Doc

OK..... I've had enough. Winter can quit any time now. Doc

Re: Sanctuaries and WMA\'s in Nova Scotia in jeopardy!! I'm confused. Does this change of classification merely mean that hunting will be allowed where it wasn't before? It's not clear what this re-classification allows for land use. I probably have this all mixed up, but it seems to me that the wildlife will be better managed by having hunting as a tool now available to them. Also, selective logging is not exactly the worst thing that can happen to a section of habitat. Doc

Re: Dryfire Dry firing has the potential to do a lot more damage than you experienced. It really makes me wonder about the long-term effects of some archery setups that have gone to extremes to shorten arrows, lighten arrows and basically work toward dryfire conditions with every shot. Something to think about, eh? Theoretically, bows are designed to withstand such extremes, but as you have witnessed, not every bow can take that sort of abuse. Doc

Re: accident in archery class!!! It's amazing how many people still look at a bow and arrow as a toy and have so little respect for the potential danger involved. Apparently there are even archery instructors who fail to have the proper respect for the the weapon too. Doc

Re: woke up to -20 this morning !! -13 here in Ontario County this morning. I think it is now about -8 (11:00 am) This sure puts a real damper on any outdoor activities today. Doc

Re: More NY. deer hunting B.S This article, and others like it are popping up all over the state, in newspapers TV and radio. I don't think it is any coincidence that this is happening on the eve of discussions relative to some significant hunting season proposals. I also don't think it is any coincidence that these articles are showing up right after one of the most miserable NY deer harvests in decades. The DEC knows that they are going to have some tall explanations to come up with, and to be able to continue with their slash and burn deer management policies, they have a huge sales job on their hands. This is only the beginning. It's rather transparent, but they know that they really don't have to sell the hunters on anything. The real political power lies with the general public, so that is where they will be peddaling their sob-stories and pushing their P.R. efforts. Expect more. Doc

Close...but no cigar. I live a couple of valleys over in Bristol. However, I can tell you that the permits that you speak of can be had over at the head of Hemlock Lake. Just south of the Town of Hemlock, as you are driving south, you will see a road that is on the right, and goes down toward the Hemlock Lake park and water facility. A few hundred yards down the road, you will see a big plastic structure that looks like a huge cut-away water tank (Probably 12' in diameter and maybe 7 or 8' high. The front of it is cut away for access, Inside is a rack kind of thing that has the permits on it. You don't have to fill anything out, or mail anything in, or pay a cent...just pick them up. I believe they are primarily for ensuring that all users of the 2 lakes (Canadice and Hemlock) read and understand the limitations and regulations for fishing and hunting on those properties. However, they do ask that while you are on those properties, you have a permit with you. What I have mentioned here was all current as of last August when I was last over there, and I assume is still correct. There may also be some internet access to these permits. I will have to do a search to see. For some reason, I seem to remember that you could get them from some web-site. Doc

Re: Hey PA Deer Hunters.... Wow! talk about your mixed feelings! I hate to see sportsmen resort to this kind of thing. Deer management does not belong in the courts. However, given that we don't really have the evidence that the plaintiffs do, it is hard to say that the action is inappropriate. Man, it sure would be great to get a transcript of that trial. Imagine what insight you could get into the politics of deer management. Doc

Re: Goodbye Realtree Forums Sounds like it's time for a job change. Doc

Re: I cant wait until summer C'mon guys. You all still have a lot of coyotes to kill. Don't be wishing your life away. There's still a lot of winter things to keep busy with. Sounds good doesn't it? I'm with you guys...I can't wait until summer! Doc

Re: NY Hunters---> This a very interesting article. It sounds like a compilation of DEC excuses for the current state of the deer herd in many areas. Last year, they used the excuse that we had bad weather on many of the key (traditional high take days) hunting dates. Certainly all of these excuses may have some validity, but the way I'm hearing it, these massive complaints are a phenomenon of this past season. So, are we to believe that all these new hunter habits have just happened in the past year or two. Go down through the list and ask yourself: " how likely is it that this item would only have an impact for the last year or two". As far as deer migrations and unusual weather patterns are concerned, is this year the first year that these such things have ever occurred. Most likely not. Why then is this the first time that we are hearing these "deer scarcity" comments. No, inspite of how the DEC tries to explain these comments away, the cause is very obvious. You cannot have successive seasons where all the hunters are running around with a pocketful of permits, without the impact eventually having a pretty dramatic effect. Now, the comments where hunters are saying that they are not seing as many deer should be answered by the DEC this way: "No you are not seeing as many deer as you used to, and you will not in the future. We are approaching our management goals and our methods have proven to be effective. The state deer herd is approaching the targets established by our management staff and is falling in line with the hunting and non hunting requirements of proper management". Man that is a real crock, but would be an excellent way for the DEC politicians to answer the complaints. They could paint themselves as heros. In fact, I expect that that is exactly the way the party line is going to go this year. Their other excuses are getting a bit too transparent, and it is getting to the point where they are going to have to fess up to exactly what they are trying to do. The worst part is that I would guess that they probably would believe all that line of garbage. I don't think they have any idea how their slash and burn policies have effected many localities. Furthermore, I don't think they even care. As long as state averages come out looking good, they look good. Farmers, nurserymen, insurance industries are all happy and the DEC looks like they are really doing a great job. So, don't be looking for any relief in this situation any time soon. The politics of the job just plain won't allow it. Doc

