Turkey Hunting
Another Trip to Turkey Camp
I went back down to Turkey Camp yesterday. I had several projects that needed work, and I wanted to get out and listen to the turkeys. First off, let me describe yesterday morning’s scouting trip. Starting at 20 minutes before sunrise, a large flock started going off near the Honey Hole. I could not count all the gobblers; they were all going off at once. However, there were several hens in there as well. I think this is the final incarnation of the winter mega flock. The mass gobbling ended abruptly about 10 minutes after sunrise. It sounds like the … More . . .
Return to Turkey Camp
This is the earliest I’ve tried to return to camp in 20-some seasons. A good deal of it is because I’m retired now. In the past, I had to wait until the weekends. Last year, I was still feeling the chemo and had to wait until someone else could go down with me. Every year, I start looking for a day with highs of at least 50F and no precipitation. Last year, that was late February. Some years, it’s been the 3rd weekend in March. The place was intact when I got there. The winter had been mild and there … More . . .
When Should I Start Scouting?
It just turned over 90 days until the Spring Gobbler Opener in Kentucky. It is 12F and the wind is gusting to 24 MPH. Believe me, today is not the day to start scouting. So when? It all depends. Scouting New Property My big question is how much pain is involved and what is it worth to you? Turkeys are generally not silent. On a still morning in winter, I can hear hens flying down a good 300 yards out. Driving 50 miles for a chance to hear that sounds reasonable. 200 miles? That’s up to you. Looking for sign? … More . . .
The Turkey Trigger Tripped
I’m not one of those guys who dreams of turkey hunting all year. By the time mid-May comes around, I’m pretty well done with the whole thing. Don’t get me wrong; I love turkey hunting. It is just such a frustrating and humbling process that I get tired of getting my nose rubbed in it. It is not like I really have any choice in the matter. The state shuts down the season and the gobblers shut down themselves. There are things to do, and camps to be made. fishing to be done. Move along. There is nothing more to … More . . .
Turkey 2023: The Post-Mortem
“Hunting 16 of 22 days and only getting one bird? Shaman, ol buddy! What went wrong?” Nothing went wrong. It all fell together. It just did not fall together in a pleasing way. Now that I’ve had a couple days in the recliner and a couple nights of 10+ hours of sleep, the lightbulb is beginning to flicker again. Look, the only thing “wrong” with this season was me, my health. I deliberately limited myself to one hunting venue simply because I did not have the energy to go elsewhere. The Honey Hole is a 1/2 mile walk from the … More . . .
Shaman Gets His Bird
It was a little over a year ago that I trudged out with a bird. The Cancer was back. I was starting Chemo in a few weeks. That might have been my last hunt. Here it is, a year later. The Cancer is gone. I’m still a little rocky from all the poison they shot in my veins, but I was determined to take a bird. Normally, going out to the Honey Hole, I’d have a tag or two filled by the end of April. Usually, I’d have at least one bagged the first week. This year? 16 days of … More . . .
Moose Scores!
Things have been rough out here at the farm this season. Everything about the turkeys has been delayed. I have never hunted so many days in a season before, and I can tell you the action has generally been lousy. It was not until mid-week last week before I got anything resembling normal gobbler action. Thursday was the first morning I got a gobbler to come in to a call. For the most part, they’ve been hopping down off the roost and following hens. I was able to work a gobbler for the better part of an hour. He came … More . . .
Angus Scores! — Hello, My Honey!
I have been experiencing a complete dearth of huntable gobblers all through the first week of season. Oh, I’ve been hearing them, and hearing hens as well. It has just been one day after another of the gobs hopping off the roost and disappearing off the property. It has been exceptionally warm this week. A front came through yesterday, dropped a load of rain and then blew out over last night. The rain was well gone when we got up this morning. Moose, Angus, and I were hoping this might spur the turkeys a bit. Moose went to Garbage Pit, … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp– The Opener, 2023
Never in the 20+ seasons I have been to our camp, have I seen such optimal weather for a Turkey Opener. When Mooselette and I put our rumps down at the Honey Hole, it was 62F, no wind, and a dappled sky. I set up the DAC to record stuff the morning. We had all the usual players, gobs, hens, owls and such, but nothing ever showed. I had put two gobblers to bed the previous night. One was within 200 yards of us. At sunrise, we even had a tree full of hens hens go off as they flew … More . . .
