nyslowhand

Just in case you wondered: There is no evidence that Lyme disease is transmitted from person-to-person. For example, a person cannot get infected from touching, kissing, or having sex with a person who has Lyme disease.

Don't smoke & don't get old! Other than that, layering as mention by everyone else!

Are you talking about those 1X red dot scopes? As far as I know all Xbows come with ~4X scope with multi X-hairs or dots for different yardages. Definitely need a way to shoot at different yardages and have multiple sighting dots/X-hairs!! It's nothing like having a single pin on a compound bow!! Not impossible, but I have never seen a bare-bones Xbow package w/o a scope!??! BTW - IMO, a good scope on a low end ($) Xbow makes that weapon much better. Conversely, a crappy scope on a great Xbow will be disappointing, to say the least!

Used to live in Dundee and worked in the Penn Yan, Branchport, Middlesex areas years ago. Lots of big buck stories every year from that region! If it were me, I'd set correct date & time on the cams! Might be useful!!!!

After reading this topic, the knifemaking sounds fairly straight-forward compared to all the metallurgy involved. Guess I'll ask the obvious, stupid questions... Isn't there a lot of trial and error in involved in any home or garage shop hardening equipment s/u or methods used? How in the world do you know when your blade is at the ideal (HRC?) hardness? Not to hard & brittle, but just enough to hold an edge and be durable. Not to mention thinking about fabricating a DIY Damascus billet. Boggles my feeble mind how you accomplish this at home!!! Very cool hobby all the same!!!!

Very interesting testing parameters, but to base the (F&S) conclusions on a single dog's sniffing abilities... very inconclusive!! Seen a lot of supposedly scientific data posted about a whitetail's sense of smell and vision. Other than testing on penned deer, how in the world do the biologist know for sure what a deer in the wild actually sees or smells??? One consideration no one has brought up about this debate is the intrusion factor of where you hunt. If you try to minimize your intrusions onto your hunting spots through out the year... Hell yeah, the deer's nose will p/u your odor. Whether using any scent-free process or not! If you are on your hunting property most of the year, like I am, they get used to your odor & pretty much depend on their other senses to tell if you're around, hearing & vision. Surprised some one hasn't brought up the old urban hunting legend of decades gone by of sitting in a stand in your street clothing, smoking, drinking coffee and shooting as many deer as the modern day fully camo'ed, scent-free, super stealthy hunters do.

Really hope the Mets do well! But, the Cubs are on some kind of divine destiny trip. lol

Ahh, the annual debates about arrow wgt, Ke vs speed & trajectory, best vanes length and how dead is dead! You shoot a lot of arrows to perfect your form and develop a muscle memory for the one shot you take while hunting is the exact same as you've practiced! IMHO, taking 5-6 shots at different intervals is better than 30+ at one time! Just me! Advertised IBO arrow speeds are the same as the MPG on cars, both are done in lab conditions, by machines and remotely controlled. Neither are achievable by the consumer! Lot of trade-offs about using lighter or heavier arrows. Do your research and decide what fits your bow/arrow s/u and hunting situation best! Neither speed nor Ke should be considered solely! The one thing I would suggest that would help you immensely...Next summer when you get the bow out, play with your draw wgt. Figure out exactly how many turns on the limb screw it goes from your current ~52# to the max 70+#. Then back off each limb screw (evenly!) maybe 2/3 of what you originally tightened them. Should put you in the ~57-58# range. Evenly & exactly....keeps your cam(s) timing in sync! Doesn't sound like much, but should see less differences in consistent shot placement for guess-timated yardage variations. IF...you can still draw straight back and not do the old windmill draw. AND..still have a reasonable hold time at full draw! Assuming your bow is set for max let-off. Good luck!

Another topic where it's "to each his/her own". Whatever works for you, for where & how you hunt! BUT...anyone that keeps trail cams out into bow season knows this. They have somewhat semi-predictable patterns, at least into ~3rd week of Oct. If you hunt food sources, you know they are pretty much out of them 1-1.5hrs after sunrise or same timeframe before sunset into the food. Closer to Halloween their movements start to get really random and super unpredictable! Naturally depending on local food source availability! Then you get into the actual rut & all bets are off! LOL. Bless those of you than can sit all day, but my age induced ADD won't allow for this anymore and I'm pretty much relegated to be a 3hr sitter. Basically, there's no rule of thumb for how long to sit in the AM. Way too many variables; your habits & lifestyle, the food available, the weather, the habitat, time of the season, habits of local deer, surrounding area intrusions by humans, ........ on & on & on!

..... as in an insurance (fire) claim?

