Core

2.5" groups at 80 yards? Dang, my personal goal is one inch group per ten right now (five arrow groups). I'm not quite there yet. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I just came upon this article. Didn't much care for it because let's get real if the author owned that 300 acres he would do what all other land-owning hunters do: keep it to himself. Does it matter if a person is paying a lease for land access or owns the land and puts posted signs up everywhere? It is easy to say leasing is no good but not everyone owns 100 acres next to orchards and corn fields. To be fair everything the author said is true. What he failed to point out is that it is also applicable to private land owners. I am surrounded by amazing deer hunting land and nothing but posted signs (I don't blame them though). Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just my personal opinion I don't seem much value in moving for guns unless it's just a small ancillary benefit. I do think there is a very real chance of another AWB in the near future, and at that point there will be a huge averaging effect as then many other states basically adopt the same kind of "AWB" that NY has. It would suck to move because you want a thirty round mag and a vertical foregrip and then 18 months later federal law precludes them again. I lived in the south. I'd do it again and I would go for the carolinas or maybe Tennessee, but I can't pretend I miss the summer heat. It's devastating and long. North Carolina or virginia are nice spots IMO and super central to everything; you can get north or south in a comfortable day drive. Also, maybe it's because I'm heavier than back in the day, but holy heck I can't even stand the summer in NY anymore. I'm absolutely *sick* of the summer this year. We've now had three months well into the 80's constantly. Now, try living in the south, the summer is longer and more brutal. I actually found people in general far less into outdoor activities in the south. During the summer months they'd stay in their air conditioned bubbles and there were not even many parks. Of course the winter is never harsh, and everywhere has air conditioning. The idea is to live in somewhere like New York but from Jan1-end of March winter down in FL

Not surprised they would say this, there is some validity to the thought process! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tragedy_of_the_commons

Good points! I can get to nice public land in 40-50 minutes depending on where I go, so two hour drive to potentially worse wouldn't work; if I buy land far away it would only be if I also build a decent cottage--something that my wife can tolerate (she said it would have to have running water and power) and probably rent out as well to help cover the costs; somewhere we'd go on the weekends. Just not entirely sure how much we'd use it currently. My ideal would be to own a house in our current school system with 20+ acres, but those don't come cheap. And honestly, I suspect the thrill of hunting would be greatly diminished if I walk off my porch on opening day to a tree stand knowing 99% chance a deer will walk underneath between 7:30 and 8:00 am, then that's my season over. Also, though I'd love to "own" land, leasing is certainly cheap, no major commitment, and from a cost perspective makes a lot of sense, though there seems to be very little of that in my neck of the woods (8f). But it's just a dream now. Still paying a full mortgage payment equivalent on one kid's day care and my wife decided to go back to school, so that's another thousands/year in tuition.

NY has a lot going for it. My main complaint is the politicians. Too left leaning thanks to NYC. As for bucks hopefully one I can can own land and have the opportunity to pass on them! I was even looking for land yesterday. Not a ton of it for sale in western ny compared to a little more central; two hours east, past syracuse, and nice hunting land looks about $1k/acre, or maybe $500/acre.

Obviously fairy homes. The fact they were open during the day is as expected, because the fairies are out buzzing around out of sight.

The brownings also seem to be getting consistently nice reviews online. They don't have any $50 cams, but I think I may bite the bullet and get one. I had good success last year with the $40 "micro swirl" cameras that dicks sporting goods sells but I still have this niggling feeling that one spot I thought was not very good may in fact have been. I may have been not picking up all the deer I should have.

Okay honestly that looks pretty darn excellent.

Great thread timing! I am "healthy" and "young" and almost stroked out dragging a deer out last year (not literally, but wow it was not fun). For me the dragging sucked. But the hills were murder. I'm talking a couple of 30 degree or more inclines (I mean it). Other than quartering the deer, which I am not planning on doing (I'm sure I'd butcher the hell out of it, plus lose a bit of meat, plus it's a filthy job), my other thought was either cart where possible, or even using this pulley system just for the hills, with maybe 150 feet of line to get 35 feet worth of hill: https://www.amazon.com/Hme-Products-Hanging-Gambrel-Olive/dp/B000UPI3SG/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1472305437&sr=8-3&keywords=deer+pulley I am thinking this pulley could also be connected to a cart to drag the deer up a hill. Now you could do a cart with a battery powered winch on the front (pretty sure I've seen somebody do that online) to drag the wheels through mud and up hills. My focus is big time on hills, though. I don't have to get a deer far but it's terrible terrain. Of course, the best idea is to have a buddy help out, but I know a lot of us hunt alone. One of the spots I plan on doing this year I picked in part because it's 80% "flat", with just a gully or two. You know what I might try one of those sleds over a cart. it won't solve the hill issue, though.

Interesting! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you think your camera is at legitimate risk I think you should only put $40-50 cameras in that spot. Think about putting additional ones around to monitor it as well and a warning note on each camera warning that after the last camera was stolen you've placed additional hidden ones and that you will be prosecuting if this one is taken. Obviously, that can be a bluff, but I think it would scare some people. People say put up high and it's a great idea, but you can also put down low in some cases. Hiding in a dead tree's roots or a hollow, something that isn't as obvious as a 5 foot high mass growing off the side of a tree.

