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Re: taking young bucks. QDMA, what your talking about is actually poaching, what the original post was about was someone not liking the fact out of staters were killing perfectly legal deer. Instead of antler restriction why not lean on the DEC to enforce the rules that are already in place?Why impose a blanket rule on all legal hunters because some chose to hunt illegaly?

Re: Do you support.............. Im going to have to honestly answer no to this one.I think this antler obseesion is doing more harm to this sport then it is good.If people were truly interested in making a healthier, better balanced deer herd I might change my opinion but for every guy that is in it for that reason it seems theres two other guys that only want the end result to be bigger bucks. The mindset that follows is one where you got hunters cutting other hunters down for shooting small bucks, nieghbors fighting over the practices they use while hunting, and generally people trying to impose thier hunting philosophies on everyone else. That being said I dont shoot small bucks, I let dozens of them walk every year.I kill a lot of does, I buy all the extra doe tags I can when available and will use my either sex tag on does when the end of season is near.I get to hunt longer and enjoy my time in the woods more this way, it may not be for everyone though.

Re: Ok, I did it!! Blaze orange..the controversy. [ QUOTE ] I really have no great problem with wearing it was I have stated but for those of you that are in favor of it statewide that have already responded, would you answer this? Would you then "require" everyone in the woods to wear it? The biker or hiker? The local DEP officer? The farmer herding his cows back to the barn that has to cut through a section of woods? Why or why? [/ QUOTE ] Actually that a very good question.How many news storied do you see where the guy that was shot wasnt hunting and was on public land during the firearms deer season.I recall reading quite a few that happened that way over the years. Along those lines during ML season I have to wear an orange vest but archery seasons also open, duck season, trapping season, fall turkey, predator hunting, it may keep me safe but if theres a guy sitting in the cattails in full camo with a bow Im never going to see him unless he calls out.Ive had people out in the middle of nowhere walk thier dogs under my treestands ifd the weather stays nice and never know Im there. Ive been on the other end before as well, I set up to bowhunt in a small opening in a slough about three years ago before daylight, when the sun came up the deer started trickling back through the opening.I noticed something and it dawned on me a guy ML hunting was sitting less then 100 yrds away in the cattails with the deer coming between him and me, not a good situation.Ive had pheasant hunters shoot up into the trees I was sitting in on two occasions while bowhunting.Guys walk right past me in the slough while waterfowl hunting. I guesse my biggest concern is that they mandate it for some seasons but at any given time 2/3 of the people you encounter still dont have to wear it.

Re: taking young bucks. [ QUOTE ] in the last few years a lot of out of state hunters have started hunting there and they kill the little bucks as they are easy to kill [/ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] .i know i have went on too long but to end if you are coming here to kill the little ones just do your self a favor stay home and spend your money on your kids or wife we dont need it. [/ QUOTE ] Well, first off in your profile it doesnt say where "here" is. Secondly im sure the same non resident hunters your complaining about are spending much more money on thier NR tags then you are for your resident tags. And third, when they purchase that tag theyre entitled to shoot whatever legal deer they want, not just deer that meet your personal standards.You have the entire season to hunt, they have a few days and have spent a buttload of money to do it.You never mention other local hunters, does everyone in your area hold out for 160 class deer?Ill bet not, its not just nonresidents.Im sure the local busineses would love to hear that these out of state hunters are being encouraged to stay home with thier money and not spend it at the local motels, eating places, gas stations, campgrounds, sporting goods stores etc...

Re: Are AR\'s Working In Pennsylvania? Just curious, It says the doe harvest increased by 65%, and brought the buck doe ratio to around 2-1.At the same time the percentage of buck killed has dropped by 28%. At some point with this many more does being killed and the buck doe ratio being so close as it is what happens when they have to start cutting back on doe tags while keeping the antler restrictions in place? Im asking because I know from experience its bound to happen.We had a number of years with bonus doe tags, all the regular tags went to either sex, and the doe poulation went down fast.This year they finally got rid of the bonus tags for my county because the population had dropped so low. Are hunters going to be happy when they cant shoot bucks that are to small and theres a very limited amount of doe tags available.Im not trying to shoot down AR, im just curious if it comes to that what everyones going to shoot.A 65% rise in the number of does killed every year cant be kept up forever without some adverse effects on the population.

