robw

I had the same problems and went to a timberline no-peep . Mine is the old ring on the ball float style, but they make a bunch of different kinds now. Nothing on the string, and makes sure you're not torquing the bow when you shoot. Helped make me a more consistent shooter Had expensive strings twist, peeps move, peeps freeze solid with snow and ice, tubes break, or hit the quiver and spook everything (including me) A no-peep attaches by your site and stays put. I'll never use a peep again

I had a similar Loggy Bayou climber many years ago. Mine had a fleece seat, but the rest was the same. Main thing with it was it would slide or shift on smooth bark trees, or if there was any ice on the tree where the strap hit the trunk (backside) Be careful when climbing that you keep your feet (and your weight) towards the middle of the platform, and don't scoot them towards the trunk. The closer to the trunk you get, the less torque you put on the stand, and the less it grips. It has pads on the base to hold the tree (no damage to the bark) but it doesn't hold on its own like a toothed blade would. I once, while climbing. slid ~ 5 feet down a trunk, as I had moved my weight to my toes very close to the tree, not in the middle of the platform.Going from 20' to 15' in a heartbeat wasn't much fun. Another buddy with the same stand had it slip around the trunk when his weight was shifted to one side of the stand to shoot at a deer. Glad he had a safety belt on. That's a good stand, with a couple things to watch for when using it. I switched to an API (old style grandstand, not the Chinese crap they make now) after the slip and have never looked back. Wear your harness, even when climbing, esp with that style stand

Holy crap, that one snake is huge! He could ruin a hunting trip. I hunt SW of Bath. Just Damn....

Allegany State Park in the 80's...along the trails opening week, 1 orange guy every 100 yds for as far as you could walk on every trail. needed 3 for a party permit, does everywhere, and you could follow the herd movement by where the booms were, in groups of three.

Haven't really had too many issues on state land. most of the people I meet are pretty nice and don't screw with you on purpose. It's the very few dickweeds that set up 40 yds away from you, or the cell phone talkers, or the couple thieves that give it a bad name. Crowding sucks, but for some guys, they know 1 spot, only hunt 1 week a year, and if someone's there, they move only as far as they have to. but that's how it goes, they can be there, same as you. Its why I walk farther, or through more difficult areas to get to One time I met a guy who lived less than a mile from me while we were getting out of our trucks about 100 miles from home. Never met at home, but know each other now!

I shot a 6 point in archery, hit it back a bit, and after 4 1/2 hrs, started tracking down the hill. In full camo, mask, gloves, etc. an hour later saw the buck bedded ~ 30 yds below, looking downhill away from me next to a fallen tree. Needed to move ~ 5 more yds sideways to make a shot when out of the brush to the side of me a 4 point comes walking, straight at me. (Afterwards, it appeared I was on a fairly well used trail along the side of the hill.) Forky is curious about what I am, and continues at me, and grunts twice as he approaches. May of had some buck lure on me? My shot buck now is watching him intently from his bed. Forky comes in to ~ 3 feet, stops, and stomps 2 or 3 times watching me stand there, pauses ~ 20 seconds then snorts and bolts straight away from me, right at the bedded buck. Forky jumps the dead fall the other is bedded next to, and the wounded deer follows right after. Fortunately, the wounded deer falls right after his jump and collapses only 10 yds farther away. Went over the the 6 to make sure he was done, and there stands forky, 20 yds down the hill stomping at me again. He watched me until I took of my mask and said Boo to him.

don't worry too much about how long it takes to set up, worry that you set it up right. If you walk in for 45 minutes, and plan to hunt 11 hours, then what difference will an extra 5-10 min make? Have shot lots of deer from a tree stand, never shot one while falling out of it Just leave 10 min earlier, and post the pic of what you shoot

Climbers have the advantage of being easily relocated. I have many times hunted a spot till 10 or 11, watched deer all morning crossing the hill 75 yds away, and moved over to get closer to the trail they used that day. Have tried sticks and hang ons, never moved the stand once I set it up, just put several on them in place and carried the sticks from location to location. Not as easy, IMO, as a climber, but works. 32 lbs for a climber is pretty heavy, not sure I'd want to lug that too far. I have an older model API, ~19 lbs I also prefer to be up a tree 20-25 ft than in a blind, but that's just my preference. I only use my blind if there isn't a tree I can climb where I want to hunt

