Two Track

welcome to the forum and good luck this season.

My plans failed, still in the office. Starting to look more like Saturday will be first day hunting.

Hopefully tomorrow night, if can get out of the office at a normal time for once and my back stops hurting. Pulled something in it moving a BBQ propane tank yesterday. Strange since I have carried two tanks at a time before.

Squirrels and chipmunks for their noise. Had one squirrel climb up the tree I was in to the point I could have clubbed him. Action wise: people taking dogs off leash - especially when everything is marked hunting season wear bright colors, dogs must be on a 6 foot or shorter leash and they just let their yellow labs run through. Doubly so when the public land is restricted to hunters only for big game season and the owner is only carrying a doggy poo bag while wearing a tan jacket.

The officer, if on private property, should be punished. If it was under orders, the punishment should go up the chain to the one who issued the order too. If they can be disciplined for using their police lights to skip traffic lights for non-emergency use (like patrolling), they should be punished for destruction or theft of private property. Wonder if the cop is wearing a t-shirt that reads "Obama for a third term" under his uniform. After breaking the 2nd amendment (since the 1st and the fourth have already been recently assaulted), who can stop him taking a third or fourth term (ignoring the 22nd). Long before he was elected, I knew Obama was a socialist that was going mess up our country. It worked for Bloomburg to ignore the city election laws to get a third term... or declare a federal emergency and suspend the next elections... oh wait I am giving out ideas. I know, before someone says it - conspiracy theory. But Obama and those under his charge, plus Feinstein are throwing away the Constitution. If the idiots keep electing persons similar to Obama's tendencies in governance, this will come to pass. I think it is going this way: You are given an illegal order, follow it or be court marshalled or thrown out of police-force and be discredited (depending on the situation) You follow the order and things go bad from it, so you are made the scape goat. You blow the whistle instead and are declared a felon for leaking info and send to Gitmo.

I think are three major contributors. Hunter safety courses have been around for about forty years. Some states have separate courses for turkey licenses, re-enforcing the safety aspects again. I think the decline in numbers of hunters is another part of this. Decline in numbers is due to aging out (too old to physically be able to go out), loss of interest or places to hunt, increased costs of hunting leases/supplies, less youth learning to hunt, less game available, less time to hunt (more work hours, more activities at school, etc). Past problems on certain game lands has increased patrolling by DEC and regular police officers to stop/reduce the problems. Another part is alcohol awareness. A lot of locations no longer allow alcohol, period (including at camp outs and picnics). I remember tagging along in the 70's for rabbit hunting with my great-uncles. They would crack open a beer or two, release the dogs and then hit the field and woods. Now most people understand that guns or driving a car does not mix well with drinking alcohol. Of course if you are stand hunting these days, you have harnesses to reduce deaths cause by falling out of the stand. If you are up in a stand, you can usually see more to know if there is another hunter on the other side of a brush pile that can not be seen from the ground. A stand will also tend to keep you out of the line of fire from hunters on the ground. Re-inforcement of safe actions from home always help. My father always drilled into me and we are teaching my son the same thing, "when in doubt, err on the side of caution". The is doubt defined as: distance of the shot good backstop possible good clear kill shot safe fire zone (buildings, roads, other persons)

Won't hit fifty for a few more years, but need to drop a few myself. Since changed to a desk job 12 years ago, I grew some additional stomach muscles and neck muscle. I started walking the dog a couple miles in the evening, and that helped until we had a bear hanging out in the neighborhood. That put the 5 lbs lost back on. Once the bear was gone, starting walking the dog until it was just too hot to do that. Started to take walks again since it cooled off again, and guess who was in my yard at 6:00 the other night. I think the bear is in hanging out in the wildlife preserve and not in the state forest. Having the office picnic and our anniversary dinner the same week did not help much either - couldn't let good tasting food go waste. I skipped the cookies and cupcakes at the picnic. It was 't because I shouldn't have them, I was just too full. Even skipped dinner that night. Not looking forward to my checkup with the doctor next week. I use to run in high school until I beat up my knees - 2 miles in 12 minutes. Now take the dog out for 2 to 2 1/2 miles in 30-40 minutes (she has to stop and check every fire hydrant and sign posts for the "calling" cards) She helps keep the pace up going uphill. Here is a weight suggestion for training. Use a pack and put bottles of water in it. If gets too heavy drink some or pour out some to reduce the weight. Gradually add weight after a couple weeks or so. That is how we trained to go backpacking in the initial phases to determine our carry-weight capacity about 30 years ago.

