Elmo

Unethical. Even if you couldn't see the small fawn behind the doe there was clearly a 3rd deer right behind that, sandwiching the fawn.

I think people need to realize when discussing hunting to no-hunting, your goal isn't necessarily about telling them why you really hunt but rather convincing them the values and benefits of hunting. Fine you don't hunt for meat...but they don't need to know that right away. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's where I disagree. I find that justifying it with meat hunting opens the door and lowers their defense and then they become more willing to learn more about hunting. You can win a lot over this way. Those who still oppose it even after the meat hunting argument,...well, they're a lost cause and you'll never win those over. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Only reason I remember is because i'm a big sports fan and a famous football player (Ray Lewis) was caught with it a couple of years ago and that's when the whole legality of it came into question. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not aphrodisiac. In Chinese medicine it is believed to help improve kidney and circulatory problems. The real spike is athletes use it as a steroid alternative. Especially when they over turned the ban since it only contains small traces of growth hormone. Professional athletes has been snatching them up. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I think for most people, including myself, the moment we see anything that remotely resembles a rat we immediately associate them to the filthy city sewer rats and the bubonic plague.

It's not the only or even major reason but due to the recent trend, it is the easy way in to get them to lower their defense and be more willing to listen to other reason that makes hunting great. I find that bringing up the conservation aspect of it doesn't quite make sense to those who are not abreast with how ecology, economic, or the innate greed in people work. The most common reply I hear to that is always "if you're so into conservation, why don't you simply donate the money and not have to kill them" or "killing an animal to save them is backwards logic" when they don't understand how over crowding or herd management works. Not many of them are openly willing to sit there and hear the logic behind this but meat hunting immediately grabs their attention and then they'll be more willing to listen to other aspects of hunting. As for vegetarians, I always say becoming a vegetarian is a big missed steak. Sorry. I had to throw that in there. No, seriously though, for vegetarians I have to go deeper in my explanation. Fortunately, the only vegetarian I explained hunting to was an old high school friend of mine who is now Ivy League educated and was willing to sit down and reason with logic. I reminded him of how when we use to be kids (this is a true story) we use to go to this old park and catch baby garter snakes (in the Bronx!) but no matter how many died in our youthful, ignorant hands, there would always be more snakes the following summer for us to catch. I then informed him that park has now been paved over and is now a middle school and parking lot and so in one signature, the entire population of snakes in the area has been wipe out. Moral is that the biggest threat to the survival of animals is not hunting but rather human expansion and human development. Not only does the use of a land for hunting assures that the land stays wild but it allows utilization of a eco-system that normally would be used by people. This is on top of the money being raise to keep the land from development. Again, from the locavore front, deer convert materials such as grass and wood bark that we cannot eat into something we can eat...protein. If the land was to be converted to something that humans can eat directly such as industrialized agriculture, the land would no longer be available to the animals and in a similar fashion to the middle school and parking lot, many animals would no longer exist do to the lost of land. Even those who do try to live on the land are killed. There is a reason why the lettuce on your salad doesn't have any bite marks on it. When the Acai berries became a craze, how many acres or rainforest were cut down to plant acai trees? Once those trees were planted, how many monkeys were shot to keep them off the precious acai berries? I forgot who said it but it is estimated that if the entire human population became vegetarians, every inch of the world would have to be converted to agricultural land and over 3/4 of the known species would become extinct.

Andrew Zimmern posted this on his Instagram feed of a woodchuck roasted over wood fire. Now I need to try me some woodchuck.

Think white supremacist who use to view other races as less than human and you couple that with the belief that God give man (and woman) the authority to kill animals as they please and you can see how some crazy zealots can stretch that. Also think Charles Manson and the Zodiac Killer. But enough of the side track, let's get back to the main point of the thread. You are not going to win too many argument when your approach is "I'm right, you're wrong, I don't care what you think, screw you and leave me alone". Nor are you going to win by pounding your chest. In today's world, you're in a battle through the court of public opinion and Frankly, as Mike Rossi pointed out, hunters are greatly out-numbered. And for that matter, there are less Christians than non-Christians in the world as well. The whole animals are there put there for me to kill and I'm more superior than the animals goes against the whole respect the animal mantra that hunters tend to throw around and it also isn't going to win too many brownie points with non-hunters. Right now the whole locavore and organic meat movement is creating a ripple and as hunters it is a good idea to ride those waves to get you in the door for a deeper conversation with non-hunters.

To kill something because it is your God given right...isn't that the same slippery slope many religious extremist use? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Oh, and roasting marshmallows over a camp fire keeps city girls happy. This was at Fahnestock back in 2011.

Fahnstock has tons of 1st world amenities but it is also crowded so you have other campers near you which can take away from the camping experience. I think the biggest complains from first time city campers are: 1. bugs Bring bug spray. 2. being dirty You can buy bio-degradable soap and a collapsible bucket. Fahnstock has water pumps so you can just fill up a bucket and bring it back to your camp site. 3. rough, uneven ground makes sleeping uncomfortable A cot or an air mattress will help. Also, buy a heavy duty tarp from Home Depot that is slightly bigger than the size of you tent but not too big that it'll interfere with the stakes. The tarp will keep the bottom of the tent dry in case it rains and makes the ground not as cold. 4. doing the dirty Fahnstock has bathrooms. Oh, and I hope you have one of these... http://www.rei.com/product/695265/msr-miniworks-ex-water-filter?cm_mmc=cse_PLA-_-pla-_-6952650015&mr:trackingCode=716A67C3-3A88-DE11-B4D4-0019B9C043EB&mr:referralID=NA&mr:device=c&mr:adType=plaonline&mr:ad=53280440440&mr:keyword=&mr:match=&mr:filter=126986928040&msid=pV05u8ov_dc|pcrid|53280440440|&lsft=cm_mmc:cse_PLA

Like Steve863 said, Harriman and Bear Mountain has tons of nice trails. To be more specific: Anthony's Nose Trail in Bear Mountain, Breakneck Ridge trail in Cold Springs, and Storm King Mountain's Butterhill Trail are all really good. A little further out and you have Lake Minnewaska Loop is short and super easy but the views are spectacular. That's a "take your kids and have a picnic" type of hike. No exaggeration. They have benches and tables around the loop. Lake Minnewaska is part of the Shawangunks. There are many great trails there and you can combine the Minnewaska loop with other trails like Gertrude's Nose, etc.

Happy birthday! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sounds like an amazing trip. Thats a fine trophy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

That's it! We're bombing Canada! Who needs Molson Ice anyway!

But I really am a genius though. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

To hell with those jerks up north for giving us Hayden Christenson and Jim Carrey. But I guess they made up for it by giving us Emmanuelle Chriqui, Colbie Smulder, and Bryan Adams. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Happy birthday, bro! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Apologies for resurrecting an old thread but I came across this today and found it interesting. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/ng-interactive/2015/jun/01/the-counted-police-killings-us-database For all the complaints about racial profiling etc, cops have actually killed more whites than all other races combined. Of course if you consider the fact that whites make up the majority of the population in the US then a 236 to 231 ratio isn't in line with averages but it does show that it isn't as lopsided as the media portrays.

That's a whole lot of fish!

http://griffinsguide.com/content/2015/05/16/state-knife-laws-know-whats-legal-and-whats-not-infographic/

Happy birthday!

It's not snakes we're afraid of. This here sums it up.