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Post by markboardman on Nov 20, 2015 21:19:28 GMT -5
Good Luck to any one going out in the A.M. I don,t do alot of gun hunting anymore but Dad and I go opening day every year. 30 + years and counting. Good Times !!! MB
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Post by oakhilltrappin on Nov 20, 2015 22:05:13 GMT -5
Nice !!!!! Have always said , without Family...We are nothing !!! Good for you Mark, Good luck to both you and your Pops....Hope you guys put the double smackdown Whammy on some Nice Bucks !!! Just got done making our openin day chili and blowing the dust off of the old Remington 1100, dug me up a fist full of slugs and I'm ready to go......Can remember the days it would take me hours to get my stuff around, LOL....Now my trusty 1100 and a pocket full of shells, grab a can of Mounain Dew on the way out the door and I'm huntin' !! Enjoy and be safe my Friend
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Nov 21, 2015 4:43:31 GMT -5
About to head off for a day of still-hunting on family ground on the border of Letchworth Park at the north end. Last weekend I counted 30 antlerless and 10 young bucks (no shooters) in one big greenfield spewing out from the prime bedding lands of our property. I like my chances of multiple antlerless kills today. Carrying the custom Mauser .25-06 I had built in Boulder CO over a decade ago. It has killed deer and coyotes in eastern Colorado, deer in Nebraska, Pennsylvania and New York, Caribou in far northern Quebec. It's heavy, bulky and dated but an absolute tack-driver, plus I like old nostalgic things. so rather than update to a modern lightweight rifle with new bells & whistles, I'll feed this 100+ year old bolt action instead. I'm a trapper, a hunter and a fisherman. I love them all, discriminate against none. Good luck out there guys & gals... stay safe, have fun and fill the freezer
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Post by Dave Morse on Nov 21, 2015 5:42:39 GMT -5
My road has been active with hunters all night long, can't wait till its over. Some truck sat out on the road with it 4 way flashers on for over an hour, I can't wait till they go home where they belong.
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Post by ron finewood on Nov 21, 2015 6:20:28 GMT -5
YUP! I am wearing blaze orange to check traps this morning. I guess I will leave the brown Carhart in the truck for awhile. And the cap with the antlers attached that my wife gave me to wear! She loves me so much.
Ron
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 21, 2015 23:31:01 GMT -5
True on the .25-06, Austin. It's been my favorite caliber since I first got it back in - 1986, I think? Today is the first opening day of gun season in the Southern Zone that I've been able to get out for in decades. After a slow patrol looking for poachers, and spooking at least 7 or 8 deer that saw me or winded me long before I saw them, I decided at around 3PM that I'd had enough and besides, we had plans so I should probably get home by 4 or so. Naturally, that changed everything. Along comes a doe about 115 yards out, I have a DMP so I took the rifle (.25-06), centered on the heart area and squeezed the trigger. Went down hard, then got up and ran like the wind for almost 1/4 mile. A blind man could've followed the trail. In one ravine, out, down the far slope, and piled up. Clean shot, heart and both lungs, pretty healthy exit from the 120-gr. hp. And, it turns out it was a fair size button buck, not a doe... Just as I'm finishing field dressing it, and my mind distracted thinking how dumb am I, this is going to be almost a 2-mile drag through hellacious wild roses, buckthorn, etc., not to mention the crazy terrain, and it's nearly 3:30 when I hear leaves crunching from something(s) running toward me from the direction I'd just come. It's a big doe, just teasing the 6-point buck hot on her trail, until she sees me and turns into a streak of lightning. The buck stopped, couldn't see or smell me, but was acting like "WTF is WRONG wif dat doe?!?!" I was too far away from the rifle, he was at about 55 yards, so I took out my Dan Wesson 744 with an 8" barrel, aimed and fired smooth as silk. He took off, the way the terrain is I could watch him as he entered the NEXT ravine and proceeded to run down it, another 1/4 mile FURTHER from the road. He stopped like nothing had happened, brought up his left rear leg to scratch the pesky whatever (bullet entry wound) on his side, when that didn't work he turn and licked it like he was annoyed with it, then started looking for the doe again. About two steps later, he wobbled and fell over dead. Another heart-both lungs. The 240-gr hp did its job well. I thought I wasn't going to make it back to the barn... but, they're both hanging and I'll get to them tomorrow. Not huge, not "trophies," but they all are to me. The buck, as the photo shows, is a sixer but he's what I call a "cheater" six. Tines barely more than 2". But, he'll eat just fine. I think my season's over until late muzzle loading, but I have to check my tags. If anybody wants to get rid of a few DMP's for 6S, let me know!!!
