WNYBuckHunter

Im not sure, maybe they over extended themselves. It really seems like things started going downhill when they closed up the ATV dealership. The last few years its been getting steadily worse and worse with the lack of employees in the store, you can never get help with things unless you walk around the store 3 times to find someone, then they never have access to what you want, so they have to find someone. Its just a hassle to go there. Ive become very disappointed with them. I used to make it a point to go there any time I was in the area, but now I dont bother. I would love to see BPS or Cabelas come into the area, driving to Auburn is a pain.

Shooting older bucks doesnt get rid of does, smartass. Actually it does. If all the guys shooting spikes and four pointers shot a older buck or a doe. The amount of older bucks will never be as great as the number of yearling bucks, so therefore shooting older bucks and does does balance out the herd. I don't see where your confused. Sorry, but just implementation of ARs does not accomplish what you are talking about. You would need to completely revamp the DMP system so that all hunters would be guaranteed a doe permit, and in some areas of the state, thats just not possible. Again, shooting older buck does not get rid of does. So you're telling me if less bucks are shot and the same amount of does are shot then the buck to doe ratio doesn't become more balanced? It's not to hard to figure out. Do the simple math. The AR isn't a cureall for everything, but it's a start. I live in Greene County. Right on the Hudson River. There are way more does then bucks. For example two years ago, opening day, I saw 14 different does and fawns. No buck. Many time you can drive around and see 10-15 does and fawns. No bucks. I don't know where the rest of you live but in my neck of the woods the truth is it's pretty close to 12:1. Believe what you want to. If x number of does are being shot currently, and you propose no additional does being shot, how is that going to lower the number of does in your area? You are talking about less bucks being taken, but are all of those additional deer still within the area's carrying capacity? What I am trying to explain is that AR will not "fix" your area's herd without other steps being taken, and it certainly does not bring a buck to doe ratio back into line.

I stopped in to GM yesterday just to poke around a bit. I wanted to look at a couple of MLs but couldnt because they moved most of their guns behind the counter, and as usual forGM, they didnt have enough people working to take care of customers, so I left instead of waiting for 1/2 hour just to look at a gun. Their archery selection is getting very skimpy and there were a bunch of empty shelves. I kinda get the feeling that they might not be around much longer.

It was killed a couple of weeks ago. Its not mounted yet.

Because many dont care how big a deer's antlers are.

Shooting older bucks doesnt get rid of does, smartass. Actually it does. If all the guys shooting spikes and four pointers shot a older buck or a doe. The amount of older bucks will never be as great as the number of yearling bucks, so therefore shooting older bucks and does does balance out the herd. I don't see where your confused. Sorry, but just implementation of ARs does not accomplish what you are talking about. You would need to completely revamp the DMP system so that all hunters would be guaranteed a doe permit, and in some areas of the state, thats just not possible. Again, shooting older buck does not get rid of does.

AR's need doe kill in order to balance ratios... without AR's and only dmp's the process is much slower and will never get ratios very close... in the first couple years when buck kill is usually at its lowest during AR's there will be a huge gap closing in buck:doe ratio .. after a few years buck kill begins to rise again... but by then ratios are much better balanced and adjustments can be made to the number of dmps issued... of course the challenge is that all this will play out diffently in different areas... making it tough to do on a state wide level... and most likely could not be done in most of the Adirondack Park. I agree with that. My overall point had to do with ARs not being a fix all for anything. They would need to be combined with a few other things to become even close to effective. Like GJS has said, take a good look at Ohio, very good hunting, something for everyone and all of that has been done with zero ARs. Instead of trying all of the novelty programs, why not just make the move to a proven system?

I agree with this 110%, but we all know how often NY does things right. ;D

Shooting older bucks doesnt get rid of does, smartass.

Thats the ONLY good reason for ARs, IMO. I was actually just talking to someone about that yesterday.

If you saw a ML in an area, getting evidence of it is pretty easy, just go back to that spot with a camera and take pics of prints, scat, hair, whatever the animal leaves behind. As far as bears go, I had heard rumblings of bear living on the farm that we live on, but I have yet to see one. Just yesterday I found tracks in a field within eyeshot of my house. Then we found more evidence of the bears feeding on the corn in the field. Trails and circles of broken corn stalks and ears of corn stripped of the husks and bare to the cob laying around (I have pics of that). I have also found lots of scat in the same general area. All clear evidence of bears that I have never laid eyes on. Ill be putting a trail camera back there later on today and Ill get the visual evidence. Not hard to document at all.

Always look for odd looking spots in the finish, like bubbling, wrinkles, etc and investigate them by pushing and prodding with a screwdriver or some other sharp mental tool. If it feels soft or the tool pushes through, its time to replace the stand. Dont forget to check all bolts and replace as needed.

So ARs dont help the buck/doe ratio. Exactly my point. The only thing that will help that is to kill does.

I just inspect them to make sure there are no weakened areas or bad rust spots. You have to remember that with these stands, the rust on the outside isnt the biggest concern, its the rust that develops on the inside of the steel tubing, they tend to rot from the inside out.

Actually, if you go through and look at the various ML sightings threads, youll see that many people claim there to be a wild population of MLs in NY. Youll also notice that those of us that are skeptical do not call people liars, we ask for proof of the ML existence here. In this case, there was a ML that wandered through, and the proof that it did so is there, and apparently not too tough to come by if they tracked the journey of this particular cat through many states and even down to townships that it ventured through. Now tell me how hard it would be to get verifiable evidence of a resident population of MLs in NY if they truly existed.

How are ARs going to help doe to buck ratio?

Actually Letchworth Park has AR in place and has for a while now. Probably too small of an area to see any effects, good or bad, though.

I have a few of those ladder stands, so I know how they look in the woods. The deer get used to them being there as long as you leave them there. They have no idea of what they are.

Price Drop $225 Would also consider trade or partial trade on a Muzzleloader

Agreed

See my last post. BTW, just a little advice, saying someone is a killer and not a hunter because they dont share the same opinion as you makes you the bad person in the situation. Youre gonna end up getting your butt handed to ya someday saying things like that.

While I share your opinion, it is only an opinion. Whats rewarding to you may not be whats rewarding to the next guy. Whos to say that Joe Blow doesnt feel completely rewarded by walking up to the spike he just shot? I have never even put my sights upon a buck with less than 8 points, but Im not going to tell anyone else what they should shoot.

Cool, but why is the black ridiculous? I dont camo my ladder stands at all, ever, and have deer walk and stand right next to and under them every year. Remember, deer dont see colors like you do.

Just because one ML walked through NY last year, does not mean they exist in NY on a regular or even semi-regular basis. There is no breeding population here.

Yep. I dont think its really soil, its more like pelletized scent. Ill try to save a little when I go out and freshen the scrapes today so I can take a pic of what it is. When I go out to freshen them, I will probably throw a little scent in all but one, that one Ill take a wiz in and see what happens.