Gator

It's like that joke that posted recently...have the baitshop write you a receipt for what you told your wife you paid for them If you want to save some change, take a closer look at the GV500 over the SS500. I agree with John that the SS is the cat's meow, but you can get two GV for the price and I've never had a complaint with 5 bearings (4 and 1); they're smooth as silk, and I've caught walleye at Quinte up to 10 lbs, lakers at Keuka up to 8 lbs, and pike at Conesus up to 12 lbs on them. My oldest ones are >6 years of hard use and still going strong. As with all small spool reels, you'll want to run a micro-swivel in line 18" or so above the lure to prevent twist.

Pay less attention to the weather (or weatherman) and just get out and do it when I have time.

Ye gads, man! You need at least a dozen reels to accomplish all that,.,or so I tell my wife I like Tika Cetus spinning reels, with the GV500 perfect for perch and walleye. The Black Betty 6061 or Frabill Straight Line 371 are good inline options. For tip downs, an ultralight plastic reel works fine with a spring drag such as the B'n'M west point crappie reel. There are other reels that work, too...you want to keep the setup light to help it balance and to see the smallest hits. Good luck.

One of the first things I did after I bought my Mustang survival suit was to wash it off in I-bay. I've been through a couple times partially but never submerged, so I wanted to see what it was like in a controlled situation. I'm glad I did. It gives me some confidence that the Mustang is worth wearing, especially on early and late ice. One of the spots that we fished a few years ago on Quinte near Deseronto had so much flow that if you went through and submerged, I think you'd be 20 yards "downstream" in a heartbeat. That's scary stuff there. Particularly when I watched the ice fluctuate from 8" to 5" over the course of a day.

Last winter Brian and I went out of Vitale on some sketchy ice, but we had spuds, rope, all the right stuff and we were wearing floatation gear...well, I was wearing floatation gear, Brian's floatation is of the "natural" variety if you know what I'm saying . Sorry, buddy, couldn't resist. Anyway, a group of visitors from PA see us out there, figure the ice is fine, and a convoy of them start marching toward us with no thought in their heads whatsoever as to why those guys are banging on the ice and waving their hands. Stupid is as stupid does. I didn't see any of them go into the drink, but when we got back to shore we found out that one of the women didn't feel comfortable with all of the open pockets of water and stayed at the truck. So at least they'd have had someone to call 911 when they took a polar plunge.

If I'm not mistaken, it dies down and comes back every year, like most ferns and grasses. There's been some excitement regarding its potential as a biomass crop source since its production far exceeds most other sources.I guess if you had an open area that you really didn't want people to see into, it'd be a good choice. But you have to plant lots of rhizomes and tend them carefully the first couple years, much like you would cuttings, in order to see results like that. And other than screening I'm not sold that it has additional value. But it looks cool.

Who will be first?? I'll let him/her fall through, give it three days, and go fill a pail.

Dang

Ninebark is fantastic. It sets out a huge root system immediately after planting, which is probably why it was one of the things that survived that drought. Growth is supposed to be good, with a multi-stem shape that doesn't get overly big. The mature shrubs look great in the pictures, but I couldn't tell you myself because the deer are still trimming them for me...although I'm seeing signs of them taking off now. Miscanthus and particularly the giganteus cultivar is a sterile hybrid from what I understand that grows to 15', making it great for a screen. It requires maintenance. You plant rhizomes. That's about all I know. If anybody has a mature plot, let's see pics!

Just saw this. I don't plant many perennials, but Miscanthus and switchgrass are the obvious choices. Either one takes a few years to establish. I do plant shrubs, but there's a catch-22 in that shrubs or perennials favored by deer are going to be tough to establish in deer dense areas but planting simply for cover is of more limited value. I haven't found a good solution, so I try to do both. Freakin' deer eat most of it as soon as it emerges from the tubes though. Hopefully root sprouting will overcome grazing at some point. If you're going to use honeysuckle, I'd advise avoiding the invasive bush variety. It will form a monoculture and spread uncontrollably. I personally kill Autumn Olive, but others don't mind it so much. My current favorites for edge feathering among native species are ninebark--which is one of the things that actually survived that drought two years ago--as well as viburnums such as arrowwood, and I'm experimenting with speckled alder to screen along an access road. Given time, there's a bunch of stuff that will form thickets, but it's not an instant screen and generally requires full sunlight exposure. There's good information here: http://www.habitat-talk.com/index.php?forums/native-habitat.3/ and here http://deerhunterforum.com/index.php?forums/native-habitat-management.5/ It sounds like you've done your homework in terms of fast growing screens for roadside locations. I don't have that issue, but the folks who I listen to plant in stages with faster maturing stuff on the outside and slower growing on the inside--think grasses, poplar, then conifer triples. It all takes time, unlike hinging which is instant gratification. And food for the deer. And instant sunlight hitting the forest floor, stimulating all that good growth. One of the best purchases I made last year was a "Habitat Hook" from Nations Creations. It allows you leverage 15' up the tree, which means that you need to cut less and can still topple it where you want. A buddy of mine borrowed it last spring and swears it's the best tool he's used. I think they're ~$100 but if you're handy welding you could probably fabricate something similar. If you're into cuttings, willows can be great. I haven't played with them much; there's lots of cover on my land via dogwood thickets and such that I'm focused more on shrubs that will give me some food benefit. Hazelnut, allegheny chinkapin, plum, various types of berries--winterberry, nannyberry, chokeberry, elderberry--as well as soft and hard mast trees. And aromatic sumac because the deer seem to love rubbing it. My buddy Keith calls it Gator's 45 acre petri dish. He's not wrong. If you get a hankering to take a walk and compare notes, shoot me a pm. Same goes to all who are interested in habitat management. I'm still a newbie at this stuff, but I'm happy to share cuttings or seeds from anything that I have established and I'm always looking to learn from other folk's experiences. Especially folks who have been doing this for awhile. I'd love to see long term successes (and failures). Tom Petty said it best: the waiting is the hardest part.

There's been lots of discussion of this on other message boards. I think that the general consensus has been that there's just no excuse. What happened gives all hunters a bad rap.