I want more hunters in western NY. The white tail deer are out of control. This year alone my brother and sister hit a deer that jumped in front of their car at night. Verrrry expensive to have the car fixed. That's just this year. In years past many other accidents have occurred. I Article in the newspaper that car insurance companies are raising rates here because the deer/vehicle encounters have skyrocketed in the last few years. Many people lose their lives in these accidents. The local parks and wildlife refuges hate the deer because they eat everything in sight. Deer do not let any new trees grow unless they are fenced off and this is stopping the forests from regenerating. The lack of small trees and undergrowth has further reduced the rest of wildlife. Deer are displacing just about everything else. This is wildlife and conservation people that hate the deer, not big business. Hunting is declining as a sport. Not enough hunters anymore to keep them under control and young people find new electronic hobbies more interesting than hunting. No wolves or other predators either. Hunting and other license fees fund wildlife services. With hunting on the decline, revenue to our wildlife services is on the decline. If you're a hunter, come to western NY where the hunting is easy. Everyone that I know is a hunter has found it pretty easy to bag their limit.

Like some of you out there I am new to this so I thought I would share some of my experiences. I guess I was registered because I found the link for messages at this site, but if I am reposting please forgive an old man. During this 2007 Christmas Season I began actively looking at tents to replace one for dog agility trials when my Beamer and I get back on the road. I was looking for the best deal in the house, for under $200. We wanted one that we could stand in, with plenty of room for two people and their gear, including the crates for our dogs. Before we begin a word of caution. Using the internet really lets you know of the tent and their prices. But, look to the home site of the manufacturer for a MSRP because with a lot of the sellers they really jack up the prices and then give you little discounts. You can get a better view of the pricing by staying with reputable dealers like Cabelas, Backcountry Edge, Bob Wards and companies like that. DonÂt be fooled by big discounts. Most tents claims of "sleeps X persons" are inflated and usable space should include allowances for about six square feet of baggage for each adult. Consumer Reports found in their tests that when it states the tent fits eight people, one should plan on stacking everyone like cordwood - or stowing all the gear in the car. More likely, a tent will fit comfortably only two-thirds as many people claimed, and probably half would be a more realistic figure. I initially had settled on the Kelty Trails Dome 6 or Columbia Bugaboo Dome tents (because at my age we won't be going too far afield) but then I looked at the Eureka tents. I even went to Consumers Reports and found that the Eureka Sunrise 9 offered the best ventilation of all tents tested. But, for many more extra dollars EurekaÂs Titan does buy more room, easier setup, aluminum poles instead of fiberglass, and two doors instead of one. Kelty was not figured in their reports, nor was Columbia. So I compared them all. When you consider the Kelty Green River 4 tent, you need to compare it with other KeltyÂs, particularly their Trails Dome 6. But at the same time, we should be looking at a little more inexpensive Columbia Bugaboo dome tent, as well as the Eureka tents. They all have about the same "footprint," about 10 x 10Â, or 80 to 100 square feet. While the Green River has only 81 square feet, it does have a vestibule, or covered area. It is not included in the sleeping section but can be used for additional storage or folding chairs, to sit under out of the way from the flying bugs. The Eureka Sunrise 9 is also 81 square feet, but it has no vestibule, while their Sunrise 11 has 121 square feet. The Green RiverÂs vestibule area doesnÂt have a "footprint," or an area that is included as part of the "sealed tub floor." ItÂs outdoors, but could be covered by another drop cloth. That can be a problem with rainy weather - a covered space but with no flooring. But letÂs face it, the extra space of the Columbia Bugaboo actually is the storage, or the "foot lockers" of the tent, and could rightly be included as part of a vestibule (albeit, unlike the Green River, part of the tub), which the Bugaboo and Trails Dome tents do not have. If weight is a factor, the Trails Dome 6 comes in at only a little over 13 pounds, the Eureka Sunrise 9 is 16 and four ounces, while the other two tents are significantly heavier - both at better than 21 pounds  but if the tent is used for car camping that should not be problematic. But if you want to backpack the additional eight pounds can be quite a lot. Each tent has sealed seam flooring, generally made of nylon taffeta. But newer models of the Eureka Sunrise have heavy duty 210 denier polyester oxford cloth for its tub flooring. Although the Columbia tent appears to be made of somewhat lighter material than the two Kelty tents, it has a polyethylene floor. Also, both the Kelty tents are seamless floor areas while the Columbia does have a sealed seam which may become a problem. The Kelty and Eureka tents tub design does appears a bit better, keeping the seams watertight and above the ground. The Eureka Sunrise tents have an excellent design for a "bathtub floor" since it means that there is no seam at ground level to leak during a rainy trip. However, it means there is a horizontal seam all the way around that is not covered by the fly. When it rains, those seam leaks. It's not a flood, but it most certainly is a design flaw in