phade

This cam will offset the fost in gas savings. Also the cam is useful when in funnels, as daylight activity picks up, i know and can move on it.

Best way to start off. Can't imagine being required to have trigger restraint, even with youth exclusions. Nothing is better for foundational hunting experience than bloodletting.

That mark is over the spine. The spine dips at the front shoulder quite a bit, and the shoulder seats higher than the spine. It may have even been plausible he hit offside shoulder paddle. Arrows penetrate paddles pretty well, it's the knuckle that kills arrow performance, and his shot is WAY higher than the knuckle. The offside blade may have been able to stop the arrow after cutting through some backstrap and narrowly missing the spinal system. How much arrow penetration? Big difference between 6 and 12. (That's what she said?).

Over the spine...everyone who has bowhunted long enough has done that. Neat pic, but good to relieve your conscious.

You fail at reading comprehension. You said you were not pressing your standards, but then say you want AR. AR is a standard (apparently yours on others), and it's one not everyone agrees on. Hello pot, meet kettle. Throwing accusations out there like that (saying WNYB is a clown, that I may be a clown) is pretty poor judgement just because my (or possibly his as well) view doesn't jive with yours. If you want to call me a clown, go for it. I'm a clown that supports people choosing what THEY want to shoot. You post pictures like it is some kind of measuring stick to make you an authority and justify your prowess is more important than other hunter's ability to choose. I'm this site's resident Ego, but one that ultimately respects everyone else's right to do as they see fit, even if I disagree and think it is stupid. You voiced your opinion and its one I respect as a mature buck hunter. I just think it's stupid. I don't need AR to kill mature bucks on mediocre ground. Nobody does.

Wow. AR is a standard that not all agree with. Calling hunters who follow laws, etc. clowns? Grow-up.

That's one way. I say skip the show and don't suppport Reed, and still let them know via email, letter, phone, etc. They do other things than just the sportsman show that are not hunting related. Although the show is huge and largely run well, it's not like Reed is a die-hard hunting-only sports show promoter. This is just one of their many avenues and they're catering to the remainder of their base at the expense of the sports show. It's a pure BS business move and I think it is A-OK for sportsmen not to support a company that isn't firmly in the sportsman's corner. Other businesses in Harrisburg will do just fine - the farm complex has a ton of shows during the year.

Retails at $360. If you are thrifty, you can find clearance sites for mid-to-high 200's.

Walmarts in some states will have Dunstan via Realtree Nursery.

