WNYBuckHunter

Wow......

Seriously? And what form of deer management did you base that idea upon? The Sportsman's Channel? Do you have any clue what 3 years of no DMPs would do to the herd in 3 years in many places? I probably know the answer to that question already...

Middle school kids are hunting age. They should be able to understand it.

So assuming you hunt in one of the areas that need more does taken, what if you have to shoot a couple of does to get that second buck tag? Might he reconsider? Why is he passing does? Ive said it before, but I think a OBR is a good thing for completely different reasons other than population control. Buck hunting does not reduce the population enough to be a real tool for that. Hunter opportunity is a good thing, but a balanced herd needs to be taken into consideration.

You need to shoot the does to lower the numbers in the long run. If you can only shoot one buck, it may prompt more to shoot does, especially if you start adding incentives.

It hasnt been cool all spring though, it was above average for a while there. Accuweather has a nice chart that shows the high and low per day along with averages and records. May was a bit above average. April was about average. March was a bit below. Heres a link to the May calander and chart. You can flip through other months http://www.accuweather.com/en/us/rochester-ny/14614/may-weather/329674?monyr=5/1/2015

Why would OBR be counter productive?

Heres the problem though. Human development of areas, especially residential areas, helps deer. We plant flowers, bushes, all kinds of gardens and plants that deer like to eat. Then you get the people that feed the deer, bird feeders, etc etc and they end up having plenty of food available to go along with the fields that are still farmed in and nearby most suburbs. Then, you think about all of the greenspace thats plopped right in the middle of housing tracts, most of which cant be hunted, and now youve provided sanctuaries for the deer as well. Other than an increase in deer killed by cars, many times we actually promote the deer herd through most residential and commercial development, but we have pushed the hunters out. Hunting is by far the most efficient way to control deer populations and in many areas you just cant do it any longer. Deer are extremely adaptable and adjust to their surroundings very quickly. Its why they have done so well once market hunting was put to a stop and the hunting lisence/wildlife management model began. The population needs to be looked at in smaller areas, and not thought of in regions or state wide. You can have an over population in one area, and not nearly as many deer 5 or 10 miles away for a variety of reasons.

Ive never shot fingers, so i know nothing about it. I would think it would be personal preference based on how fat or thin your fingers are, as different angles caused by different ATA lengths would cause different size fingers to get pinched or not. I like a little longer ATA length, as it is a bit more stable. I shoot a 35" ATA.

Exactly. We should be welcoming any new hunter that hunts resposibly, safely and enjoys the sport. Who cares what they wear, what kind of haircut they have or what music they listen to. Why anyone would argue about new hunters being good for the sport is completely beyond me.

There you have it in a nutshell, and its true. I have really noticed it since i started becoming involved with the QDMA. Yes, the number of people that do know, and care about it is growing, but its still a pretty small percentage of the total number of hunters.

http://www.huntersfriend.com/compound_bow_draw_length_discussion.html

More work on the shooting house done today. Roof sheeting is on, started adding top sections of walls and started framing in windows. The windows will be 12" tall, not sure on the exact width yet. I found a design where they will slide up and down on a track and latch at the top with a handle to slide it up and down. It should be simple, cheap and silent. I will just need to buy a sheet of plexiglass and cut the pieces.

Thats a good start, and I want to see that happen. I dont really see that as a solution to any population problems though. I feel that a one buck rule will cause alot more people to be choosy about the buck they harvest, but thats for another thread. I dont think one buck tag will ease any emphasis on shooting bucks though. I think the second buck tag being available for the WMUs that need does taken as nothing more than an incentive to get harvest numbers inline with ehat they want, without taking choice away from anyone, or sticking an early muzzle loader season in place. I didnt come up with that idea, I heard it from a few people seperately, thought about it and agree that it might work. Theres no guarantees it would work, but its worth a shot. I also agree with people that say making doe tags available to anyone over the counter in those WMUs would be a good way to go.

A couple more pics from the day... Heres why I like having the LED light bar on my truck. First with just headlights, second with the light bar on as well. Really lights things up and lets you see whats ahead.

Friday evening I stopped down to the farm to check on our food plots. The buckwheat is doing good, but the corn pretty much failed. What had come up was 3 to 4 inches high, but i dont think that the harrow we used to plant got us enough seed depth. There were seed hulls all over the place, so i think it was all sitting near or on top, and the critters had picked it clean. Next year ill try broadcasting again, but with a disc or spring haoorw to get the seed to a better depth. For this year though, my buddy got ahold of a small garden style row planter, so yesterday we replanted half the plot with that just to see if it does the job. The rest of the field is going to be done in beans and then winter rye will get tossed in there late. After we got done with the corn plot, we took the brush hog over to a spot where we have been wanting to open up a new access trail and got that cut in. Once that was done, we had to fix the pasture fence. Next up was mowing out a couple of plots and a bunch of trails. My buddy met me back at the farm a little later and we decided to get a new plot brush hogged out, so we did that. This one is a smaller plot, about 1/3 of an acre or so, and we found a couple of apple trees in there, which we left. Once that was done, it was back to mowing trails. On one trail, i spotted something ahead of the tractor, and when i got up to it, it looked to be a fawns laying in the trail. I stopped and hopped down to check it out, and sure enough, it was a very small fawn laying there dead. Not sure how it died, there didnt seem to be any marks on it, but it had been there for a couple of days. I was actually more surprised the fox or coyotes hadnt found it before that. I hopped back on the tractor and finished up the day mowing more trails. It was a great day and we got most of the work that needed to be done finished up. Now we will have time to get tilling done in the rest of the plots. I also pulled a trailcam I had set next to one of the barns, where some foxes had denned up. Got a ton of great pics of them. Heres a few examples, ill post more when I get them transferred to my PC.

You are dead on grow. They shouldnt be taking the choice away, especially from those of us that already shoot does and try to manage the herds on our properties already. They need to put an incentive out there for the people that dont think about it, or bother trying to manage their deer. Lets face it, not all hunters are as gung ho as some of us are, the vast majority see and treat it as a hobby they partake in for a few weeks each year if they have time. They arent really interested in what it takes to even attempt to manage deer numbers in the areas they hunt.

Dont mess with your draw length if its correct for you. Change your anchor point.

Not on our farms. We have lots of both.

Coyote vs 5 or 6 foot wall. Video says its 6 but it doesnt look that tall to me. Still...

Its an incentive to get people to shoot does. You want another buck tag? Shoot does. Of course there will be people that lie, you cant build a system around that, because no matter what you do there will be some bad apples. There are ways to make it happen, take your filled DMP along with the deer carcass, or head to a check in station (doesnt need to be manned by DEC, use processors, etc) and receive a tag to take in and redeem for your buck tag. Other states have similar things, we can do it here too. How exactly do you propose they reduce emphasis on buck harvest?

Shouldnt be allowed on a vehicle? Why not? Its illegal to turn them on while on the road, so the guy will end up with a ticket if he has it on and a cop sees him. I have mine on there for when I am off road after dark, which is pretty often. Not that I need any reason other than I want it on there. Its no different than guys that have had KC Daylighters and other off road lights since the 60s.

Lol i thought you just misspoke on copperhead.

Had some time tonight, so I built and put up the roof framing for the shooting house. This weekend Im going to put the plywood on the roof, shingle it, add some bracing and get it ready to transport. The door, windows and the rest of the plywood will go on once its at the farm. Its already plenty heavy, and loading and unloading it from my trailer is going to require some effort. It ended up being 8 foot wide and 8 1/2 feet to the peek. I already cant wait to hunt in it with the kids. Ill probably do a couple of photo hunts in it with them before the season starts.