Turkey Hunting
The Final Countdown to Turkey Camp, 2015
By the time you read this it will be T-minus 15 hours and counting to the Turkey Opener. SuperCore called. He’s bringing  breakfast sandwiches, and the Scotch, and a bucket of fried dead chicken from the side of the road. I hugged Angus this morning and told him I’d sprung for his license and tags, and wished him a happy 17th birthday. I then went downstairs to put a bevel on the ends of a half dozen strikers. I’ll be leaving work tonight, dropping by the house to pick up shotguns and Angus and Lily the Love Hound and … More . . .
Getting Ready for Turkey Season
I have been so busy with the podcasts that I have not had a good chance to sit down and discuss all the other things going on in the Shamanic Dream Team’s run up to The Opener.Angus’ New Shotgun I was at an auction back in February and got a very nice Remington 870 Express at well under market value. The auctioneer commented to everyone that the look on my face was priceless. I had bid on it at the last minute; I had wanted a Mossberg 500, but this came first on the list, and I did not want … More . . .
PODCAST: Yute Season 2015
This is my first Yute Season in many years where I did not have a yute to bring with me. Angus is now too old, and grandaughteer #1, Mooselette, just turned 3. She and I have been hunting turkeys in the backyard when she comes to visits. It must be genetic. So here it is Easter Morning (Happy Easter everyone!) and it is just me out there. I usually take young’uns up to Gobbler’s Knob, because there is almost a guaranteed floor show. This morning was no exception. Podcast — The Midway Gobbler 2015 … More . . .
PODCAST: Getting Thoughtful at the Thoughtful Spot
I probably would have stayed back in town this weekend, but the temperature was cold enough that I thought I might freeze the pipes at Turkey Camp if I was not there. Indeed, the temperature was 17F and still falling when I went out armed with the recorder and my trusted mug of coffee. I was met at the back door with a hearty gobble coming from the Hundred Acre Wood . Lately, I have had this theory about turkeys, about hunting pressure, and a better way to look at how we interact with turkeys. A lot of folks think … More . . .
PODCAST: Three Jakes at the Honey Hole
Just under a month separates me from The Spring Opener. This was my first trip out to the Honey Hole. It seemed like I’d just gotten up and left last week, even though it had almost been a year. I was formulating a spiel about what to do when faced with complete silence when several gobblers and some hens turned on just at the bottom of Heartbreak Ridge. They kicked up enough of a fuss that three jakes came over from Left Leg Creek and walked right in on me. It was a lot of until the wind got stronger … More . . .
PODCAST: Fog at Faulty Towers
This was our first weekend back at Turkey Camp. It had been a harsh winter, but the cabin was in one piece, and the deer and turkey both seemed as though they had not suffered too much.  A week ago there had been a foot of snow on the ground. Now it was still a bit soupy, and there was a lot of fog in the mornings, but nothing to keep the turkeys from getting cranked up. I made it out just in time to Faulty Towers to catch some gobblers and hens. Listen carefully. You can hear the rolls … More . . .
Shaman, where do you hunt turkeys?
I have one property . It’s my farm, and the only folks that are allowed to hunt it are my sons and my old boss, SuperCore. What I’ve learned there in 13 seasons is that generally there are only a few days a season where any group of turkeys are willing to be called. The rest of the time, you can sit back and read a book. However, on those days where they want to be called, they will come to nearly anything. On my 200 acres, I have three or sometimes four independent groups. I won’t call them flocks, … More . . .
Are long distance shots a good thing?
From Old Gobbler.com deerbasshunter3 Are long distance shots a good thing, or a bad thing for turkey hunting? « on: February 18, 2015, 08:42:58 PM » I know on another forum that I am on for deer hunting there are some people who mention taking longer shots at deer with their bow (Long being past 30-40 yards.). While doing some research to try to get better at turkey hunting, I have noticed talk of 60-70+ yard shots. Now, I know enough to know that, in the past, 30 or so was the max on a turkey. Since then, shotguns, chokes, … More . . .
