Elmo

Then you're not seeing what is really happening in the inner city because no one is raising these teenage girls but Nicki Minaj.

Agree. Nicki Minaj who's one of the current "it" girls in hip hop culture today released a new song this past week called "Anaconda" which she sang during the VMA Music awards. This line was taken straight out of the lyrics. "Now that bang bang bang, I let him hit it cause he slang cocaine" Through out the whole song she talks about great it is to sleep with drug dealers. Now, a ton of teenage girls who listen to her songs would emulate that.

What? No love for Nattie Lite? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I use the Havalon for field dressing but I also carry a folding Buck knife for general outdoor use.

The benefits of having your own private hunting land versus public land is like any other private land versus public land. Private beach versus public beach. Private yard versus public park. You don't have to compete for space. You know no one else is going to be there. You can leave your stuff there.

Typo. Just one. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I sent mines in on June 12th. Arrived back at my door steps on August 25th. For what it's worth. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I would also like to add that I use ethics as simply just one example. As phade pointed out, some hunters limit themselves in other ways. Another example is a hunter who only wants to hunt a mature buck with a recurve bow. Under such limitations, he might not get any harvest anything this year.

Yes, but for some people, their overwhelming desire to harvest one overshadows their moral and ethical boundaries. My point was that if I threw my moral boundaries out the door I would have walked home with a couple of deer last year but at what cost? I had set limitations on myself and because of that, I didn't get a deer. Would that mean I am less successful than someone who didn't set such limitations? Only you can define your own goals and limitations and thus your own success.

First you need to figure out what is defined as "success"? One hunters definition of success might not be the same as another hunter's definition of success. For some hunters it's about the number of deer they kill. For others they don't have to kill at all. Last year my season was cut short but during bow season I had 5 encounters. I didn't get a single kill. I made several predictions as to where the deer will be and when they will be there and I was right on all of them. I considered that season a success. Just for arguments sake, I could have shot at all 5. Maybe miss 1, wound 2 of them, come home with 2 deer. Would that be considered a success? Private land does give you the comfort of knowing less people will be interfering with the deer's pattern and your hunt and you'll be able to setup up more permanent stands and trail cams so that does give you a big added advantage. But so does putting a deer in a cage. That's a 100% success if you count it that way. So that brings us back to my original point. What is your definition of success? Success is measure simply by your own goals of how you want to hunt and the limitations you want to set up for yourself and then achieving it.

lurking makes a good point. You walk outside and you don't think it's that cold but when you're sitting stationary for a few hours...it gets ridiculously cold. When you walk out of your warm car or your warm house to get a feel the temp, prepare as if it'll be 5 to 10 degrees colder. That said, the hike to your spot will raise you body temperature so you'll sweat and sweating in the cold is really bad so laying is always a good idea. That's why my back pack is always big enough to fit a sweatshirt so I can add or remove a layer.

Most places near NYC are restricted to bow or shotgun so if you're looking to purchase ONE firearm to hunt near NYC then the shotgun is a must. You need your hunting license. A decent backpack to carry these minimal items: skinning knife compass map of the area you're going to be at. Most of the woods near NYC are not thousands of acres so a decent map and compass and some hiking will get you out of the woods easily. Also most hunting areas near NYC has phone service. bottle of water I always carry a firestarter in case of emergency and a first aid kit (4 years and I've only used that stuff once...when another hunter I bumped into had a scraped his finger and I gave him a Band-Aid). Good comfortable boots. warm clothing. preferably camo. hunter orange vest/clothing. a drag rope for when you succeed. I think anything beyond that it's just to enhance your success rate and experience.

If you're going to be the type that is going to drive up to a spot, hike in a few hundred yards and hunt from there for the day (and there is nothing wrong with that at all), you won't need as much. If you're going to be the type to hike in 5 or 6 miles then your required gear increases drastically. I don't want to recommend hundreds of dollars of gear that you might never use just because I hunt a certain way others might not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

You have to be at least 150 feet away from any dwelling that can occupy people. If you are within 150 of such a place, you need permission from the owner to shoot near his/her property. Preferably a signed note. Even if you are 150 feet from any dwelling, while not legally required, you still have to take into consideration the deer will run and expire on someone else's property and then you will need permission from that neighbor to retrieve the deer. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What are you hunting, how are you hunting (bow, rifle), and how casual are you thinking? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Right on! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

On a couple of occasions, I've had hunters walk into my spot and next thing you know, we're hunting together as a team the rest of the day and exchanging phone numbers at the end. Crazy.

Is this age restriction every range or just the range near you? I never looked into this sort of stuff since my son is still trying to chew every single object he can get his hands on.

Ah...true. My hunter orange and a simple wave usually does the trip. I've been fortunate enough that the hunters who bump into me in the woods has always walked the other way once they see me. Me waving at them isn't going to disturbed the animals any more than those hunters trampling through hasn't already done. Not sure you can mark enough that they'll stay so far away that they won't disturb the surrounding animals at all.

Hunting spots are like seats on a bus. When I get on a bus and see someone sitting on a seat, I don't kick them off and take the seat nor do I sit on their lap. But you also can't leave a sign there that says "Do Not Sit Here. I Will Be Back Next Week." It's public land. You cannot stake a claim to it. While I have never taken someone's spot that has been "marked" because I've been fortunate enough to find my own, I do admit that I have followed their markers before simply because I'm curious as to why they picked that particular spot.

As Culver, said, I'm not going to put an actual number to when I will teach my son how to shoot. It'll be determined by his physical ability to handle the firearm as well as the mental/moral aptitude to handle the responsibility of firing a firearm. His first gun will be a single shot. Either 22LR or 410 or 20 gauge (bird shot). I see no reason why it has to be rushed. Just because one child is shooting a semi-auto at the age of 8 versus shooting one at the age of 16 doesn't make one child a better or more responsible shooter. It's not a race. You don't get a prize for learning how to shoot before someone else.

This thread could have easily gone in the direction of "when should you introduce guns to your kids or what gun do you start them out with" but naturally, it instead evolved into a pro-gun versus anti-gun rant.

You found yourself a keeper! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Geez! How much money do you guys spend on stands? 40+ stands at around $200 per stand? Or am I missing something? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

410 over a 20 or 12 gauge? You seem to like the challenge. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk