phade

The tough part about clothing and equipment is that you can for the most part need a variety of gear for the weather elements IF you don't want to go the route of an army surplus type store. You can go super cheap or super expensive - but the best route is often in between. Predator camo - brown deception in an early season suit, fall gray in the fleece suit - buy from Slippy Field on ArcheryTalk - best prices and he'll size you up based on measurements. I wear the fleece suit for the majority of November and first week or so of December, sometimes beyond if the snow doesn't pile up. Winter bibs and jacket - Gander Mountain house brand Boots - Get a pair of Lacrosse Alphas uninsulated for early season and an insulated boot for cold season - I have had great luck with Bass Pro's hosue brand boot with 800 or 1,000 gram thinsulate. I'm going on my third season of it. Rain gear is worth its weight in gold - I have found the Tech20 house brand at Gander to be long-living. I am on year 8 or so of my rain suit and just now looking at replacing it after the season, although I think I could get another year or two out of it.

I look at it from the opposite perspective. The last one didn't muddy the water; it merely highlighted the fact the water was muddy to begin with and that a survey dedicated solely to social-related hunting desires became warranted. Sometimes an unexpected outcome of an effort belies a new direction of travel.

I've had an opposite response this year on a trespassing baiter. Got full co-operation from the DEC officer. Felt like I was satisfied with his effort.

The public DEC meetings are horrible. Hunters arguing this way, that way, and every way in between, and ultimately, nobody is happy at the end.

Seemed like the polls predicted the split, no? One ran on Conservative vs republican ticket....at that point you are cannibalizing your own party ranks.

Retailers sell the bulk of licenses from what I understand - somewhere in the 75-80% range. Retailers make very little net profit on a per license sale. In fact, most retail outlets offer licensing as a value-adding, but profit leaking service to customers. Basically, they add the DECALS outlet to entice customers to come into the store to buy other items where a profit can be had. Similar to a gas station - the profit isn't really in the gas for the store owner - it's in the soda, chips, beer, and cigarettes. Ever wonder why companies like Fast Trac encourage the 5c off per gallon of gas with their "free club membership"? It's because it requires you to walk into the store rather than to pay at the pump. No retailer is going to want to reduce productivity on already over-worked, under-paid hourly retail employees. The DEC and any grants they get certainly cannot fund the retailers to comp them for added workers and the associated costs (health care, taxes, benefits, etc.). I personally rather entrust Cornell personnel over those part-time button pushers, even with a miniscule sample base. At least the study is valid and reliable. This doesn't include the re-tooling of DECALS to accommodate such surveys. DECALS was an overrun product cost-wise by a significant %. There is no desire to add any additional funds into DECALS from an operational perspective.

Political polls are astutely accurate; they are so accurate that they can cause the public to not actually come out and vote - example - Rochester Mayor Tom Richards losing the in the primary.

Not practical in the retail world, although I agree it would be nice to have 100% representation.

No offense to anyone, but the people questioning the survey obviously don't know the caliber of people at Cornell that conduct these studies and surveys. They know what they are doing; let them do it.

