wolc123

For most individuals, it is easier to put an arrow in the kill zone of a deer with a crossbow than with a vertical bow, especially if fired from a rest with telescopic sights. Also, "string-jump" is less likely with a crossbow than with a vertical bow, since no quick motions (ie: draw), is required when the deer is in close. These two factors combine to make a wounded and unrecovered deer significantly less likely with a crossbow for hunters at all experience levels. Personally, I don't have a problem with hunters who prefer to use a vertical bow because of the greater challenge to themselves, even though that "challenge" may occasionally come at the cost of a wounded deer. I respect those who put in the additional effort to attain proficiency with vetical bows. I only have a problem with those who ridicule and seek to exclude those who prefer to minimize that challenge, and maximize the odds of a cleanly killed deer. Selfish elitism is never a good thing.

I got to see that happen last archery season with ( antlerless deer in one of those overpopulated zones. On our farm, there was a doe with (2) fawns that would emerge from heavy cover every day about 1/2 hour before sunset and feed on a clover plot. At my folks place, 20 minutes away there was two mature does, one with twin fawns and the other a single that did the same thing. Had they continued that activity up to the time x-bow opened, I have no doubt I could have filled multiple antlerless tags. The problem was, most daylight activity ceased about two weeks into archery season. By the time x-bow opened, there was very few sightings. All (4) of my dmp tags went unfilled. We have the tools to do the job (x-bow), but the law still prevents their use when they could do the most good. It seems that some folks must prefer the automobile for controlling the deer population by the looks of the carnage on the roadways over the last few weeks. We will likely see the same thing at this time next spring if they don't let us use the x-bow at the start this fall.

How great it was this morning to wake up to a soaking rain. My corn all came up good but was looking a little parched with no significant rain over the last three weeks. It is no coincidence that it came on a Sunday, Thank you Jesus.

I just finished it and submitted. One issue I mentioned concerned getting deer numbers under control in the zones where they tried the 2 week antlerless only archery last year. I believe that allowing the crossbow at the start of archery season would be far more effective there than a September ML season. The biggest issue in these zones is that the deer go mostly nocturnal soon after they detect hunting pressure. Those "booms" from the ML will backfire and make them go nocturnal even quicker. If we can hit them from the beginning with the crossbow, they will never know what hits them and I think populations could be brought under control in a single season. Vertical bows are nearly useless at controlling antlerless deer (as DEC learned the hard way last season), because they usually travel in groups, making the draw a tough proposition with all those sets of eyes to fool. Eliminating the need to do that makes the crossbow the ultimate antlerless deer weapon, but only if it can be deployed early, before they go nocturnal after detecting hunting pressure.

It was a little too choppy out on the lake for the girls, but in a short time we did hook three smallies, landing (2). The first one looked to be about 15". A bad knot let go on that one right next to the boat. The second one would have been a legal keeper at 20", but was a little "rough" looking and that is a bit larger than I like to eat, so she got to go back also. The last one was too short to keep now at 14", but very healthy looking. It was good to see that the bass population looks healthy and stable out there. I prefer to eat bass, since they have more oil in them and are therefore better baked, grilled or broiled than walleye or perch. No one questions their superiority over those other species in the "fight" department and they are usually easier to locate. I am not into catch-and release fishing, and was hoping to get into some walleye or perch, which are better fried. Also, the boat needed a "shakedown" cruise to make sure everything worked properly. The "real" bass season opens up in a couple weeks and when it does, I will be targeting 12-18" bass to restock the freezer. We finished off the last vacuum-sealed package from last year for dinner on Memorial day, which gives me more incentive to get out there. That vacuum sealer is amazing when it comes to keeping fish tasting fresh. I would like to see the May season minimum length go back to 15", like it was for a few years. 15"-18" bass are far more abundant and usually much healthier looking than those 20 + inchers. To me, "catch and release" fishing is just the senseless maiming of a fine food source.

My girls and I cruised thru there on my fishing boat yesterday. The area is not too friendly for boaters. They are asking for $9.00 to attach to the docks down there. Small wonder that on the Memorial day holiday at noon, there was only one or two boats moored there, and at the other docks where the cost was the same out on the outer harbor by the big Labbats Blue grain elevators. I would have had no issue paying for a few rides, games, drinks or snacks at the carnival, but no way was I going to fork over $9.00 to dock after already shelling out that same amount to launch at small boat harbor (at least that is is cleaned up, well maintained and worth it now that the State has taken over). I guess with such a short season, they want to squeeze all the cash they can out of those who visit, and they must figure boaters have plenty to spare. It looks like they figured wrong based on the number of boats tied up there yesterday.

"Decades", that ain't nothing compared to what I am dealing with right now. The roofs are failing on a couple old barns my great-great granddad built, just after the Civil war. I am literally dealing with "centuries" of stuff. I am just now taking a break for lunch, about half way thru dismantling one of the old graineries That old "virgin-timber" lumber does have a lot of character to it at least. Those old, square, forged iron nails and hand-hewn beams are pretty cool also.

