Gator

I really, really try to keep an open mind on this issue, but as soon as the "Chamber" that issued the report was described as a non-profit that represents the shipping industry, I immediately discounted their report. Of course it's propaganda. That's their job and the sole reason for their existence. I have no idea whether the industry as a whole lost money or not, but wouldn't increased fuel costs on the way up the river be recovered on the way down the river, when the current's at your back? Maybe it's not a complete push, but I suspect that increased revenue more than makes up for it. And also, the one billion dollar number? That is total impact to the economy. Not losses to the shipping industry. It includes revenue from local businesses and all the other things that have nothing to do with shipping. If you're going to put something like that out there as evidence, please think more deeply about what it actually says, not about how you can use it to support your argument. You know the saying - there's lies, damn lies, and statistics.

You know that your wife is a saint, right? Not even a mid-season hiatus to someplace warm this year. Absolute saint. Of course, mine is, too.

It's got an American Flag sewn on the front, but the language in the description screams Chinese ("can be hold on a variety of small things", "high quality materials make package have wear-resistant, waterproof and long service life characteristics"). Not that I have anything against Chinese stuff, other than that it's not American - and unlike 20 years ago, their design, engineering, and materials are world-class.

I throw a small piece of braid between the mono and wire to avoid potential cutoffs, using an Albright knot, then add whatever length of mono suits the season. 70' for running slide divers in the spring which gets cut down to a couple feet for running Deeper Divers in the summer. I also redo the knots each winter and coat them with superglue.

Heck yeah they will. And flesh flies are the go-to for winter steelhead after the salmon spawn and die. During the "spring run" is basically the only time that the salmon don't contribute something to the steelhead fishery.

My wife celebrates the break between deer season and ice fishing. Although it's an open question as to whether spending more time with me is actually a gift or not...

While I don't think that the Commission did as much as they could have to prevent this situation, I also don't believe that there's a conspiracy to keep the water high. Both sides on this argument seem to be able to garner facts that support their position. I suspect that the truth lies somewhere in the middle. You couldn't pay me enough to be on the IJC. No matter what you choose to do, if the water is high because of influx, then somebody, somewhere is going to get screwed. Upstream, downstream, Lewiston, Montreal. The shipping industry is going to protest any increase because that's their job. Their position is clear. Equating their response to any prospective increases as reflecting the IJC's position isn't really fair. While they appear to have made some mistakes, I think that they are honest mistakes in response to an unprecedented situation. My heart goes out to all of those affected by this catastrophe, both upstream and downstream. Mother Nature can be a beast.

I picked up the trail cameras from one of the properties, and based on what I saw, December 6-10th was second rut in that area. There were lots of bucks chasing doe and multiple daylight pictures of bucks cruising. Of course, that conclusion has to be tempered with the caveat that the orange army was likely pushing deer around during that last weekend of gun season, and so there were new deer showing up on the property, as well. Brian and I were there Saturday morning, but didn't see much. Of course, Saturday afternoon was ripe with movement. And I sent two other friends to sit at our other place on Saturday afternoon, where they didn't see a thing. "You have chosen....poorly."

I'm glad to have Brian batting cleanup . I will mention that in the five years that I've owned the property, we've only lost a single deer, and that was a doe shot during crossbow that got into a flooded area. I can't speak for the neighbors, though...when I first bought the property, we found four small dead bucks at the end of December. Somebody around there likes to shoot and needs more practice.

I had an issue with some Browning insulated bibs two years ago. I contacted customer service, they asked for a picture, and the next day they issued a credit for anything that I wanted out of their catalog, sans firearms. I decided to replace the bibs, and they recommended that I wait for the next year's model to come out in June, since it was the end of the season. Come June, I'd forgotten about it when a package showed up at my door. Love Browning!

Lots of movement this morning. I had a nice wide ten pass by under the stand at 7:01 am, then loop around and come back through at 7:15 am. I think that he may have reached his potential, but I don't have a tag until tomorrow. Then eight doe and two bucks moved through. I wanted to shoot the two biggest doe and round out the venison requests from my trainees at work, but it was tough once the first shot went off trying to discriminate the big doe from the spike through a scope. Took some doing, but finally managed to single her out and drop her as well. The other buck was a nice eight that has great potential - he came past the stand after the shooting was over on his way to the swamp. Next year he'll be a good one. Also, I heard more shots this morning that I've heard the past two weekends combined. I think guys are pushing. We're not, just hoping that MZ has some undisturbed studs on the property.

Surprisingly, nothing was moving for us this morning. I had a pair of doe bed down 100 yards from me, but just couldn't make myself force a shot through the brush. Low probability shot. And that was it. Ouch. I sure hope others did better. We heard a little bit of driving, but few shots.

Tommy!!! Are you reading this? Floating docks, man!

Hey Tom, Good thought, but only true to a limited extent. Hydrostatic pressure diffuses rather quickly in an open system like the Great Lakes. Think about a flash flood. There's a lag between an influx of water upstream and the flooding downstream. Or alternatively, the Genesee River gauges, which reflect the non-linearity of the system. After a storm, guys are calculating how much time they have before the river blows out. You can watch it happen in real time. All great points to think about though.

Luckily, the laws against retaliation are MUCH more severe that the laws against trespassing or even poaching. The judge should make that clear to this dipstick.

Any updates on cellular game cameras? Thoughts now that the season is almost done? I'm considering it. Rabbit hole as D2G mentioned.

I got to make a running shot on a doe yesterday with my new rifle, which was cool. She dropped on the spot. Unfortunately, other than a couple spikes, that was it. And this morning at the other property was a bust from the stand, with a few deer moving when I checked cameras, but none past my buddy. The cameras show lots of movement between 5:15 and 7 pm lol. The deer have us patterned.

Ended up hunting the tower blind with Brian this morning due to the high winds, and couldn't resist a 100 yd plus shot on a small eight that was the only deer we saw. Funny thing is, I've had him under my stands multiple times this year and not blinked, and I probably wouldn't have shot him this morning if I'd been alone, but the situation was such that it was a memorable shot and I didn't think twice about it. Sometimes, it's about more than bone. Neck shot, dropped him in his tracks, and Scotty was glad to lend the ATV, as it meant getting away from Mickey and Minnie...I guess they small tower had some mice that wanted to cozy up to him. You know how he is with snakes? Turns out mice aren't his favorite either .

Yeah, I don't understand that at all. I think folks look at the site where they shot, and if they don't see hair or blood they say, "Must have missed". But a high vital shot can let a deer go a hundred yards or better without a drop hitting the ground, then they're dead on their feet and do the classic plow into a tree or something. You've got to follow up, or at least make some effort to track. I know it's tough without blood, but a guy I know left a huge doe dead 30 yards over the property line last week because he figured he missed. It wasn't even a hundred yards from where he shot it. All he had to do was walk to the edge where it went into the woods and he would have seen it. At least he came over and recovered it when I called him, but to me that's a head shaker.

Hardly any shots in 8A and no deer seen by me. Beautiful morning to be out in the woods. Hard to pass up doing it again tomorrow.