disagree mostly. Since I see a couple deer per month killed in traffic, I don't understand why they have an AR zone near me. I do not want an old monster buck that is tough to chew, let alone drag out by myself. Getting meat to reduce the grocery bill is my priority - doe or buck. If it has spots or is the size of a large dog, it gets a pass until next year. If it is a massive deer that looks like it would kill me by dragging it out myself, it gets a pass permanently. Some of the public land by me is split, part is AR and the rest isn't. Have not hunted at all in any season in the AR zone. My son is 16 and has not gotten a deer yet. Since he is not on a junior license at this point, AR's would now apply to him. Due to his school activities he only gets out 3-4 times during deer season, so we avoid the AR zone to keep his options open. We aren't looking to fill all of our tags, just get a couple deer to fill the freezer. But that is how I was brought up.

Benelli M4 will depend on the options. Needs to hold 5 rounds or less, no flash suppressor or muzzle brake. Check your gun's configuration and compare it to the NY safe act regulations. Go to the DEC website to look for listing of state lands that allow hunting. You can go to Tuxedo, NY (Orange County) to hunt in Sterling Forest after applying for and getting a permit to hunt there. Opening weekend for deer is closed to anyone applying at this point - I waited 2 days to long to get a permit valid for opening weekend of gun deer season. That is about 1 hour from NYC. There is also Stewart State Forest near Newburgh (shotgun and bow only). If you get a 3P doe permit, you can apply for a permit for hunting in some zones in WestPoint (the Military Academy for the Army). Must harvest a doe first. In Putnam County you can try Canberry Mountain, The Great Swamp, or Bog Brook. If you have the equipment to camp you could also go to the Catskills or rent a room somewhere to give that a try - about 2 hours from NYC. NY is a single projectile state when it comes to deer, so for shotgun it is slugs only. If you have a shotgun with a slug barrel (rifled shotgun barrel), then you can use a Sabot round - gives you more range.

That is a huge loss. May be you can pre-fabricate sections for a permanent stand and get it in place over the weekend to reduce the activity out there. If i lived closer, I would lend a hand in building the replacements in exchange for a few hours of hunting time. Hunting solo gets boring after awhile - miss the days of hunting with family and close friends from high school. When my grandparents had the farm, we occasionally had trespassers during hunting season. That gets scary during deer gun season (flat lands only 12ft elevation variance), not knowing how "safe" they are. After 3-4 instances of uninvited persons hunting on the family property, we started using stands to keep above the line of fire. Our "portable" 70 + lbs home-made steel stands were put out occasionally just before sunset of the day before opening day and we hauled them out when done for day. The rest of the season we set them up in the dark when we went out to hunt - location varied by what field we spotted the deer feeding in last. Since we knew we had instances of trespassers that were never caught, we avoided tempting fate with our stands. It was more work every hunting trip, but we knew we had a stand to sit in. The plus side to doing it this way was we could leave out a 4 ft section of ladder to be lower on windy days or borrow a section from stand that was idle and get up 4 ft higher. We did not have to go out to inspect the stand before season, we just pulled it out of the barn, checked the wooden seat and foot rest, and the lines. Then do a test set up. We then would do a paint touch-up if necessary. The goose field blind had to be checked before every use as someone once baited the field (baiting geese was illegal where we at lived at the time). The blind was unlikely to be stolen due to the sheer weight. It was on 4x4 runners with a floor made of 2X6's and sat up to 5 people. There may have been a lock on the door of it to keep it from being "borrowed" onsite. Its been in storage for the past 20 years. My dad has introduced deer hunting to friend with a farm and they are using 2 man permanent elevated blinds They are difficult to see from the road until all the leaves drop. They decided that since they are in their 60's, carrying stands is not for them any more. You can't drive directly to those permanent stands without a 4X4 or a large tractor. The field edge road has several locations that you can easily get stuck in - a theft deterrent.

Cute pic. Reminds of the one that use to hang upside-down from the bird feeder stealing the bird seed - before we got the dog. He would never fatten up at my house. My dog loves chasing squirrels. Plus the dog also likes eating their food: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, peanuts, cashews, and walnuts. I have to go elsewhere to find squirrels these days.

