steve863

I'm liking this forum because of less moderation. If you said anything against AR's or QDM in the old forum, you were immediately on someone's $#!+ list. So far, so good here and I see very little bickering. Besides, what's wrong with a debate anyway??

No kidding, Doe! And those ear tags not only had the price, but the deers serial number, complete family history, and how many viles of sperm samples they have in storage from him. It's QDM, after all!! LOL

If there's any hunting celebrity who makes my blood boil, it's Nugent! I know a lot of hunters out there seem to idolize this guy. Why? I surely will never know! He is exactly the type that we don't need portraying hunters. He seems to think that he is a spokesman for hunters in this country, and what does he go out and do? Gets himself a rather serious game violation, that's what!! I don't like the fact that this might tarnish the hunters image even more in the eyes of the non-hunting public, but I can't say I feel sorry for the idiot one tiny bit! Jim Zumbo was practically black listed from the hunting industry a couple of years ago, and he surely didn't get busted for a game violation either. If the same doesn't happen to this creep for this incident, I will know that something isn't right with the industry AND the hunters who look up to this guy!

Tried to get a tag for unit 4P but NO luck this year. Had one the last 2 years, but looks like my luck ran out. I guess I will be hunting during muzzleloader season for that doe. Don't exactly love the idea of having to hunt that late in the year, but it looks like that will be my only option. Skipped ML season last year altogether since I had gotten a buck and doe during the regular season.

I give them a LOT of credit for not giving in to anti-hunting forces in a liberal leaning state like NY. Look at NJ with the bear seasons and all. I think we have gained hunting opportunities in NY in recent years, not lost. Yeah, private hunting land is not easy to find like it once was, but that has more to do with landowners than it does with the DEC. In general I think they have done a pretty good job.

I whole heartedly agree with you here!!

In general statistics can be quite accurate. The DEC is happy enough with the stats they get on the annual deer kills and such because whether we like it or not, all that matters to them is that deer get shot, and that's pretty much it. Pin point accuracy on the actual totals isn't too important to them. As far as the 60% statistic on hunters in favor of AR's , it most probably was a show of hands at some hunt club meeting. I'm sure a few of those hunters lifted their hands while they were eating some hot dogs or sausages and the DEC representative doing the count mistook the dogs and sausages for raised fingers, thus the percentage was skewed even more! LOL

What is interesting is that there seemed to be a lot more support for them on the old forum. Some of the more vocal people either haven't found this site yet, or haven't wanted to get into the discussion here. Maybe that PA report is keeping them quiet now? LOL. What is also interesting is that in my WMU unit where they tried to implement AR's last year there were apparently 60% who were for them. I have always called that figure BS, because NO one asked me or anyone I know who hunts in that area what our opinions were. I know that some little known "sportsmans" clubs in my WMU were pushing AR's big time and maybe they fed the DEC these percentages that were allegedly for them. Luckily the DEC decided against them. They wanted a supermajority being for them before they implemented them. I know the AR supporters squacked at this supermajority idea, but I have a hunch that the DEC did this because they knew that this 60% figure was FAR from accurate! Hopefully they also wake up and get rid of them in the 4 units where they were implemented a few years ago.

I hear you there! Absolutely NO way would I want to be that hunter. Lots of areas like that in Westchester and Long Island. Many hunters just love to hunt these areas, but they can KEEP the big bucks that can roam around these areas. Absolutely NO way do I want to be in such a scenario!!

My question is what do you mean by a little more accuracy in gun season? Lots of rifles and shotguns out there that will be more than accurate enough to put a deer down. You don't need a muzzleloader for hunting accuracy. If you still want a muzzleloader, there are lots of goods ones for not too much money. If you go to the CVA website, http://www.cva.com/, they have a bunch of videos that show you step by step how to shoot one and maintain one. Not very hard at all. I only bought one several years ago and it was a snap to get it shooting.

Definitely agree with you there. I know lots of guys love to hunt Long Island and Westchester because there are many deer and some big bucks, but I don't care how good the hunting can be. I don't want to be knocking on anyone's door asking permission to retrieve the deer I just shot at and somehow happened to keel over between their shiny Weber BBQ and their swimming pool!

I don't know. I have seen treestands way closer than that many times. I don't see this law being enforced much. With people hunting smaller and smaller properties, this law surely isn't being followed. In suburban areas people are hunting in peoples backyards, so they surely are within 500 feet of a dwelling in many cases. I know one stand up the road where I hunt. It's probably 30 yards from a town road and within 500 feet from two different dwellings. Once the leaves are down during the gun season the hunter can be seen in his blaze orange up in the tree from a considerable distance. Don't think he has gotten any fines yet since he is up there every year.

From my experience it's easier to become a good shot with a modern bow than it is with a rifle at ranges that both weapons should be shot at. I find it easier shooting a bow at 25 to 30 yards than it is shooting a rifle at 100, in field shooting positions. Granted shooting at game with a bow is a whole different ballgame than shooting at styrofoam targets. Lots of bowhunters shoot darn well at targets yet don't kill any deer or screw up when the opportunity arises. I nonetheless have way MORE confidence with my rifle over any bow out there. For the life of me I can't imagine how holding a heavy, clunky, awkward crossbow would be easier to shoot than a modern compound bow? I bet if you put a few novice shooters to shoot each, they would be shooting better with the compound bow sooner than they would the crossbows. I don't think I have ever seen anyone shoot that horribly with a compound bow after only a little practice. I can't say the same about a rifle and surely can't see it happening with a crossbow which is similar in many ways to shooting a gun.

