popping) and pulling straight and steady back. I did just buy one of those "tick keys/screws" online for $5, but havent' had a change to use it yet.

In NY's case, you need a small game hunting license, so even though there is no season and no bag limits you could still be poaching if you don't have a small game license. Agreed that requiring tags on a environmentally destructive and non-native species is counter productive.

Do you have an email list for those on this committee? I couldn't find the info on the US Sportsman Alliance site - couldn't even find who my state representative would be.

Morning all, Haven't been out yet this season so I'm trying to figure out the best times for action so far. I'm looking to get my 5yr old son out with me this Sun. for his first hunt with me. Since he's young his patience is short so I hope I can time it so it's most interesting for him - ideally at least a bunch of gobbles. Just looking at the Turkey Success thread it looks like most people are getting lucky later - round 9 - 10. I imagine that's also the time of good gobbling which would work out well since he's blown me off before preferring to sleep in! Thanks, KB

This is a general page regarding finding hunting land that I think will also help. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/7844.html If you think NY is bad, you should check out NJ! They have pdf maps of state land that you can barely even read to figure out where the place is!

Definitely - always get rave reviews and I'm not a good cook. Although, I definitely think fall birds taste better than spring - a little nutty flavor.

Looks like some good eatin!

awesome pics! I wish we had more(some) ruffies downstate.

I typically find one or two dog ticks crawling on my pants while out deer hunting - and it's no big deal just crush them and that's it. I've only had two or three that actually bit me - two were deer ticks and the last one was between the fingers. I just pulled them out and kept an eye out for the bulls-eye bruise which I never got (although last Dr. said I should go on antibiotics as a precaution next time). Even though, I'm not looking forward to this year - especially for my two boys.

I guess it's a matter of degree. Of course you will never find a clean farm animal - even a lone cow on acres of green grass will have manure on it - I've seen that first hand plenty. I think the point of this film was that things have strayed too far from the natural order of things. I would agree with that. I'm sure there were/are some benefits to modern techniques including increases in life expectancy but you can only twist nature so far before things begin to break. However, while life expectancy may be advancing at the same time as the food programs have come in place doesn't necessarily mean they are a cause for the increase. From my understanding the main increase in average life expectancy is from the survival rate of children under 5 - which is probably caused more by medical improvements. Take that out of the equation and that average would come down quite a bit. While NY is not the midwest in terms of big crop farms, I'd still be interested to know of any farmers perspectives particularly with regards to Monsanto. That company has quite a bad reputation - even among my MBA classmates.

I've always felt it would be better than industrial conditions and this documentary has the same position. One of the most horrible things you will see is that due to the feeding of corn/grain to cattle who are evolved to eat grass, they are not able to properly digest it. So to figure out ways that they can improve digestion, they show a cow that has a hole in it's side (kept open by a rubber looking ring) so that a vet/scientist can look into and reach his hand into the cows first stomach and analyze how the digestion is going. The way the had to treat just that one cow was disgusting, but on top of that the conditions that the vast majority of the animals are kept in that just invite E.coli and other pathogens into the processing. Does anyone remember back in the day ever hearing of vegetables contaminated with E.coli like we have now?

I don't know that I would wholly agree with you on that and this documentary makes the case that it is not so much a conscious choice but frequently a decision forced by government policies advocated by food industry lobbying. The individual is playing with a deck stacked by industry / government. First, if you watch this documentary they will allege that the government policies advocated by big food industries is literally destroying many old values. For example, they cite that Monsanto corporation was able to patent some plant genes - a first in the history of the world that was supported by a Supreme Court decision. That court decision was authored by Clarence Thomas a former Monsanto lawyer. It gets worse. As we all know plant pollen disperses on the wind so they had one farmer who never used Monsanto seeds, but since all his farming neighbors did that gene got into his crop. Monsanto is able to sue him for patent infringement and - according to the documentary - food corporation lobbying has made it the farmers obligation to prove that he is innocent. They had the case as still pending, but obviously he will be bankrupted by the legal fees even if he wins. Second, Monsanto has a team of investigators whose job it is to find farmers that are planting seeds with this patented gene that were not purchased from them. So, they find a guy that has a seed cleaning machine from the 1800's that has traditionally processed seed from a farmer's crops to be saved and planted the following year. Not allowed, so they sue him for "inducing" farmers to violate their patent. He's bankrupted by the lawsuit and get access to his list of farmer clients by subpeona of his bank records showing all his check payments. Finally, I live in an urban area and my many of my neighbors are as least as community oriented as the neighbors I grew up with in the suburbs.

