Buckstopshere

Congrats Kayden on a dandy bird!

Congrats on a great bird Addison!

Congrats! Way to go on the Youth Hunt! And nice story and photos!

I hate to admit that I have known hunters who got DMU permits and refused to use them. These guys were stubborn and wanted to get them so that nobody else could use them. These hunters are firmly against shooting does, believing that the more does, the more bucks produced for them to shoot and also the more does would bring in bucks to their hunting property during the rut. Hunting brings out the worst and the best in people. In this case, the worst...greed. This was back when the DMU permit did not cost any more. But it probably still goes on with those guys as a $10 fee does not even make them blink.

From one old guy to another...I spent some time in the rain too today, repairing a tree stand, checking cams, looking things over, tramping all over the woods...hoping to see a shed...getting wet. But aren't we the lucky ones to still be rockin' at our age!

Well ... as to why two adjacent WMU's have different antlerless allocations is probably based on, to a large part, the DEC's historical assessment of the kill pattern of the previous year's antlerless take. For instance, take for example two of the WMU's I hunt, 9x and 9y. You can be almost assured of NOT getting even one antlerless permit in 9x, while right next door in 9y, we always get one. Why? even though the cover type is about the same? My guess is that in the relatively more rural...hunting camp intensive 9x, shooting does with archery and muzzleloader...venison in the freezer is maybe a bit higher on the priority scale than in 9y overall for one thing. Also there are more safety zones, sanctuaries for deer where landowners do not allow any hunting or access during hunting season. And they don't let hunters push the deer during the gun season. So the result is a a higher residual doe population in 9y, per square mile than in 9x. Therefore always the High designation for the first anltlerless permit, where in 9x it seems to be always Low. That is just one specific example. There are about 100 DMUs across the state, with all types of differences between neighboring ones. I can not speak for the Albany area because I have never studied it or hunted it. But there must be differences between the DMUs to explain the differences in allocations.

Not saying that 1:1 is optimal...even for "species survival...let alone spices survival ." Just one man's observation taken from years of running numerous trail cams in different spots in my neck of the woods just north of the Pa. border. New York has such varied terrain, varied land use patterns, different topography, and hunter habits/preferences that it only stands to reason that with buck-to-doe ratios all over the place statewide, any umbrella policy will have different results. For years now, in our DMUs we only get one antlerless permit.

From my trail cams here in Allegany County, I would say that the ratio of 1:1 is pretty close...that is if you count button bucks as bucks...which they should be. So here at least we currently have nearly...give or take a bit, depending on what hill you are on, a 1:1 ratio of bucks to does.

Not much this year coming into the bones this year, lots of hawks, crows and ravens...a fox and this big mangy yote. Never knew their eyes were so light.

A few of the bucks in my neck of the woods are still carrying antlers into March. Most have shed. This 8 pt. is going to be a good one for southern Allegany County...if he ever drops them. Hope he is still around come November!

Awesome. That leather hood must be special made...do you get them from Mongolia?... where they hunt wolves with eagles. I can't imagine how careful you have to be with their claws, getting them out of a net and not get bloody yourself!

Nice job...looks like you'll have to shave off a bit to make it the same height as the other brackets so it won't be lopsided on the tree. But you could probably just wedge a stick under it...low tech. I do that all the time to get the angle I want. By the way...like the alliteration.

Probably not, even if he made it. We haven't had a booner in this part of Allegany County that I know of. Soil too leached out.

My doubles...LeFever... (Improved and full,) 16 gauge, Savage )open and improved,) and my Citori. I left the trigger locks on the two sbs.

Only have these three photos on the trail cam of this buck the other day (1.22.17.) I have never seen this whitetail buck before on camera. Hopefully will have more mass and be a main frame 10 next year...err in a few months.

I think a black bear needs to be 18 inches (length of skull plus width of skull.) And whitetail is 125 inches net, while NY Big Buck club is 120 inches, last I knew.

I stand corrected. Back in the day, there were four. I didn't know two more were added.

I have some trophies that made minimum SCI standards too.

Wild birds, there are four wild subspecies...I remember the Western NY guy Dick Kirby that filmed the first Grand Slam of wild turkeys, and that was the four varieties...Eastern, Rio Grande, Osceola, and the Merriam of wild turkeys.

Yeah, the big difference between B&C scoring and SCI is in caribou scoring, I'm no expert, but it is something about all the points (I have never gotten into caribou hunting,)...but mainly and in that SCI allows for high fence operations while B&C requires the animal to be wild.

I wonder how many times this same thing (an alien escapee) happens with does and bucks that escape those high fence breeding/hunt operations into the wild. And those genes go into the indigenous population too. Gene pools get influenced by immigrants, aliens, and escapees. Little turkeys for generations with recessive genes and a few white feathers...if that hen can survive.

There is something to be said for symmetry. Both sides the same, balanced. Sure it is arbitrary, but the deductions reinforce that standard. Like judging bird dogs. I like a 12'oclock tail when the dog is on point. Some say, "What does it matter?...as long as the freaking dog points!" It's just a matter of style and how we judge things in our sports.

To me, this buck has a very unique characteristic for my neck of the woods...its the circumference of the main beam. Those points add up...and when we eyeball a rack and say...what it is, it is tough to factor in the diameter of the beam.

Good shots of Mr. Fisher.

Awesome.