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austinp
#3 Newhouse
the next fur season is never far from our minds :)
Posts: 3,008
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Post by austinp on Nov 22, 2015 5:55:25 GMT -5
I didn't shoot any "trophies" yesterday nor did I expect to. The family ground I hunt on has no visible mature bucks present with all the 1.5 year olds rutting hard. But I did put three deer in the truckbed by dark, could have had a couple more but that was enough to drag out of our ravine by myself and then handle the processing today. Despite the fact that I only shoot mature bucks (age, not necessarily rack size) and follow QDM principles for antlerless harvest, I had one helluva good time doe hunting from sunup to sundown. The result of which is nobody here needs to buy any ground beef burger in the next year ahead
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Post by tony1967 on Nov 23, 2015 9:07:16 GMT -5
Hunted Saturday with a local youth (Danny) that also turkey hunts with us as much as possible. He had never killed a deer before and wanted to hunt on our property with us. We stayed in contact all morning by texting and he kept telling me about all the deer he is seeing (a number of different bucks) but no shots. Meanwhile, I am seeing nothing but a few small does. Then he texts me that he shot at a nice one and is pretty sure he hit it, but a little ways back. I tell him to stay put and I will be over to help recover it. When I get there he is really excited and we start in the direction he last saw it. Part way there, he spots the deer laying down with its head up. We get in position to get a shot but the deer jumps up and runs off. We investigate where it laid down and there is no blood at all and just a bit of hair. So we start to slowly track it again trying to see it before it runs off the property. About 200 yards away, we see it laying with its head on the ground. Again, we approach slowly, ready for it to get up. As we get close, he states that he sees antlers across a long food plot we have, about 150 yards away. Well, my old eyes can't see it, but my binoculars confirm it is a buck. I ease to the high side of the road and squeeze the trigger. He just stands there.......I then get another round chambered, lower my aim point and squeeze again. He folds up right where he stood. This all happens about 10 feet from Danny's buck. We then proceed to his deer, which then jumps up and runs into the food plot. Danny is freaking out and I tell him to relax and get on him because I think it was all this deer could do to get 50 yards away. He stops and looks back and Danny finishes him. Needless to say it was a fun hunt, a bit nerve-wracking, but a great day and a really nice first deer ever for Danny. This is him on the right and me on the left with my buck.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Nov 23, 2015 9:44:01 GMT -5
Ain't it great!!! Terrific job, NICE bucks! You made it a perfect first-buck memory for him. Good on ya.
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Post by peltseeker on Nov 23, 2015 15:44:18 GMT -5
Great bucks...!!! Congratulations to you both...
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Post by broadhorizons on Nov 23, 2015 20:11:21 GMT -5
Awesome job!
Sent from my S50 using proboards
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Post by trappermac on Dec 1, 2015 6:01:42 GMT -5
Some observations on the deer season this year to date;
We border 1800 acres of state land, so naturally we wander over into the state land to hunt as there are some good areas in there. So far my wife and I have picked up 4 empty beer cans left by deer hunters. We have also come across 2 shot coyotes both left to rot in the woods. Both had great fur, one was a very light phase and should have been a trophy for an ethical hunter. They were too far gone for us to try to salvage.
Guys I've talked to along the road in the state land complain that there are no deer. There are no deer because nobody moves in the woods anymore. These guys all show up an hour before sunrise, walk back in with their self climbers and sit. Those without stands carry stools back. Now throw in warm weather, moonlit nights, and deer bed while men sit. Years ago when I started hunting we saw a lot more deer as the metal tree stand had not been invented yet. We still-hunted and conducted drives. We saw and took many deer. These days men sit because that's what they see Bucky do on TV.
One doe here so far to get meat in the freezer, had a very nice 8 pt show up 15 yards from me late on opening day morning that I would have taken had I been armed at that time with more than my coffee cup. We did have a 2 minute staring match which I won as he moved first, quicker than I could get a gun up on. As of Sunday he is still alive, so there is hope. (been watching this one since bow season)
Sunday a large group set up a drive with the standers (shooters) set up in the state land along my property. The pushers started at the other end of the clearcut (now a very thick mess of briars and deadfalls and such) and pushed towards my property. Six members on stand, six pushing. The pushers kept in contact with "heyy-ohhs" to ensure they were staying even and equally apart. It was nicely done, although nothing was pushed out. When they finished I went over to talk to them, the team was a large family, 2 granddads, 3 dads, 1 wife, and 6 kids of varying age including two young ladies, all armed. They were having a blast and were a happy bunch. After a coffee and a sandwich the older ones got into the 2 pickups and the kids got on the tailgates and down the road they went to the next clearcut to set up again. Was the nicest thing I've seen this season. Brought back good memories and was nice to see a family hunting together like this.
