G-Man

you can get a garage kit, 20x28 or 24x24 reasonable, modify it any way you want. why a loft? my friend insisted he needed one untill he built it and realised in the summer sun there would be no way to sleep up there at all way to hot. uses it strictly for storage now... I'd look into modular homes as well. you can modify floor plan quite a bit. all you need then is foundation to set it on.

So here it is a youth can hunt at 14 and 15 in nice weather, gets a nice buck or doe , fawn whatever. Turns 16 an now faces reg season rules... thinks back on how great hunting in warm weather was but thats bow season now, so he/ she decides they would rather learn to bow hunt than gun... A new bow hunter is born!!! this will happen beyond a doubt. Quit whining about safety, sm game hunters shooting at squirrels in trees with bird shot and .22's is more dangerous than a hunter shooting at game on the ground and we as bow hunter have put up with that for years!!! let alone grouse/duck hunters raining pellets down on me onnthe edge of a swamp. This is a start, ...yes it may need tweeking, (say close bow for the weekend of youth hunt to placate the "sky is falling crowd" also gets around that pesky legislation that forbids gun in the wood during bow...which would also eliminate all small game, duck and goose hunting as written i believe ... .For those of you that have youngsters young enough to partcipate good luck i say!! teach them well!! for those that want to whine and complain ...deal with it its happening...

Nope i love a bad apple year, takes some scouting but i found 5 trees with apples, trails wore down into mud. every deer seems to stop by and look for an apple, 3 days 122 pics 11 different buck. good early season till they are gone, then i move to my chestnuts,then corn and turnip food plots.In a good apple year i have 30 acres of apples a deer can go to much harder to pattern,and hang stands for! Food plots are a great draw especially in a bad mast year. I know everone say lime and soil prep, ph test... but a lot can be done with a rake, roundup and very little time.turnips are easy as are oats and other like grains. Doing anything is better than nothing and removes the dependance on the weather and mother nature to give you a good crop to hunt over.

Most cams are high def now, but you get what u pay for. Look for the lowest lux rating you can afford (allows you to film in low light) biggest mistake amatures make is allowing the camera to auto focus on their subject. You need to zoom all the way in manually focus on the subject then zoom out. This gives you the sharp clear video you see on television. Its hard to do by yourself (thats why the tv shows use camera men) lens size is also important the larger the lens more light gets in the better film you will be able to produce. Look for these features in the camera you choose. Sony, panasonic, what ever brand you choose.

Most states with big bucks and youth season have much shorter and split seasons, that one reason plans for other states don't work here, that and hunter numbers, ny has almost 4x as many hunters than say iowa... This may not be the answer for youth recruitment but it is a start, as for who's deer they are...as far as i know all game belongs to the state....

if you think you have american chestnut, or a hybrid try this link http://www.acf.org/find_a_tree.php has pictures and decsriptions,amazing 1 of every 4 trees in the northeast was once a chestnut, amazing the loss of habitat and food that is for wildlife

I have been contacted by single mothers, thru our jakes day(part of the nwtf) looking for someone to take their kid out to hunt. Being a mentor is tough work, many time you need to take the child to a hunting safety course first, then you have to be unselfish and give up your own hunting time to take the youth out. (yes during the regular season you could bring your gun along but you need to focus on the youth). I have made several friends being a mentor and its a joy to watch the youth grow up, I am fortunate to have been invited togame dinners, birthday parties, graduations, and a wedding from youths i've mentored. For many the ability to give up a hunting day/season to take a kid hunting will never happen, they cannot fathom giving "their" game to a youth. My own nephews are now almost old enough to hunt, their father my brother, hunts but not that often. I look forward to being able to step up and take them out, and have already been asked if they can bring a friend along who's family never hunted or cared to. Sitting thru another hunter safety class is just part of that, and kudos to those who are the instructors. Is it coddling? not real hunting? I feel it allows a better controlled atmosphere where youth not acustomed to gunshots close by or rude hunters, tresspassing, or heaven forbid a deer recovery confrontation will be greatly lessoned.

I wouldn't use any scents, or grunt. If you see a buck out of range a light ticking of horns like a buck rubbing a sapling may work, or sparing (not an all out fight ) very light ticking . This early focus on food, many bucks will still be in loose bachlor groups, gorging themselves before the up coming rut, if you find one you may find them all. by second week many bucks will be dispursing and you will see a lot of younger buck movement as they wanter looking for a safe haven from the big boys.

Doc, bow seaon was only extended this year in southern zone, so this hunt would of happened weekend before bow, be happy they extended bow at all.... I would of been happy to see bow stay the same and youth hunt go on anyway. so using your logic Why would they stick bow season both sides of a youth gun season??

Lot of corn being chopped now, farmers arn't taing a risk of not getting in to the fields if they get wet to harvest the ears, corn prices are expected to rise and they want feed for their livestock.