Re: Hunting Map/Log. I use a hunting log only. It goes back to 1986 and covers the same hunting area that I have hunted for years. It is in an excel spread sheet and was started before I had any ability to include maps or pictures. To make up for this, I have defined general areas (hill-side, valley, and several general areas on top of the hill). I also have every stand I ever built over all those years identified with a number (i'm over 120 stand-sites now) Each one has descriptions of location, preferred wind direction, condition, etc. So every entry in my log book refers to the general area number and the closest stand number. That pretty much locks down exactly where each record occurs. For each sighting or hunt, I also record such things as wind direction, temperatures, weather conditions (cloudy, raining, sunny, snowing etc.), qty of deer seen, sex of deer (buck, doe, unidentified), what type of hunting I was doing (still-hunting, standing, scouting, on my way to or from stand, etc.), deer entry direction, deer departure direction, result of the encounter, nearest stand site number, time of day, date, and a whole bunch of things that I'm not really remembering right now. The terms for all entries are kept in a consistant language so that I can accurately sort on the information. So, what's the value of all this data? Well, I can watch the weather forecast the night before and go in and sort on wind direction and up comes all the stands that I have that have that preferred wind direction. That makes it easier to not forget some locations that may be favorable to that direction. I can tell exactly what stands have the highest percentage of sightings and when. I can easily see trends for certain times of year and weather conditions. I can look at graphs of sightings to see what parts of the season are the most productive. I can see movement patterns as the seasons progress. And, best of all, I can instantly recall every hunt I have ever had with detail, to bring back some real great memories. Let's face it, some day when I get old enough, that may be all I can do anymore...lol Doc

Re: Habits I think you guys have helped quite a bit. I know the real answer would be to get on a track and see where they go. If these tired old legs would hold me up for a full days walk, that's exactly what I would do. I'm sure over time, I will be able to unravel some of these questions for myself, but basically, I am pretty much of a beginner. Doc

When I was running a trapline, I used to know a lot about the habits of foxes. But, the one thing that I never really had to know was exactly where they were at a specific time of day. With traps, all I had to know was where they would show up sometime during a 24 hour period. Well, this predator calling stuff is a completely different matter. Our hill is laced with all kinds of fox and coyote tracks, and yet I am not able to call one in. I have been thinking that perhaps these are all night time tracks and perhaps they are not really in the vicinity when I am there calling. So here comes the question: Do foxes and coyotes bed up during the day? If so, what kind of locations would they most likely be located. I am hunting in NY and have steep hardwood hillsides with brushy and swampy valley bottoms. The hilltops are a mixture of hardwoods and some heavily overgrown, brushy, deserted fields. I suspect that during daylight hours, these critters are not just uniformly scattered all over the place, so I thought I should probably ask and see if there are particular types of terrain where I should be looking for them, rather than going just where I have seen "after-the-fact" sign. Doc

Re: I am depressed. It is over. [ QUOTE ] And one last thing, how do you shoot your bo in the basement??? [/ QUOTE ] Our house is 55 feet long and the basement is 2 rooms separated with a 3 foot wide hallway. If I stand at one end of the basement, I can get about a 14 yard shot. My target consists of compressed corrugated cardboard and stops my arrow very nicely. I shot at an 8-1/2" x 11" piece of paper with five different 1" spots so that I don't damage any arrows. It works great and allows me some daily practice through the winter months. I have a chain that I put across the stairway for safety so that my wife knows not to come down when I am shooting. Doc