It has been about 2000 years since anyone who's perfect walked the earth, and all you did was proved you are human like the rest of us. Thanks for posting. It may help others, including myself avoid similar issues. Looking on the bright side, I see it far better than loosing a deer. A few pounds of semi-tasteless white meat means a lot less to me than a much greater quantity of top-quality, lean red stuff. Since it was a tom, the loss will be minimal to the overall Turkey population, and even it's odds of survival sound pretty good. Over more than thirty years, I have lost several deer (fortunately none in the last 10). As a pure blooded "meat-hunter", I am still bothered slightly by a grey squirrel I dropped and lost last winter, and it hurts me a bit every time a fish that I hook gets away. What helps most in getting over it is getting back out there and doing it better the next time, taking full advantage of that lesson learned the hard way. You are a better hunter because of it and there is always more learned from a mistake than by doing it right.

What I find interesting about those shows is that they make it look easier to live off the land down here in NY state than way up there in Alaska. Those folks seem to struggle most of the time to get game and fish. In one or two long weekends up on the St Lawrence or out on Lake Erie, we always come back with plenty enough fish for the whole year (mostly smallmouth bass) and putting 3 or 4 whitetails in the freezer each fall is seldom an issue. Our longer growing season also makes garden vegetables plentiful. Even the scenery is better up in the Adirondacks (Check out Robin's videos in the "big woods" section). More than anything, watching them programs makes me appreciate how good we have it here. Watching them is entertaining, and better than most of the crap on TV, but has pretty much eliminated any urge I may have had to visit the great state of Alaska.

I don't condone what the guy did, but most folks who drop their deer off at a processor are not too concerned about how much or what meat they get back. If they were, they would cut them up themselves, It is not that difficult. Maybe a few more folks will start doing their own after reading this. Then they can get all of their own meat back, and learn the best places to place their bullets.

If anyone is ashamed or heartbroken over an accidental BB take in WNY, feel free to shoot me a PM and I will drive out and take it off your hands if I can. I would often be willing to sign over an unused DMP in exchange (9F or 9H) for the carcass. It would be great if you could save me the liver also.

Thanks for posting the video. We were up in the area that same weekend to celebrate my sister's and my mother-in-law's birthdays. My sister's camp is about 100 mi NW of Tomar, up on the St Lawrence. The in-laws is 40 mi NW, on the edge of the Adirondack park. It would have been nice to have had a little more time to enjoy the great weather. We spent too much time that weekend celebrating and driving from camp to camp and from home and back. That is the first time we went up there for just one night and that is not enough. I only had about a half hour out on the lake on Sunday, but it was great with lots of sunshine and hardly any wind. Your video is a great reminder of just how nice it was up there that weekend. I am glad to hear that you are planning the fall hunt. I think your odds of some whitetail action should be very good there this year. I don't remember a milder winter up there than this last one. In late February, the ice was less than 12" thick on the lake up at my in-laws (most years it is more than 3 ft thick at that time). That made it much easier than usual putting in some holes, and I was finally able to get a nice lake-trout thru the ice. There is obviously a lot of deer around, because there is still a very visible browse line all around the lake. All the evergreens are trimmed neatly to about 6 ft from the waterline. That is about how high the deer can reach as they stand on the ice munching on the greens. I appreciate that activity, as it makes for a lot less lost jigs, while casting the shoreline for smallmouth bass from the open water all year. I am not certain of the extreme dispersal range of a whitetail buck, but I do know for sure that there was at least (3) young bucks and (1) old one that very likely survived thru gun-season in that 40 mile to the NW location last year. You may or may not come across any of them this fall, but there should be plenty more up there based on the lame excuse for a winter we just had. You may want to bring a bigger canoe or go a little lighter on the provisions this fall to leave room to pack out some venison.

I like Basic Outdoors in Star lake. They have a good selection of minnows at good prices and are about 15 minutes from Cranberry to the West, not far off Rt 3 on Larose rd.

Good survey. The last survey a guy posted on here about hunter satisfaction in NY did not even mention the crossbow question. Why could that be? My guess is that he does not want to hear that the majority of NY hunters support full-inclusion of the crossbow. I would have taken his survey if he had asked that or any crossbow question. Now he is complaining about a lack of participation. Go figure.

Can anyone substantiate a rumor I just read, on a national deer hunting forum, that these measures passed and we will have full inclusion of the crossbow for archery season in all but a couple of Long Island zones starting this fall? I am not from Missouri, but you got to "show me" some significant proof for me to believe this. If it did pass, to those who fought so hard to prevent it: try and look at the positives and stop dwelling on the negatives. You now will have another, "easer" weapon to use, if you want to, when you get older. Everyone's time in the woods should get extended by a few seasons anyhow.

We spent Saturday at my siblings cottage up on the St Lawrence. We helped them get their dock fixed from some ice damage, and got their boat in the water. We celebrated my sisters 50th birthday with some Alex-bay wine tasting, beers at Skiff's (they have two of my favorites there, Genny Cream Ale and Genny Light), and more around the campfire later. Today, we stopped for lunch at the in-laws Adirondack lake camp on the way home. Great tee-shirt and shorts weather each day at both locations. It seems like spring got skipped this year and we have already gotten into summer. I have no problem with that other than bass season not being open yet.

