phade

Moose are starting to have a numbers issue. Numbers are up here in NY regionally, but the overall threat to moose numbers is growing. Minnesota has had a huge moose numbers drop, and personally, I think the wolves are the cause. But even beyond that, there's some research on a larger scale showing moose numbers are in decline, which is a reversal of the rising trend over the past 10-20 years. People are throwing out global warming as a cause, but who knows. If moose numbers regionally in the NE are impacted by whatever is starting to drive numbers down on a grand scale, we'll never see a lottery.

Wow, never heard of someone not drawing a tag for letchworth. That stinks. I don't know about the crowds as I have never been there opening day, but I will say this, I've asked the DEC biologists where they would go on opening day for public land, and each of them all answered "way back in Rattlesnake Hill." Letchworth produces some monsters, but it wasn't even a competition for them...Rattlesnake Hill all the way.

Looks like one of our bucks that have been on the radar is starting to toy with the kids.

I'm seeing 115-120...angle is deceiving though. Very solid 8.

If you want to "light up the night" there is no better cam at doing that than the Covert Red 40. The Black 60 is their black flash equivolent. It in my opinion is a better choice for hunters because of the black flash, but black flash by its nature is slightly less bright and slightly more motion blur at night. Having said that, I own 8 or 9 of the Black 60s and only 1 Red 40 because its a better option for me. If you only do photos, buy a 2012 model new from custom1enterprises website for 140. Its a steal.

What a fattie!

Herb philpsons has the axis xp on sale for 290. Cheap but useable.

Picked it up today. Runs great...just needed some brake fluid and bled the front brakes...nothing wrong with it.

Love it when the 10-day forecast finally shows opener. Rain and mid 60s, west wind.

Disagree for statewide and disagree for private managed land. Prefer using age a criteria - certainly more difficult, but much more of a payoff imo. I'd rather one or two 2.5 get stuck instead of say a 3.5 because of an aging mistake rather than setting a 4 a side rule and losing 1.5 basket 7/8s that make up about 25% of the 1.5 population in my neck of the woods.

Have fun hunting with a couple close friends and family. Be thankful. Shoot a world class buck.

Can you elaborate? Not following what you mean, precisely.

OK, so I bash genetics all the time. It 99% of the lands, there isn't a thing people can do to manage free-range genetics. But, when it comes to world-class bucks, talking 170+ typicals and 200"+ non- typs, only certain areas will produce them with any regularity, and that's where genetics come into play imo. I still don't advocate culling or anything of the sort, but an area has to "have" the capability to produce such bucks - soil, genetics, etc. Certain areas will top out at x inches for most part. You'll get the occassional super-buck for an area from time to time. But, not regularly. Most non-professional hunters (meaning they aren't traveling to hunt all the time to different prime properties) - ones who have killed multiple world-class bucks do so within a very limited or small geographic area. Of the two that I have spoken to who have multiple B&C bucks, both have shot their bucks within 2-4 sq. mile zones - meaning the 6 the one has was shot within the same 2-4 miles and the other has 4 or so and he's shot them almost all on the same farm. Areas outside of that section still produce good bucks, but not the world-class ones.

Where's the ground check pics of that 220"er you were sending me? Figured it'd be dead by now, lol.

Sweet, thanks Culver. I will likely take you up on that offer to check out the hitch mod. Maybe the ramps, too, depending on when I pick it up and if I can get ahold of a friend who may have a set. I'm not planning on doing heavy work with it, but will likely get a small disc, or even the Groundhog Maxx. Most plots I would work are very small. 1/3 acre or less. So, I want the hitch stout.

Looks like that cam issue was fixed around 01/02 model years, so I should be good to go on that topic. Saw some pics of those cams...whew, that's ugly. Yeah, a quick c-list search showed most of these 400s are selling around 3,200-almost 4k with double the hours on it. Got the friend discount. I'll let you drive out when you shoot a buck, lol.

Already done deal for $2k. Let me know more about that backfire issue if you can (as far as years affected). Its a good machine w/low hours. Brakes seemed like the only thing to look at. No leaks apparent, so who knows. I know dirt can get inside the seals and create blockages or the master cyl. could be going maybe? Either one isn't too bad of a job to do. May not even be an issue as it simply wasn't ran much and was stored inside.

Big guy with bad truck that's a road princess. As long as you stay 30-40 feet away and have a head start, you are ok. Big time trouble if in bear paw reach, WNY.

Gonna need some cardio workouts. Pick things up and put things down is different than carrying something. I wonder if you could pick that thing up, though. Wouldn't surprise me.

Ha...you got both of us in one sentence, lol. Well played. Well played.

I tell people I walked 5 miles in, carved out a bow and shot the thing at 150 yards. Of course I'd be proud...it's fair chase - ain't nothing confining that buck at the moment.

Good deal, just bought it....got it for 2k even. Not a fan of the blue color, but it'll do.

I'm working a deal on it. Need to look at the brakes a bit on it. Fluid was pretty low - trying to see if the owner can figure out if there's something minor or if it is catastrophic. It isn't run much at all, so could be a bad line or something. I believe it has a winch, but not 100%. I figured it would fit length wise tailgate down, was more worried about the width - with the wells, that bed isn't wide.

The Big Ragu posting before you has a freaking Raptor SVT that hasn't seen a drop of mud in it's precious life. It's puuuurrrty. I on the other hand have an 06 Dakota Quad cab 4x4.

You can run behind it while I drive. Biggest issue is I don't think it'll fit in my bed...meaning a trailer is needed. I know that thing isn't going into your princess truck.