PODCAST: Wake-up Call
etter late than never, here is the best of about 40 hours of recording. This is not like my other podcasts, because it is just raw turkey sounds with no commentary, no banjo music. The original recordings were from mid-April on a morning where all heck broke loose at the Honey Hole. I had several gobblers come in on me, but I could never get the cross-hairs on them. I selected the source tracks, because they were particularly clean and mixed it so it would be perfect wake-up music.
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Turkey Camp 2014 — Post Mortem
You only need to look at Angus’ face in those pictures from a couple of weeks ago to see this season was not a failure. Still, after hunting 11 of the first 14 days of KY Spring Gobbler Season and 16 of the total 22-days, I have to say I feel beaten. I ran into another turkey hunter at the diner in Berlin on the last Saturday of season. He was seated with two other guys, and they were all looking glum. His story was similar to everyone else I had met. He had manage to bag a bird, but … More . . .
Seriously, Where DO Turkeys go after Flydown?
What they do after flying down, I read years ago that turkeys like to find water. So I ruined my early turkey career finding standing water and positioning myself between that and the roost. After realizing that I had been misinformed, I set about making a life’s work of finding out what turkeys do after flydown. The truth is that after a hard night on the roost, the first thing they like to do after pitching down is to find some lowly track in the woods. There in the half-light of dawn, there is a vague far off sound. Eventually … More . . .
PODCAST: Angus Rolls the Gob
We’re just in from Turkey Camp– end of Week #1 of KY Spring Gobbler Season.
In between doing battle with the gobblers, I’ve been trying to edit down the podcast of Angus’ last hunt as a yute. It was a challenge– a lot of wind noise in the original sound. Some of it may sound a little funky, and there were three setups before we finally got a shot at a gobbler.
Let me know what you think
PODCAST: Angus Rolls the Gob PT 1
PODCAST: Angus Rolls the Gob PT 2
PODCAST: Angus Rolls the Gob PT 3
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The Last Yute Hunt — Angus Bags a Bird
If we had given up and gone in at 0900, we would have still counted it a success.  This was the last hunt Angus was going to make as a youth hunter. Around 0830 this morning, a gobbler honored one of my calls way way out. He was well off the property, so we decided to pick up from the Honey Hole and close the distance a little. This had been a trying Opener to Kentucky’s Spring Gobbler Season. Saturday, we had lots of turkeys at flydown, but they all hit the ground and took off for the south east … More . . .
A Bit of Backstory: The 870 That Wouldn’t
If you listen carefully to the as-yet unreleased podcast of Angus’ hunt, you will here him mention that his shotgun functioned perfectly. That was a huge thing for Angus and I– much bigger than you probably know. Back when I was out of work, I had an old boss that looked me up. He was in a bigger fix that I was. He offered me a minty Remington 870 TB Trap for a pittance. I relented and drove up to the old watering hole he and I had frequented after work a decade earlier. He pulled the shotgun out of … More . . .
Yute Hunt 2014
This is the start of Angus’ last Spring Gobbler season as a Yute. He turns 16 in a couple of weeks. I bought him all his youth licenses and tags yesterday— they’re good until the end of the year. However, after next weekend he will be hunting on his own as an adult. Saturday morning started rough and did not get much better. It had poured rain for three days, before Friday night when it got windy and cold. When we arrived at camp, the dogs ran inside and would not come out. We had barely left the front porch … More . . .
PODCAST: Gobblers at the Honey Hole
It has been a good year back at Turkey Camp. After such a horrible winter, it was good to have decent weather. We have had 3 good weekends. The only thing that has not been cooperating has the turkeys. Oh, they have been there, all right. They just have not been all that vocal. This morning was Different. Angus and I started at the Honey Hole, but a gobbler started sounding off back towards the house, so we followed him. After he hopped down from the roost and left, a doe showed up. She was very curious about what we … More . . .
The Run-up to Spring
I once opined that if you took me off my 200 acre plot, I probably would not be a all that great a turkey hunter. However, I was probably the best there was on that one 200 acre patch in KY. So far, no one has come forward to dispute that. But then there is last year. Last year was a bust. Nobody got a thing. It was an off year overall. The harvest numbers were down. Outside of the Opener, we hardly made contact with birds. The Opener, however, was incredible. I’ve never had more close encounters with gobblers … More . . .
