Gator

Indeed. Our cameras are dead, dead, dead. The only tracks I saw were the buck Brian killed. I'm hoping the afternoon gets them moving. All of the snow has bent stuff over, making our shooting lanes - and even mowed trails - nigh impassible. I may need to find a more open area to hunt the pm.

Way to keep at it and finish strong! And from the ground, too!

A brief update on my rutcation. Slower than expected considering we're in the thick of it. But two huge downers. First, my target buck got shot by the neighbor yesterday morning. I'd been following him for three years. At least he was recovered. The picture is one of three I had of him between 5:30 and 6 am, an hour prior to his being tagged. He'd been MIA for weeks. I was in a stand a couple hundred yards away. It's always tough when it happens, but congratulations to the neighbor. The second downer sucked just as much if not more. The Tenpoint Stealth 450R that I purchased this summer experienced catastrophic failure last Thursday night. While cocked and hanging from a bow hanger in the stand, the pin holding the cable loops that keep the left-hand limb under pressure even when the bow is decocked suddenly sheared. First one side of the pin went, which put all of the pressure on the remaining cable and other side of the pin. That went around three minutes later, which resulted in the limb itself losing all pressure and ripped the cocking string through the trigger box. Amazingly, the bow stayed cocked - I included a couple images from just after when this occurred - and I was able to get it decocked without issue. I've heard nothing but good things about Tenpoint customer service, but it is unfortunate that this occurred in the midst of the rut. I'm also very concerned that the limb which lost pressure may have become compromised. I was number 47 on the callback list after reaching out on Friday and never received a call from them. Hopefully they return my call on Monday.

Two showers. We got a clip last night of a nice buck, and I didn't think much of it with the sound turned off. Then I start getting texts from my buddies that I need to listen to it. I about fell over when the buck suddenly grunted so loud it sounded like a donkey braying! Deer make some strange sounds. A couple years ago, one of my neighbors got himself all worked up because he thought guys on my property were harassing his son in the stand, making catcalls and whatnot. Obviously ridiculous, particularly if you know the guys I hunt with, and they weren't hunting anywhere near the kid regardless. As it turned out, there was a breeding nucleus on the property that day, with bucks and doe running wild. The first time I saw one, I thought that a bunch of spring breakers had invaded the woods. My guys had a heck of a morning just watching the madness unfold. The kid likely had no idea what was going on and got down from him stand, missing out on a prime opportunity to see one of the more rare and spectacular events you're likely to encounter in the woods. Yep, deer make some strange sounds.

I got to watch some deer p0rn live this morning. I had an eight point, at the ears with a chocolate rack, do hot laps around the tree before taking it to the house THREE TIMES. The doe would lead him around in circles in the brush behind me, then she'd squat to pee and lift her leg like a male dog apparently peeing on herself as well (I guess this is a thing during the rut?). A couple minutes later, she'd let him catch her. A small button was obviously a voyeur and chilled eating acorns 40 yards away. I've seen them mount up before, but never this kind of show. Almost felt like I was in Canada...

Way to go, Billy!

I watched an eight and a nine sparring less than 15 yards in front of me this morning. Would have caught a video, but a very mature doe was watching the bucks at less than 7 yards from me, so no bueno. We also have numerous chase sequences on camera. If we get a blank picture, it's usually a buck chasing as we find out when we request the video lol. This is the best time of the year. And sometimes the most frustrating, like when I was hearing tales but seeing jack for several days. One hot doe and it all changes.

That is the goofiest picture of Warb ever! He looks like Mr. Rogers.

Alright, my bad - you can hold my hand in the blind that Brian remodeled. It's getting cold and I need a snuggle buddy. Seriously though, if you and Mal need a place to sit while she's up later this week, just call. It's a closer option than your place, in case of a case, and with the tower blinds, somewhat rain-proof. Plus, I wouldn't mind if Mal got a shot at that bruiser either.

Agreed. Lots of scrub bucks on doe now. Couple nice bucks showing on camera but no chasing per se. Rubs and scrapes everywhere in a woods that was devoid of them six days ago. Rob, if you need council for withdrawal symptoms, I can recommend someone. I'm here for you man. Tommy on the other hand is on his own lol.

