Jaeger

Paula, perhaps you missunderstoood. Yes, a hunting license is valid for a full year. It is how that years length of time runs that has been changed last year. In the past, the NYS hunting license year was from October 1st-September 30th. For example, a 2013-2014 license would have been valid from October 1, 2013-September 30, 2014 The license year has been changed to run from Sept. 1-August 31. So the new license is valid from September 1, 2015 - August 31, 2016. This makes more sense since our first regulated hunting season, the squirrel season, has always started September first. My observation was that while the license year starts a month earlier (and ends a month earlier) the time when the licenses go on sale has only apparently change by a week. Not a big issue, unless you order a license on line and it takes 2-3 weeks to arrive.

I pointed out on another thread like this, we used to have a 6 week lead time to purchase licenses when the license year started October1st, now that the license year starts September 1st we only have a 3 week lead time. Something to think about if your going squirrel hunting and ordering your license on line.

Query, when the license year started October 1st, the licenses went on sale around August 15th giving us a 6 week lead time to purchase licenses. Now that the license year starts September 1st shouldn't the DEC have adjusted the opening sale date of the licenses to give use the same 6 week lead time instead of just two weeks? Just an observation and wondered if anyone else thought about it. Especially those who get their licenses on line, may not get in time for the squirrel opener Sept. 1.

When did I know I had a coyote problem? When the dog started spending more time barking at the windows running from one end of the house to the other at night rather than sleeping. Hitting the outside lights at 3am constantly reveals the pack. Gonna be a BIG trapping/hunting season this fall.

Carbon express Heritage 90's, (3) 5" helical fletch and 175 grain Woodman Elite's

It's always great to learn from someone who has actually used and knows how it performs. Thank you. Perhaps I will use the 162 gr amax in my .308 this season, its a tikka compact lite and shoots easily around 1/2" with varget, a very confidence building load. Getting about 2700fps, good enough for anything around here. I guess I got scared off it as a hunting bullet from the hornady description. First hand knowledge is always best!

Quick question before you get too far along. It was my understanding that the A Max line of bullets were primarily target bullets (I could be mistaken). I know my .308 shoots 162 grain amax's superbly but I wouldn't hunt with them. Maybe ok on whitetail but Muleys are tougher I think. I'd double check with his outfitter on this bullet. Another tip off is that target oriented bullets are often produced in non standard grain sizes, ex. .308 162 gr rather than 150, 165, 180, etc. Better safe than sorry.

Hi and welcome! I started on Long Island and had no one to teach me or go with. Still, I learned by myself and had a blast exploring new areas. It is quicker with a mentor tho'. A great place to start for finding hunting land is with the Dec (stony brook in WMU 1c, suffolk county). There you can get maps with direction and sizes of the public areas. Contrary to most, I've always had a great relationship with the local Environmental Conservation Officers. If you play by the rules, many will tip you off to underutilized areas. Starting with the Otis pike preserve group of lands around the peconic river will get you going. Same holds true for upstate, I'm in Delaware county and first thing I did was visit the satellite DEC office, wildlife Dept. in Stamford. There is also a ton of material on the DEC website, put it in your favorites. Also, don't forget the small gun/bow shops. They know of good areas as well, just don't forget to buy something small as appreciation for advice, worked well for me when I moved upstate. I could go on and on (already have!) but finding new areas, trying new styles, is most of the fun! Good luck and have fun.

Funny, that's why I keep giving up on my compound, too many little things to tweak to get it "just right". Use longbows and recurves instead. With them it's more of a mental game to shoot well. Thanks for the support, it does shoot just fine, so why worry?!! I'll be getting a better scope, just "because". My trickiest part is that I'm short and I really have to do a vertical chest pull up to cock the thing. I think one of the new crank drawing devices may help, but here we go again, adding complications!!

I was given a new Ruger Ranch .223 when I first bought my property. Kept it in the gator for coyotes and groundhogs. It was never really accurate, ~3" gun. I guess my main reason for not preferring or hunting with a semi-auto is that I like to keep my brass and afraid I'd lose some, spend time looking for them in the brush, that sort of thing. I don't like leaving stuff like that in the woods. Did have my eye on a Benelli R1 in 30-06 when they first came out.