Re: TC Shockwave bullets? I shot Hornadys through my Knight for about 4 years and while they shot good I had trouble getting them to group well at longer ranges. Last year I had my wife buy some while she was in town and she accidently grabbed my the 250 grain shockwaves.I immediately started getting better results, and could hit consistently out well past 100 yrds. I got a CVA wolf last year and tried sighting it in twice with some left over Hornadys I found.I couldnt get the bullets to hit anywhere close to each other even up close.I gave up after two failed attempts to sight it in and used my Knight for the rest of the season. This year I tried the same gun, sae powder load and a 250 grain Shockwave Spire Point.Ive gotten the best groups Ive ever had with a muzzleloader, three shots close enough to cover up with your thumb so far out to about 100 yrds.I havent tried longer ranges cuz I dont generally shoot deer much past 50 yrds anyway.

Re: Dad got lifeflighted There was a hole in his stomach, possibly from the chemo hes been given.A lot of dead tissue around it they had to remove and with his liver cancer his liver hasnt been filtering out toxins like it should.Hes kinda septic but his blood counts are all good, no fever, or anything to indicate a severe infection. They removed part of the bottom of stomach, sutured it back shut and will pretty much keep comatose on medication for the next two days.Tommorrow theyll go back in and make sure everythings holding together like it should.Said its probably gonna get worse before it gets better but he came through the surgery ok.No idea if I need to go down or not or if I should stay here and take care of stuff till mom can come back.Still havent been able to get ahold of my wife, shes somewhere between here and Omaha and nobody took a cell phone along Really dont know much more till mom calls, they made it down there and she was going in to see dad about 1 1/2 hrs ago.Long night for everyone, hope they get a nap in sometime today

Re: AHHH.....need advice!!!!!!!!!! Might sound wierd but Ive hunted places like that before and Id ignore all the scrapes and rubs your seeing.I bet if you have a trail camera and put it out youll find out 99% of those scrapes and rubs are being worked after dark or arent being used anymore at all. Instead of going to a stand take your binocs and a spotting scope, find a place with a good view of as much of the property as you can see and watch it from there for a few hours before dark.Isnt as much fun as being in a stand but itll give you a good idea where the deer are coming and going from and you can relocate a stand accordingly.A lotta sign is fun to find but can often be very misleading.

Re: WHY?? One time I went three years without tagging a deer.Wasnt for lack of oppurtunities, just waiting for the right one.I hunted 4 hours a day every day of the 3 1/2 month season with few exceptions.Somedays I hunted sunrise to sunset including most weekends. I watched hundreds of deer in those years without lifting my bow up, watched where they bedded, what they ate, where they traveled, how they acted during different times of the season, weather, all that.I learned what they did and where they went when pressured, how the other hunting seasons affected thier movement, and a lot about patience.It wasnt time wasted, I learned ore about deer habits by just watching them quietly then I ever would have by shooting one early and being done.It was time well spent

Re: how long was your shortest hunt? I was actually driving out to my spot on public ground.Theres two drieways about 1/4 mile apart and I always parked in the far one.That day I seen a big doe on the other side of the ditch by the first driveway, she was feeding behind a pile of dirt they had pushed up there.I parked on the shoulder, walked across the ditch, crawled up the dirtpile and shot her with y bow.She ran about 60 yrds and fell over.Fro the time I seen her till the time she tipped over couldnt have been more then about 90 seconds