From my experience setting up and using ladder stands over the years...take it or leave it! Would be a little concern about your idea of putting it "a few yards off the main trail". Try to keep mine ~15yrds or so off any main travel routes. As good as it might sound to be positioned directly on a deer path, can be nerve wracking to have them directly underneath your stand. Esp true for bow hunting, gives you poor shot opportunities. FYI - A deer's line of sight is horiz to the ground, so any elevation changes causes them to possibly be looking directly up at a stand placed at the top of a gulley as they're traveling up it..!?! Also if you have any concerns about the backdrop or skylighting of a stand now, wait until the leaves are off the trees!!!!! It could become a major problem then! Whether this actually works or helps, have no clue, but it gives me more confidence in any new set-ups. Place small branches on ladder section and horiz support bar to break up its' outline. May be up some 10-12'. Either intertwined on ladder rungs or tie wrapped to vertical sections of ladder. My theory (??) is it helps deer acclimate to any new shape or outline in their home turf. God only knows what a deer is thinking, but in my feeble mind.... Also a big fan of putting the camo material around the sides of the platform section. IMHO, breaks up the outline of your legs and any hand or foot movements are semi-undetectable. Have used the burlap camo cloth & it can act like a sail in windy conditions. I like to use the die cut cloth, which allows the air movement thru the cloth. Again, only for my personal confidence level.

An oil stone with different grits on each side. Primarily the fine grit side, hardly ever need coarse grit! That's for my hunting and pocket folder knives. If I purchased my kitchen knives from any place other than WalMart, supposed I'd have a different method to keep an edge on them other than a cheapo, generic draw gizmo with ceramic rods.

FYI - They all do it, Mathews, Hoyt, BowTech, Bear, Parker, etc. Very few companies are strictly focused on one or the other types of bows! Lots of these traditional compound & Xbow companies also have off-shoot or sister companies offering downscaled or less expensive archery equipment. It's all about the marketing and the green-backs! IMO, not so much about being isolated from criticism!

Since I've had the privilege of seeing this cabin & property in person, have to admit "rustic" doesn't do any justice to describing the cabin itself! Actually hand-made from local timber, not one of those kits made in a factory & assembled on site! IMHO, the cabin has the appearance & feel of more pioneer or mountain man-ish than merely "rustic"!!! BTW - A super "get-away" cabin and property package with many more intangibles than OP mentioned!

Speechless....Super inspirational person story about how you did not let your physical limitations keep you from pursuing your passion for hunting! Hoping whatever higher being you might believe in is looking down on you and blessing you!!!!!

Probably not the same... On my 10pt cocking device, found if I put one finger on the engage/disengage lever, it quieted down the cranking noise some. Not the easiest thing to do!!

^^ also should have noted, angle comp might be useful if you like to hunt in the tree tops, 20+' high in the stand.

NO big bucks in Wayne County!!! Nothing but an overpopulated doe concentration. Just ask the DEC. Hunt WNY, CNY, LI, ADK regions.

In a tree stand, a rangefinder with angle compensation is only useful if the target is less than 10-15yrds, Disclaimer is unless you're s/u on a ridgeline and shooting up or down hill. Find a website and plug-in some of the trig!

Who gives a crap about the wallpaper!!!! lol Now that knife is cool. A damascus blade?

This is interesting, not the part about whether ladies actually fart, about deer camp rules.

Like she mentioned, to divert their travel route onto/off of her property. Up here in apple country, technology is beginning to catch up with some of the ~150yo orchards. Newer varieties of cash crop apples are replacing older, lighter producing, aged trees. Very similar to a vineyard, on trellis. Huge initial investment for these apple farmers that have had the farms passed down for several generations. Pay-back is lower labor costs for harvesting and faster, less costly spray applications. Deer will destroy these new plantings over one winter. To protect their investment, most new trellised orchards are then fenced in around the perimeters with 10' high fencing. More to the point...You wouldn't believe how far the deer now travel to skirt around these fenced-in orchards to get to the older, traditional apple orchards. So..if you build it (a food source), they will come (around a fence)!!!

^...............and close your eyes as you hand your credit card to the salesperson! lol

Welcome aboard from a fellow 8F'er! Unfortunately, you probably won't find this forum much different than any others. Lot of strong opinions, hot-button topics, topics going sideways quickly, seasonally higher aggression levels, big egos, a lot of "keyboard courage", etc. Just have to learn to pick 'n' choose topics and avoid ones that turn ugly. All that typical stuff aside, some really interesting discussions go on within this forum!!!!

First time out is always a test run, at least for me too!