steve863

I will never understand what the glamour is behind using an AR for deer hunting, but to each there own I guess. I fail to see any advantages to it. With all it's nooks and crannies it must be snagging on everything in the woods. I have more issues with the .223 caliber than the AR rifle itself, however. Funny, but just recently I talked to a couple of experienced deer hunting guides in another state. Without me coaxing them they went off on how they cringe whenever any client brings a .243 along to hunt, which is the minimum caliber in their state. They both wholeheartedly agreed that they've had to deal with more F-ups by those shooting the .243, than ANY other caliber by a WIDE margin. I can only imagine what they'd say about the .223! LOL

There are reasons that many states don't allow .223 for deer hunting. Your friend should consider himself lucky so far, but luck has a way of running out. Maybe he's careful and picks his shots, who knows, but in general there are a hell of a lot of BETTER calibers out there than the piddly .223.

So why did our insurance rates go up on average of 10-15 % per year before Obamacare? That's right, we were paying for those who didn't have it and for those who abused it. No different than what you are claiming will happen now. As imperfect as Obamacare is, at least now some of the cost will be distributed to those deadbeats that never bothered to cough up the money before. With the old system, that would have NEVER happened.

It's like every other issue in this country. Nothing ever gets resolved anymore because if it ever did, someone would NO longer be making money off of it. The whole idea has become to keep issues alive for decades without ever coming to any sort of compromise and resolution. They keep going around and around on issues just so they could keep the money flowing (into their pockets). Very sickening, but that's where we are at and I don't see things changing anytime soon.

Good point. I tell you, if Romney had been in office during the Sandy Hook shootings, you'd have seen national gun control on AR guns, high-cap magazines and such. The ONLY reason a law wasn't enacted is that the republicans are using it as a political tool. It wins them votes to be against anything Obama might want to do, so they shot any gun control measures down. Plenty of republicans don't sleep comfortably knowing that the populace has a lot of firepower, just like democrats. Just wait until the next republican sits in the White House and you have another one of these massacres. The NRA won't do $#!+ about it either!

Got to love these bowhunters who want to kill a brown bear with a bow and then they have a guy with a rifle standing right over his shoulder just in case he screws it up. If he wants to kill one with a bow, then leave the rifles out of it. Otherwise just hunt with a rifle and be done with it.

A hunting "mecca" to me is where you have a large chunk of land, and a good amount of game. Iowa, Kansas could be considered whitetail meccas along with Saskatchewan and Alberta in Canada. You can put Sussex county NJ along with a bunch of other counties in NJ together and the land mass is a drop in the bucket compared to anything I'd consider a mecca. Good luck to all those non-residents flocking into NJ to hunt bears! LOL

So you got some lard butt bears in NJ, how does that make it a mecca? Hunting on the outskirts of suburbia will NEVER be a hunting mecca for me. Lots of big deer on LI, too, yet to me that is not the type of hunting I want to participate in. In NJ you have political fighting on even holding a bear season at all, so in my way of thinking the state is far from a mecca for any kind of hunting. They can keep it.

Maybe this new group would also remove the trophy aspect from hunting, which in turn would keep the cost of hunting to reasonable levels? You wouldn't have everyone and their uncles leasing land for top dollar to hunters hungry for trophies. I surely would welcome that, but I'm sure others wouldn't. Who knows what would happen? Urbanites can bring money into it too, so who knows for sure?

Man, that's vicious. LOL Now I dare you to call Bubba pretty!

The Hekawi's were brave warriors that were afraid of their own shadows! F-Troop was a classic show. They had reruns on everyday when I was a kid. They surely don't make them like that anymore!

Maybe you guys are right. Maybe there are significant numbers of these people entering the hunting ranks, I don't know for sure, but I really wonder how things would pan out for us if they ever became the majority? Hell, things are bad enough now, I just don't know how a totally urbanized mindset would work in the hunting world. Probably would have as many negatives as being represented by only the good ole' boys and Ted Nugent. Would be interesting for sure.

Very good pronunciation Wooly. I am an expert in native American dialects. Learned everything I know from listening to the Hekawi indians on reruns of F-Troop. LOL

I've come across articles like these. To me they are more PR type articles promoting someones book than they are factual articles about hunting, why most people hunt and why it's needed. These people who somehow decided they wanted to hunt because they want to be more in touch with nature will probably never be the majority of those hunting. What I don't see is positive articles about why the rest of us hunt, for whatever other reasons it may be.

In general, you will never get a positive portrayal of hunting by the mainstream media. Just won't happen, no matter what you say or how intelligently you might say it. They will use sound bites or spin it the way they want to, which surely won't be to the benefit of hunters. This won't be changing any time soon either. If anything it will only get worse. My own approach is to not stir things up. Hunting is legal in all 50 states, and no matter how many people might be against it, I don't see states banning it and losing the millions of revenue they get from it. Sure, you might get a few referendums put out somewhere where certain types of hunting might lose out, but in general hunting isn't going anywhere. If anything these coyote contests being advertised brings MORE of the attention to hunting that we DON'T need, so in the long run how is this benefitting us? Probably best to just be quiet and do what we like to do, which is hunt. Won't stir things up with anyone, and for the most part no one will even realize that we are even hunting. Just as being illusive can make one a better hunter, I think being illusive amongst non-hunters can be more beneficial than being too loud.

Really good post. I wouldn't disagree about hunters being ambassadors, but to me they need to be POSITIVE ambassadors. Some people want to be "in your face" about it, like Ted Nugent and NYAntler. In my opinion those type of attitudes don't work with non-hunters. How many pickup trucks do I see riding down the road with hunting stickers on their windshields and then of course there's the steel balls hanging from the hitch in the back. Is that a positive image of hunters and hunting? I don't think so. For every one positive ambassador out there, there's probably ten that are messing things up for us in one way or the other.

Almost forgot an important one. Biz-R-O will send one over Four Season Whitetail's deer pen. The drone will be carrying scissors, and he'll guide it over Four Season's head to cut off his mullet. LOL

I plan to use some drones next year to verify whether forum members actually unload their weapons and leave their stands before legal shooting time ends. LOL Phade will use one to spy on Doc. He's got to be using a treestand at least some of the time! LOL Paula will send one over Bubba's cabin. She likes Bubba and wants to get a look at him from all different angles. LOL Pygmy will send one over Growalot's property. Pygmy can chime in on the reasons why. LOL

When it comes to hunting, I for one prefer to remain in the shadows with non-hunters. What people don't know about me will never hurt them, nor can they use it against me. It has been my observation that flaunting things like kills or guns has more of a detrimental effect, than a positive one. If I kill something, I could care less to share the news with non-hunters. If they somehow find out about my hunting and want to ask questions, I will answer politely. Other than that I am not telling anyone anything.

I fail to see how NJ is a mecca for any sort of hunting? Just because a 700 lbs bear that was probably getting his meals from garbage cans gets shot doesn't make NJ a bear hunters heaven.

Breaking News: The fight between Doc and Phade has spilled into the street.

blur, that's why you didn't get any deer this year. You should get to your stand in the dark and shoot them 5 minutes before legal shooting time like the rest of us! LOL

Geno escaped before he got washed away. Don't think I've seen any big buck kills from him this year either. Not as easy killing them upstate as it was on LI. LOL

LOL. Doc, I'm sure there's will be a spot for you next to Saint Peter and Saint Paul for never breaking the legal shooting time rules in NYS, while the rest of us will no doubt burn in hell. See you in hell fellas!

Well yes, I guess it depends what "rack" we are talking about. But then again, there may be some hairy armpit mountain women out there, that may like them even more than us guys do. LOL