I know that's true! I don't really care about the ballroom thing, I just thought it was funny given the recent No Kings demonstrations. Frankly, it's the kind of distraction that keeps us from discussing real issues. But this is not the forum for that IMHO. On the Outdoor Decision front...not federal, but more local...there's a proposal on the NYS ballot in the upcoming election to authorize a transfer of ADK lands. My understanding is that it will resolve an ongoing dispute centered around the Mt. Hoevenberg sports complex by allowing new Nordic type trails to be build on the existing ~350 acres in return for 2500 acres being added to the Forest Preserve "elsewhere". We've hiked Mt Hoevenberg and been there when the mountain bike national competition was held last year. It's a nice complex. And it's already well-utilized. I don't think we are losing anything by allowing new trails to be constructed in an existing facility; I'm less certain as to the value of the swap, and having not read the proposal I don't know if they've tagged some bits in there using fine print. But on the surface until I hear otherwise, I'm okay with it. Anybody have any deeper intel on the deal?

We have a similar situation where one of our better bucks broke off his G3 in early September and now a second good buck broke off his G2. Hopefully it's because they were sparring with a beast, and that beast will make himself known soon.

As amusing as it is, I don't think that there's much in the way of outdoor pursuits going on at the White House lol. Every king needs to leave his mark on the castle. It's an age-old trope.

I had eight bucks within range yesterday evening, so I'd agree that they're getting more jiggy with it. Three were in a small bachelor group though and none showed much interest in doe, so while cautiously optimistic, I don't think we are anywhere near yet. My completely uninformed and arbitrary opinion is that this year's rut is going to be hard and fast.

X2 Eggs. Basket. Etc...

Unfortunately, I see Scott's point - I suspect that most of the DEC personnel who attend these meetings hands are tied by rules that are made behind closed doors by folks higher in the food chain. I'd be bored too, having to sit and listen to the same arguments over and over when I lack the ability to do anything about it. Sometimes towing the company line sucks. And anything that they say in a public forum can be used as ammunition. Engaging the stakeholders certainly doesn't mean appeasing them in any meaningful fashion.

I'm glad to see you're staying busy and out of trouble. It's easy to fall into that "I shot a buck on my first sit" melancholy.

I chug it straight from the bottle. My wife disapproves.

IMHO, it's not about accuracy...so long as you know precisely how far you are shooting (big "so long as"), they are tack drivers...but instead it's sound. Crossbows are so loud that the deer jump out of their skin. We have video of my buddy's shot last year and you wouldn't believe how much drop there was as the buck jumped the string. And this was at 22 yards. At 40-50 yards you might have to aim underneath them. Not lecturing, just my 2 cents. I'm going to go out on a limb though (pun intended) and say that there are going to be more injured deer this year than ever before. But I will be out there with both weapons, hoping it's not me doing the injuring!

Awesome! We have a couple papers nearly accepted now that are on BioRxiv (search "Nehrke"), including one on the AD model where we can selectively induce Tau depletion, but the epigenetic stuff will be in the Supplement of the next paper. We should be posting it later this year - I will shoot you a pm. Sorry for the digression, guys. Science turns my crank. We are currently on an epic tear in terms of our ability to manipulate genes. Unfortunately, this doesn't necessarily equate to understanding what we've done...lol not lol. Kind of scary, even for an "expert". And when it comes to salmon epigenetics, I know enough to appreciate that I know crap. I like Longline's questions though. Simple answers don't suffice. If they did, I'd be out of a job.

I won't attempt to professionally evaluate Prof. Google, but remember that he told everybody Hochul had signed the crossbow bill back in June. And if we ask for a reference on a particular topic, I've found him capable of making up publications..."how did I miss that?!?"...because it doesn't exist lol. But a casual glance at the intel above looks generally accurate.

Okay, since we're playing in my wheelhouse, let's make this even more complicated. Epigenetic changes can persist over not just one or two but multiple generations, like a molecular memory that projects far into the future. For example, children of obese parents have a tough time losing weight. Emerging evidence suggests that their grandchildren may as well. In model organisms, stress responses to adverse environmental conditions can strengthen those responses generations down the line. In my lab, we've just shown (unpublished data under review) that animals expressing toxic Alzheimer's Disease related Tau protein in their neurons have less progeny, and this effect persists for four generations after the toxic Tau is removed completely. Unfortunately, I don't think that this has anything to do with human disease but instead represents a transgenerational response to intrinsic stress, but hey, it's cool. So all of these factors that weigh on reproductive success and vitality of the progeny need to be considered - as IFishy suggests above - as part of a continuum rather than as a single generation effector. This hasn't happened yet, but it needs to in order to provide a better understanding of the relevant impacts and consequences.