Doe, I'm sure that has something to do with hunter numbers, but in general I think the older hunters are dying out and the lack of interest in hunting by young people is what is effecting hunter numbers most of all. Add to it the lack of private land available, poor economy, and people having to work longer hours than ever. Lots of things going against hunting right now. NYS is far from perfect, but I still think it's one of the most beautiful and diverse states in the nation. We have it all here, the sea, beaches, mountains, flat farm land, lakes, and the most famous city in the world. If times are tough here, I can't imagine them being too much better in other states. If I lose my job in this state, I somehow feel that I would eventually find another. In most other places it wouldn't be as easy and probably mean relocating again completely.

There will be some, but I don't think it will be nearly as many as some assume. Don't forget that many hunters out there just have to have something new, even if it's a totally useless POS. A good many are in debt up to their eyeballs, but have to have the latest truck, ATV, gun, bow, you name it!!

Why are so many already giving it up?? Most everyone who has hunted 20, 30 years or more will tell you that hunter numbers are nothing like they used to be. I'm sure there are numerous reasons why hunters are hanging it up, but give gun hunters yet another reason and I can't see it helping matters. There are quite a few gun hunters who don't bow hunt nor do they want to start. I doubt crossbows will make them feel any more confident about trying to fling arrows at deer.

I for one would be totally against such a setup. The gun hunters are pretty much the bread and butter of hunting licenses sold in NYS AND they kill the majority of the deer that the DEC wants killed. To think that gun hunters would give up some of the gun season just so they could hunt earlier in October with something as ineffective in killing deer compared to a rifle or shotgun as a crossbow is really wishful thinking. Absolutely NO way will it ever happen. The DEC wants to sell licenses and gun hunters are the ones who buy most of them. They won't be slapping the hands of those who butter their bread anytime soon, most especially since license sales across the board have been declining in recent years Crossbows will never be an alternative for hard core gun hunters. They would sooner be flocking into the woods during muzzleloader season, than stepping down to something way less effective as a crossbow.

Maybe you know more hunters than I do, but over the last 5 to 10 years I am seeing less and less hunters be they bow hunters, gun hunters, whatever. Todays hunting seems like a fraction of what was out there in the late 70's, early 80's when I started hunting. I somehow doubt crossbows will light the hunting world on fire in any shape or form.

Doe, somehow that made me laugh even more than the cartoon did!!! After all, as sure as the sun rises in the morning, you will find Doewhacker in a dust up somewhere in this forum!! Keep up the good work! LOL [table][tr] [td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][td] [/td][/tr][/table]

After the shot were they breathing heavily like they were about to have a heart attack? and after they walked up to the deer were they high-fiving each other to death? Just please don't tell me that they said they were "plum tickled" with the deer once they got down to pose with it?? LOL I just can't handle when they say they are "tickled"!! Maybe if I had ten naked women in a room with me I would say that I was feeling "plum tickled", but it surely wouldn't be over a dead deer, no matter how big!

WNY, I'm sure there are some hunters out there pushing for it, but I really don't think it's that many. I myself don't know of one, other than the ones I have read on this forum, who ever even talk about crossbows never mind pushing and writing letters to make them legal for hunting. I personally think there will be very few hunters switching to them and even fewer who will be taking up hunting for the first time just because crossbows are legal. I think the manufacturers have way more to gain or lose with crossbows being legal. I've got a hunch that their profits won't be effected as well as they think in NYS, however! Yeah, there are always those guys who just have to get one, but I know darned well that I won't be buying one even if they want to give it to me for $5. I already have too much junk that is taking up space in my home and garage!!

The town of Huntington range was off rt 110 a couple of mile south of the LIE. A rocks throw away from American Outdoors sports store and where the old Edelman's sporting goods store used to be. I think the range closed about 3 years ago. I used to shoot there quit a bit in my younger years, but now other commitments have me shooting only during deer season at deer and that's pretty much it. Not having any ranges close by doesn't help matters either.

I stayed out of this thread long enough. Absolutely everything these days has someone in the background pushing it and greasing palms along the way. I think it would be silly to think that crossbow manufacturers aren't at play here. There is absolutely NOTHING neutral in politics or the media these days. I work for a PR firm and see it everyday. Take any story that is shown on the news and you can be darned sure that someone behind the scenes is pushing for the story to be told the way THEY want it to be told. Absolutely NO journalistic neutrality in existence anymore. They are all paid off by someone or some corporation in various ways to tell the story the way THEY want it to be told. We have become a nation that sells itself to the highest bidder! To think that crossbow manufacturers wouldn't spend some money to grease palms in order to increase their profits from all the looney hunters out there who might run out and buy a crossbow just because they have to have one now that it's legal to hunt with one is surely naive!

I tell you the range that I miss is the one that used to be in the town of Huntington. They closed down a few years ago after being there forever. For hunters living around NYC, that was a short drive. Now the closest one is about 3 times as far way out on the Island. Not many places left to shoot high powered weapons in the NYC, Long Island area.

I think people who have butchered deer themselves would be very disappointed with most if not all meat processors. They surely won't give your venison the attention we give it ourselves. Most are in it to make a quick buck during deer season and assume that the guy picking it up knows and cares very little about it. For the most part they are probably right when it comes to people who have never butchered deer themselves.