Re: I am depressed. It is over. Well, now comes the time of year when you can sit back and analyze just what went right and what went wrong during the season. You can now start planning for next year to figure out what you might do different next year, what equipment additions or changes you might want to make. If you had any misses, now is the time to figure out what went wrong and how you are going to see to it that it doesn't happen again. It's also a good time to get involve in those winter shooting leagues so you can hone up those skills and have a ball doing it too. It might even be a good time to start working on that 10 or 15 yard shooting range in the basement too. If there is something that is bothering you, like plentiful coyotes that may be impacting your herd, this is a good time to do something about that too. In a few months, you will be able to get back out and start scouting and assessing what kind of a herd you will be hunting in the fall. There's nothing really to be depressed about. You are just entering into the next phase of the year's hunting season. Doc

I have always been curious about the validity of predator calling information from west as it relates to the Northeast and vice-versa. In other words, does what works in Texas always apply to New York as well? I know they are all the same species, but do habits, food sources, and best calling set-ups and methods apply all over the country? What do you all think? Doc

Re: In the year 2015? We will all be argueing about what brand laser-gun to use and the ethics of using the hand-held instant satelite viewer for spotting deer while we hunt. We might also be discussing the ticket lottery for drawing permits to hunt the official government hunting parks. We'll probably be talking about how it isn't fair that only 30% of the hunters nationally will receive permits to hunt bears as compared to the 45% in the prior year. We might also be discussing the new ranch in Texas that has the herd of cloned world record bucks. There will also be the discussions on the new seed for food plots that cause deer to fall over from front heavy racks. There will also be topics about the new DEC policy in New York that provides for poisoning of does for population control. The rumors about introducing cougars and coyotes in NY will finally give the DEC the idea that maybe that isn't such a bad idea after all. We may also all be reminiscing about back in the days when you used to be able to hunt with a bow and arrows. Doc

Re: More on NY Season Changes [ QUOTE ] But I'm willing to give it a chance. [/ QUOTE ] You are not giving it a chance. This is not a trial to see whether you like it or not. This is a permanent change in the legal seasons. You had better think long and hard before you cave in to this proposal. It's a one-way deal and there is no going back once it is passed. That's the problem I see with bowhunter attitudes on this proposal. There just doesn't seem to be any commitment to the bow. To many, the bow is just another hunting tool that can be swapped with any other hunting tool. Thinking like that is going to lead to the end of bowhunting as we know it. I'm afraid that when the rest of the hunting world finds out just how disorganized and uncommitted bowhunters are, every special interest hunting group will be coming for what's left of our season. Doc

Re: ground blinds Bunji cords.......Throw away the bag and think bunji cords......lol Doc

Re: switching to a recurve? Good for you guys! You're better men than I am. Everytime I tried to go back, I would either get super discouraged with my shooting ability or I would injure my shoulder by trying to do too much, too quick. I've now gotten to the point where I know that I will do damage to that shoulder if I try again, so I am now resigned to the fact that I will finish out my days with the compound. However, I really envy you guys that have the fortitude to make the switch back. Also, for those of you who are going the extra distance and shooting instinctive.....my hat's off to you. I still believe that that's the way bowhunting was really meant to be. Doc

Re: More on NY Season Changes Yes, this is a real slap in the face for all bowhunters, and it represents a real change in attitude toward us by the DEC and the NYSCC. We are definately on the defensive and there is no doubt that these organizations have declared open season on our designated times in the woods. Doc

Re: dont know what to do?! Gun that critter down! Probably won't make one bit of difference in the local coyote population, but just think of the satisfaction......lol Doc

Re: Is It Legal? [ QUOTE ] is it legal to pick your nose if you have a tissue or handkerchief? [/ QUOTE ] NO! You're supposed to let the boogers fall out of your nose and into your lap. Doc

Re: Article on canine vision. I have often wondered about blaze orange in particular. While various animals may not be able to recognize that color as being different from it's surroundings, I have to wonder about the light reflectivity intensity as a contrast to surroundings. The same thing might be true for any "bright" colors. Might some of these colors stand out just because of their reflective intensity? I'm sure that an artist could paint a picture that only had greens in it and still highlight an object merely by painting it in a more vivid and intense green in such a way that your eye was immediately drawn to it. The other question is since color distinction is limited in some animals, do they become more sensitive to shades and hues of the colors that they supposedly can't see. For example, we can look at a black and white photograph and not have any problems picking out the most delicate and insignificant detail. Would animals have any greater problem doing so, or perhaps they may even be more attuned to this kind of vision and be even better at recognizing shape, hues and contrasts. Just a little more to think about. Doc