nyslowhand

For very little extra, you can get a rider on your homeowner's policy to cover other properties you own for liability. Be Warned, a thief coverage rider is almost worthless, has a deductible and will NOT cover ATVs. So if you lose a treestand, trailcam or ATV, you're SOL. Like Growalot inferred, any decent attorney could find loopholes in that NYS law protecting landowners.

Good approach! If he/she has 1/2 a brain they'll bring up the stand on the PL themselves. If they don't, then I'd begin to suspect something is amiss.

In your vehicle or on your person if you only have the unloaded BP pistol, no permit is required. Not too sure how this applies in your home? As soon as you have BP with that same pistol, a permit is required! Best advice - get a permit or simply add it on, just in case someday you decide to actually shoot it..

Isn't this earlier than in the past? Seemed to be ~2nd Monday in August the past several years. Whatever...! Always was a sort of mile-marker for the approaching deer season for me. Let the countdown begin to Oct 1st.

Your new neighbor had (had?) the ideal situation, a home with a small plot of land, w/min taxes and the ability to hunt the property line and onto your land. Depending on exactly what the PL survey reveals, you have a couple of uncomfortable choices to make. First thing (my suggestion!) is to introduce yourself to that neighbor, explain your hunting or property usage desires, explain that you regret that any old privileges granted by old land owner are NOT carried over to your ownership and see how he/they react. This is where you need to be super tactiful and not immediately make an enemy. Could explain your plan on putting a stand near theirs and would appreciate them not shooting onto your property, for safety reason. Offer the neighbor friendly retrieval rights, which shouldn't be confused with hunting rights. Someday you may need to retrieve from their 5ac property, so that should be a reciprocal offering.You could barter hunting rights, in return for some amount of "sweat equity" on their part. OR... you could just be the A-hole and immediately put a stand up on your new property directly in front of theirs and then explain to them where the PL is and what you've done. Obviously the outcome of either scenario depends on the neighbor's reaction to your 1st meeting and how he/they perceive the situation. Unfortunately, feuds with neighbors is the worst possible scenario for a new land owner to deal with!!!

Hoping some other member can chime in on any updated gun laws regarding BP rifles & pistols. Used to be, they fell outside any online purchasing or shipping restrictions and FFL requirements. Some online reseller that weren't completely aware of NY's laws required a FFL Xfer, which wasn't necessary. You do NOT need a pistol permit in NYS for a ML pistol! BUT... as soon as you carry a ML pistol AND BP together, it becomes a different story & a pistol permit is required. Pretty sure the wonderful Safe Act didn't address ML pistols, be interested in hearing if it actually did.

Check pg3 of the new Hunting Regs booklet: PENDING Updates to Deer and Bear Hunting Seasons At the time of press, regulations are pending that would: • Allow junior hunters to take bear as well as deer during the youth firearms hunt; • Rescind an antlerless-only requirement established in 2015 during portions of the bow and muzzleloader season in some Wildlife Management Units (WMUs); • Reduce the take of antlerless deer in WMUs 6F and 6J by allowing hunters to only take antlered deer during the early muzzleloader season; • Clarify that bow/mz either-sex and antlerless-only deer tags may both be used during either bow or muzzleloader seasons by properly licensed hunters. Check DEC’s website for the latest regulation changes before heading afield this fall.

Been doing a great job!! Not just this recent upgrade, but for all the years this great forum has existed!! Kudos from all the members!!

I sort of relied on the pre-update "undo" option in posting & PMs since I'm trigger happy with my mouse. Any chance of bringing that back? Curious... How did we gain ~600 members with only a software upgrade???

John, Even consider purging the membership roles of members that have been inactive for at least a year? Nice to look at the membership being at ~5800, but I'm guessing it's closer to 1/3 of that number that have actually been active over the past year.... Accidently stumbled onto this when I'd hoover my mouse over an unrecognizable member's login name that was listed on "Today's Birthdays" on the main page. Just a forum maintenance suggestion...

This seems to be an annual debate on the forum. The ole hwgt, piledriving arrows vs the lg wgt. flatter trajectory ones... Basically comes down to being a personal preference! Different, yeah, but a lot of similarities to the debates over handguns or long rifles, which caliber is best??? Really have to look at the big picture of your bow hunting, from tackle, proficiency, personal effective range, expectations to hunting techniques and not solely at what happens at impact.Review all the opinions, but ultimately it's your choice!

Thanks everyone! Gets to a point in one's life when B'days are just another day. Did enjoy the day anyways!

Fair enough!! Know it hurt when I paid in the $800 range a couple years ago for a decent Xbow/optics s/u, so this thread makes me cringe! Definitely, to each their own!

