wooly

Just checking the DEC website, and it looks like they can only track back to 1980 so the possibility exists they wont be able to recover many. On the site, there's also a link to an interactive map with detailed out of state requirements for safety course requirements.

The course was free.... we just had to pay for hamburgers and hot dogs,lol

Good point....BUT I'll bet there's a few guys that may not be in the system at all. I know a few guys that "knew a guy" that issued them safety certificates for $20 years ago.

Do you know where yours is? I was going to sit in on the hunters safety course with my sister this past weekend and just tag along to keep her company. Prior to registration, at the beginning of the class, one of the instructors asked.... "who here HAS a hunting license but DOESN'T know where their safety course completion certificate is?" A handful of attendees raised their hands including myself. The instructor informed us that if we ever intended to hunt out of NY state, we may want to consider sitting through the course again and taking the test to obtain a new card. Apparently not all states will recognize a NYS hunting license as a valid form of proof of hunters safety course completion, so you could run into some hang ups down the road if the opportunity ever arises to hunt outside of NY and all you have is your NY hunting license. In some cases you may actually need the safety course completion card. Just thought I'd pass that along as it's something I wasn't aware of myself. It was a nice refresher for me anyhow, and the course has really changed since I took it many moons ago. BTW- we both passed, and sis really impressed me by matching my score on the test! The place was packed almost to capacity of 100 students, so that was good to see. Can't wait to get out there with my new hunting partner.... c'mon May 1'st!

I don't remember exactly which model it was, but about 6 or 7 years ago now I borrowed one of these guns from a buddy of mine and killed a bird with it. Pretty sure it was the 185 and it had this same choke system on it and ruffled it's feathers at 40+ yds out in a field. I didn't realize I'd ever use a pic of the choke for anything so I accidently cut it off in the photo. I have to admit, it felt a little strange turkey hunting with a bolt action shotgun. I did have to chase him down a little ways to finish him off but in the end I had a bird over my shoulder. What do ya know, I found a pic with the choke.

Lol- yeah, I'm reminded of that every time I find a pair of those long blaze orange field dressing gloves..., or scent wicks and canisters..., or "crappy socks" around here.

I'm failing to see where this is an anti-gun organization? Anti gun VIOLENCE, yes..., not anti gun. http://www.sandyhookpromise.org/

So basically, they want to put a tobacco tax on batteries which is all an e-cigg really is. As for the juice, something tells me they'll have no problem taxing nicotine free liquids the same as nic based. It was never a mystery to me why government was up in arms over the e-ciggs. Big Brother and Big Tobacco can kiss my BUTT! I get vape mail 2x's a week,lol

Cool- if your pooches ever disappear, I sell you one that looks just like them and answers to the same name,lol.... or you could let me borrow them for a weekend or two. Some fine finds there Sam-bone!

It's been a tough year unless you've been able to follow the deer or have access to where they spend such a brutal winter. Finding one in the yard would be a very fortunate and welcome sight! Congrats to your daughter! Thank heavens it's almost turkey season...

I'm pretty confident they are fox teeth..., but I could be wrong. They don't seem to waste any time growing them. Shot this little guy two years ago opening week of turkey season at the same den.

I thought about hawks or owls, but the bone looks like it was crushed and shattered, not torn apart by a beak.

I don't understand why they would leave the jawbones behind and not just drag the whole pup away? It was almost a methodical approach to how the little ones would meet their demise which was part of the reason I suspected the mother... I've seen the little ones play fighting before and they'll grab each other by the jaws, but I don't know if that's of any importance or means anything in these situations.

Nothing fancy about these pics, I just found it to be an interesting "who dunnit?". I cruised by the fox den today and noticed a couple fresh pup lower jawbones had been laying at the entrance. Obviously from this years litter of pups. Later in my hike I went past another den about a mile away and found more of the exact same thing. Something is eating the pups and leaving just the bottom jawbones laying around and not a crumb more. Anyone got any ideas what would be doing that? Would the mother eat her own young if they weren't healthy, or is this the work of another critter? I just found it odd to see the same thing at two separate dens with that much distance between them. I've been trying to find an answer online but I can't seem to come up with anything that explains it. Any ideas?

Thanks everyone! I have no clue where the mate to that antler is. I covered every inch of that area the last two days and I got nuthin'! I checked with ALL of my neighbors last year to see if any of them had any right antlers from him, but no one has... or at least no one is admitting to it. Today I made a run to another one of my usual hot spots when I got tired of trying to match Tubby up, and once again I went home shedless! I just can't seem to find where they all went this year. I did find a buck I had on cam from summer that I called Goofy. He finished off with a pretty wild rack, but we wont be seeing any more of him.

Can't complain about a quick set this close to gobbler season, but I know where you're coming from. This shortened spring will cut into the total antler count big time. Too bad we can't have our "best season" every year, but all that uncertainty is kinda what antler hunting is all about! Hope you can grab a few more before the buzzer!

Guys... I don't know what to say at this point. Today I ran up the hill behind the house to go try and call some turkeys to the camera. I found where some gobblers left some fresh tracks in the snow so I was pretty pumped and hopefull to see some action! Not 100yds past where I was gawking at those tracks right on the main trail, I almost tripped over this guy not 3ft in front of me before I noticed it! As soon as I seen this sucker I recognized it as a familiar buck I have some history with.... IT'S TUBBY!!! Now if I could ever find where he's hiding those right side antlers I be the happiest shedder in the world! Antlers- 6 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 1 Dead doe/fawns- ?????

Yep- that had a lot to do with it. Combine that with a generally high deer population in this area and the prolonged lingering snow pack has made it very hard on last years fawns. Some of the fields have opened up here but there's still a good amount of snow in some of the woods. Finding a total of 40 dead wouldn't be too uncommon any given shed season. The only problem is, I just got started a couple weeks ago and still have a lot of ground to cover, so I don't think this is going to end any time soon. Most of what I'm finding are still pretty fresh. Carcasses don't lay around long before their picked clean here. I thought this last deer looked strange in that spread eagle position,lol

LOL- don't do anything stupid!

Thanks everyone! Today I pumped some air in the bike tires and ripped down some of the park trails away from the crowds. 15 minutes after I got my feet on the ground, I found this busted rack in a flooded section of an orchard thicket. Then I got cookin' to another area that I know always melts out sooner than the timber when I spotted another one in one of my favorite kinds of brush to look for antlers in! Can you see the antler...? ...and both of them together. They aren't very pretty, but they gave me some motivation to find some new freshies! I've given up counting dead deer this year. The good news is only one dead buck so far, but the doe/fawn count is now at least 35+ Antlers- 5 Sets- 0 Dead bucks- 1 Dead doe/fawns- ??????

Atta-boy LTDH! I thought you gave up before it started gettin' good! I got some spare point and shoots if you need one for ATL's. Just say so and I can send you one to preserve these precious moments.

This is point-less! We have become a nation of minimalists where less is more........ more or less,lol

Thanks guys! This antler actually has a 9" G-2 so I'll post another pic angle that shows it better with my next installment. Only problem I have is I can't tell if it's fresh or old..... not that it matters at this point, but it would be nice to know if I should watch for him this year or not. Red- I've only been through Frankentines territory once while there was knee deep snow. I think that area will be on the schedule for this weekend! Man, I sure would love to find another set of his! It feels weird to be getting off to such a late start, but there wasn't much I could do about it besides try to be patient.

Good job Lou! That was a very nice gesture to get things rolling!

You got a good mentor in your brother Joe, Jeremiah! Good luck to you both this season and thanks for sharing your story with us! Hope to see some great field photos from you guys in a couple weeks! Congrats!