With the Polar Vortex about to sweep down from the North, and the Super Bowl nearly upon us, I thought I would check in. I normally look at Super Bowl Weekend as the half-way point in the wait between the end of Deer Season and the beginning of Turkey. It really is not; I mean don’t go breaking out a calendar and start counting.

It used to be that you had to have your turkey tag request in the mail by about now, or else Ohio wasn’t going to let you hunt in the spring. Thankfully those days are long since passed.

By now:

• All the deer rifles that got a once-over with Ed’s Red need to be gone over once again.  I run a bore snake with Ed’s Red, and wipe off the outside with some Ed’s Red doped with a drop or two of Eezox.  Remember to run a dry patch through the bore before deer season to clean out the crud that Ol’ Ed has dislodged in the interim
• I’ve run all the deer duds through a cycle in the washing machine, and gotten them dried out on the line and salted down.  If something was really dirty, I run a load with All Free&Clear, and then another rinse with Sodium Bicarb.  For details, see The Shamanic Baking Soda Method
• Bullet casting is just not going to happen this time of year, but I do cast an extra bunch in the summer so that I have a supply for now.  I’ve got the Hornady progressive up on the bench right now, getting ready to load 9mm and 357 Mag.  That will keep me from getting bored between now and March
• I’ve got the box of turkey calls sitting beside my chair. I’m getting them out and chalking up the box calls and starting to practice.  I am also listening to my old podcasts and other recordings, so I have those turkeys rolling around in my head.

Over the next month or so:

• I need to be checking my turkey ammo supply.  Now is a great time of year to order turkey ammo.  This is when everyone has their best selection and biggest inventory.  I normally use Grafs.com, because they charge a flat $7.50 fee for shipping.
• I hit Amazon.com and look for deals on mouth calls.  About this time, I’ll see some good calls that can be as $3 apiece or less if you buy a whole card of them.
• Shipleys  has all the material for making your own pot and box calls.  They still have inventory for all that stuff, although it dwindles over the month or so.  Now would be a good time to put in an order.
• Check out Midwest Turkey Call Supply for just about anything you’d want in the way of calls, clothes, books, cd’s and that sort of thing. I’ve been ordering from them for years.
• Be looking in places like SportsmansGuide for cold weather clothing on sale.  I’ve been using their Guide Gear poly fleece underwear for a base layer for decades.

By the way: what’s up with this Polar Vortex hooey? It used to be the weatherman would just tell us it was going to be cold for a few days. Now it seems like every weather front has to be named and every 5 degree shift in temperature is marking the end of the world. I wish these Climate Change goobers would grow a pair.

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