Absolutely, a $1000 scope will perform much better than a $200 one, if money is not a factor.

Ahh, the old catch-22 intro to Xbow scenario. Buy an entry level Xbow that's within your budget and then realize the optics are .... less than desirable. FYI - The optics are the 1st place mfgers look to cut costs, other than the Made in China product tag. So, you upgrade the optics on the new Xbow and suddenly you've spent the same as if you'd originally gotten a better performing Xbow package with improved OEM optics. Now you have a mid-range performing Xbow with great optics. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, huh? lol Now sure about recent advancements in Xbow optics, but a couple years ago Hawke was the standard scope for upgrading.

Ahh, the old CRS syndrome.

FYI - Pretty sure this is NOT recommended by any Xbow mfgers!

Okay, so this is the 2nd year new crossbow legislation has been introduced just weeks prior to all the new NYS budget discussions. And the 2nd year it has been referred to the Environmental sub-Committee and died there. Pretty sure any legislation not moved or voted on before our lawmakers go on summer recess are purged. At least in my feeble mind there seems to be a trend developing with the timing &/or introduction of these new legislations. There seems to be overwhelming support for updated crossbow laws. The driving force seems to be NYCC. Only a suggestion, but why not prompt our legislators to introduce crossbow reform legislation in September when the new session conveniens???

I've made those rain hoods before out of pie tins, "L" brackets and painted them flat black. Yeah, they will protect the cam from some rain, but they have their drawbacks. If you put the hood too close above the cam, it'll block some ambient light and you'll end up getting false flashes during normal daylight hours. Too far above cam & they don't provide the protection you'd thought they would. Not hardly worth the time, effort or expense to try and protect a waterproof cam with a rain visor!

^^.... and an ATV or tractor to retrieve it. lol

I had a Garmin 60csx until recently and absolutely loved it. Believe the offspring might be their 64s model. Mine was super accurate, very repeatable and didn't have a lot of the bell 'n' whistles the newer models offer. As a disclaimer, was only working with a 60ac parcel & would connect to satellites in same open area every time I turned the handheld unit on!! Yeah, had to buy the regional topo map extra! Things mine did that I used most were the waypoints to locate treestands, trail cams or points of interest and the routing option to show ATV paths or stand access routes. Problem with handheld GPS units is the screen size and what you actually see &/or lose when zooming in & out. I didn't find the color option to be that beneficial, to each his/her own! Being able to download maps, waypoints, routes, etc to/from a PC and work with the mfger's mapping software is a great option. On a PC's monitor the big view looks much less cluttered with points & their names. It was a little tricky, but could cut/paste maps of specific areas & create a jpg file. I'd printout these, laminate them and use push pins or magnets to follow my annual relocation of stands, trail cams or sightings. If you have guests hunting with you, being able to attach these jpg files to a text/email made the guest's experience much less daunting. Never looked into or used these. but there are some ($$) applications you can interface aerial maps with your own GPS maps, points, etc. I've seen tax maps done this way & they are not that accurate. Probably get some accumulated inaccuracies from the unit & the aerial map when merging the two...!?!

Guessing you're talking about "Alone", where those people are put on Vancouver Island to see who can last the longest??? That show seems a little less pre-scripted than some of the other survival melodramas, like Naked & Afraid.

Been in your shoes a couple of times, mainly due to sagging economic conditions. It's really morally & mentally devastating at first. The general tendency is to beat yourself up over what has happened, but in the end you have to realize you're just a number or liability on the company's balance sheet. Once you pull yourself out of that funk, you'll realize life goes on and you'll find a way to endure! Hopefully some time in the future you'll look back and see this situation as a possible blessing in disguise. Hang in there dude, you'll survive and grow stronger!!!!

There is no official time line on these proposed bills. Remember, it still sits in a sub-committee awaiting approval before it even gets to the voting process in both houses. Then it needs the governor's approval and it's then official. Also, the legislature recesses for the summer some time at the end of June through about Labor Day, when nothing is done. So, there's basically about 8 weeks of official legislation time with approx 3 days per week that they're convened. In the past 3 years, the biggest hurdle for all crossbow legislation has been getting it out of that Environmental Conservation sub-committee and up for a vote in the assembly & senate. My guess is that if the Xbow bills aren't thru the assembly & senate before summer recess it won't be enacted for 2016. FYI - A similar bill introduced in 2015 died in the Enviro Cons sub-committee.

Regardless whether the tom is strutting, looking around, pooping, whatever - if his head & neck are extended, he's in range and it's clear behind him - KABOOM! That's the plan, but it becomes a different story after you've been calling to him for some time and then suddenly there he is within range...!