Mike Raykovicz

I don’t know how warm it was in your part of New York, but here in the Southern Tier, and as I suspect throughout most of the state, temperatures during the first week of October were well above normal. 
Frankly, I was getting tired of my wife and friends saying “how beautiful” the weather was. Sure, clear, blue, cloudless skies with air temperatures in the low 80s made most people giddy with delight, but not me. 

Now that crossbows have become legal hunting tools in New York, it’s expected that record numbers of hunters will be in the woods hunting deer this fall and, most will likely hunt from a tree stand.
However, before climbing any tree, it’s essential to follow the necessary steps to stay safe while hunting from any elevated platform. Proper tree stand measures are crucial to reducing or, ideally, eliminating accidents from falls, whether while climbing or while in the stand.

When Jonathan Swift wrote “A Modest Proposal” in 1729, it was widely regarded as an inflammatory essay. In his essay, Swift suggested that the children of the starving Irish poor be sold so as not to be a burden on their parents.
Swift went so far as to suggest that a healthy, well-nursed, year-old child would make a nourishing and wholesome food, whether stewed, roasted, baked, or boiled. It was socioeconomic and political satire at its finest, and, understandably, it was met with shock and outrage coupled with widespread misunderstanding and confusion.