phade

I'm sure it could, but the funding state of affairs for the agency is so bleak that I suspect it would go to rectify that before making any tangible difference in workforce development. Likely a good idea to at least starting the ball rolling on though.

One manages resources, the other manages Darwinism.

I agree that stiffer penalties/deterrents are needed. The understaffing, even with the recent report saying the DEC was understaffed, means little to nothing as to boots on the ground being effective. Three ECOs for a county? That's one and sometimes TWO more than the counties in Ohio I hunt. One of the counties has 125,000 people in it. Sure poaching is an issue there, but reasonably safe to assume its less of an issue. Poaching a 200"er here is relatively minor as far as penalties go. Do that in Ohio, and the government garnishes your wages and taxes for $30k, or more. Bottom line is - every single DNR/DEC agency in the continental US is understaffed. Us being understaffed is no different than Ohio, or IL. Thus stiffer deterrents if caught, make more fiscally responsible impact than boots on the ground. I think we'd all like more ECOs than present time, but that's not happening. Because its not realistic, basic changes in penalties are much cheaper and should be pushed forward.

This one was a complete find...body and all. Marshy area; the rack was found about 75 yds from the rest of the body. Hit by car as it was within 50 yds of road at a spot they cross often. But, doubt the skull was fractured fully through by the car...no damage to antlers and it was a clean split separated from the rest of the skill which was with the body. It got ALOT of sun and was partially submerged at the same time. Have to assume weathering and freeze thaw action.

You wouldn't be buying a bow tag or a gun tag. You'd buy a buck tag, good for any season. Just one tag, not two. Who knows, maybe OBR isn't statewide...maybe its regional or something. Or maybe you can decide not to shoot the 8 if you want to tote the rifle to the 'dacks. Greed is a tough thing to swallow, especially when what you want is being taken away from what you have, whether it makes sense or not. I'm in the same boat. I damn near despise shooting my buck in bow most years because I usually have vacation time left and I'm out of the game for the most part. Would love to take that second buck tag and continue to hunt with the bow for a buck. Not sure what the rationale is on the division of seasonal tags - probably breeding, and "unfairness" to gun-only hunters, I digress.

I'll have to snap a pic of the rack this week and post it. You look at it and you'd swear it was a cut off rack ready to be screwed onto the wall. Skull was broken and not sawed. Proabbly a 110-115" 8, too if I remember correctly. Haven't even seen it in over a year since its in one of my tote of sheds/finds. That above pic is a doozy. Any teeth marks on it to indicate it was carried?

OBR isn't always driven by buck harvest numbers, so you are looking at it from the wrong lense in this instance. OBR impacts hunter decision-making on the age class of bucks harvested. OBR states have a lower take rate of 1.5s where the soil quality is high (like parts of our state). KY, OH, IN, etc. States like Maine or NH where there are OBR rules in place because of being on the other end of the spectrum where deer numbers are crummy due to herd instability. This is a regulation that shifts cultural thinking - the same way agencies worked on getting hunters to start shooting does. Don't get me wrong, I would love to take two bucks a year, but OBR is something I could get behind. If not that, allow the two bucks to be taken in any season, similar to IL, but that's just based on greed, I'll admit, so in theory I could be done before the orange army invades, ha.

Regions 8 and 9 would need four points to a side to advance the generally accepted rate of one year olds to two year olds. Four points. That's stupid and I base that on common sense; no data needed.

The older I get, the less I enjoy the cold.Oddly enough I really despise the cold in Jan/Feb/Mar. Cold in Nov/Dec doesn't bother me as much...probably because of the holidays, hunting, etc. Once the body can't hang with hunting....I'm on a full court press on the wife to move south to an island or somewhere warm. Hunting and family are the only major barriers to making the move now.

I wouldnt assume its a sawed rack. I have found a rack thats youd swear was sawed...but not. Found the entire body. Sometimes skulls break in oddest ways.

For most bows. I suspect I could sell my z28 for 400 in a day. But i wont because im not stupid lol.

I dont see a problem with feeling like putting her down was an issue. I also dont feel bad the yotes were interrupted. Predators have to eat too but as humans we use logic and emotions to make a decision. We as humans despite our predatory nature have compassion and a desire to see things/animals/others persevere or overcome. We see this when rooting for rocky, or an underdog. Its also why we kill deer and then at the same time do things like free them from fences or saw off antlers to free stuck bucks.. and then shoot them at some point in time in the future. Were human and thats unique.

Im more about the how to books. Eberhart, herndon, and joe bell have good books.

I'm not a huge fan of buying a bow on specs alone. Testing out some bows you like and then shopping AT is a good practice. Sometimes you simply can't do that and need to rely on reviews though.

I really like dipped skulls after getting a few of them done. I prefer them flat and not glossed up. They look neat.

I don't think it is the specs as much as the manufacturer. Certain brands tend to retain value better - which is odd because in general, bow resale sucks. Elite, Mathews tend to do well (relatively speaking), Hoyt so-so....PSE I tend to see them have a hard time hold value.

A lawyer blaming someone or something else....when will it stop? Non-lawyer lives matter! We do that stuff here between compliance and legal. Funny thing is that most of the compliance and counsel think they are great writers. They'd hand stuff over...and I would have to hide my cringe reaction most times. A lawyer that writes well generally is a quality lawyer.

Good point. Same thing can be said with the 1/2 hour rule and the number of other states that have it.

How far was the shot? Bow?

Have you owned these in the past? Good luck with them? I generally go with Lacrosses for archery/early gun boots and then a heaver store brand insulated version for late season since the heavier Lacrosses have a bad fit for me. Problem is I generally only get a year or two out of the heavier ones since they tend to be cheap. I know Dick's offers higher thinsulate ones.

The fact there is a picnic table there is hilarious. But, I'd use it too.

I should clarify - I'd pause a second if it is the ultra light barrel. If the normal/heavy bull barrel, a good deal. The lighter barrels have slightly more mixed reviews. My H&R Ultra Slug with the bull barrel and thumbhole is my primary deer downer now...stupid accurate for a slug gun.

With the scope on it...good deal.

Doubt these are going to sell well. Better off having an MMS cam or something. These are real specific use cams and wifi engagement likely causes as much battery drain as an MMS cam. The download speed is probably going to take a while and you'll need to be well within their advertised range. Rumor is right around 100ft is max to expect transfer, but some reports of close to 200ft. So think about this...if 100ft...30 yards give or take. Where's the real-world benefit? Spypoint has invested alot into the wifi stuff, and even their advertised range is largely overstated in the real-world application. This technology will need to be greatly improved before it could be used by the masses who buy one or two of these cams and not a repeater network, which they haven't developed yet. I think they are a cam that's "in-between" features wise and it just doesn't make much sense. If you can somehow build a repeater network and the cams have a longer real-world range, ala buckeye, then you start to get into more wide range use...someone could set many of these up with repeaters for a managed property. There's a guy who frequents the management and cam forums who has a heck of a buckeye network built up. He sings the praises of this setup like its the second coming, but he's also got several thousand (as in more than $5k) into this network.

That's silly, but they built it so... Something like that would likely entice me to simply sleep overnight in it if I had enough creature comforts.