Well, youth hunt for turkey was a big concern for many as well. I have had the privlege of taking a youth out every year since this season and have seen the smiles on their parents faces when they take a turkey and the joy of seeing a kid hooked on hunting! .Where are all the poachers killing birds using the youth season to their advantage? Maybe there are some out there? . As for being opening weekend of bow for youth gun season, it falls that way this year, is it bad luck?If you have such dire concerns don't hunt or wear orange! I never could hunt that weekend before anyway with bow before season date changes... I for one make every opening day whether it be a mon or anyday, most die hards do. I seem to remember a lot of bow hunters complaining oct 1 is to early, to warm,to much foliage and they wouldn't hunt anyway that early... The dec could just close bow for those 3 days every year, but i put up with turkey hunters,grouse,small game, duck and goose hunters all bow anyway. And with the exception of turkey huntersi hear a lot more shots from them than i expect from a kid hunting deer off the ground with an adult.. Nessary youth hunt maybe not in a perfect world, but with so much outside stimulus and electronics i'll be glad to see the youth hunt in effect! Is a different world from when i could walk out the back yard in the subburbs and hunt! My old stomping grounds is now a large development in lancaster,ny.. I think is a good way to get kids interested in the outdoors, even if they don't get anything.

I would head to where u think he came from especially first 2 weeks. You may or may not ever see it again but its worth a try. Especially season opens so early now

As for the gunshots scaring deer into hiding, i live in the country,that has a lot less effect than every " weekend warrior" coming out 1 to 2 weekends before season shooting their guns/ hammering treestands/ driving atv's around " scouting". The youth hunt is still a go without the crossbowbill being signed. The fault lies with several outdoor news papers saying it was cancelled because of xbow bill, that bill is not law yet. The dec expects 8000 participants in the youth hunt.. thats 8000 across the entire state. Not a lot to worry about in my opinion.

The hunt had passed, its the new legislation that remains unsigned that would of cancelled it, look under news releases on dec site. The only thing last minute is the fact that is wasn't canceled

I now have, dunstan, american, and chineese chestnuts growing , only the american are producing, tons of nuts... and frost damage free as they dont' flower till july

either late born last year or early born this year, i shot what a thought was a doe with 2 fawns, turned out to be a 103lbs dressed button buck which weighed 2 lbs more than my friends 10in spike killed the day before at 101 dressed

the bill hasn't been signed so its not law the hunt will go on as planned

My hunting partners hated this at first but, i always set my stands so deer come from behind me. let em walk by, stand and shoot. a lot easier than having them watch you for 20 min as they walk in. you get to temped to stand and get ready for a shot, usually getting busted. When they walk by they have a blind spot only about 90 degrees behind them, as the can see abouut 270 degrees, they always move their heads so when they are past you gives a nice opertunity to stand and take an easy quarting away shot!! seems to work quite well as your ears become your warning device and teaches you to look right and left slowly as well.

that tree does have blight pretty bad now, almost 1/2 way around, sending endomorphic sprouts out from under it. best tree i have is now 11in in diameter 40 ' tall or so and has no blight so far. but a bear keeps climbing it for the nuts every year scaring the bark pretty good..i fear its only a matter of time.... And yes a late frost will damage most nut trees, chestnut is an exception as it doesn't flower till july.

Well after a extensive search of my property, the only hard mast i have in any quanity this year is american chestnut. No acorns, some hickory nuts, and no beechnuts this year. this tree consistantly drops its nuts the first week of october, drawing in any animal you can think of to eat its sweet nuts... I know where i'll be when season opens!

i'd be back in the thick woods,top rt corner of the property. fields are nice you can see deer but the better bucks will not enter in daylight, even during the rut if they are mature, the older ones will chase doe and keep them in the thick stuff. you'll see younger bucks chasing around the fields, the big boy waits till they chse em into the woods esp if there are a lot of doe around

My friend got his daughter to hunt with a simple sugesstion that if the guy she likes hunted , if she would too he'd prolly talk to her since he seemed to ignore her, got a turkey in the spring showed off pictures in class , long story short... been going out now a few years and just got engaged... And still hunting!

clover, turnips, brassicas are a good choice, just make sure to kill off those ferns (may take several applications of round-up or genatic vegitation killer. they keep your forest from regenerating as well...

Yes its a marketing gimmick, the magazines are now telling you ever deer is a trophy but stick with the biggest they can get a photo of for a cover...

For myself it sounds to open, i like tight thick and maybe only 1 or two shooting lanes 2 ft wide maybe 20 yrds long. You can watch deer all day in the open ...getting them close enough is another problem. When in thick stuff you might not see a lot of deer but the ones you see are in range and then its just your decision to shoot or not. Its a new property to you so it may be a great observation stand. if you see them entering a field or trail more than 1x on a few days don't wait move the stand to that area. I have a friend who loves to hunt open hard woods ...sees a lot of deer but 99.9 % are out of range.