It’s Over
Now that it is over, I can crawl back out from under my rock, make my confession to the world and crawl back in. KY Spring Gobbler Season is over. I’m wet and spent. The shamanic dream team has decamped. Yes, I’ve gone a whole season without filling tags before. Yes, I have had rough seasons before. By summer, I’m sure I’ll have a better perspective on it. Right now, I feel unusually dark. You have already read about our Opening Day fiasco– 7 shootable birds in 2 hours and nothing to show for it. Well, after that, the birds … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp — Wow! What a Ride!
Angus and I could have filled all our tags if things had just been a wee bit different. We went out to the Honey Hole this morning for Opening Day of KY Spring Gobbler Season. We had a half-dozen gobblers sounding off first thing. A little past sunrise, the sandwich truck must have showed up, because every turkey on the ridge suddenly clammed up and went down to get a cup of coffee and a honey bun off the roach coach. A little later we saw hens coming way– swear I saw a styrofoam cup under one wing and some … More . . .
Angus’ Yute Hunt
Well, we’re back in. Angus is doing a load of dishes before we pull out of camp. Yute season was a bust. We spent two days waiting for something to happen. About all we had to show for it was a single gobble about 200 yards away. Saturday, there was gobbling, but it was well off the property and it died out shortly after sunrise. On Sunday, we were greeted by remarkably high morning temperature (usually a sure ticket to early season gobbles), but things were deader than we had seen it in quite a while. My theory is … More . . .
PODCAST: The Honey Hole
They say there is no such thing as a honey hole in turkey hunting. Well, I have a honey hole. Angus and I were out scouting it in preparation for the beginning of Yute Season next weekend. I will let you be the judge. PODCAST: Angus and Dad at the Honey Hole PT 1 PODCAST: Angus and Dad at the Honey Hole PT 2 NOTE: You may find that the links load slowly. If so, try right-clicking on them and downloading them to your system before playing This post has already been read 2224 times!Views: 1 Related posts: Congrats shaman…you … More . . .
PODCAST: Locator Calls up on Gobbler’s Knob
It was cold and snowy on Sunday– didn’t know if I would be able to make it back to town, so I stayed back and finished off a podcast from my last trip down to turkey camp. This one was neat, because it had a whole bunch of things other than gobblers in it. There were hens, crows, owls, and even a hawk. I collected all this in the half-hour either side of sunrise last weekend in a trip up to Gobbler’s Knob. I was sitting in my favorite spot, about 20 yards behind the Jagendehutte, up on top of … More . . .
Strategies for Turkeys on a Small Plot
My strategy for hunting turkeys is different than most professional turkey hunters. It is different than most guys who travel to hunt turkeys in far-off destinations. It is different than a guy who hunts public land. My situation has determined a lot of my strategy. Back in 2001, I acquired 200 acres of prime turkey land in Bracken County, Kentucky. It has about 40 acres of pasture and the rest is second-growth Oak Hickory savannah and red cedar thicket. My land is on a long ridge that falls off into the Licking River flowage. I limit myself to just those … More . . .
When to Call (And When Not to)
When to Call . . .and When Not to I have previously given y’all my basic strategy for calling. It is actually a bit more complicated. For starters, I have mostly given up on locator calling. I hunt in an area that has surrounding farms and a lot are still actively engaged in farming. If I am patient, the gobblers will sound off at a lot of things. Cows, dogs barking, my favorite for years was a donkey that would bray clear over on the next ridge every morning. If I wait, usually the gobblers give themselves away. I am … More . . .
The Turkey Rules are Out!
Kentucky has published the rules for Spring Turkey and Squirrel Season, 2013.. Everyone ought to download a copy and read it thoroughly. This post has already been read 901 times!Views: 2 Related posts: The Role of Personal Ethics in Hunting Know Thy Game, Know Thyself Personal Ethics in Turkey Hunting Angus’ Last Yute Hunt From the KDFWR: Outstanding outlook for the hunt Spring Turkey Rules are Out! Ambushers and Old Schoolers Turkey Season Transitions
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