I punched my archery buck tag this past weekend, bittersweet, however. I am not disappointed with the buck, but it is going to hit hard in the opportunity cost area because of the bucks targeted this season. Not a case of ground shrinkage; a case of mistaken identity, maybe. I had seconds to make the call and I chose to let loose. I encountered the buck Friday afternoon walking in as we locked eyes as he was bedded. He let me snap some pics of him in his bed. Fast forward to Sunday, and while hunting with a few other friends, I chose what to me was the "out of the way stand" near that buck's bed that had been recently hunted, and I merely had not thought about taking him as he was not ready. This stand has a path leading down to a valley where several large bucks, one with solid brow tines, had congregated in a scraping area with more bedding area on a far side ridge. I was not expecting much from this spot in all honesty. All was quiet until this bucks pops up under my nose and in the split second I saw the brow tines I went into kill mode, thinking I knew what buck it was. As soon as the arrow cleared the buck and I moved my eyes back to the rack, I knew what had happened before the buck bedded down in 20 yards and expired. Perhaps adding to my frustration a bit is the fact I did not make plans to go to Ohio for the first time in years because I felt like for the very first time in my life that I had enough caliber bucks here at home to hunt where traveling made little sense. I also haven't historically had solid gun season ground - I've lived and died by the archery season most of my time in NY. I once read a saying that quickly became a life mantra for me, "Good is the enemy of great." While it's a solid buck most hunters would be beaming about, I had immediate reservations that have subsided a bit over the past few days. I'm resigned to the fact I was good, not great, this archery season. I have all of next week off and now my focus goes toward enjoying the sights and sounds of the rut and helping a couple close friends burn holes in a few giants. Also looking forward to getting another euro mount done and have this guy camo-dipped in Predator Fall Gray or Brown Deception. Rest assured, I'm shooting a flipping monster in gun season.

On damage permits that are good for either sex, in most cases the racks are not allowed to be kept and must be turned over. It's not common for bucks to be allowed on damage permits, but does happen on occasion in severe situations (extremely rare) and in cases of tree damage from rubs (say a tree farm).

In 8C, you could shoot your bow buck, then shoot a doe and bring back the head to the Avon office and get an either sex tag good for 8C only, and which point you could shoot another buck or a doe. If you shot another doe, you got another tag, it was endless as they didn't have enough hunters in that unit since its pretty much super urban hunting. If you shot the buck on the either sex issued tag, then you were not issued another tag. It allowed 8C hunters to shoot 3 bucks in one year, plus hypothetically a fourth if you had last year's tag to use up north in those early days. I believe it has changed now so the either sex tag component is gone and only antlerless are issued now as of this year.

8C is one.

Yes.

I'm not going to lie, this kind of pisses me off. No, it really pisses me off. I have (or anyone) to take the legal route sitting on the sideline for the rest of the bow season, then he should, too. He's moaning about one nice buck and I get to stare at state and world class bucks (legit) on the ground I hunt...if I can be legal eagle, he should, too. Putting a deer before his son, which he IS doing, is nothing short of the fodder that makes people lose faith in others. Whether you call him out, tell mom, narc him out, or punch him in the nose for shooting a deer out of your stand after he's shot one already...do something. Doing nothing is merely encouraging such behaviors.

thats not the giant. giants dont get posted.

You don't get out a lot, or at least you post you will be and then don't for whatever reason, like this morning. Hate it when things come up. Can't kill them from the couch.

Without fail the wind will calm just before quitting time. You can get in close with the noise cover.

Q and A on DEC site: Q: What types of attractants are legal for deer hunting? A: You may use cover scents and lures, such as doe urine, for deer hunting. However, it is illegal to place a salt block or mineral lick on lands inhabited by deer at any time of year. It is also illegal to feed deer. Some attractants that are marketed for deer are liquids or dissolving powders which deer may not directly consume, but the attractants may entice deer to feed on the material which absorbed the attractant. These types of produces would not be legal. I see no mention of the 1.5 oz rule. In fact, I just searched the entire regs on the DEC by key word, and saw no mention of the 1.5 oz limitation you speak of. What's your source?

How so?

Good idea. I wish the tabs were a bit long...almost always impossible to not have a smell finger.

I hate having a glove on my release hand. Hate it. I use the warmers and a muff. Every man should get to know his muff well and dive into it to stay warm.

While I am not the most mobile hunter, I do fine with my LW and sticks. I know many that are faster with hang-ons than a climber. A climber is just another hang and hunt tool in the shed. I've hung and hunted ladders with results. I understand what he is saying, but sometimes climbers simply don't work in certain areas. A LW and sticks will work in every hangable tree.

Poster is from Islip, so who knows. Lots of crazies down there. LOL.

Good tip.