Buckstopshere

Shot a long-nosed doe, Friday 10-29-10, 20 yards through the heart and filmed it. After checking the video, doe dead in 30 seconds, amazing. Here is a shot of her. When I get the video put together I'll post it.

I agree, good points. Education And at least as important: deer hunters being good examples... as role models seems to be one of the best ways for hunters to learn to start holding out for a better animal..not mandatory laws that force deer hunters into passing on bucks when they are not experienced enough to meet these arbitrary, forced standards. These standards, no matter how they are defined, are most often set for deer hunters by somebody in a different area, with different opportunities, dreams, population dynamics, herd structure, etc. One size fits all mentality. One guy is a meat hunter, another is a trophy hunter, another believes in mandatory AR, and another is a brown it's downer. Troubled ship in calm weather.

Gosh, I'm sorry if I wasted your time! I thought it was one of the most compelling stories on deer management I have seen since the Mississippi State U. studies on MAR! (I like to call them MAR for Mandatory AR.) Because if you want to pass on small bucks, knock yourself out. I believe he mentions MAR in his introduction. Secondly, Gary Alt was the leading proponent of MAR for those of you who did not follow the entire political dog and pony show in Pa. MAR was used as the primary vehicle to reduce the herd, promising deer hunters bigger bucks in a few years. Many of us took on the stance, of "Well, they are the experts...let's wait and see. We can always go back, etc." Now we see that the theory of MAR's was used as a tool by...at the least crooked politicians and environmental groups positioned to destroy deer hunting. I think another story must be how did our legislators and DEC resist these same pressures? They sure have gone up a couple notches in my estimation. Thank God! We, here in NY could be dealing with the disaster that is occurring now in Pa. I would guess...totally unscientific, that the lands I hunt on in North Central Pa. have seen an 85% drop in the whitetail population. (I spend a lot of time down there, throughout the year.) Pretty obvious by the tracks in the snow. And I am up one hill and down another. MAR's has been the carrot, the great promise, almost a Trojan Horse if you will...that has led to the current state of deer hunting in Pa. And Gary Alt was the Pied Piper. And I am sure there are areas in Pa. that have not suffered like the heavily-forested North Central region. has.

Sit back and enjoy. This is Pa. Game management history from a the guy that was there...and it is all the science and facts anyone would want. AR proponents say they want science and facts...well here it is...just sit back and watch.

The seventh: And the final...The eighth:

Here is the second one: The third: The fourth: The fifth: The sixth :

Sorry: Try this... This is the first of eight short vids. The first three are by means of introduction and very interesting. The last five are about how the state of Pa.'s deer herd came to such a sorry state.

Trying to link to a youtube vid.

Not everyone drank the Pa. AR koolaid. Sit back and enjoy some youtube vids by John Eveland, formerly a Pa. wildlife biologist. His credentials seem impeccable.

It would seem that the proof of who is right and who is wrong is if there is going to be a significant spike in rutting action next week...or not. Now we can always validate it next spring to some degree by our observations of the fawn drop (turkey hunters, farmers and wildlife rehabilitator observations.) I know Charlie A. and was a guest speaker on a deer hunting seminar with him back in the 1980s. He's a great guy. I just disagree with this particular rut prediction when he said this will be the latest we will ever see, after Thanksgiving. As far as "trickle ruts" go. There are always trickle ruts....to some degree, since we all know that all does do not conceive at the same time in any given year. And we will know if the bow hunting websites light up with lots of observations of rutting bucks, all over the Northeast and the Midwest.

I taped it. Didn't you listen? He said, "This will be the latest rut that we will ever see in our lifetimes," didn't he?

I hunt just about every day of the NY and/or Pa. season, usually early before work and then after work, for a couple hours...unless it is raining. Then I use that time to scout, switch tree stands, trail cams, or....work on the dreaded "honey do" list. I have been doing that for 38 years. I choose where I will (I hunt in six or seven locations) depending on the wind direction, and what phase of the rut is happening.

And once every few years, it's right on the money.

Darn! Caught me with my pants down!

Bubba: Good point! Some call the rut... from the opening of the scrapes through "the running time," and the breeding time. Others call just the peak breeding time the rut. The terminology is pretty misleading...how would you define "the pre-rut," anything prior to the breeding time? When does the pre-rut start?

I have had a bit of success predicting the rut in writing for the last 10 years and last year was not an exception. The peak of the rut here did NOT happen in the first week of November as Charlie had predicted. And this year, the main peak of the rut will happen in the next week to 10 days...not after Thanksgiving as he predicted. Here is a video I had a bit of fun with about the subject of the Rut this year. Enjoy.

My wife grows hot peppers and hangs them and lets them dry. And they are hot!

I am not sure about the DEC's funding sources, but I know that in Pa., since Goddard's time as commissioner there, a portion of the revenue from natural resources, funded the department. I would think that when Marcellus drilling starts in NYS,...and it surely will, a portion of the revenues should pay for the ongoing DEC EIS and GIS studies, remediation, DEC personnel, etc.

Here's the early story from the AP. file:///Users/oakduke/Desktop/DEC%20head%20Grannis%20fired%20for%20insubordination%20-%20Wellsville,%20NY%20-%20Wellsville%20Daily%20Reporter.webloc

Bummer! I have found that Technu (over the counter at drug stores, like Walgreens and Rite Aid,) works the best. Don't mess around with it.

Neat idea! I think I'm going to try it. Did you run into any problems? What if you get more than one deer at the same time? You'd have to move one out of the way to hoist up another one, right?

These bucks opened up the scrape, right on time last weekend. The first one is a big buck! Notice the zip-tie- blaze orange. It is of a beech branch, cut from a hot scrape about five miles a way and attached to the overhanging branch on the apple tree. For size reference, last year, in 2009, here is another buck. How much do you think this buck weighs on the hoof?

Same thing happened to me many years ago in a bird dog trial in another state. Doe got caught in a fence, coyotes eating her guts out...still alive. Everyone in the gallery, the judges, handlers, said the same thing, "I'm not going to get a fined for killing a deer out of season..." I said, "Fine...you walk on down, I'll catch up." When everyone was out of sight, I found a good-sized stick and swung it like a baseball bat. Hit a home run and felt good about it.

Way to go! Congrats!

Saturday, I saw bucks chasing bucks and had to look real hard to see horns on the buck that was being chased. I watched 11 does in a field until dark, Sunday. Nothing was chasing and no bucks even sniffing around. Last night, a big one-horned spike moved through slowly past my stand and a doe fawn and its mother walked under my stand. Nothing chasing. But getting trail cam shots of bucks opening scrapes, right on time (First Quarter of the Moon.) The Full Moon is on Saturday, and that usually seems to repress the action...but they will be hitting scrapes at night...then the following week, the beginning of November, the running time will be on. Last year, they opened the scrapes almost two weeks later, according to my trail cams. Here's a couple nice bucks opening a scrape with a zip tied overhanging branch. The dates and time are accurate. The third photo is last year (2009.)