I've had the cam for about three weeks or so, and finally able to gather an impression. First, I am convinced black flash (actual black flash within 2-3') is the only way to go from here on out in cams. The lack of avoidance was immediately clear - no tracks in the snow going around the cam (no loops, etc.). Although there was no mature buck on cam yet to see if they will do the same, not a single deer appears to look at the "flash" of the cam itself at night. Black flash tends to have more motion blur than red IR, but the Code Black seems to be the best of what I have seen, save for the Reconyx line. I am more than happy with the level of blur in this cam. I'm going to be hard pressed to buy anything other than black flash from here on out. Daytime pic quality is unreal. Absolutely unreal - arguably the best commerical cam daytime pics I have ever seen. The cam takes 12 AA batteries - and DLC suggests avoiding lithium due to overloading power preventing the MMS function from working. I am using Utilitech (Lowe's brand), which have proven themselves. I am looking into an external/solar option. I figure in the stock form, the batteries should get me 900-1,200 transmitted pics before the MMS function craps out - so likely looking at 2-3k pictures in that time (3 pic burst @ 1 min delay, with only the first pic being sent). The cam will still function long after in regular cam format once the MMS function does not have enough power to transmit. The Black 60 is the non-MMS version, and people have verified 20k photos on a single set of batteries. The power drain is obviously the MMS feature. Still, I find this to be greatly acceptable. The 3-shot burst is fast - as in...WAY faster than anything on the market and competes with Reconyx. All three pics will be taken in around 1.5 seconds TOTAL. Some people say that is too fast. I think it is OK and no complaints from me. The cam is very sensitive on its sides - therefore, I may experiment with placing some electrical tape on the sensor sides, about 1/8 in. People have done that to the Black 60. I really haven't gotten enough empty first pic frames to worry me. The transmitted pic is 640x480. I find that it is good enough to show detail on the go. Sometimes I see an empty pic, and a pull of the card shows it was a squirrel way out (50 feet) that you can only see by moving the pic series back and forth. This cam doesn't "miss" much sensing wise. Video function is mediocre - it's akin to a regular Bushnell TC (non-hd). Nothing "wrong" with it per say, but just nothing to write home about. Really, if you are buying this cam, you are using it in pic mode since you cannot yet send the video files MMS. The 2013 DLC cams with HD are out of this world nice. Again, they opted not to include HD on the 2013 Code Black as it's not a useable function via MMS. Reception - I am in a good cell coverage area. It is via At&t Go Phone. I pay $9.99 for 1k pics a month. $20 for unlimited. Without a feeder/mineral lick set up (for obvious reasons here in NY), the $9.99 a month option will cover you UNLESS you have multiple contacts to send it to. For me, I have both my phone and my email. That means 500 separate pics per month (each contact is 1 text). I did find out that if the phone is off, the text will not be delivered. It has happened to me 2x, so I use the email as a back up on my phone. I get 3-4 bars and I get pics within 90 seconds of it being taken. Most people report a 2 minute average, so I am on the better end of the spectrum. I do have an external antenna on the way, as I plan on tinkering with it to see if the transmission speed increases or when I move the cam to my lease or friend's ground. It costs me about $20 in gas in one trip to a particular lease. If I can squeeze out 3 months of transmission on whatever power source I choose, then I simply won't go to the lease June through August unless I want to go there for other reasons. That's $60 right there if I go once a month, which is a big offset of the monthly fee. If I went every two weeks just in June-August, the monthly service for the ENTIRE year has been paid for in offset gas costs. At one point, I was worried about it not transmitting pics, as I went about 30 hours of no pics being sent. It was miserable conditions out, right when we had that good snow and wind drifts. I trudged out there in the dark (sans flashlight of course) and got to the general area of the cam. I was trying to look around for it, when my phone went off. The darn cam sent me a pic of me, looking for the cam. I immediately turned around 180 degrees and there it was 15 feet away. So, overall, it's going to be a great cam for me. DLC has a good service rep for the most part. I'm really looking into their Black Flash non MMS cams for 2013. I'm also looking at a second Code Black.

done!

Statewide ar. Gag. About as well designed as the safe act imo.

Don't get me wrong...I don't agree with the new laws (or NY's gun laws in general). In fact, I think they are ridiculous, save for the mental health components. I support the politicians who vote against it, and thankfully, my state reps voted Nay. I've voiced my concerns to action groups, etc. I draw the line when I'm in handcuffs, looking at a mandatory minimum several year long sentence for a simple violation via ignorance (and not a known, willing, culpable crime). I have a family now, a career, and I intend not to put them through such a situation. I'll continue to support pro-gun groups and politics. But, I draw the line at becoming a felon with the prospect of ruining my family's life. I grew up in the South in arguably the most gun friendly state on the east coast. They aren't laughing; they're sad for us. Big difference.

That is what I ended up doing with the items that got me in hot water.

I'll be honest here, most of you don't know what you say actually means. I do. At one point years ago, I had a firearms posession issue pop up, where I was guilty of said act through ignorance on my part not knowing the laws when I relocated to NY from VA. The only thing that kept me from doing a mandatory several years sentence was the discretion of the sheriff. My life flashed before me real fast. I'm not about to go through that again. Your perspective changes when you have handcuffs on.

Selling it out of state is not hard at all. My particular model is in high demand, and one I could likely sell used for more money than I paid for it new.

Someone married up...and it sure isn't her! Just kidding of course. Enjoy it! Congrats.

I've only shot mine a handful of times since I've moved back to NY 10 years ago. When I lived in VA, I shot it all the time, but just haven't here, for whatever reason. It is a compact firearm and is the one I opt to use for my home protection. It operates off of a Glock clip and I invested in some bigger mags that are now being forced out of use. A few people I know who are older (50s) have stated they may sell their AR defined guns before needing to register them, as they're getting older and not using them as much, and don't want to be bothered with the debacle. On one level, I understand them. On the other, it seems like they are resigned to their fate, and are not interested in spending their time, money, etc. to keep their arms and also trying to support the fight against the recent political movements. They're in areas where politicians voted Nay for the bills. For the first time, I thought about getting rid of mine, and maybe buying a home protection revolver with the proceeds. I really dislike revolvers (just a personal preference), but seems like that it is about the only thing that is not getting hammered at (right now). Obviously both are register required, but I think the screws will keep getting tightened on the semi/AR style weapons first before revolvers, unless some nut goes on a rampage with one and a handful of speed loaders.