Welcome aboard. Some great scenery in the Catskills. I try to get at least one camp out in the Catskills every year. One place I like go is Mongaup Pond, near Livingston Manor - especially in the fall. A lakeside site at peak foliage is a great place to be, especially if the lake is still enough to provide a mirror image. Wish I was there, perfect camping weather right now.

A lot of those statements seemed true and funny to me. In fact my sister and I are on opposite sides of the fence. She joined moms-against-guns. Funny thing is she wants to inherit one of our grandfather's shotguns. A kind of exception I guess to the generality. I never click that vote for all bar for "x" party. I vote by who can do the job no matter what party they are in. I even avoid using the Republican & Democrat switch if possible. Although I do tend to mostly lean towards one party. I do not like politics at all, and it even happens in my office.

Growing up, I had gotten my deer in the morning only - that was the only time we would see them, except after dark feeding. Since in NY, see most of of the deer in the morning. I have only seen one deer in the afternoon (except in non-hunting areas), but it was in a field across the road from where I was set up. Once it s past shooting time I will see a couple deer moving around. Mind you, this has been in gun season only. The exception is the three I saw sitting in someone's front yard in town around 1:00, just as the season started - who gave them the DEC regs? If I am 15-20 mins from home I break for lunch and go home and go out later in the afternoon. If I go hunting further, I am out for the day. Set up in the morning until 11:30 then check the area for recent sign while headback to truck to eat lunch. Sometimes will stay there, or will move to another spot for the afternoon. I have also broken my day into three, deer early morning, 11-1:30 pheasant hunt, then set up for deer the rest of the afternoon (of course I am not hunting pheasant in the same area I deer hunt in).

35 lbs is minimum draw weight. I have pasted selective items from DEC's site pertaining to archery. Manner of TakingIt is unlawful to: Possess a firearm of any description when bowhunting or when accompanying a person bowhunting during special archery seasons.It is unlawful to hunt big game with: A firearm or bow aided by any artificial light or a laser that projects a beam toward the target. A bow with a draw weight of 35 lbs or less. Arrows with barbed broadheads; arrowheads less than 7/8 inches at the widest point or with less than 2 sharp cutting edges. http://www.dec.ny.gov/outdoor/8305.html

Best year was two. Since moved to New York, I have been shut out. Had a deer picked, knew where and when he would show - someone beat me to the spot and took him out first last year. Saw a few others, but had no good shot to take (staring at tails going away). Trying archery this year, maybe I can get one by starting earlier with a bow vs. waiting for gun season.

First we had GMO corn and soy, now they are creating GMO deer to have more trophy level antlers. No thanks for me. I have kids who are very sensitive to corn and soy, and the hormone-enhance milk and suspect it is the GMO crap. Makes feeding them difficult and expensive. I would never knowingly take one of those deer to feed my family, probably make them sick. They should stick to more important things - wiping out CWD, preventing avian flu, etc.

Wife's B-day on opening day, plus she may have broken a toe, so couldn't get out opening weekend at all. Went out on the 8th for 4-5 hours. Didn't see any squirrels, but did find acorns. Heard a squirrel off in a swampy area, but wasn't wearing water-proof boots to check it out. The crows were even staying out of range. Last year we had squirrels all over the yard, haven't noticed any in the past couple of months. Hope to check out another area this weekend if I can get out. Good luck out there everyone.

Buck about 10 foot away during season about 2 years ago. Didn't take the shot as couldn't see any way to get through to where he was in the thick brush. Of course he went deeper into thick brush and then into the swamp. Back when I was in college, had 2-3 does does run right by me 4-5 feet to my right during season when I was on the old woods road. Squirrels had been playing there earlier and we were about to head back to the truck so I did not have a round in the chamber at the time. About 4-5 years ago we had 2-3 deer that would walk through the yard and observe the kids playing. One day one of the young does and my then 8-year-old daughter were cautiously approaching each other. They got about 3 feet apart before the deer got nervous and bolted. I was nervous about my kid getting so close to the deer. Told her to not do that again.

Mongaup Pond State Park campground in the Catskills is open through the Sunday of Columbus day weekend. No hunting in the campground, but the surrounding state lands (minus the wildlife education camp and fish hatchery) are open for hunting. Their primitive camp sites (no water, bathrooms, or johnny-on-the-spot) are outside of the main campground, so those can be used at any time. Not sure if you need to check for availability in advanced or not. If I recall correctly, the primitive sites are near the ranger's house at Mongaup Pond. A few miles out of Mongaup Pond is a Boy Scout camp. I don't recall the name of it. I have seen some boy scout camps (at least one in Maryland) allow deer hunts on non-campsite portions of the property to reduce the deer herd that was starting to over-run the camp. Some also allow rental of a cabin to non-scouts during off-season (usually to a family of other small group). Of course no adult beverages are allowed on scout property. So that is something else that can be looked into.

