dbHunterNY

It most definitely can be as simple as that. From what I've seen and been told by others this seems to be the norm. I tend to be under scrutiny with my current situation so I need to have a "count" that's supported by real world observations from those around me. I get a lot of one guy saying there's tons of deer, so we've got to take a bunch. then another that's his neighbor saying he's a jerk shooting all the deer, because there's no deer where he is. when distributing DMAPs I've got to ground the both of them without discussing how they hunt which has an effect on what they'd be seeing or what to shoot or not shoot on their property.

I wouldn't pass a 140" deer and would love you shoot a fair chase buck over 200" like one of my buddies did. I think this explains my dilemma, except I haven't got a wall of booners as he does.... http://www.midwestwhitetail.com/publish/posts/1241/the-dark-side-of-deer-management.html ...even a scrub mature buck will have antlers big enough for me. ....anyway most here just shoot a doe or two based on how many deer they're seeing. how do hunters on here determine how many doe to shoot is a question that's still got me curious.

i used to wear mossy oak breakup but then figured out it was too dark. was a dark blob at distance. the HD camo these days is specialized with all the detail but going more and more to the lighter more open side of things. i don't seem to have a problem with Realtree camo. i have noticed lighter camo in dark conifer stands doesn't work the best. i do have seclusion winter camo coverups that i wear when snow is abundant and that works disgustingly well. as a kid i made original treebark camo work darn well, but in hind sight i always hunted on the ground at the base of a big tree. I've been within steps of deer with maybe half a dozen different camo patterns. i don't think any of it really sucks. it's just using what matches your surroundings best and don't move so much.

this is my understanding... only other exception is if owner is present and at least the owner or handler is a certified NRA pistol instructor. so pretty much if it's on your permit you're good. if not you're not good.

that's the biggest problem that really isn't with any other state. we can't order ammo online where others can. are local supply is hit hard for anything 22 rimfire LR or mag because we can't get it anywhere else unless you're traveling. just at Dick's Sporting Goods and they had plenty of 17HMR but 22LR limited and 22mag was nonexistent.

they're a great way to keep up your bow skills. not the same shooting at live animals when it comes to exact shot placement and assuming it'll move. definitely instills confidence when you shoot a course well or carry a high average before bow season comes around.

i know a guy and graduated with his wife. he's got beetles for euro mounts. don't know what it entails but I'd rather not have that stuff IN the house until complete.

they look great. I've no idea how to judge any aftrican game so they all could be records and look just as cool to me.

https://www.facebook.com/americantacticalsystems

green island (troy area).

I'm sure you'll be alright with the freezer filling from what it sounds like. sorry to hear about your mom. it would definitely put a damper on all life activities I'd think.

it's tough to do an actual survey here. 1 cam per 100 acre block. should have one in each type of habitat (say CRP field edge and wood lot, whatever). "field scan" mode is used typically but set to 5 minutes. try to make sure you don't have a heavily hit food source without a camera that will steal much of the deer attention from your camera spot. much more too it but you can do some internet research if you're so inclined. as I said it's not an easy task in NY where you can't put bait or food in front of it. otherwise field scan mode works great at low impact monitoring of inside corners of food plots and other game hot spots requiring more coverage area. keeping a very simple log book helps too. record your sightings when you get back from a morning or evening hunt with weather, deer spotted, where, and direction of travel.

a backyard chuck with a 22lr to the head. also If I was in a contest I'd look at old chuck holes or ones you saw cleaned out this spring that you never took anything off. biggest/heaviest chuck I've taken was a monster in a 30 acres alfalfa field. it's days were numbered. it's top and bottom incisors didn't meet together to shear and wear like normal, like a beaver. they missed each other with the top curled back into the mouth and the bottom curling up into it's snout. I ate somehow because it had to have been the heaviest I've even picked up.

my parent's farm is 350 acres that's basically a small mountain top (lowest point @ 560' and highest @ 1080' elevation). most of their land is hay fields so they get a lot of woodchucks. bought a savage chambered in 223 just for them. I confirm them same as FastEddie. if they aren't there laying outside or limp in the hole entrance I assumed I missed. hay fields are getting knocked down finally. weather held many behind. hopefully i'll get out more. very busy the past few years and haven't gotten out to hunt them barely at all. my harvest numbers have taken a dump. harder for me now that I'm older, don't live there, and have other priorities. since 2012 I've taken only 117.

perfect most sign-ups out here start at 7-7:30am I think... try to get there as soon as I can. local league I'm in has all the targets on a wooded hill. it's a killer for even younger guys like me.

I most definitely know there are some that know their stuff and others that don't within DEC. I had a NYS forest ranger who's a friend tell me that at one check station a DEC biologist was telling everyone that a deer was 15 years old based on the sharpness of its teeth. to put it into perspective tooth wear isn't reliable and more theoretical at less than half that age. at that age every tooth is going to be a flatten stub. some at DEC need an over haul or refresher at least if they're assigned to deer stuff. education sucks here in NY. hunters don't need to be forced to learn it all, some just don't have the desire which is absolutely fine. info being continuously put out there it'll sink in as if common knowledge. one important take away from survey results is most thought 1.5 year olds should be protected which actually blew my mind. I thought most could give a damn, but some seed has been apparently planted. there's probably mixed opinions on why yearlings should be saved, but that doesn't matter. point is as long as people are thinking about bettering the situation the more things will slowly start to take hold. problem is DEC has to promote it for some to believe it. some look at me and others I know as just another hunter that knows some stuff but would take a DEC bird biologist's word over mine when it comes to deer, no matter how ridiculous the info.