Bummer, because it was a good show. I was planning on making a single-day haul down there due to the baby arriving. FOr the last few years, it's been a "guys" weekend and was highly looked forward to each February. Cabelas, Bass Pro, Arooga's for wings and a beer, the show, Sportsman Liquidators. Likely not going down there now due to this.

Joe - Jeremy and I have discussed this stuff on many levels and still do. AR is only being implemented based on hunter desire at this point - it has zero to do with a biological impact on the herd. The DEC is attempting to balance hunter desire into the equation as a way to keep license numbers up/grow/etc. The only way AR is going into a WMU is when the populous in that wmu want it overwhelmingly. The expanded counties were ones that actively demonstrated a desire for it. One WMU, I forget which, was up for AR, but the % of hunter desire for it was not highe enough to mandate AR. And, that is documented, too. All of these quotes are available in the five year management plan, too. But, he's been pretty clear with me that AR is not the way to go as far as mandating goes, and that the ONLY reason for it is hunter desire at this point. I'm not really sure where you are trying to say the DEC is changing positions on this, especially when it is in their current plan. It is not and has not changed.

He also states in his original post that AR is a definitive benefit/improvement. Such a statement belies personal opinion/choice/belief, the very thing people who don't believe that it is an improvement want to protect their right to have. The thing that really bothers me about AR, is that they quote it as the "easiest" thing, even if it is not the "best" thing to do. The DEC's research related to "buck hunting" shows that 50% of hunters rate personal choice or freedom to take what they desire to take (ie shoot what they want based on legal tags) as most important. 40% rate opportunity at a mature, large racked buck...and ONLY 10% rate the ability to take two bucks in a season. NY becoming a OBR state wouldn't be that hard based on that info - in fact that number suggests it would be easier than AR. I also think it'd have better impact while keeping personal choice. Now, that's simply opinion on my part, but OBR has been proven in many states that have comparable soil quality (Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana). Not many states (if at all) have resoundly proven AR to be as effective. I guess to me, it just boggles the brain as to why that isn't the middle road approach - people can shoot a buck of their choosing, while at the same time, improving herd dynamics. Only 5,000 hunters fill both buck tags - but the devil is in the details. A sizeable portion of deer hunters will make different decisions with only one tag to burn.

Take that one step further, Hurst at one point in the reports, quotes and sources QDMA authors, researchers, and biologists, to prove the position that it remain "voluntary"...ie via private co-ops, personal decisions, etc. The DEC has on record in the reports stated that the department believes AR should not be mandated.

You mention hunters, hunters, and hunters in that post, and then say they are being dishonest. You never mention age class structure, herd dynamics, carrying capacities, etc. in that post To me, that clearly indicates you are basing that on hunter desire and not herd dynamics. When Jeremy Hurst comes out and says that AR has no real benefit from their perspective in regard to their management, then that is about as good as it gets since he is this state's whitetail authority (central biologist). He has said AR will be or won't be implemented based on hunter desires - therefore, arguing about herd impact, while noble, is pointless. Our context comes down to HUNTER desires. Black and White. Period. Direct words: DEC considers the primary impacts of mandatory antler restrictions to be of a social nature for hunters and does not anticipate significant biological impacts for deer. DEC does not consider there to be a compelling biological or management need for mandatory antler restrictions.

Love that rack!

I think blanket statements like this are hogwash. I am anti-AR. I also target mature bucks (loosely as 3.5+) in NY and other states. I also don't make a current habit of killing yearling (or 1.5 y/o) bucks, despite my belief that it is A-OK do so should they (the individual hunter) see fit for their personal situation. It is their situation, not mine, not yours, etc. Beyond designation of a legal doe/buck (ie the 3" rule for gender distinction), I just cannot dictate what is a trophy to someone else, even if I disagree. I think your quest for an X-size buck on the ground with trad equipment is not something I would pursue, but that's your personal situation and quest. My quest isn't something others may agree with or pursue, but guess what, that's just fine by me.