that it could have been lined or double-stitched to prevent this, or the fly could be bigger to cover that seam, so water rolling off the fly wouldn't roll down the sides of the tent. The vertical corners seams above the floor line also leak a bit, but not half as bad as the horizontal seam. With Kelty's ArcEdge construction for their tents, the floor seams are lifted up off the ground to prevent water seepage around the floor/wall seams. Kelty's water tight wall technology uses a shingled seam approach and it has also installed flaps over the exposed windows and doors to prevent leakage at the zippers even in high wind. The major difference seems to be the use of the DAC DA 17 poles with KeltyÂs Trail dome tent. The others make use of fiberglass poles, two 9.5 mm for Columbia Bugaboo and three 11 mm poles for the Green River, and the Eureka Sunrise uses two 11 mm poles with ring and pin attachment. The Trails Dome has two 14.5 mm aluminum poles (7000), and two 9 mm aluminum brow poles over the awnings covering the doors (but you may find older stock with fiberglass brow poles). The poles found on the Trail Dome 6 are lighter, stronger and longer lasting than fiberglass poles. Aluminum poles are more durable to handle heavy wind and snow loads. Unlike fiberglass, aluminum does not become brittle in cold weather and they are heavier, but the pre-formed aluminum ones come at a significantly higher price. The fiberglass would probably be fine for the not too frequent camper. The Kelty tents offer heavier Nylon cloth construction for the tents. It appears that between them, the 1800 mm coating on the flooring of the KeltyÂs would possibly be a better buy than the 1200 mm that goes with the Columbia, even if it is double coated. The 70-denier fabric appears to be better on the two Kelty tents. The Kelty comes with different fabrics for its walls and fly, being a 68 denier for the walls but a generous 75 denier poly rip-stop for the fly. The Eureka uses heavier fabrics: 75D poly for the walls and Fly, with a triple dose of 1200 mm for their Storm Shield coatings. The industry standard for waterproof rain flies are all constructed of polyester taffeta with 800 mm coatings, but both Kelty tents have 1800 mm waterproof ratings while it is 1200 mm for the Columbia Bugaboo and the Eureka Sunrise series. Except for the Eureka, each of the tents uses sleeves and clips - rather than just sleeves to put the poles through. While it makes it easier to erect, there may a problem in high wind areas for them. The Sunrise 9 uses a pin and ring system to attach the 11 mm fiberglass poles, while the Sunrise 11 makes do with 12.7 mm poles. Because they are all dome tents this may be less of a concern, but the Green River will be harder for a single person to set up in that there are three poles rather than two. In reviewing as many comments on tents as possible this is one area that seems to detract from the Green River. The complicated and difficulty in setting up was a major complaint and must be considered. The Columbia Bugaboo, unlike the Trails Dome, makes use of large scale no-see-um mesh instead of another door and calls this mesh window with a skylight its Cyclone Venting System. For warm weather camping, like here in UtahÂs desert county, it appears to make a lot of sense. However, both the KeltyÂs do have very good ventilation, and should not be problematic. And the Eureka has four hooded zippered windows which allows quite a bit of ventilation or privacy. All the tents come with a fly cover, which would be nicer if it was bigger on the Sunrise tents (i.e., extended all the way over the entire tent). This fly must be used overnight, as the entire top of the tent is screen and without a fly, you'd get soaked in the lightest rain. Where we go there is always that chance, and one time at a trial the sprinkler system came on. I am retired and with my companion have taken up agility as a dog-handler team and spend a few weekends at trials. I would like to camp out (something that I left behind 55 years ago, in Korea and swore I would never do it again) and tried it this summer and fall, but with a smaller one person tent. And we found out that the high Sierras is not an area to be caught in during the fall snow storms that came about last October. We really don't need a screened vestibule area, but would like a little more room to wander - with headroom to squander like in the Bugaboo and Trails Dome. And we don't need a Springbar tent - not at this age! For me, the decision settled down to whether to purchase the Eureka Sunrise 11 and the Kelty Trail Dome 6 tent. They both had desirable features, but the aluminum poles and weight of the Trail Dome 6 would have won out  except for the cost and some changes that are in store for the Trail Dome series, but could not get the information from Kelty or their dealers. They do have on their website some pictures of the tent slated for 2008, and they are significantly different than those that came out in 2005. I would give each of these tents a 5.0, but because they individually have features that would be nice but are lacking at this time, I rated them both at 4.5. I went with the EUREKA SUNRISE 11 for its height and extra spaciousness, better ventilation with larger hooded and zippered windows, and the 210 denier poly oxford floor design and superior construction. While the fabrics may be a lighter weight than KeltyÂs, it is superior in denier and coating than other family tents. And unlike the Kelty, the door is screened so that you can have it open for even greater ventilation and the bugs canÂt come in because the twin-track zipper system allows door windows to operate independently of doors for convenience and ease of entry and exit. I also liked the two-tone light blue colors, but Beamer could care less.