My grandfather kept the ground hog population in check - kept a rifle in his truck all spring and summer. Shot them on sight. Took out a couple every week on what used to be the family farm. Their dens in a field will reek havoc with $140k harvester. I would scope him and give him some lead poisoning. I think a ground hog is what is eating my great-mother's irises that we saved and planted at my house. Too bad I live in town, or he would get the same treatment my grandfather handed out. Guess I will have to sneak up on him and play whack-a-mole as long as no kids are outside. Wish we had a season for dove here. We use to get a few doves while out rabbiting hunting. They were good eating as I recall. We even got a dove when we went out goose hunting once - the geese were a no show, but the doves came into the harvested cornfield we had the blind in.

some of those a pretty scary(especially the ones calling any semi-auto an assault weapon), others will be a god-send if passed. The concealed carry using federal guidelines and forcing states to recognize and honor permits issued by other states, and the H.R. 2625: Student Protection Act to put schools on notice to not punish students for pastry, Lego, GI Joe, or finger gun, or an NRA or support 2nd Amendment shirt I think need to get passed. The proposals by the Californians (like Feinstein), Engel, Schumer, Gildabrand, Lautenberg, etc need to be killed in committee.

I 've seen no ticks since Spring Turkey season. Mosquitoes are a different story - I am still itching from being out Sunday squirrel hunting and scouting for locations for fall turkey and deer. I even went out wild berry picking a few times this summer and saw no ticks ... so far.

Doc, Some, like me, have written our district reps. Mine is against this and is trying to get a repeal on the NY Safe Act, but NYC seems to have most of the say - the gerrymandering doesn't help either. I use to live in Rockland County which was split into three and paired with parts of Westchester County for electing your legislators. The only thing in common is that they share the Hudson River (from opposite banks), and may work on the other side river. Voting power is almost nil Rockland county these days. My friends there feel that voting doesn't count except when voting for county and town officials. Now if we have a 10 round capable firearm, we are currently restricted to 7 rounds. They may try to further reduce this to 5 or 3 rounds for all civilians (assuming they exempt the military and police forces) or even ban semi-automatics period because they don't understand the difference between a that and a fully automatic as seen in the movies. A lot of gun owners are afraid of the next steps they will take to reduce firearms in this state and country. Most police departments back in the 80's/90's bought military weapons for the SWAT teams or just to have in their department as part of a Federal government buy program. So the police are militarized already - look at pics of NYC police immediately after the Boston marathon bomb attack - body armor, helmets, and actual assault rifles. I am not saying that SWAT teams shouldn't have any of this, but huge numbers of regular police officers having this gear makes it look like we are heading to a police-state. Especially since a few cities have armored assault vehicles. And by the way, illegal confiscation of any firearms was done in the aftermath of Katrina so that is also in the minds of a lot of us. You had to get a lawyer and go to court to get your guns back, if they were even logged in. There were cases of police breaking fireams in-front of their owners - there is your rogue LEO's. Sometimes you have to look at worst case senarios and stir up the pot. Then you can sit down with others so you can put measures into place to prevent (or try to prevent) the worst from occurring. I am not saying we need to have a revolution, but this country was founded on the belief that an unjust government with unjust laws that does not represent the people, should be overthrown by the people in order to restore a just system of laws and government. This belief has come to surface many times in this country and blood was spelt on these beliefs. We just need to keep the blood from being spelt again. When the government is too big, everyone's rights and freedoms get stepped on. We need to get the right people in office to right the ship before we are all under it and burdened even more under its weight. By the way, if everyone just complied because it is the law we would still have the following: segregated church entrances (race and sex [women use to sit in separate pews from the men by virtuous church doctrine]) segregated restaurants segregated bus seating segregated schools segregated military (race and sex) Sometimes non-compliance is necessary - just not in this case yet.

When the second amendment is gone, the first and fourth will be next. There will be nothing left to give the government any pause to just barge into someone's house or prevent them from speaking out on anything. That is one of the reasons the second amendment exists.