dbHunterNY

I think I'm going to look into that Gem-Pro 250. it's gotten great reviews by those who use it with the same intentions I would.

yea it'd mostly be wasted effort. in areas of heavy duff where the sun light might get to, within range of your stand, and along a trail I'd say go for it. aside from that I don't think it'd do much. don't cut anything. rake and leaf blow. give yourself plenty of time to let the area settle if going back a second time once the bucks have shed velvet. that's my opinion.

I know of 18,000+ acres (2 QDM co-ops) of hunters in 4C that a majority of them passed bucks and probably didn't get one. a good portion of them took doe, some simply choose buck or bust though.

finished up last of a batch of venison chili. had corn in it. corn is always good in chili.

that's one thing i've been looking into a lot. what to get for a scale. seems the electronic scales are all hit or miss except the measure and scale in one that are like $250+. i see how an electronic is way more convenient than a balance. i can see a balance being super accurate though. one consideration i've got is i'd like the ability to weight my arrows too that are possibly 500+ grains. i really like the RCBS supreme master single stage kit if I go with a single stage press.

thermal cover is important. also deer like "edges", that aren't just limited to those of food plots or fields. good you thought about thermal cover.

I'm sure it helps. I've asked questions but don't have any one at this time "holding my hand". I'm sure it'd definitely help. probably alleviate a lot of pondering and frustration.

I know with my intent I'm only initially loading for big game rifles and varmint rifle I mainly shoot woodchucks with. so I plan on going relatively cheaper and not hog wild. I'm trying to decide on what if any kit to get and what I'd prefer that would need to be purchased separately, which I've figured out is based a lot of personal preference and needs. i know i can cut costs by buying used or stuff in a kit. I've decided to go with a turret most likely so I'm not spending as much time as a single stage.

I agree with much of this but not all of it. nature doesn't intend for sex ratio to be exactly 1 to 1. we don't hunt penguins. if we stepped aside though it'd be pretty close. the natural selection process caters to have multiple bucks compete for one doe. I don't know about others on here, but it's a rarity that I see a few bucks running down a hot doe. it's very often just one. I agree if we left deer alone they'd do just fine. I agree an overabundance of bucks would never happen unless we did it. more deer to support but not anymore productive as a whole, which would never happen naturally. however, we've determined we're inevitably going to effect/hunt them, so we should do so in the least detrimental way feasible given our needs and interests. I agree, the nature of hunter preference to shoot and with bucks' natural activities there will be fewer deer the more we approach an even ratio. the last part about DEC stating the buck to doe ratio is about 1:2. Not a chance in my mind. In areas of intensive doe harvest you could realistically see probably 1:3. although, I'd say it's not the norm or common to have a ratio much larger than 1:5. I understand harvest numbers in many WMU's across the state are 1:2, but harvest numbers alone don't factor everything in. if we could use them like that I feel like it'd imply we don't pass on any buck or doe harvest opportunity. also the implications would ignore the idea that bucks acting like bucks and hunter preference put them at a higher risk for mortality. so I agree with a lot of this but not all of it... not that it means anything. I'm just another guy typing in an online forum. ....keeping on topic protection of not all but most yearlings is good for many reasons. It would definitely encourage more doe harvest in all but the lower populated areas. also dropping the antlerless only idea is great. it wouldn't discourage many and instead get them back into the woods during that time. you can't capitalize on harvest opportunity for doe if you're not out in the woods.

it'd be very hard to get even remotely close to a one to one buck to doe ratio or have buck numbers over take doe in a vast majority of areas throughout this country. there always will be an should be youth, first time, or other hunters that just have a dry spell or chance to turn a yearling buck harvest into a memory or limited chance at getting something in the freezer as a bonus to the time spent out in the woods. I mentioned big racks with slight sarcasm and cynicism. rack size has nothing to do with managing a deer herd to better their well being. it's only a by product of having a diversity of age classes present in the deer herd I believe. I do think there's a focus on big antlers with hunters in general. it's just another thing that's harder to get and looked at as an accomplishment. It won't change any time soon. no reason for it to be the bain of well intended effort. pushing education on why it'd be good to pass yearling bucks is a great step. I think DEC relies a little too much on bucks to determine population. deer are pretty resilient but the population starts and ends with the doe. they're the reason for replenished opportunity season after season, whether it's less or more then the hunter next to you desires.

i haven't yet but i'm working on it. i've bought components, dies, and other stuff. progressive presses there's too much going on when starting out. plus i'm starting for accuracy with rifles. I've got lots of pistol rounds.