I always had the best luck off the mouths of the creeks (Keg & 18 mi at Olcott or 4 mi out of Wilson). Trolling bright orange jointed Rapalas in about 10 ft depths worked well. Look for warmer water off the creeks. We usually ended up with a mixture of browns, rainbows, and cohos. Sometimes, when the action was slower, we would run planer boards. Trout and salmon are way more fun on those than Walleyes, always fighting good after the release, not just dragging in like a log. Just long-line trolling in a zig-zag pattern, off the creeks, allows you to stay on the fish easier with a smaller boat turning radius than when you have boards out. Good luck, the weather looks good over the weekend. Hopefully you get a SW wind and not that darn North one that seems to come up whenever I get up on Lake O.

I will take it if you add the crossbow "full inclusion" question. I am otherwise satisfied with the current deer hunting situation in NY. For myself, basically a pure "meat-hunter" with very little interest in "trophies" (my wife doesn't want to give up any more wall-space and my growing kids are consuming more venison every year). It would be nearly perfect here if we could use a crossbow throughout archery season. If you are really into trophy hunting and are not satisfied with what is available here in NY, consider a move to one of the states that rank higher in that area.

That perch is built similar to one I caught near the end of February, thru the ice up at my in-laws Adirondack camp, while fishing for lake trout. She had swallowed my minnow-tipped jigging Rapala deep, putting her survival in doubt, so I filleted her, along with a fat laker I had caught that morning. I felt a bit sad after finding that the perch egg sack was larger than both of her fillets combined. I probably should have fried up those eggs, as I hear they are not bad eating. I imagine that the one you caught, that much closer to spawning, would have an even larger percentage of body weight made up of eggs.

Willie's Roadhouse on Sirius Satellite has been playing Merle non-stop since the word of his passing came out. They had planned on much of his stuff today anyhow in honor of his 79'th birthday. The man left enough recordings that they could play all day and not have to repeat any. WXRL AM in Lancaster played a nice Merle "song of faith" at 4:55 pm. Merle and Ramblin Lou are probably up there in heaven singing together right now.

In my opinion, there has ever been a better singer/songwriter/entertainer. I am especially thankful today to have had the chance to see a live show a few years back at the Erie County fair. "The Way I am" was my favorite song for many years, until "Amazing Grace" knocked it out of the top slot a couple years ago. Even though he didn't write those two, he sang both of them as well and with more feeling than anyone else I have listened to. He really got into the Gospel music the last few years, which tells me he is probably in a better place now, and we will get to see him again someday. That certainly takes most of the edge of the sadness I would otherwise feel on this, his last birthday down here. He is very likely watching "that bobber dancing" right now, as there has got to be lots of fish up there in Heaven.

I don't think some folks understand how good a deer's ears are and how they equate certain sounds with danger (gunshots, ATV's, etc). I bet they can hear a gun go off from several miles away and pinpoint its location within a few feet. The combination of increased human scent in the woods and gun shots is like flipping a switch, forcing them nocturnal in the zone where I live. If I could get out there at the start of archery season with a crossbow, filling DMP's would be like shooting ducks in a barrel compared to trying to do it after three weeks of archery pressure, let alone after gun season opens. It sounds like the state politicians and the DEC are finally seeing this and hopefully will let us out there at the start this fall.

Not only was there little or any marriage in that show, but there was also little or no mention of Church or Christianity. I find that odd for that era, when they say there was a larger percentage of Christians in the US than there is today (77%). Maybe "they" are wrong and the increasing popularity of shows with a strong Christian message (e.g Duck Dynasty) suggests that we have turned a corner and are headed in the right direction rather than the wrong one. I see now why you posted this in the Cross-bow forum, especially right after Easter. I never had much use for Mayberry and am glad it is finished. Give me the Waltons or Little House when it comes to old reruns. The episodes where John Ritter and Johnny Cash played the Preachers were classics. The family is where it is at, and marriage should be between a man and woman.

Bad analogy or not, I still see it as the senseless maiming of a fine food source. I don't mind others doing it however and I respect their right to do so. I even admit to doing it myself a few times with bass in my own pond. I don't mind sharing archery season with those who choose to use traditional equipment or compounds, so long as they put in the additional time and effort required to attain proficiency with those weapons. Like you though, I question their reasoning for not wanting to share the woods with those of us who prefer the crossbow. All I have seen is pure, selfish elitism. Not all that much unlike the pro-bass wanabees or the dry fly trout fisherman who turn up their noses at those of us who prefer to eat our catch.

The part of this I struggle the most with is why some folks think it is bad to make it easier to kill deer. I see deer primarily as food, and very good food at that. If I want a challenge, I will go out on the golf course, or somewhere else where living creatures are not involved, in my desire to "test" myself. I never understood "catch and release" fishing for the same reason. How many of you "anti-crossbow" folks practice that?