PODCAST: T-Minus One Week at the Honey Hole
It was a bit windy, but I made it out to the Honey Hole. I was surrounded by gobblers and hens. At one point, the nearest gob flew down from his roost about 50 yards from me and made a beeline over to some rowdy hens. When I left them, there was love in the air. So here is the Podcast. I hope you enjoy it. Podcast — T-Minus 1Week Just click on the link above to listen In other doings, Angus and Moose are down for the weekend getting chores done. I gave Moose a pop-up blind for Christmas. … More . . .
Mooselette’s Yute Opener
This year was most honorable #1 Granddaughter’s first attempt at a turkey hunt while fully armed. Mooselette had been out with me on several turkey hunts over the years. This was her first as a hunter. She went with Daddy Moose out to Dead Skunk, while I tried to record the gobblers out at The Honey Hole. Over the past winter, Mooselette had come a long way toward mastering a mouth call. She and her father worked a few gobblers. She got a gob to answer her calls. However, the turkeys were in no mood for coming to a … More . . .
PODCAST: Back at the Honey Hole
It was good to be back at the Honey Hole. Frankly, it’s just a good time to BE. I managed to connect with some gobblers, including the latest incarnation of the Virginia Rambler. So here is the Podcast. I hope you enjoy it. Podcast — First Time Back Just click on the link above to listen  I’m down at Turkey Camp awaiting the arrival of Daddy Moose and the “Stone Cold Turkey Killer.” Mooselette will be going out for her first Yute hunt as an actual hunter. I’m killing time in the rain at the moment, but I managed … More . . .
Stone Cold Turkey Killer
Mooselette came down with Daddy Moose last night. She’s on Spring Break. We went out this morning with the recording equipment and spent the hour bracketing sunrise listening for birds. The birds did not cooperate, but she and I had a fun time nonetheless. Yute Season is in a couple of weeks. This year Mooselette has decided she is ready to take a bird. We, therefore, spent the rest of the morning getting her sorted out with a 20-Gauge Mossberg bolt gun– the same gun her Uncle Angus used when he was a Yute. Getting a kid going on a … More . . .
Spring Rules are Out
Kentucky Department of Fish & Wildlife Resources has released the rules for the Spring Hunting Seasons. There are no big changes. This summarizes what few there are: Here is the whole guide in PDF format for download: This post has already been read 2519 times!Views: 0 Related posts: KDFWR Turkey Study Underway From the KDFWR: Outstanding outlook for the hunt KY Turkey Poacher Fined $44,000 The Role of Personal Ethics in Hunting KY Non-Resident Fees Hiked KY: Record Harvest for Modern Gun Deer Season Spring Rules are Out Indiana DNR Rule Changes
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Down to the Farm
I made it back to the Farm for the first time since the end of Deer Season. Now that I’m retired, I can go went the weather is best and not try to shoe-horn things into the weekends. Tuesday afternoon, I got to fire some of my recent reloading projects. The first of these was 4 different loads (2 bullets with 2 powders) pursuant to taking on the coyotes. Of the 4 loads, I found that a 52-grain Speer Hollow Point over BL(C)2 gave me the best grouping. The other choices involved CFE223 and a 55 grain Hornady SP. I … More . . .
Turkey Research in Kentucky
Here is a Youtub e on some greatly-needed research into what’s going on with the turkeys in Kentucky This post has already been read 2389 times!Views: 6 Related posts: Know Thy Game, Know Thyself On Learning to be an Expert Turkey Hunter From the KDFWR: Outstanding outlook for the hunt The Myth of Hunting Pressure Honey Holes So you want to hunt turkeys, huh? Kentucky’s the Place — Sort of On the use of Turkey Decoys and Going Old School
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Will AI Replace the Shaman?
I was playing with AI the past few days and I tried feeding ChatGPT a title “Turkey Hunting Tips and Tricks” and letting it write a script. I then fed it to Pictory to build a video and then published it to Youtube. They say Turkey Hunting is the hardest game on the North American Continent. It’s certainly well beyond an AI to tell you how to do it. I did get a chuckle out of the result It took about 30 minutes for it all to happen. I just sat and watched. I also asked ChatGPT: Tell me how … More . . .
