Turkey Hunting
Shamanic Tag-Out: Scratch One More
It’s now a little after 0930, on the third Saturday of KY Spring Gobbler Season. I’ve been tagged out for a little more than 2 hours. I woke this morning with the expectation of not even hunting. The heavy storms started around midnight with high winds, driving rain, thunder, lightning and several bouts of hail. I was listening to thunder when the alarm went off at 0430. The skies lifted long enough at 0530 that I suited up and told Supercore I was making a dash for Midway. The way it was thundering, I was fairly sure I was going … More . . .
Supercore Scores!
After a long dry spell, Supercore scores on a nice 2-year-old at 0820 this AM. The gobbler came to his calls and trotted within 10 yards of the Jagendehutte. Supercore had to engage in some close-quarters combat with the gob, but eventually got it tied off to the ATV and brought it home. It’s a 19 pounder with spurs going 11/16ths and a 10 inch beard. This breaks a dry spell we had since the Opener last Saturday. The gobs have had a bad case of lockjaw. We all were out today. SuperCore was the only one to see one. … More . . .
This is Earth. Scratch One Gobbler
I did not make a podcast this morning. There was not all that much to hear. On the other hand, this morning ended up being about as perfect a hunt as I am going to have in this life. It all began yesterday. When I got here to open up Turkey Camp, there was a gobbler and hens out in the yard. From noon until sundown they were out there. I had to be careful coming out the door or walking around the side of the house. I knew it was the same gobbler that kept showing up because he … More . . .
Turkey Camp is Open!
As of Noon today, Turkey Camp is open! I pulled into the drive today and there were a gobbler and there hens out in the side yard. I had to work quietly carrying stuff in through the back door, because I had turkeys watching the front door. Where these scouts? Did they have the house staked out? Naw, that’s crazy. That’s paranoid delusion. Still. . . As I write this the countdown timer is showing T-minus 18 hours Plus. I expect the rest of the Shamanic Dream Team to start arriving before sundown. Meanwhile, I’ll listen to Rush, put out … More . . .
Mooselette Goes Turkey Hunting
Well, sort of. Mooselette, my #1 granddaughter made it out to turkey camp with her daddy, Moose. We had a chance to go out to the Honey Hole and listen to the gobblers and hens at flydown. It was below freezing, so I brought along an arctic sleeping bag for her to crawl into. Afterwards, we came back and patterned our turkey guns. Moose asked to have his mother’s 20 GA Remington 1100 brought out. He had not shot it since was about Mooselette’s age. Mooselette, all of 5 now, had a chance to try it out. Her reaction? Less … More . . .
Honey Hole II
I was out at the new Honey Hole, putting up the blind that I built last year. It’s made out of the some of that fancy 4D burlap. I cut a 54″X12′ piece in half and made 2 27″ inch high pieces that I then rimmed with paracord. Last year, the blind worked great, except both Angus and I managed to shoot into instead of over the burlap– same hole, too! Go figure. Anyhow, this year, it’s back up, pretty much as it was. One thing I noticed was the fancy 4D camo had faded considerably. I had an old … More . . .
One Month to Go
The Countdown Timer on my webpage will cross the 4-week threshold as I write this– 1 month to go before Spring Gobbler Season opens. Normally, I would be down at camp, scouting. Hopefully I would have the umbrella mic up and be recording some hens. I’m not. I’m also not fretting too much. SuperCore’s birthday party is tomorrow, and between the inclement weather and the logistics of coming back to town for the party, I decided to stay back in town.
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Plotting the Return to Turkey Camp
It’s coming up on 10 weeks to the start of Kentucky’s Spring Gobbler Season. What am I doing to get ready? About a month ago, right around New Years, I went down and checked my supply of turkey ammo. I shoot Federal 3-inch #4 lead. It is not the rarest ammo out there, but nobody local carries it anymore. About this time of year, it shows up in decent quantities on the websites. The last time I needed some, I ordered from Grafs.com. Hibberd’s, my LGS would also order it for me. I try to do a minimal amount of … More . . .
So you want to hunt turkeys, huh?
I have never claimed to be an expert Turkey Hunter. I only claim to be an expert Beginning Turkey Hunter. I started hunting turkeys back during Reagan’s first term. I still consider myself a beginner. If I were just starting out turkey hunting this year, here’s what I’d be doing. First off, I would be concentrating on where I was hunting. If more than 35 seasons at this, I can tell you that turkeys are very much tied to the land. What a gobbler does this morning is intractably linked to what his great-great-granddaddy did. Some things change. Roost trees … More . . .
Woke up this morning (and bought myself a gun)
It’s raining graupel this morning. It’s above freezing; the little ice balls are hitting the roof and making such a racket that it woke me up. This is not the sort of day for thinking about turkey hunting, but there it is. The switch inside my head has but two settings. One setting is for deer. The other is where it is now. I have already been to the basement once this morning to check on supplies of ammunition. I have enough 3-inch #4’s to last for a few more seasons. My calls are still all packed up. However, I’ll … More . . .
Turkey Season 2016 Post-Mortem
The shotguns are back on the rack. The ammo and calls are put away. For all their work, Angus and SuperCore are eating tag soup. However, we all walked away with actionable intelligence. This was a good year overall for us. Everyone had shooting opportunities. First off, let me talk about the weather and how it affected the turkeys. Coming off a mild winter, this was the most pleasant turkey seasons we’ve had in 15 years at the farm. We had fairly warm mornings in the low-to-mid fifties and highs frequently going into the low 80’s. I think this accelerated … More . . .
Afternoon Tactics– What Blythe Taught me
Mark Hay on T&TH was asking about how I call gobblers in the afternoon, and I thought I’d start a new topic rather than go deeper in the Hunting Pressure thread. This is a description of what I do on my property when I want to entice a gobbler in the afternoon. I save this tactic for a sunny windy day when. I probably would not be seeing gobblers other ways. I wait until about 2 PM and then go to one of several spots where I have seen gobblers strutting in the afternoon and mimic a hen that is … More . . .
A Momentous Occasion
When I started turkey hunting, Ronald Reagan was still in his first term. Ohio had a spring season, but you had to apply for a tag months before to get into a lottery. The closest place I could hunt a spring gobbler was 5 counties over. It took a 3 hour drive to get there. It was in Hocking County, one county over from Vinton where the last remaining flocks had been netted for breeding stock. By 1995, Ohio allowed turkey hunting in Clearmont County. That meant you could now hunt one county over from my house. I was deer … More . . .
Last Tag Filled Amid Mortal Combat
In a way, I am somewhat relieved that the digital audio recorder was not working this morning. It saves me having to listen to it all again, to make it into a podcast. Now that it is over, I do not feel like I have achieved a great victory. In fact, I want to say straight off that I screwed up. Let me back up a bit. Last Saturday was the last chance any of the three of us, had a chance to shoot a bird. Most of the past week, there were no gobblers gobbling on the entire farm. … More . . .
PODCAST: The End of the Galloping Gobbler
Hens were roosting downhill from him, and I think he pitched down to them first. They came uphill to meet up, and then the hens and the gobbler walked the far fence line and emerged at the far end of the pasture, about 80 yards away. The hens crossed into the next pasture and started coming towards me, angling out into the field to feed. The gobbler stayed close to the treeline that held my blind and soon was making his final approach in full strut. I waited until he crossed behind a large tree and brought my gun up. … More . . .
The New Honey Hole
I was back at the New Honey Hole today, erecting a blind. This spot differs in one main way from the original Honey Hole, about 10 yards to the north: it is considerably more exposed. I took a 5X12′ piece of burlap and split it lengthwise, and surrounded it with a paracord. Here is the result after it was hung This post has already been read 1923 times!Views: 3 Related posts: Congrats shaman…you now carry a camo purse. Went scouting and never left the bedroom An Anonymous Acolyte and Mister Remmy More on the Return to Turkey Camp Double Beard … More . . .
A Question About Turkey Ammo
This is a question that is asked more out of ignorance than anything else. I don’t want to be confused with the Old Schoolers that think you have to limit your kit to what your grandfather used. I also do not want to suggest there is an ethical issue here. As far as I am concerned, all I owe the gobbler is a quick death. Period. Mine is a question of practicality and economy more than anything. My question is about the loads we choose to use turkey hunting. First off, my confession. When I started out, a 2 3/4″ … More . . .