The notion any animal, except man of course, kills for fun is silly and I didn't say that. What I did say is wolves don't hunt for the meat or survival. I said wolves are pedators and they will kill just for the sake of killing. That is their nature. Because of this, as Posieh said, wolves were almost eradicated in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Why? Because they were killing the livelihood of those settling the land. Wolves a century ago are what we in the west are dealing with today; a predator with no natural enemy to keep the balance...the circle of life if you will. They are killing our profits; taking away money we use to support our families, pay taxes and make a contribution to society. To many, who do not deal with the loss of profit (and again, the means to support our families, pay taxes, contribute to communities, etc. etc.) shooting a wolf is a horrible thing to contemplate. Why? Because what the wolves are doing does not affect YOU, your bank account and your means to make a living. This would be like me telling Kath the poor management at the hospital where she works (which drives her crazy on an almost daily basis) is trivial and acceptable based on the fact that it does not affect me personally. (I use Kath as an example simply because we've known each other for ever and ever and I know what she does to support her family. I'm not picking on her, okay?) Can you see the point I'm trying to make? A hundred years ago it was either people or the wolves. And there is a reason they were hunted down. I have seen a wolf kill and it's ugly. Horrible. The killed animals suffered a terrible death and the carcass was left behind. Sad? Maybe. Would you have me, my family, my husband's family and all other livestock producers just give it up and turn everything we own over to the wolves? Why? To make someone far, far far removed from wolves feel better? It's either people or the wolves. To think someone would pick a wild animal over a family (or lots of families) is just...well, sad. And wrong. Yes. Humanity is encroaching on the wolves. And the grizzly. And the spotted owl and the....the list is long. What do you want done? Thin out the existing human population so the animals have a place to live? Okay. Who goes first? And how will they be eliminated? Another idea to eliminate people and turn the land over to the wolves (who I assure you, pay ZERO income tax, LOL), but with a far slower impact in favor of the wolf, would be zero population growth. I am being as respectful as I can be. If I offend I don't mean to. I'm just trying to make the existence of my family, my husband's family and all others who make their living raising livestock as important as anyone else in America. I am an animal lover. I also know if it comes down to a either or situation I will pick the person every time. Lori

If you want to find a house- and pet-sitter, think about placing notices advertising for one at area schools -- at grammar and HS for teachers and at colleges and grad schools for teachers or adult students. We call ahead to see if the school permits this, then bring in or email a notice like this: WANTED: HOUSE & DOG SITTER (Our location) couple needs dog-lover to live in their newer, one-floor home and care for their (X-years old), small dog while they are out of town for a month this winter. Must be able to feed and walk the dog (however often -- three times a day in our case because he has IBS) and play with him. Garage for your car. Plowing service engaged. One mile from center of town. Please call between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m.: (Cell phone number) Be vague enough that a reader will not know exactly when you will be away, and don't give a phone that can be easily traced to your address. When you get calls, tell them what you are paying. If they are still interested, take their information and phone numbers and get back to them. Only provide identifying information to your final candidates. Most of the teachers in our town live elsewhere, as did the police officer we hired. Sitters have been happy to be close to work in the winter instead of making long commutes. Most years there are a few new hires, single people, who respond to the add. There's a college in town and two private schools in addition to the public and parochial ones. As flamingo said, we leave a clean house and expect the same when we return. There is a "NO Visitors" understanding.