My dad had a chemo treatment about 2 weeks ago.Hes been in a lotta pain since, more then usual but the doctors had to use a different route to get to a tumor this time and it was uch harder to get at then the original ones were.He thought that was what was causing the pain.Yesterday he called and said he wasnt coming to thanksgiving and mom was taking him to the ER.They give him some stuff to drink thinking he was just blocked up.By 6:30 last night the pain was worse, he went back in and they ran more tests.Not real sure what exactly the problem is, I got phone calls on and off all night but they were kinda sketchy.Sounded like a perforated bowel or something.They brought the helicopter in at 12:30 last night, he got to Iowa City about 2:30 this morning.About 2:45 they were taking him in for surgery. Me, and my brother, sister, and mom were all up here 5 hours away still.Mo and my brother took off at about 3:00 this morning, they should just be pulling in, my sisters heading down first thing this morning.Im stuck at home, the wifes working in Omaha 3 hrs away and doesnt know anythings going on, I have all the kids and cant get that far with the, plus Im going to have to take care of everyone elses pets and stuff while theyre gone. Ive been up all night on the phone, still havent heard what they decided or if they did the surgery, the kids are going to be up pretty soon and Ill have to tell them whats going on.Hoping for a phone call before long.Bad part is with the chemo his immune systems low and infection would be a bad thing right now.Ill keep ya posted as I find things out, it keeps me awake LOL

Re: What would you do? Must be a regional thing, here you could have went in his field to look for blood and broken no laws as long as you left the gun on your property when you went.Generally I try to contact a landowner anyway before proceeding with tracking deer into thier land but Im not legally obligated to do so.Read your local regulations, find out what the definition of tresspass is in your state.If what you did was illegal it might sound callous but theres no deer worth being arrested and losing your hunting rights over, he woulda been fine till morning anyway.

Re: CVA Wolf I actually bought one very cheap last year on clearance at the end of the year.Paid 59 or 69$ for the gun brand new.Im not a CVA fan by any means, they screwed me over pretty good on an earlier gun I bought but for the price I couldnt pass it up. Decided to sight it in today and went to get bullets, found a cheap variable power scope with the mounts included for 40$ while I was there and bought it not expecting much, just to throw it on the gun and see what it would do really. I was shooting 75 grains of 777 and 250 grain shockwaves.I gotta say, I was more then impressed with what this gun did.the scope was only off a little right from the start and we soon had it zeroed in after about 4 shots at 25 yrds.Backed up to 50 yards and it shot three bullets through a small water bottle I had hanging up you could cover up with your thumb.made a small adjustemt to the left on the scope and backed up to about 80 yrds.Two more shots through the bottle that were touching each other. Finally the last shot I aimed at a small deadbolt lock that was in a door we had propped up in the burning pile.At 80 yrds I put the bullet through the lock, its only about 1 1/2 inches around. Ill be the first to admitt Im not a great shot by any means but I was really impressed with what Id put together for around 100$ total.The gun never became hard to load even after 9 or 10 shots, the groups were good and very consistant.The only problem i had was with the cheap aluminum ramrod that came with it.It broke in half last fall when I attepted to load the gun and had to be replaced.This year Im going to leave the Knight in the closet and hunt with this one.Hoping to try some longer ranges this weekend just for fun.

Re: Unbelievable! [ QUOTE ] If you did not say or imply that you were going to take the rack, what was he suppose to think? He figures he may as well do it. [/ QUOTE ] Gotta agree, if you wanted the rack that badly you shoulda got it before you went hunting.Leaving it lay beside the road and expecting it to still be there when you came back wasnt his fault.

Re: i got my first deer Congrats on the deer.

Re: ethics on meat Woodshed, crazy idea here, why dont you call him the next time you shoot a deer, have him help you gut it. drag it out, and cut it up, then give him some of your meat in return.Everyone then has plenty in the freezer