It's a documentary, available on Netflix if you have it. Basically, it covers the changes to the American food system over the last 50 years or so. Something of a modern day "The Jungle" from Sinclair with a broader view on the food industry. Instead of focusing on the meat processing industry they shed light on the negative health effects from the U.S. reliance on corn and industrial farming practices, as well as, the social implications of the system more geared towards large corporations and their impact on small farmers.

Morning all, Sorry if this has already been hashed out, but I could not find anything posted previously. I know it's a bit old, but I just watched this movie last night. I'm wondering if anyone else he has seen it and what your thoughts were on it. I'd be especially interested to hear from those of you who are farmers or know farmers who can validate some of the facts portrayed by the movie. For me, it motivates me to really try to only eat meat I hunted or was raised naturally. It also brings up a point that many I think many hunters are very aware of - many people's general apparent disconnect from where meat comes from. Also, the favoritism given to corporations that just roll over the average person - especially farmers - just makes me mad. I'm not totally sold on all the facts portrayed as 100% correct, but my gut feeling is that they gave a fairly accurate view at the high level.

MotherNY - what's the event? It would be interesting to be able to get more information. Regards

Skillet - what's been your experience - what size was the fenced area you hunted? What would you say is typical of these operations?

Four Seasons - It's only too each his own until it's against the law or more strictly regulated - and I don't think the majority of hunters would defend it. It sounds like you have some high fence hunting operation - since I've never been to one - I'm curious how yours works. How many acres of the pens? What are the drugs you referred to used for? I understand that it's not so black and white and that a fenced ranch of say thousands of acres is a lot different that a 3 acre pen. BTW - I don't know where you're getting a consipracy from "QDM" (assume you mean QDMA) - I thought the video was produced by some other organization - Wildlife something or other?

The only name I'm familiar with is Jimmy Houston - worst scene, but I only watched 8.5 min. - but this crap is despicable! Why would anyone find any enjoyment in this or show any respect for the animal!

Doewhacker - what are those two? Is it a Griff and GWP? I've been turned to those wirehairs.

As much as it makes me cringe, it's pretty funny. Be just as funny, if not more, so to see one done the other way around...something like this would be my guess. A deer being raised as beef, what brought to a factory farm just after it was old enough to leave its mother. The 1/2 acre lot was devoid of vegetation and filled with manure over the deers hoofs. A side benefit of this method is that the huge amounts of manure wash into the nearby watershed to feed bacteria and contribute to the large areas of lifelessness in the ocean to the delight of beachgoers. In addition to the daily doses of antibiotics fed to the deer to prevent the passing of disease from the hundredes of others confined to the same patch of dirt, the deer is fed the finest generic diet fit for other animals to help maintain the meat's low cost. After it has enjoyed its unstimulating environment for some period of time, it is allowed to witness the pacnicked slaughter of it's lot mates prior to being slaughtered itself. From there, not only are the choicest cuts processed, but the normally inedible scraps not fit for people are disinfected with chemicals, ground up, and mixed back in with other low quality cuts to be sold along with the allowance of dirt and rodent and insect parts and feces. When fed to a taste testing panel, they too said the tastesless meat was probably mostly beef.

I'd like to reduce the trigger pull on my Marlin. Can anyone tell me if there is an easy way to do it yourself or would you recommend it only be done by a gunsmith. Also, if you can provide some expectations on the cost of having a gunsmith do I would appreciate it.

Yeah - I want to stay away from the hard to find calibers. I'm not a reloader - maybe sometime down the road - but right now I barely have time to hunt. So Lawdwaz - I stand corrected and appreciate the response, but you're talking over my head!