Um, yikes. Hope it gets better fast!

Unfortunately I think the state is like 17% gap between trump and hillary. As for the 1st amendment, 40% of millennials support restrictions on speech that offends minorities. http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/20/40-of-millennials-ok-with-limiting-speech-offensive-to-minorities/ At that point you might as well ban speech that any group or person find "offensive", at which point you've completely made irrelevant the first amendment. And there is not a single country in the world worth a cold pile of scat that doesn't have freedom of speech. It is the absolute foundation to any decent society.

It's a good piece, but Heller specifically did not bless or speak to assault weapons by name, just weapons "in common use". And AWs are of course in great common use, but that hasn't stopped multiple states banning them. Despite being a recent ruling Heller has been summarily ignored by many states. In ours for example I still cannot get a pistol without four background checks. What if I'm a hermit and know nobody? What if I am a new retiree and just setup a cottage in an NY county and cannot get references? Denied. The SCOTUS is junk and constantly ruling down party lines now because they are a bunch of partisan clowns, both sides are. But we're 4:4 now, so anybody looking for a pro-gun ruling needs to be mighty careful, lest they codify a SCOTUS ruling on guns that WILL be roundly followed. If Clinton gets in, forget it, there won't be another pro-gun SCOTUS ruling of big relevance (such as allowing AWs) probably ever, IMO.

I just think Trump is the lesser, and as time goes on I think it even more so. I think he is so roundly hated that the chance he can get much done in washington at all wanes with every week. As such, he is a perfect block against hillary. Just there long enough to crater, once and for all, her hopes of being potus. As for not voting at all, well we're in new york and this state is so blue that the electoral system has ensured your vote is essentially meaningless anyway. The only reason to vote in this state, with its 100% chance of supporting hillary is, basically just as a conscientious objector or to brag later that you supported the winning candidate. It won't make a lick of difference either way because the margin is too huge. SCOTUS alone is by far the biggest reason I HATE the notion of a hillary presidency. Given that I strongly believe Trump is going to lose and trump primary voters screwed us, i'm considering donating money to judicial watch, the group most responsible in recent times for truly turning the screws on hillary. If nothing else she abhors their existence, and it is tax deductible

History always repeats itself because until/unless we kill ourselves or evolve, we are not more capable over time. We surround ourselves with better technology and historians keep in mind the lessons of old, but most people know nothing and don't care about anything other than the carrot hanging in front of their face. The massive majority of any given populace has very little intellectual curiosity. Think of all the people you know. How many regularly get into new things such as new hobbies or read a lot of non-fiction books or basically expand their mind and experiences in some meaningful way? Most of these people would fail a grade six history test, yet they go to the ballot box and proudly check off a box so that their blessedly ignorant view of the world can be slightly projected onto everybody else through their choice of government.

" show that they think that guns have no place on campus and could stifle the open exchange of ideas. " This argument is such bunk. How much history is there of people "debating" things in a college setting and ending up in violence over it? And really if you're getting so heated there is a chance the other person wants to kill you, maybe you should leave class. It's really rubbish. The thing stifling ideas more than anything on campuses these days is political correctness, trigger words, microaggressions, etc.

This one well reviewed but looks weird: https://www.amazon.com/S4Gear-JackKnife-Smartphone-phones-Samsung/dp/B008HA25I0/ref=pd_bxgy_200_img_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KQ3NWEHYJ1K7QQDB3VD7 This well reviewed, but the expose spring is downright goofy as all get out. I have $10 phone mounts with concealed springs for my car, what the heck: https://www.amazon.com/Fighting-Squirrel-Smartphone-Bow-Mount/dp/B01DQBUCXE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472151483&sr=8-1&keywords=compound+bow+phone+mountA This looks really solid and effective but it also looks clearly like it cannot be quickly put into the mount, which means you can't use your phone much otherwise: https://www.amazon.com/CrazyArchery-Clamp-Smartphone-Bow-Mount/dp/B00FP18P7Y/ref=sr_1_fkmr3_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472151483&sr=8-1-fkmr3&keywords=compound+bow+phone+mount A spring is nice because you can one-hand the phone into place without it being loud, but no reason to have it exposed. I'm somewhat inclined to use some aluminum from lowes/home depot and build something like the third link. It looks like a good unit but there is no reason that it should cost $45. One of the amazon reviews has a question and it illuminates a very important point: " The phone itself don't vibrate but the little movement my bow makes it so I can't see my shot even with a lighted nock. " I'm assuming any mounted device is going to make the shot look really shaky indeed. Possibly something mounted on your head would function better in this regard.

Good question. I'd consider this as well. Not to post on youtube even but it would be interesting if nothing else to see what went wrong or right about a particular shot. $40 seems to get a decently reviewed one on amazon, though (?). My main concern about getting one of these is that it could be a real fiddle and I don't want anything else to worry about, particularly since I tend to use my phone and there is often not a great deal of warning between sitting on one's butt and then a deer coming by.

I assumed it was because the 2014/2015 winter was brutal so population was suppressed. Our past winter was a joke, so surely less deer were taken by the cold. I think it was 14% statewide reduction last hunting season from the one prior.

I just figured out the relevance of your name, growalot!

You almost say it like you don't think democrats are the same way.

Yes it is.

I hunt public land, so that's your answer