nyantler

Spending time in the woods with my son who has found a renewed interest in hunting.

As long as everyone is over 12 years old you do not have to be certified for them to handle long arms... I would require permission slips from parents however. As long as you are not certifying them for anything you do not have to be certified. Having a parental requirement might be helpful as well... mom or dad. Also check the clubs insurance policy for age restrictions.

The fox taking a dump for the camera... epic!

The "object" of good deer management is not to produce big bucks, that just happens to be the "bi-product" of good deer management. Thinking big bucks are the object is the reason most management programs are falling short.

Id like to see the research on that... kind of hard to declare something as subjective as that. My vote would be for one of the best places to hunt whitetails, but I obviously haven't done the research on it like you have. It would be interesting to find out the criteria used to determine the BEST place to hunt deer. I may have to move to another state if the hunting here isn't as good as I've thought it was all these years. I certainly hope the DEC does something as important as "making good moves that actually help something" because that is definitely what is keeping NY from being the "best".

My earlier post in no way advocates a 3 day gun season. I like the idea of a long season. It gives me plenty of time in the woods and an opportunity to hunt the buck that I want. There was also a good point made about public land where I can see a mass influx of hunters invading public lands for three days, making it difficult for everyone to get a safe spot to hunt. Not sure if a short season like that would allow NY to keep up with deer populations especially in suburban woods... I would imagine that you wouldn't be able to keep a single shrub with all the deer that would be roaming the local neighborhoods.

If there was only a 3 day gun season... in a few years there would be so many mature bucks running around everyone would be able to pass young ones... the only reason we would lose hunters is because some idiot friend decided to get married on the weekend of those three days

If those are the standards I think I'm a pass then... healthy handsome buck though.

In the ADK's I'd hunt a buck like that all day, everyday! Not a book buck but one that would give you a run for your money.

I agree... I have tracked and killed many a big buck in the last 40 years and have never seen a mature doe bigger than a any buck I have hunted ... and I have never killed a 200 lb. buck... 180-190 yes, but never 200. A 200 lb. doe would be a rare and awesome sight.

That's a shame you lost the rush... I think it is the best part of hunting... for me there is never a point to prove as a hunter, just an experience to enjoy. Thank you for your service.

I have a friend that is uncanny accurate when shooting at a range target. He wins every competition at the club and can shoot circles around me... YET he can't hit the broad side of a barn when it comes to game in the field. I've witnessed him completely missing deer and turkeys at close range... both with gun and bow. Go figure. I think it's cool to be able to shoot long range accurately... its always impressive watching someone shoot 100's of yards at the range and plunk them right in there... I just don't see the excitement of taking a deer from 600 yards, but that's just me... I like the adrenaline rush of worrying about that buck being so close that he might hear my heart beating.

The initial reason was about controlling populations... In fact the hunting season in NY was introduced to protect a hurting whitetail population due to over hunting... I believe it morphed into a lucrative cash cow... hence the different seasons and weapons to appease those forking over the dollars... and however individualized the activity is I would still like to know how a crossbow or any other weapon has personally affected any hunters ability to kill deer or how it is detrimental to any conservation objective.

The issue is more about shooting mature bucks and there are ways to tell the difference. It's actually quite easy to age deer accurately to 3.5 years old after that is where it gets tricky... unless you have trail cam evidence from past years.

The object of hunting is for the conservation of the animal(s) being hunted... literally killing a number of animals in an attempt to maintain manageable populations. The idea that a weapon is more "fair" or less "fair" is of no consequence. We as hunters are lucky to have any opportunity to hunt with any weapon. I suspect that there would be a lash back if golf clubs were introduced into another season. There is nothing about a crossbow that is deserving of being outlawed as a viable means of taking a whitetail for the purpose of furthering the conservation effort. I am curious to hear your story as to how a crossbow has personally affected your ability to kill deer and is detrimental to the conservation objective of killing deer.

Named my buck after " Vinnie's son Stew"...

What he said!

Exactly! If you want to trap as many as is legal during the trapping season, great. But, "Kill 'em all" because they eat turkey eggs? It's statements like that which make it hard to have an intelligent, informative conversation among friends about a pretty cool critter. Sorry to interrupt a good thread, but that kind of ignorant crap irks the hell out of me. Carry on.

Yeah because we don't want any animals doing what they're suppose to do in the wild... survive.

Not sure what this means but the birds at my feeders in Redfield have been non-existent. Each week I usually have to refill the feeders when I return to camp... For the last month the feeders haven't been touched.

Better than Awesome!!!

There is a camp a little ways down from me that has a German Shepard that I am sure I would shoot if he ever got off the chain. I have no fear of dogs what so ever, but I know a mean dog when I see one... he's a big boy and would be tough to fend off. I'll take my chances and shoot first, ask questions later. I don't want any dog wrecking my chances at becoming a swim suit model.

I have many PA friends and this is not how it works... at least not in PA... there are no victims of eminent domain, all landowners in the area being fracked are compensated. They get one check for the right to frack the gas beneath their property, then monthly checks based on the amount of gas taken from the particular well pad they are associated with. Contracts are made for a specific time period... then gas companies must re-contract with landowners... paying them again for the right to take gas from under their property and re-negotiating monthly percentage payments. All well pads are kept low profile and when the pad becomes non-productive and removed, the land that the pad is on must be returned to its original state which includes re-planting of any trees or grass. No landowners in the area are left out unless they choose to be left out. None of the people I know have had any instances of contamination to their wells or any other problems. This does not prove the good or bad of fracking .. it just corrects your account of what might go on in a State that allows fracking.

I agree that many kids these days are spoiled rotten and are not expected to toe the line, but none of that relates to the youth hunting seasons. Not sure how you got one to relate to the other.

I don't think the youth season is about making it easier for kids to take a turkey or giving them an extra pat on the back. It's simply a weekend that is set aside to get kids out in the woods and introduce them to turkey hunting without a million other hunters in the woods. Hopefully they'll have a lifetime to do it with the rest of us. I don't see kids being given anything here but a few days to themselves... no guarantees of a trophy, no restriction on size of bird... no taxpayer funded checks from the government... just a couple days.