The Myth of Hunting Pressure
I have had an idea rolling around in my head for some time, and I have finally gotten it to gel. I thought I would throw it up here, and have y’all comment on it. First off, let me throw out two basic statements:1) There is no such thing as hunting pressure when it comes to turkeys.2) There are only a few days every season when gobblers are huntable by conventional methods. Here is my reasoning for these statements. I hunt a single 200-acre parcel in SW Bracken County, Kentucky. I will be starting my 21st season on the property … More . . .
What Turkey Calls Should I Buy?
I’ve been at it now for over 40 seasons. I write for the outdoors, I’ve been a pro-staffer, and I’ve made a bunch of calls. Let me let you in on a basic truth: turkey calls are there to mostly attract hunters and not turkeys. I’m not going to say that a top-notch turkey hunter can’t make magic out of a high-end call, but most turkey hunters aren’t in that top notch. Furthermore, you take away his $200 call and give him a $20 call and he’ll still make magic. It ain’t the call. Let me clue you into another … More . . .
KDFWR Turkey Study Underway
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) is investigating the reason turkey harvest numbers have been slipping. This past year’s harvest was well below average. I’m catching up here; this came out while I was having Chemo. Here is the link: https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Wild%20turkey%20studies%20underway%20in%20Kentucky.aspx I’ve saved an image of the article here: This post has already been read 1815 times!Views: 0 Related posts: From the KDFWR: Outstanding outlook for the hunt KY: Record Harvest for Modern Gun Deer Season KY Turkey Poacher Fined $44,000 KY Non-Resident Fees Hiked Strong Harvest Expected What Happened to the Turkeys? Indiana DNR Rule Changes Caught … More . . .
PODCAST: The Virginia Rambler Goes Down
This did not take a whole lot of editing, but it turned out pretty well. I was out earlier today in the fog and managed to bring a gobbler in and close the deal. Some quick notes. First off, the extraneous pops and cracks is water dripping off the trees. The fog was extremely thick. Second, I sound like I’m on death’s door throughout the podcast. It was just that I was a tad wheezie from all the fog. I actually feel better than I’ve felt in 5 years. Don’t worry. I still feel fine. For close to twenty years … More . . .
The Shaman Nails a Gob
I had to call it quits last weekend. The trip out and back to the Honey Hole aggravated the leg, which had been the reason I spent the early part of last week in the ICU. I did not mind it much. Sunday thru Wednesday was cold or rainy– or both. I’m on blood thinners so 35F no fun whatsoever. I stuck around town until Thursday so I could hear what they have planned for me in the way of chemo-therapy. After that, all I wanted to do was get back out to the farm. They start pouring the bug … More . . .
Angus Scores in Turkey Opener
The 2022 Kentucky Spring Gobbler Season started about as well as any. It rained overnight but stayed in the mid-fifties. The last shower evaporated a few miles from us just as we were heading out. It looked like things were going well. They did, just not for me. Angus and Moose had a tremendous morning. I was out at the Honey Hole, due south of the cabin. There was gobbling, but nothing close. I ventured out of the blind after 0800 and put up my new experiment. I got the idea a few years ago, watching gobblers in the pre-season … More . . .
Mooselette Comes Out for Yute Opener
#1 Granddaughter, Mooselette, attended the 2022 Yute Opener with her Grandpa. I took her out to the Honey Hole in hopes of recording something for a podcast. It wasn’t much of a hunt; we did not expect it to be. Mooselette did not even bring a shotgun. We had fun. This was yet another year where the turkeys did not cooperate. I’ve now been to 20 or so Yute Seasons on this farm, raising 2 sons to the sport along the way. I was telling Mooselette: there have been maybe three of these weekends that actually produced anything like a … More . . .
PODCAST: Closing the Deal
This is the first podcast of 2022, and it is a good one. I got out to the Honey Hole just as a roost of hens to my left was pitching woo to a roost of gobblers to my right. Over a half-hour the loudest gob and the most vocal hen decided to hook up. The gobbler practically ran the hundred or so yards between the roost trees, and met up with the hen and her girlfriends at the base of their roost. The deal got closed. I just let the audio roll without comment. I hope you enjoy it. … More . . .
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