Bigfoot 327

If you go to a WalMart in Florida and compare the masking rate with the rate at a WalMart in NY there would be very little difference. At least, that has been my experience. I went to one gun store in Fl where everyone was required to wear masks and to another one where I was the only one with a mask. I also went to a gun show before Thanksgiving along with several THOUSAND people. Zero social distancing- in fact a couple of people walked into me while I was waiting in line for my background check. I attended a funeral in June in NY and was invited to a picnic afterward that far exceeded the "50" person limit. Like the NH license plates used to say: "Live free or die".

So, are you vaccinating to prevent spread or are you vaccinating to prevent death? The science says vaccinate aged 65+ to prevent death!

In Florida 65+ year olds are receiving their vaccines (though demand far exceeds supply) while in King Andy's fiefdom you have to be 75 years old to qualify by age. It doesn't matter if he's killing the economy or the elderly, nobody kills better than the KING!

I was on a lease where we built 3 bridges in 3 years. We used telephone poles for 2 of the years. We stacked pallets about six feet high on each end of the bridge and placed 2 telephone poles as support beams, and used more pallets as the bridge decking. Then ramps were built on each end. I wish I had some picture, then again these were not works of art. The creek banks there were about 4 feet high, so the bridge deck was about 10 feet off of the water. The span was perhaps 30 feet long. We used it as a foot bridge, traction was sketchy with a heavy frost or snow. Each Spring the creek would remove our efforts and we would start over. One year one of our group obtained support beams from a single wide mobile home and we cabled them on end end. Mother nature was not impressed.

Our outdoor "christmas tree" in Florida deer management zone C. (our indoor tree is rather ordinary, thought you might enjoy a change of pace).

Ruffled Grouse are highly susceptible to the West Nile Virus. Very few survive. Last I knew, PA biologists were researching this. Grouse also suffer from a lack of suitable habitat. Several Northeastern states are working to correct this through young forest initiatives.

Number 7: Biden wants to repeal the Protection of Lawful Commerce Act. This law shields the gun manufacturers from liability when their products are used for criminal acts. If this protection is repealed, we can kiss the American firearms industry good-bye.

Better nutrition could mean a healthier herd, heavier deer, bigger racks and increased winter fawn survival. It also could draw large bucks onto your area. You probably don't want any of that, so by all means don't chip in. LOL

I went to a large gunshow (along with several thousand of my closest friends, LOL) in Orlando Florida last weekend. They had pallets full of ammo and many people were purchasing a case at a time. The check out line for the vendor with the most ammo for sale had at least 100 people waiting to pay. If you are planning a trip to the sunshine state this winter you might consider this ammo source (they have a big show someplace most weekends).

I saw trail cam pics in a "deer Magazine" once of 5 different bucks working the same rub. And the bucks were not all the same size or height.

I would not assume that the rubs are the work of just one buck. Any buck that comes by will probably add his "two cents".

On of my sons has one in Big Flats. There is a feature where you can share videos (if you want to) with your neighborhood. Turns out that black bears are frequent visitors and often show up on videos. He even had one video of a very nice cinnamon phase bear.

Many stores are receiving ammo shipments weekly and some more often. In the sunbelt, Rural King has assorted ammo placed on the shelves daily, but it goes fast. Shotgun shells are plentiful, rifle cartridges availability varies and pistol ammo almost non existent. Today, (Florida) I picked up 2 boxes of 85 grain 25.06 Winchester ballistic Silvertips (a varmint and coyote load). It was pricy, $35 for a box of 20. They also had a substantial amount 6.5 Creedmoor (which I don't own or need).They had 130 grain elk loads and a lighter "match" load. So, just cause they have it, doesn't mean they have what you need. I had a little better luck at Wally world. While their shelves were pretty empty the had lots of Remington core-lokt PSP 100 grain for my 25.06, so I bought 4 boxes at $24 per box. My advice would be to keep looking, especially if you travel. Around here gun stores are out, but hardware stores often have a few dusty boxes left.

Check to see if there is a propane co-op in your area. Their pricing is often a fraction of the commercial outfits that don't have your interests in mind.