Ive spent countless hours over the last few years bowhunting from the ground, figuring out what works, what doesnt, trying blinds, different camo patterns to blend in with the ground cover, figuring out how and when its safe to draw back on a deer thats in bow range, and have had decent success doing it. This weekend however I actually kind of stumbled into a new set up that really blew me away and put everything Ive learned so far to the test.Friday night I was late getting to my usual spot because of a run in with a sick doe on the road.The bucks are still chasing does here and as I was driving past a large chunk of private ground I noticed a couple does heading for the public ground about 1/4 mile away and a large 10 pointer stepping out of the trees where the does had just come from.I went on down and turned around, came back up and parked.The does were about half way across the field by then and I snuck through a grove, through a standing corn food plot behind it, and watched as the does came into the public ground about 20 yards west of a point where the state ground and two private fields make a corner in the fencelines.Thinking the buck couldnt be to far behind I ran up the corner and looked for a spot to hide.The only thing there was a small, dead bush that really only amounted to about a dozen sticks poking up out of the ground.I knelt behind it, and realized the grass was hiding a small depression in the ground.Not much cover but I only planned to hunt it for about an hour.It sits on top of a hill, the highest point in the area and below it are three farms where no deer hunting is allowed, I could see them all. For the next hour I watched amazed as deer after deer came out of the slough holes, CRP ground, and evergreen farm that makes up these farms.There were well over 100 deer and many bucks of all sizes in the bottom below me.It was one of the most perfect scenes Ive ever watched unfolding around me.As it got close to dark small groups of deer started working up towards me and the state food plot behind me.In the next 20 minutes I had at least 18 deer come through the crossing I had accidently discovered, small bucks and many does feed in the private ground below me well within bow range with no clue I was there.I just watched.Finally at dark another hunter came over the hill behind me, a guy I know that had been hunting far back in the state ground.The deer trotted off and none of them discovered where I was hiding right in the middle of them. Saturday night was a virtual replay, I went early, about 2 1/2 hours before dark and there wasnt 5 minutes of that time when there wasnt deer in sight.About 1/2 before dark 5 does came into field out of a slough hole in the private ground.As they were feeding I heard something crashing through the cattails below me.Then I heard a grunt, Ive never heard a deer grunt like this before, he was at least 250 yrds away and I could hear him plain as day.He crashed out of the slough hole and started chasing does around below me.He was a huge 8 pointer with the whitest face Ive ever seen on a deer.He chased one doe across the fence and lost interest in her, he was now on my side, but the other 4 does were feeding towards me, heads down, paying little attention to anything.He paralled them as they fed, hanging back a little and staying in the grass on the state side of the fence.The lead doe was coming straight at me, not looking up, just walking as she fed.The closer she came the lower down I tried to sink behind the little bush.Finally I was almost doubled over, my head was almost on my knees I could just see legs my head was low.I could see the buck walking towards me and was praying the doe would continue past me.She came right to the other side of the bush I was hiding behind, I could here her breathing and there wasnt 3 feet seperating us.The buck was 15 yrds away and stopped, turned broadside watching the does.I was stuck, and starting to panick, my legs were shaking from kneeling for so long and my hand holding the bow without any gloves was freezing, soon my whole body was shaking.The doe noticed e finally and jumped back, started bobbing her head and then pretending to feed only to jerk back up and stare at me. I didnt move.My attention was on the doe now, she was going to decide if I got the shot or not, the buck was oblivious to me and watching the does only. He wasnt moving. Finally the buck turned, walked away and soon all I could see was antlers in the grass, the doe knew something wasnt right but but couldnt fifure out what, slowly she led the other 3 down the hill and soon started feeding peacefully again about 70 yrds away.I was badly shaken very seldom have I ever had a deer that close, I finally took my bow and crawled back away from the fence till I could get up without being seen.It was a experience I wont forget, and nothing could have prepared me for it.

Re: Never seen anything like it Ive spent two days trying to get ahold of anyone in this area thats linked with the conservation and apparently everyones gone Theyll probably call me back today but the deer I know the location of has probably already been dead to long to test for anything. aybe theyve recieved other calls as well I dont know. On the bright side I had a phenomonal weekend bowhunting and watched somewhere around 150 -200 deer altogether since Friday, mostly from a distance.None of them appeared sick or acting wierd in any way, maybe its just a freaky coincidence

Re: Never seen anything like it Im trying real hard to get ahold of the DNR but theres only one gae warden in the county and hes never home.Ive tried the county conservation guys and cant get any calls returned. Yesterday about noon my sister in law came over.She knew nothing about the doe I seen Friday night but she started telling e about one she seen coming over yesterday.A big doe cae running up out of the ditch on the highway, stopped in the first lane and just fell over.She stopped and watched it, it had a hard time getting back up and when it did it took a couple steps and fell again.It finally drug itself off the road and into the other ditch .She said there were no other cars around that hit it and it didnt appear to have blood anywhere .The deer finally made it to its feet and got into the thick stuff on the river bottom Two deer in two days on the road acting wierd.Strange.