Hey, does anyone else have a reverse draw crossbow? I have a Barnett Vengance and am having questions about setup. I think a few other manufactures, for ex. Scorpyd , might have joined in producing them. They pose a whole new set of questions, for example, where to get a proper fitting cover? My main issue right now is that the string does not hit the rail and everything I read says wax the string because normally it does hit the rail. I wonder if this is causing the bolts to flip up? Anyway, it'd be interesting to see how people like the reverse draw bow, not much experience but I do think they handle better while walking.

not the only one. Have and use the same knife, one of the last schrade's produced, gut hook. I use a small 2-3 in. $4 knife to make the initial incisions. Have a lot of these, cause I believe that when I go into some small guys shop for advice, it's polite to buy something. I always buy at least one of these buck,gerber, ll bean small, cheap folders. stash them everywhere. I usually have no problem with bucks, it's the does that stymie my. Can anyone give polite advice on how to start and handle all those girlie parts?

Nope! That's what I get for drinking too much coffee until 11am. I open my mouth, er, fingers too quick. regards, Jaeger maybe I should invent a coffeealizer? To tell when I've had too much.

Thanks, your's is good too. I'm only 53 so I guess I'm a curmudgeon in training!! Love a good grumble.

That's correct. Unfortunately, my local FFL wants to add a fee for the service.

Very interesting report. I believe the biggest threat is development. On my old farm, I left the small springs and streams alone and always had plenty of woodcock. Schatz pointed and I flushed a lot each year, but only shot one or two to give her a chance to hold steady and retrieve. More of a training exercise as they really stink to a dog and she would hold that point all day. Some dogs won't even retrieve the and spit them out. I had a very wet farm and it was probably not characteristic of the area as a whole. I had to sell and know the new owner will be bull dozing in roads and cabin sites near the springs, so under duress I guess I contributed to their decline. In elections, it's the economy stu..d, in wildlife it's the environment stu..d.

Who said anything about race? Most the retired people in Delaware county are white guys from Queens.

Thanks, I just looked it up, we do have a Department of Environmental Justice, it deals with giving inner city people a say in permitting processes that affect their environment. The site in within the DEC site: http://www.dec.ny.gov/public/333.html

Didn't we hash this all out in the "couple of safe act changes" a few threads down?? I'm going to wait until a law change/repeal is actually voted on and signed into law. Why? Because that's what the out of state companies are going to go by if they ever decide to ship ammo back in directly to individuals.

Isn't this what the DEC's relatively new "Environmental Justice" department is all about? Bring environmental awareness and outdoor activities to inner city children.

Here in the north west catskills, we've got coyotes galore. But we are also finding a LOT of deer carcasses and parts, mostly starvation over the winter but also weakened and taken down by coyotes I think. I found one dead doe that washed down the stream, or died at the edge of it, and froze into the ground and snow. The coyotes picked at her all winter, like a frozen purple top turnip eaten down like an ice cream cone. The finally got the carcass parts out and pulled them all over the place. Deer hair for fly fishing anyone!!

I've had the light and medium versions. Both work well and have the handle and ring to simulate actual bows. My only problem with them was, because of my short longbow drawlength of 25", I had to use the medium and then the heavy to get enough resistance. But they do work well if you have a normal draw length. The light is I think 10-30lbs the medimum 30-50 and the heavy 50-80lbs. The big advantage is you don't have to worry about a dry fire if it slips out of you hands and you can let it "down" as fast or as slow as you wish. Get the light or medimum for rehab work and I think you'll be happy. I also purchase a black rhino 20 lb bow to practice form and to get in initial shape before the season.

It does us no good to speculate. Remember when the internet ammo sales ban was first proposed? The out of state ammo companies IMMEDIATELY implemented a stated policy of no shippment of ammo to NY. And the ban hadn't even been put in place yet. Regardless of what is currently happening, until it become clear that there is no longer a law against it, or reimplimenting it, the companies won't ship the ammo in. Some of the companies wont ship anything to ny because of our draconian laws. We need a clear resounding message sent out from OUR ny govt. the NY allows shippment of ammo in, until then we can hope and order all we want. The companies will not ship it to us here in NY.

NYSRPA just put out some media replies from the Cuomo camp. Basically, as I understand it, the "Memorandum of Understanding" is just that, a memo. According to a Cuomo spokesman, nothing about the internet ammo sales ban has legally been changed. I deleted the email before I looked here this morning. For the accurate report of what I got, go to the NYS Rifle and Pistol Association website. Also, the ammo background check deal is still in the works, not cancelled just not funded, working and active yet.