The Westwood Blind
Over to the west of Garbage Pit, there was a bunch of fallen cedar boughs. I was out this morning scouting and decided that we probably needed a new turkey blind over that way. See what y’all think. This post has already been read 1316 times!Views: 5 Related posts: Congrats shaman…you now carry a camo purse. Went scouting and never left the bedroom An Anonymous Acolyte and Mister Remmy More on the Return to Turkey Camp Double Beard with a Double Barrel Turkey Camp, 2002 What (Still) Makes a Great Turkey Gun Turkey Hunting circa 1942
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PODCAST: The Galloping Gobbler
Over Easter, I was finally able to make it back down to Turkey Camp. It was a quiet morning at the new Honey Hole when all of a sudden. . . Podcast — The Galloping Gobbler Click on the link. It runs about about a 1/2 hour right after I got up to stretch. If I had been sitting in my old seat at The Honey Hole, he would have stopped about 10 feet in front of my barrel. After the gobbler left, I started walking back towards the house. The galloping gobbler was still down in Left Leg Creek, … More . . .
Requiem for the Honey Hole
For the past ten years, I have spent a good deal of time out at The Honey Hole. The Honey Hole has been my goto spot for both Turkey Hunting as well as my pre-season recording sessions that end up in my podcasts. It has been a fantastic spot to hunt– probably about 20 gobblers have been shot by the Shamanic Dream Team. However, The Honey Hole is over. It came to an end sometime in the fall. We must have had a bad windstorm and the old tree fell over. I was heartsick when I saw the old trunk … More . . .
The Shamanic MK I
I’m not saying it’s a work of art, but I pulled it off. Allow me to introduce you to the Shamanic MK I It is a poplar over cherry with walnut ends and a cherry bottom. The goal was just to make something that vaguely sounds turkey-like. What I got was a deep raspy call with a lots of volume. Frankly, I’m leaving puddles, I’m so happy with it– not because of the tone, but that I got any tone at all. This was my first project of this level since 8th Grade Shop, and I came up out of … More . . .
Turkey Season Post-Mortem 2015
Sunday Morning, I decided a little bit earlier than usual to call it quits and come in. I had just had a ball playing with a mess of jakes. I could have all of them, many times over, but held my fire. These were probably the same bunch I had seen all season. Next year I should have a good cohort of 2-year-olds to hunt. I had taken the same spot near Midway that I had been seated the day before. They had run down the freshly seeded field. This scenario had played out several times this season. When they … More . . .
PODCAST: The Midway Gobbler
It has taken quite a while for me to get this podcast together. The wind was brutal this morning, the first Monday of 2015 Kentucky Spring Gobbler. This was the day SuperCore and I got matching bookend gobs about a half hour apart. Mine was roosted with hens over by Lazy Boy, where #3 son Angus likes to deer hunt. I had arrived in between thunderstorms at first light. I holed up at Midway, my luxury box deer blind, expecting more rain. I had brought along a Toby Benoit Rebel Yell box call. It is by far the loudest in … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp — The Action so Far
If there really are “ON” and “OFF” kind of days for turkeys. Saturday, Sunday and Monday of the Opener here in the Trans-Bluegrass were definitely “ON.” Angus had a shot on Saturday as did I, Angus scored on Sunday. SuperCore and I scored on Monday. Ever the rain returned on Monday morning, the gobblers have been turned “OFF” in the extreme sense. However, I am getting ahead of myself. It is best to pick up the story after Angus bagged his jake. Sunday On Sunday, after Angus bagged his jake, it got hot and muggy. I drove Angus back to … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp — Angus Scores
Turkey Season 2015 is under way. Saturday was The Opener. I went to the Honey Hole. Angus went to the rock pile up on top of Gobbler’s Knob. SuperCore went to his usual place at the Jagende Hutte overlooking Dead Skunk Hollow. Flydown Saturday was somewhat subdued. I had expecte better, being that it was so warm. The turkeys hopped off their perches, crawled in a hole and pulled in the lid. Angus had better luck. He had a gobbler come in close. He worked him for a while and finally got a shot, but it was at an odd … More . . .
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