Jennifer

Even though the materials can be had for less than $150 for a shoulder mount, you are paying the taxidermist for their time and skill. That's where the extra few hundred dollars comes in. If you've seen a really nice artfully done mount vs. something slapped together, you can appreciate the difference. It's like looking at a nice painting vs. one that is not so nice though... beauty is in the eye of the beholder! That said if you want to learn to do it yourself, that's great!! I am teaching myself to mount birds actually... I don't want to do mammals because I don't want to mess with the tanning process.

This surprised me! I had no idea folks read on the stand or sitting and waiting. The only buck I ever took, the only reason I saw him at all is that I thought his tail flick was a little bird and I was watching it with interest to see if I could ID it. If I hadn't been looking for birds to watch he would have walked right by me and I'd never have known he was there. Plus, I love watching everything, all the critters and even just the quiet woods. My husband says one of his favorite hunting memories was watching a brown creeper (type of bird) come up and sit within arm's reach of us.

Thanks for the kind feedback everyone!! He's a nice little guy huh? I'm a little sad that I'll never be able to hunt any of them. I own a little under 20 acres of woods that is attached to my yard/property but there have been houses built all around the perimeter. It's their right to build if they want to of course and I don't begrudge anyone but it's frustrating. I took out some maps once and a ruler and figured out that there is only about 20 square feet in the smack middle of it that I can legally hunt. Thanks! I'm using a Canon 60D. I paint wildlife for a living so finally after years of saving, I invested in a camera for reference photos.

A group of does with fawns have visited our apple tree at least once a day since it started dropping fruit. It's about done now. I have chickens and it's funny, if I was out with the chickens the deer were so relaxed that I could approach within 20 yards, talking and smelling like a human I'm sure, hah! A little button, he's the only male deer I've seen in my yard. I'm sure they must be around but aren't dumb enough to eat apples in my yard in the daylight! Shedding her summer coat. This one doe was 'playing' with the rest of the herd, like a dog! They always seem to get extra silly after they've had some apples. And the apples are not fermented. They were fearless all summer (I didn't encourage them or feed them, they just got the apples that I didn't from my tree). Now that it's getting into autumn though they are starting to get wary again. Soon I probably won't see them often anymore.

We finally had a nice weekend and my husband and I went out after squirrels (I carried my shotgun in the chance that we flushed a grouse too). Used it as a scouting trip for turkey and deer too... Beautiful days and to our surprise we didn't see a single one (squirrel). None of the properties we hunt have hickory trees, and based on what I see in my backyard (with hickory trees), the hickory trees are the only thing they are working in my part of the county right now! None of the oaks seem to have any mast to them, and I couldn't find any beech nuts. This will be an interesting season for all critters-- need to figure out some food sources!

I'd take him if he gave me the opportunity. I too hunt for meat, and have no doe tags.

Good taxidermy is an artform. Pick any TWO (and you sacrifice the third, most of the time): Low Cost | High Quality | Good Turnaround Time

To be fair, this law is mostly to help prevent Chronic Wasting Disease, which I think we can all agree is not something we want in our deer population.

I've noticed that too. This is the first year in many that the beech have produced a good mast; the last 3-5 years most of the nuts have been hollow. Good luck on your bear, Rev Ev! I've seen quite a bit of bear sign where I hunt in Cuba.

I hunt in Cuba often-- what are you after? As with any place in WNY, doing some homework in the area you want to hunt will be most helpful. There are some hotspots and pockets that are better than others. It'd be hard for me to rate the entire Cuba area.

Here's a neat site that gives a visual representation of where and when the leaves are changing in NYS. http://www.iloveny.com/What-To-Do/Reasons-To-Love-NY/Fall-Foliage-Report.aspx

My dad had a lucky shot once-- unintentional-- a buck was trotting broadside in an open stand of woods and turned suddenly. The slug traveled up his spine and broke his back in three places, and he piled up right then and there. We were amazed it didn't even wreck his backstraps except a nick out of one. Dad was thankful that things happened as they did; he'd never take that shot on purpose and he was so relieved.

Absolutely check your rabbits if you rabbit hunt-- I could have sworn that the information about Tularemia in rabbits was in our hunting guide years ago, but I have no way of checking. I should check our current one and see! I do know they told us about it in my hunter's education class but that was many years ago. To be honest, I cannot tell which spots are 'okay' and which are not, so I don't mess with bunnies anymore. I rarely see them anyhow. Slightly off topic, but I had to grin at the thought of never eating anything carrying a parasite-- not trying to give anyone a hard time, but parasites within freshwater fish are extremely common-- there's only a few species of many that we see when cleaning a fish. It's why it's so important not to eat freshwater fish raw unless you are in a true survival situation. I can honestly say I'm more worried about some of the processed food I eat than I am about eating a dead, well cooked bug, but I can absolutely respect and understand sentiments otherwise!

As someone that has worked with the DEC before and has family continuing to do so, this is right on the money, Doc. It causes a lot of frustration for individuals at the DEC, too.

Here's an old article about squirrel brains (for real!): http://www.nytimes.c...els-brains.html About lumpy squirrels... The lumps are the larval form of a type of bot fly (thank heavens that this type does not target humans!). They are often called warbles or wolf-worms, regionally. Dad always called them warbles. They are sort of gross to think about, but pose NO health risk to humans and they do not taint the meat or otherwise render the squirrel inedible as long as you cook all of the meat properly. I have head that some people actually eat the grubs but that is a little too much even for me, unless I am in a survival situation! The myth behind the 'first frost' is that the first hard freeze usually kills these larvae and squirrels are less likely to have warbles in the cold/freezing months.

Yup. They form small 'bachelor' flocks and they are the smartest, wariest, sharpest-eyed little flocks of turkeys ever.

That's the sad truth Doc.

As much as it kills me to say it, with the state of things and the DEC's funding, I regret that unless they have a lot to gain from such things (monetarily), we will be seeing things get worse before they get better. It's not that the DEC doesn't care. I think you'd find that many (most?) of the individual employees do care. It's our state government that is looking harshly at what budget cuts can be made...

Fall turkey is my favorite hunting season!

Not at all! As long as you are not eating the brains (don't laugh, they do down south sometimes) and cook the same way you do chicken, it's totally safe. Enjoy!

My husband, dad, and I all tried (9x, 9W, 9T respectively) and not one got a tag. Luck wasn't with us! Maybe next year. Thank you for your service to all of us, genuinely. I am really glad that they grant you one every year!

So you are saying that guys apply for a tag in a high chance WMU just to get a tag, then hunt in other WMUs to take their doe? I never even thought of that. How disappointing. Makes you wish that the DEC had more staff available for roadside checks...

A flock just ran across my back yard-- first I've actually seen on my property in two years! And the poults were pretty small, like in these photos (or smaller) which suggests a late hatch.

Grouse will indeed breed in captivity. Just not in numbers suitable for breed and release programs. Whereas pheasants readily breed and do well in the same situation.

X2, exactly. Any time you are out hunting anything.