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Post by squash on Dec 1, 2015 8:16:32 GMT -5
I don't hunt the southern zone, but I can tell you with 50 years of hunting experience, the deer herds in most of the northern zone are at the lowest levels since the 60's. The few days we had snow tell the tale. I would guess it is similar in the southern zone ? I believe there's more at play here than, everyone sitting in treestands, and warm temps. . Furthermore what's wrong with sitting in a treestand ? That's why I don't hunt the southern zone, I prefer to hunt deer one on one, rather than expecting someone to push a deer to me.
But wait until the state publishes the deer take numbers, they'll fake the numbers and the take will be normal, when in reality it will be drastically down from last year. Hunting lic sales were down 7% this year, wait until 2016.
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Post by peltseeker on Dec 1, 2015 8:21:22 GMT -5
Although the good ole days seem along time ago it was so much more fun to hunt when it was a party affair with family and friends... We would hunt on stand till mid morning and at the planned time we would all come out of the woods and pile into my sisters kitchen for coffee and a warm breakfast .. Then we would plan our drives choose who was watching and who was driving and off we would go..not uncommon to get herds of deer running from woodlot to woodlot as we hunted all the while keeping in contact with two way radios or hand signals... Now eveywhere has been declared QDM and those types of hunts arent allowed because you might scare that one big trophy off to some other property..this is year number three that i may have to eat tag soup and i am afraid it will be the last one that i buy my license and hunt deer... To me opening day for almost fourty years was like the excitement of Christmas eve but now i dont even want to go in the woods ...my son and i were on our way in the other day on property we have hunted for years and a certain QDM dork drove up to my son and asked him where he was going and if he had permission bla bla bla... Now mind you this dork has no permission to hunt this property or any of the bordering properties around us but he thinks he is the big buck police and its his job to check on every hunter and kill in the area..he is so lucky it was my son he confronted and not me cause the end result would have been much different for him.. And thats the reason i may just say to hell with it cause they have taken all the fun out of it they dont want to leave it to luck fate or chance they want to have every buck sporting TV class antlers so they can show their buddies and say ooh and ahh. To me thats the most disrespectful use of any animal in the woods.
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 1, 2015 8:23:15 GMT -5
After opening day, I've heard only a couple of shots....
I worked outside all morning Sat and Sun after Turkey Day....nothing, quiet.
Drove around to a couple coyote spots....saw one or two trucks on THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!!!
Please, you deer guys, tell me again why we need a four-five week deer gun season?
I repeat: my native Ohio opens the Monday after Turkey Day and goes for one week. You get all the does and bucks you want in that time, or you don't get them. The woods have hunters in them moving deer. You don't leave your stand before noon because guys will be leaving the woods and moving game.
You want big bucks? Look at the stats from Ohio. Iowa. Kansas. Gee, one week deer seasons there.....
Doesn't mean you can't shoot dinks....up to you. Get it done with a gun for a week OR bows and crossbows for the other couple months.
MZ
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Post by peltseeker on Dec 1, 2015 8:30:09 GMT -5
Good friend has three hundred acres in ohio and he says the same thing... He lives in ny but wont hunt here and tells me if i hunted there once i would never pull the trigger in ny again...i think a nine day season here would change alot ... Saturday before thanksgiving to sunday after..everybody wins including the deer....
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Post by trappermac on Dec 1, 2015 8:54:53 GMT -5
As for length of season - if nobody is hunting as has been claimed, then why does it even matter? Unless it's because the property owner won't let you on there until deer is over. The farms I trap I could go in there now and set up, probably not see a hunter. Turkey weekend, other than the drive group I saw there were 2-3 vehicles in the state land next to me, 2 miles of road with state land both sides with 2-3 vehicles. Not many guys deer hunt past opening weekend these days - not very good smartphone reception in the woods....;-)...not many can be away from that for long ya know....