i don't get NY Outdoor News... yet. I'm just going off what i know was reported to me (2nd hand info) from the DEC meetings that took place on Feb 2nd and 4th about what's going on with buck management zone stuff possibly in the works. i think it's good they're pushing for yearling harvest and education versus forcing people to do so, which gets complicated. dropping the first two weeks as antlerless only is good and not just to make people happy again. if they say the above stuff is solely based on a "social issue" versus biology i'll be pissed. protecting a population of young bucks is beneficial in more ways than just happy hunters after bigger antlers. with the limitations of the way their current system works i think having a better idea of actually doe harvest or doe populations will help them. they just see it as if hitting the buck take objective or not means their was less deer or more deer than thought. there's some things that influence the buck take in a major way to skew their perspective. if doe tags where only WMU specific and in some cases lottery based they'd have a much better and quicker handle on population versus the lagging indication they get now.

you're doing a lot of work for very little. if anything just leaf blow a narrow trail where you want and think the deer would travel. they really take to trails down to bare earth. quiet non-connected access trail in is also good. don't do it right before the hunt. deer trails should have tight vegetation so their brushing up on stuff. your access "trail" should have nothing within arms reach. only thing you touch is sprayed rubber bottomed boots to the ground.

just myself in 4C - 2 doe (2.5 and 5.5 years old with DMAPs) 1 buck (3.5) ...would've taken more doe, but I backed off and others stepped up to get our quota for the year for the property.

i wear glasses for everything but have taken them off too. doesn't make any different with reticle or power.

DEC just had a couple meetings this past week based on those surveys for buck management and separate buck zones. sounds like their pushing education on why to protect yearlings and not yet setting regulations for buck management. this is a great step for bucks! however, i hope they aren't dropping the ball. I say this, because their assessment of current doe numbers are based on buck take objective compared to buck take and previous years doe harvest. DEC's system really assumes equal chance a buck will get shot regardless of age class (their words not mine). so as more and more yearlings are passed which is a good thing I hope they find a way to take this into account with their antiquated system.

I agree. DMAPs have 100% reporting by nature are controlled and reported. DMPs being the only other source of doe harvest will help have a better handle on doe take. still buy the right to hunt the different seasons but a buck tag is only a buck tag and a doe tag only a doe (antlerless) tag. tags aren't based on seasonal use anymore fill them as soon as you want if you payed for the privilege to hunt that season. the way it is now even in a lower doe area I can take 3 doe by late season (some western dack units are an exception) but yea that's not even considering a DMP.

are you on your parent's computer again? do they know you're skipping school right now?

with any reticles with markings on that focal plane you'll have changes based on power/zoom setting. slight error but if you go 3/4, 1/2, or 1/4 of full power your changes can be figured out easy enough. at 9x versus 18x you'll be holding double your values for markings. way better to dial for elevation and hold for windage versus dial for windage. wind constantly changes so you can make corrections on the fly by holding with reticle markings.

I don't have much experience with most of the hunting areas in question. I do with 8G (and 4J which is different and more comparable to 8C). I'm all for allowing tags to be filled sooner and readily more available. no reason you should be forced to have a tag burn a hole in your pocket during the annual deer season as a whole. I think access to tags isn't necessarily the problem. whenever an area has an wealth of doe tags handed out many hunters get all self-educated. they think everybody is shooting doe so if I don't it's no big deal or I won't and will have more deer on my property for myself. also they may even round up as many tags as they can get with full intent of sitting on them and never filling them. your average hunter doesn't understand or care about an over population versus not seeing many deer at all. this usually isn't the mentality of the hunter who hunts any where he/she can get access and experiences limited opportunity. it's often the hunter who has considerable access and owns land that does this. nothing you can say or do will usually change accessibility of their land. those who take doe and have more opportunity will only take so many. so without having more hunter involvement across each WMU, to recruit at least a portion of those with opportunity who aren't shooting doe, your harvest numbers won't change. access isn't the problem. participation from more hunters with access is. every hunter that hunts one of these WMU's should average what everyone in your hunting party saw for adult doe and what you all took for doe. if it's not more than 25% of those adult doe than your efforts aren't enough. going further if you don't know what your immediate neighbors have taken, you should. often times this eliminates the false statements of "there's no deer around here!"

4W reticle using their subtension program

I don't know if Swarovski does it but I've always wanted a scope with MOA marks off center cross hair for elevation and windage. Nightforce and some other high end scopes have it as an option.

well it depends a lot on your specifics. hinging the whole area gives lots of options for the deer which is good but doesn't create that segregation between doe groups to make them play nice sometimes. such as only deer can decide which area within the hinged bedding they prefer for certain winds or times during the season or whatever. this could mean the greater potential for them to pick a couple spots too close. also you've created a very unhuntable area. if you've got the space open unimproved timber isn't necessarily a bad thing if you use it to help you versus trying to just hunt it. if you split the hinged areas up and had "dead"/open timber between you might have huntable locations between them as long as your access is clean in and out. you want to let deer be deer with choices but at the same time encourage predictable movement. keep your eye out for converging ridges, saddles, low spots in a ridge, etc for likely travel. also points of ridges or higher ground that bucks like to use as bedding in between or downwind of larger doe bedding. the more you work with what the deer are already doing or prefer the better it'll all take and show use.

http://huntingny.com/forums/topic/31400-deer-evolution/

awesome and rare find.