We have close friends from Tioga PA that were denied the opportunity to vote. Their absentee ballots (they are snowbirds) never made it to them in Florida. They repeatedly checked with their board of elections and post offices to no avail. Don't know if the ballots were lost or stolen. With no signature verification, they could have been used by anyone. Voting by mail is a horrible idea. Didn't know until this election that 5% of all US Mail doesn't make it to it's destination.

During my infantry days (what seems like a million years ago) I met a Vietnam vet who had earned more medals than anyone I ever saw. One evening over a brew I asked him about it. His modest answer surprised me. His unit had been inserted via huey. One of the birds had been shot down. He ran over to the huey repeatedly and removed injured GI's from the burning craft. His heroism earned him all sorts of medals including a Silver Star. He did not feel he was deserving because: 1) he had never been more afraid in his life, he feared the huey would explode killing them all. 2) He was so engrossed in his activity that he didn't even realize that he was being shot at!!!! Similarly, it's possible to be stuck chest deep in quicksand in a swamp full of alligators and not realize the sky is falling! If you can't see that as gun owners we are so screwed, you don't understand the situation.

Voted in person last week here in central Florida. It took about 50 minutes. Many of the people we talked to at the polling location were fellow refuges from New York! Very little support for Biden in this part of Florida.

You can donate to the Venison Coalition on the DEC licensing page(banner a top of the page "Donations". This is the same page where many applied for their doe tags. The guy at wally world should have been able to help you.

I'm wondering what the purpose of that fancy dam is? Maybe lamprey control? Also, I always laugh when I read something like "swimming is illegal". So, if you fall into the water it's OK to drown but against the law to save yourself? LOL

King Andy admitted the other day that the time based 14 quarantine was probably not the best way to do it. They are taking a new look at it. I see them moving to a test based system, perhaps asking people to quarantine until their Covid test comes back negative. This would be far less arbitrary and actually based on science. Technically, the current rules require you to stay put (basically under house arrest) and you would be in violation to slip out the door to hunt the back forty. Highly unlikely you're gonna get busted though.

Most hunters would say I set up my ladder stands backwards in that I set them up on the far side of the tree rather than over looking my intended kill zone. I usually stand rather than sit and hide behind the tree. Deer seldom see me as a result, or they see me when it's to late for them. I feel zero need to brush them in. I am a gun hunter, this would have serious limitations for a bow hunter.

The biggest tiger muskies there are taken through the ice. The biggest tigers there are as big as any I know of in NY.

New system is a disaster. New vendor with contract awarded to lowest bidder. I have a lifetime license . Applied for dmp's on August 11. Was awarded a tag for 8T and one for 7R. I received them 16 business days later. September rolled around and no sign of my other tags, so I went to Wally World and had them printed off. They gave me the tags I was entitled to, plus 2 more dmps for 8T and 2 more for 7R. Next day I wasted my time (20 minutes on hold) and 20 minutes talking to the licensing division, who eventually told me they couldn't help me and advised me to "call somebody local". I connected with an ECO at the Region 8 HQ who decided he needed to visit me at my place to view the tags. He looked at them and was totally baffled, he ended up taking pictures of them and told me he would get back to me. One week later, he told me which ones to use and took the others off my hands. The failure of the licensing system caused this ECO to devote considerable amount of time straightening out the snafu.

I don't think Summer observations of deer/coyote interactions count for much. Field studies by biologists have shown that the Summer diet of coyotes includes a lot of things (like apples) that you might not expect. Coyotes eat almost no deer at that time. The winter diet is much different and includes a lot of deer. While it may be easier to take a weak or injured deer they will take ANY deer that they can get close to. I always believed that the yotes would run a deer to exhaustion and then attack and probably happens, my own observations have shown that they do "deer drives" where members of the pack herd (using their scent) their victim to a waiting yote, who ambushes the deer and often kills it within 100ft of the initial contact. It is my belief that deer fear any dog like creature more than anything else!

Yes, the NRA opposed universal background checks last year. The bill in the House of Representatives as originally written would have required your neighbor pass a background check before you they could handle any of your firearms for any reason. Even if you were in the privacy of your own home and you were just showing off your brand new gun. Just because many people support universal background checks, doesn't mean they support every stupid law our legislators come up with!