Re: O.J. Simpson \"confession\" Ive got agree with PSE here.Changing the law would be a bad idea.If you were allowed to be tried multilpe times for the same crime a prosecutor could string it out untill he got a sympathetic jury that would convict a person.It would probably result in a lot more innocent peopole being locked up on little evidence. As far as confessions, DNA, video, they have all the time in the world to obtain these things before they ever bring charges against someone.Its thier job to make sure they have enough solid evidence to get a conviction before hauling someone into court.if they dont they shouldnt attempt to prosecute them untill they find it.

Re: A thief among us part II Catching them in a trap sounds good but theyre stealing stuff all over the county, even in town now.Theres a ton of stands close to the road around here theyve never messed with, actually the ones theyve stolen were all in rather remote places.Where the majority of the stands were taken the nearest access without driving through the farmers yard is about 3/4 of a mile away. The cops checked the pawn shop, we only have one near here so most people are bright enough not to try pawning stolen goods at it, its the first place they check.The cops said just to keep quiet about it, they didnt even put it in the local papers police report section.They said the way they usually catch people doing this type stuff is to let them think they got away with it, sooner or later theyll start selling the stuff and it will turn back up being used somewhere.Then theyll apparently try tracing it back to the person selling it.I do hope they get em.

Re: ARRRRRRGGGGHHH-WHY? [ QUOTE ] This suggestion is unlike me to make, but maybe you should go to the guy's house and go target shooting with him. At least try to teach him how to shoot. Maybe you can say "your wife said you get deer fever, I have some tricks that may help you" I hate to suggest this cause I'm not that type of person, but that seems like your only chance at getting the guy to stop shooting like a moron everytime. [/ QUOTE ] Actually thats not a bad idea, if you could watch him shoot once maybe you could figure out a way to steady him down a little bit.The answer could be as simple as him buying a bipod or something of that nature to rest his gun on.Worked for my son when he was 9

Re: Never seen anything like it [ QUOTE ] That is crazy did you happen to have a tag with you? Steve [/ QUOTE ] Steve , I thought about getting a salvage tag for her from ther DNR but the more I thought about it the way she was acting Im not real sure there wasnt something wrong with her.Didnt wanna take the chance of feeding my kids a sick deer, she was just acting nuts

I was on my way to my hunting spot tonight going down a gravel road.A doe came charging out of the field to the west of me and I got slowed down in time for her to run in front of the truck.She came across the road at a dead run, tounge hanging out, going as fast as she could.She went down the ditch, cae up the other side and didnt even try to jump the woven wire fence on that side.She went head first into it. She hit the fence with enough force it actually threw her all the way back acrossed the ditch and she landed on the side closest to the road.She got back to her feet, took off on a run again and came back across the road in front of my truck, through that ditch and started running paralell to the road.She went for about 100 yrds and I seen her turn towards the ditch again.This time she got to the top of the ditch, started down into it and just tipped over. I figured she had just knocked herself silly running into the fence but I never seen her get back up, I went up and turned the car around and came back to where she was laying.There she was, in the bottom of the ditch deader than a door nail I went down and looked her over, nobody had shot her, she didnt have any injuries at all like shed been hit by a car or nothing.Near as I can tell she broke her neck hitting the fence or something.It was the craziest thing Ive seen in a long time

Re: A thief among us part II You know its funny you mentioned antis cuz weve never really had a problem with the around here.But something was funny, when they ripped off the boat motor it was strange.Its a little 3 horse and has almost no value, you can buy em used anywhere around here for a couple hundred bucks. Underneath the motor was his decoy bags, theres was 3 or 4 hundred dollars worth of duck and goose decoys they didnt touch.The truck was unlocked and his gun was sitting in the front seat in the case, its another 350 or 400$.It was like they were just trying to screw him up and werent really doing it for the money.Why pass up 800$ worth of gear to steal a 200$ boat motor witrh serial numbers on it. Same with the ladder stand thing.Why steal the bottom section, its almost worthless unless you happen to have the exact same stand Pointless really. Last winter someone stoled a 30$ crotch stand out of my truck, there was a bow, shotgun, trail camera, binoculars, treesteps, and hundreds of dollars worth of tools in there and they just stole the 30$ crotch stand so I couldnt get up a tree.The more I think about it theres a lot hat dont make sense