Squash - I also prefer to hunt deer one on one, and nothing wrong with tree stands (I have 2 on my own property for bow)....just saying that guys complain about no deer, I truly believe (my opin) that it's because guys don't move anymore.
BTW - TMC and Tony - nice deer guys!
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Post by squash on Dec 1, 2015 8:56:02 GMT -5
You guys are making my point. But comparing NY's southern zone to OH is apples and oranges. OH has little winter kill, has no b bear predation, gun season is short and doesn't coincide with the rut, has a long archery/crossbow season that runs to the end of January. OH hunters aren't told to not shoot "dink" because of the above points, they know mature bucks exist and they don't have to settle for a dink. Also, crossbows are legal in all portions of the archery season, and I think this appeases the gun hunters. Also it's legal to feed , bait and put minerals out for deer during deer season.
As far as hunting not being a family affair because hunters no longer make drives or practice QDM, is laughable. At my camp in the northern zone we don't make drives, but my son, wife, grandson and Grandaughter, brother in law and nephews, etc.. still hunt together and have a healthy camp culture.
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tmc
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,447
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Post by tmc on Dec 1, 2015 9:53:17 GMT -5
I only have this to say, I'm not trying to prove or disprove anything already said. Deer were so scarce here when I was a kid, when we'd be checking traps and come across a deer track we'd be so excited we'd follow it until we lost it or it went onto property we didn't have permission to be on. When someone would holler, "DEER!", we'd all come running to see it, and it was usually a solitary doe wandering through. No one I knew before I was 10 or 11 ever got a deer, and when my older brother's friend got one, he was our hero, lol!!! Now, this was in what is now 6S. My family has had a lot of land in 5H since before I was born. In 6S, it's mostly agricultural with swamps, woods, ravines etc. all around. In 5H, it's mostly wooded and surrounded by woods, river/lake, state forest lands and the like; it was farmed a little bit until the 1930's or so. Same lack of deer in both places. I'm not sure when it started to change, but by about 25 or so years ago, deer in 6S were quite plentiful and seen all the time. In 5H, there were only slightly more numbers. By about 15+ years ago, calls of "DEER!" ceased to get us running to see them but instead became questions of, "What the $%&*&^% are they wrecking NOW?!?!," or "Do I need to chase them off?" They've become so thick (in the parts of 6S that I live and work) that many people now consider them to be vermin. Nothing else around here is as destructive, and I'm not just talking about to crops, landscaping, and car collisions although those are really bad. That's why I laugh when people (AROUND HERE!) talk about how bad the coyote problem is for deer - the beginning of the growth of the deer herds and the firm establishment of the coyotes happened at the same time. And, the reintroduction of wild turkeys. One of my sisters lives in the heart of Syracuse (near Nottingham HS), another lives in Fayetteville. Their deer problems (and accompanying deer tick populations) make mine seem like nothing at all. There's no fear of humans. The sister in Fayetteville has to turn on the sprinklers (they actually had the sprinkler system installed NOT because the need things watered, but because the guy that does pest control suggested it as the best deterrent for deer when used with motion sensors) before she goes into the yard or garden, because the deer have become somewhat aggressive toward her and other people in the neighborhood. And they claim it's getting worse. Those are not my own observations, but when I've gone to visit there are often deer laying on their front porch and they give me a look like I'm a bother when I want to ring the doorbell and they have to get up and move. No bit of exaggeration in that at all. I'm all for a shorter season, but would most hunters adjust to it all that quickly? I'd hope so. Both here at home and at the farm (both in 6S) as well as the property in 5H, poachers and trespassers have always been a problem, on our lands and the properties around us. The local ECO had to be called last Saturday, not by me but he called me after he got a call from a neighbor at the farm. He wanted to ask me about who what and where I knew was a problem this year before he went to look. We talked, he said he'd call me after he was done investigating the incident (shots fired from a treestand less than 300 feet from a residence). The perp was a member of a family with whom the DEC has had a longstanding bad relationship, but it's been improving in recent years. Used to issue as many as 17 tickets per deer season to that crew, now it's down to maybe 3 or 4. The ECO told me the real guy their after is a local kid (now in mid-20's) they just cannot catch but they know he poaches deer year-round. So, even with all this going on, the herds are still growing, and growing faster. I'm not pretending to know the answer, I just know what I'm seeing. We have some huge deer here, both body size and racks. I haven't noticed that taking the younger deer (including bucks, like the two I got this year) has done a thing to change that. These are just my observations. I'm not making scientific claims, I leave that to Algore and the like. If I'm drawing any conclusions, I'm not suggesting they're right. Just what I've seen of the almost 60 years I've been running around in the outdoors.
