jperch

Aside from her obvious archery skills she must have great vision and coordination, just amazing.

We used to take two big bolts with a large nut, carefully wad a bunch of caps into the nut and gently screw the bolts in. Then we'd drop it on a hard surface, and step back. Definitely not a safe thing to do, like a lot of stupid things we did as kids.

I believe there are states where suppressors are legal for hunting. Does it require some special federal permit? Anyway, I doubt it would have an impact on turkey poachers. The stories I heard years ago about turkey poaching did not involve firearms. Geez, poaching turkeys, who would do that anyways?

This strikes me as extremely weird! Why would anyone do this and why different rules for state lands???

Wow, very sorry to hear, sounds like a very fluke situation. Glad your house was saved, sounds like it was close. And most importantly nobody was hurt.

Like they say, "Play stupid games,...".

In my area there has always been a lot of coyotes. The agricultural situation and woods have not changed much. There is a new predator in my area, fischers. Turkey numbers are WAY down in my area (Northern Oswego and Cayuga Counties) compared to 30 years ago and yes, they sure don't like to talk as much.

The python has a mongoose coiled up in the middle and I can't tell if it got away in the end. The group on top seemed to be trying to get that mongoose free. What a battle.

I saw this happen decades ago (around 1980) in central Pa. The oak trees in areas around Penn State (for example, Nittany Mountain) were devoid of leaves for a couple of years. It seems like the moths move on and the woods recover. I remember that walking in the woods when the catepillars were feeding was disgusting, their poop made it sound like it was raining.

I hope nobody is really going to take medical advice from anyone other than a medical professional. There are several tick borne diseases and some of them don't require the tick to be attached for a long period of time. As others have said, prevention is the best defense. Permethrin flat out works. Time to dig out my turkey hunting duds.

I bet if there was a special season for single shot shotguns some manufacturer would quickly come up with a single shot, rifled barreled shotgun. Pretapped for a scope, of course.

On a fishing trip to Quebec there was a bear hanging in camp when we arrived. We were given some to try and I recall that it was stringy as mentioned but tasted ok. I have only seen one bear in NY while deer hunting. I would not shoot one because I have heard too many stories about parasites. One of those stories came from a processor in Dansville who got infected from handling the carcass. He must have transferred something to his mouth by accident. We actually had a bear on the Oswego State campus a few years ago, it was dumpster diving. The wildlife has changed quite a bit in my lifetime.

That is a nice one, congratulations to him! And they are yummy!

Well, interesting. What would it be used for? Seems a tad heavy to be carrying around for upland hunting.

I went hunting for a package of venison loin in my chest freezer earlier today and I bagged one! It was trying to hide beneath a bag of burger but I was not fooled. I might go out once for bunnies locally. I used to love hunting for them and partridge. At 68 jumping up and down on brushpiles is tough. I count it as a successful outing if I get a shot at one. They sure are tasty.

I used to hunt sea ducks in Lake Ontario off Rochester from a small aluminum boat. It was amazing, hundreds of thousands of them. You could sometimes attract them by waving a boat cushion, we used plastic gallon jugs as decoys sometimes. They were feeding on crabs, like we would use for bass bait. They would be just stuffed with them. They must be able to dive to significant depths. I thought they were fair table fare, kinda beefy as I recall. I don't see those massive rafts of ducks these days. I suspect the zebra mussels have reduced the crawdad population. That is just my observation as a SCUBA diver.

Absolutely. Fifty (or so) years ago I would go rabbit hunting with my uncles who had packs of beagle up in the Henderson Harbor area and farther north. Nothing was posted as I recall. I don't know how you could run beagles now other than on state land. Beagles don't respect property lines and sometimes would take off for a long period of time, perhaps chasing a snowshoe rabbit.

That is a big wow. I wonder how the populations rose to such a level? Were some predators removed from the area that would ordinarily keep the jack rabbit population in check?

My experience was different. As a high school student (16-18 years old) I had a part time job working at the sporting goods department at Woolworths in Greece. I was hired on the spot because I knew how to make change and about firearms. We often GAVE a box of ammunition to a customer who bought a relatively expensive gun to sweeten the deal. I learned a lot about the general public and firearms while working there. Customers walked in with loaded rifles that were jammed, a customer who wanted to return a shotgun because it blew a hole in his ceiling (I took that one back!), a lot of crazy stuff. It was a great job for a high school kid.

I remember, believe it or not, that when I was in High School (1970) you could buy an 870 at the local JC Penneys in Rochester. I got my Wingmaster at Beikirchs for around $140 as I recall. My father bought it for me, that was a lot of money for us back then. Still have it, still use it, will pass it on to a family member when I move on.

I believe bucks are quick to react to hunting pressure and human presence in the woods. Does also, but maybe to a lesser extent. Yesterday evening as I was preparing Thanksgiving dinner for my GF who just came out of the hospital I counted over 20 deer in the cut bean field. Not a single buck amongst them. I'm pretty sure they were joined by some bucks within an hour after darkness. There is plenty of swampy, nasty rosebush covered area around here where deer can hide out around us. That stuff is almost inpenetrable and certainly no sneaking up on a buck in there!

I could be wrong, but I think lithium batteries don't leak? For that reason I use lithium batteries in my expensive electronics.

I agree it's a better situation if the deer is not alert. But depending on the distance, shot angle (uphill or downhill), I have seen deer duck an arrow for a clean miss. That is their first reaction to the twang usually, to crouch before taking off. I certainly don't believe they are purposely ducking the arrow, it's just what they do. For that reason my aim point with my bow is a bit lower than with the thunder stick.

I was hunting near Ossian,NY this weekend. It was very sad to see all the dead ash trees. We are not seeing it as much near the lake in Oswego and Cayuga counties. But I guess it is just a matter of time. There are lots of ash saplings still. I wonder if things will go like they did for the native chestnut tree.

As was said, if it recently succumbed it might stand for years. Look at the very base of the tree. Is there rot? This is where many or most ash trees will fail. Then look up the trunk for any obvious decay, fungus, etc. I would stay out of that blind on windy days. I think it would cost a small fortune to have a professional arborist come in with a lift or even using ropes. I would have it dealt with after the season, the longer you wait the more difficult it will be to predict the results, even with a good tree guy.