I just hunt steep hills, swamps, thick brush, etc. I hunt state land every year, and realized early, if its an easy walk - lots of other hunters, hard walk, usually alone, and see lots of deer only exception I've had, one wide open hill top on opening day, 200 yds from where I park, (could see the windshield when the sun hit it) watched ~ 15 hunters walk in past me by dawn, and had 20 deer pass me by 9 am opening day. I had that area to myself, shot 2, and had a nice short drag. That does tend to be the exception to the rule though.

This whole "dirt-bags in the woods" phenomena is one of the reasons I use climbers instead of permanent stands anymore. Added bonus, you don't show others where your hunting places are. My ladders weren't stolen, but several were damaged, or messed with. All on private property, well posted. Posted land doesn't stop hardly anyone, and once had a former friend tell me they know those cabin owners only hunt weekends, so they'll run deer drives across the hill camps on Tuesday. Only takes a couple a$@h*%$ to make your entire area more worry than it's worth

Super deer. I love those high racks!

got mine last week

the answer is Yes, to any gun purchase, and I can't see any set of conditions that should have a "no" response. Already have a .270? - Buy another one Want to shoot a specific range / game animal? - Buy one anyway, then get another caliber Wife aggro over spending? - Buy the .270 and duck small game rifle? - buy a .270, and a .22 Guns don't go bad, you'll find something to hunt with it!

new Regs link http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/101039.html

where is Wilsons? haven't heard of them, usually get hotdogs from Bonds in Springville (japaleno and cheese...yum) Would like to try somewhere else just to compare.

Ice fishing has been pretty good. Lots of perch and quite a few others as well. Wish I could keep some of those largemouth bass...

you should also check iceshanty.com and do a search for gps or fishfinder and you'll get a lot of info on what people use and how they like it.

We use our Lowrance HDS from the boat for ice fishing, just need the ice transducer (65 bucks) and a battery (from my lawn tractor) I like the HDS series, can get the HDS-5 pretty cheap, for the flexibility for naming waypoint - easy to track what you did when, water temps, time of day, month day, etc. Check out Lance Valentine's site for some great info and tips on HDS units. http://www.walleye101.com/home and https://www.facebook.com/walleye101?ref=profile I look at portable units as I want a good unit for the boat, and can use it anywhere else I want later. You can buy a travel bag for it, or, as my buddy did, mount it on a very sturdy tool box that holds everything inside

used to take the kids to Allegany State Park for a weekend of camping in the winter. Lots of sledding, hiking, and a big campfire in the snow - always had fun. A cabin with heat sure helped though, pretty sure I'd not of done it from a tent. If you're into cross country skiing, or have a snowmobile, lots of that to do there as well.

to get the newsletters from the DEC, click the link and enter your email address to create an account. The next page that comes up you can select which ones you want to get. There are a lot, enjoy! https://public.govdelivery.com/accounts/NYSDEC/subscriber/new

First, I would make sure there isn't anything else running a streaming or online service. Netflix, online video games, downloading music and movies, etc can be real bandwidth hogs. Then go to http://www.speedtest.net and run the test. If the transfer rates are good, it's your PC, run antivirus and anti malware. If everything was slow, then probably a Verizon issue. For comparison, my ping was 44 ms, download 16Mbps, upload 1Mbps. I have Time Warner

App works pretty nice. only problem was I used the map to mark a lot of spots in a couple new places I hunted this year, and after a couple months, it lost all the saved data. It held the points from early Aug to mid December, then over Christmas, everything was gone. Only use it to check regs while fishing now, and my handheld Garmin for mapping

people will be mad when I roll into Braddocks next weekend like that....

I clear some long paths, even along the vineyard next door, but it's more to help my wife to take the dog out, than for the dog herself. Dog's a Brittany, couldn't care less about snow, buries her head in it sniffing out the field mice. Wife, on the other hand, cares very much about deep snow...

Great Pics! Nice turkey funeral procession....