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Post by mrlongbeard1 on Dec 2, 2015 0:22:32 GMT -5
After opening day, I've heard only a couple of shots.... I worked outside all morning Sat and Sun after Turkey Day....nothing, quiet. Drove around to a couple coyote spots....saw one or two trucks on THANKSGIVING WEEKEND!!! Please, you deer guys, tell me again why we need a four-five week deer gun season? I repeat: my native Ohio opens the Monday after Turkey Day and goes for one week. You get all the does and bucks you want in that time, or you don't get them. The woods have hunters in them moving deer. You don't leave your stand before noon because guys will be leaving the woods and moving game. You want big bucks? Look at the stats from Ohio. Iowa. Kansas. Gee, one week deer seasons there..... Doesn't mean you can't shoot dinks....up to you. Get it done with a gun for a week OR bows and crossbows for the other couple months. MZ That is the truth! DEER! The only game animal for real men.... (sarcasm) in case u missed it..
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Post by mrlongbeard1 on Dec 2, 2015 0:24:54 GMT -5
DEER Hunting has gotten to be a pain in the ARSE...
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Post by peltseeker on Dec 2, 2015 7:34:33 GMT -5
DEER Hunting has gotten to be a pain in the ARSE... I agree and concur with you 100%
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 2, 2015 9:34:26 GMT -5
Squash, what does winter kill and bear depredation have to do with season length? If any thing, that implies LOWER populations and SHORTENED seasons or lower bag limits, like NY's current wild turkey situation.
Deer numbers here are EXPONENTIALLY higher than in Ohio.
Mac, as a demographic, land trappers are largely handcuffed by deer gun seasons. Sure, we all have a few places that we can still have open access to during gun season, but certainly not across the board.
How many land trappers take vacation to ONLY trap predators during deer gun season in the Southern Zone?
I know the poor SOB's up north have no choice, and they are TRULY handicapped by deer gun season and how it opens at the same time as trapping season. I simply could not operate up there...
A few years ago, I had an opportunity to help a friend with coyotes on several dairy farms up north. We simply we're locked out until AFTER deer gun season and luckily had decent weather after Xmas to do some good....
But, like I told him, the next year they/he might not be so lucky, weather-wise. Those guys thought they had coyote problems, but unless you can work around OUR parameters, trapping-wise, its not MY problem.
I know this will never change, and maybe, I sound like a broken record with my annual deer season lamenting! I think of prime coyotes, great weather, and the fact that I cannot trap right now to my liking, so I get frustrated, and start banging the key board! LOL
When I trap in Oct/Nov before deer gun, I see trucks everywhere, all week, and weekends, bow hunting.
It just seems odd to me that the weekend AFTER Thanksgiving the woods is largely all ready empty (private land).
That's all......
MZ
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Post by squash on Dec 2, 2015 13:24:00 GMT -5
zagman, You are comparing OH deer herd to NY's, all I'm saying because of many factors that OH doesn't have to deal with, it's a poor comparison. Plus some of the discussion on this thread was about low deer densities in parts of the southern zone and most of the northern zone, winter kill and predation are huge factors in these areas.
As a trapper, I think you should be careful in what you wish for, shorter gun seasons should lead to higher deer populations, more quality/mature deer, and more hunting pressure from longer archery/crossbow seasons ? I'm on board with all of these things, but I don't see how that frees up land for trappers ?
Some of the trappers here sound divisive with our fellow deer hunters ? Kind of like the vertical bow hunters vs. crossbow hunters, and fly fishing elitists vs. the bait caster ? This rational serves no one but the anti's.
Squash
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Zagman
#2 Newhouse
Posts: 2,186
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Post by Zagman on Dec 2, 2015 14:12:37 GMT -5
I disagree...shocking, I know.
Shorter season...increased bag limit. Same or better result. Shoot 3-4-5 I don't care deer in a week or two and be done....
It frees up land trappers because you just took 5 weeks of gun season down to two weeks....right?
I am not divisive...this is a trapping website and most views here are trapping related.
Let me ask you this...how would your experience be lessened, as a deer hunter, with five weeks being shortened to two, assuming you could kill the same number of deer or more in the new season?
If it's tranquility and being alone in the woods, then I'd think bowhunting was what you seek?
So, from an individual like you, what changes, cheapens, or lowers the depth of the experience?
MZ
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