as far as I know it was up and running a week ago. retail portion is stocked too. it was bought by Capitol Gun Group that owns many archery and gun shops around the capitol region. basically they moved stuff from Oakwood Trading Post that was not far at all from my house. Membership and Range Rates: One Year Memberships- Black Card- $39.99/mo, Unlimited Shooting, Ammunition Discounts apply, 25% off Personal Training/ Classes/ and Leagues. "Founders Plan"- Good until July 1st. $9.99/mo, $7.50/half hour lane rentals, Ammunition Discounts apply, 20% off Personal Training/ Classes/ and Leagues. Monthly Plans- Standard- After July 1st- $14.99/mo, $12.50/half hour lane rentals, Ammunition Discounts Apply, 20% off Personal Training/ Classes, and leagues. Non Member- $15/ half hour, No Other Discount. ....last I knew memberships were still available.

they didn't dispute the claim but basically pointed out that the higher the ratio is out of wack the more one unaccounted for buck in the bushes not picked up by your camera will change the ratio and how many doe you would then be seeing. which I do agree with but what we find and what we find. i'll have updated numbers for our area before the season starts this year.

yea because most of us can't hold a beer, text on the phone, and drive. not sure why more don't just stick to the last one and let it be. I mean how important is it that you need to respond with "k" or a damn emoticon while you driving?! ....don't mean to go off on a tangent.

I've been told by very smart deer biologists that it's hard to get above 5:1 but everything I've seen before each season leads me to think we've got the same numbers as you where I hunt in this area. haven't shot a buck in a while but usually take 3-4 doe every year.

only semi-auto I've got is a Rem 742 Woodsmaster in 30-06... it's always gotten 1.25-1.75 MOA no matter what I've put through it for factory loads. good enough for the deer woods. I don't hand load otherwise it could be better possibly. comparing that to my Browning abolt 30-06 with a short throw bolt one doesn't seem to be fast than the other. that's years of shooting deer between the two out of the same stands and trails. I shot one buck on a dead run from a woods stand twice for a double lung shot. he dropped with the 2nd with the 1st not slowing him down one bit. that was with the A-bolt. not sure how close together the shots were time wise but they were close. after I skinned it to process the deer both where within a 2" group. one of my better days for shooting at deer. since then I don't really use the 742. jamming wasn't a problem with the 742 if you kept it clean.

as an engineer I love science. I have a great deal of respect for an individual that uses hard facts opposed to one that says I'm right because I'm just right. many scopes fall above and below exit pupil diameter and this sound info explains why few will contest a 3-9x40mm scope in low light will appear brighter at 3 power versus 9 power. very noticeable difference. 40mm/9x = 4.4 which is less than 5. 40mm/3x = 13.3 which is way more than can be used. the higher power requires the larger objective so a 3-9x40mm is only a larger than necessary when on the lower end of it's magnification range. I stand by what I said with a 24mm scope at 4x being not as bright. all of us have slightly different exit pupil diameters at low light that can range from 5-7mm is my understanding. some have healthier or bigger eyes than others but age being a big factor some of us younger bucks might be closer to 7. we also aren't taking into account the quality of optics/lens coatings which can vary light transmission by a small percentage. I believe the math assumes 100% transmission or assumes it to be a constant. disagree sir?

yes yes ....still wouldn't pass on a 140" buck though. my personal reasons. same as yours could be not to shoot it. I believe ya. still think same as probably many of us do in that you're old and psychotic for passing a deer that big here in NY. lol

before the co-op in our area and even now within very few localized areas of the co-op being non-co-op land we have this same problem. my parent's farm is also a border property for the co-op (people shooting some doe and any legal 1.5 yr old buck). it makes for a very tough peak to climb. usually you can assess the lay of the land, even on 80 acres, to use one small spot for much of the pressure associated with doe harvest. don't under almost any circumstance take a doe in other areas of the property. it in a sense changes the boundary so the doe feel safe on some of your property similar to the field you mentioned but with even less pressure. although difficult try not to shoot 1.5 yr olds. if you do it'll just give them more incentive to go to the neighbors, if you'd rather they lived. if you have some doe on your land and they feel safe there it'll keep them there a little more. actually my parent's farm was a no doe zone for a while until before the co-op (I was actually the only except being a son and I took only a couple a year on 350 acres). you could drive an access road from one end to the other (about a mile) and on a good day see 80 deer in spring and even in September. one neighbor who's within the co-op had blasted many doe before but now has elected to not shoot any and his field along a major road way will hold 12+ doe on many occasions. it's also right next to his house. so that's the advise that hopefully I've got conveyed in some way and didn't mess it up.

I don't think it occurs to you that we license buying hunters get in the way of DEC doing their job? ALL of it effects biology. every decision DEC makes has an effect on biology. they come up with management decisions and then assess if they can carry them out without a decrease in hunting license sales the following year. if they just did what's maybe right but it caused a decrease in license sales say by half, would you be willing to pay twice the cost for your license? maybe you'd rather just a couple of the decision makers at DEC get their jobs canned to offset the loss in money? I'm sure that'd facilitate doing the "right" thing for the next guy or woman in line. heck if they screwed things up too bad there'd be not john at DEC headquarters because there would be no DEC at least for deer. you wouldn't have deer hunting. I doubt the screw up and associated aftermath would be that great though. would you hire your plumber that only knows plumbing to wire your house? cornell does surveys and DEC has the task of management decisions it's that simple. they don't have the man power to conduct the survey and aren't nearly as good at doing it. if they did it'd be the least important person, maybe in intern, doing the grunt part of processing the results. that make you all warm and fuzzy? lol you know everything DEC is responsible for outside of deer and just making management decisions. Come on! Don't be asking that last question you posted. I know it was 5:30AM and you're a little numb to DEC's performance but stay in the game and keep your eye on the prize!