Turkey Hunting
A Turkey Hunter amid the Nazis
From T&TH Forum: “Calling vs Woodsmanship” Even though I am on the pro-staff here and a few other places, I don’t claim to be an expert turkey hunter. What I claim to be is expert at being a beginning turkey hunter. What I do know is how hunt conservatively and not make beginner mistakes– well, most days. Based on that, I will say that having a few calls under your belt and a lot of common sense will trump fancy calling alone or paired with mediocre woodsmanship. The reason I can give for this is best addressed by analogy. Let … More . . .
Turkey Camp Wrapping it up
Season ended Sunday. After a cursory effort to close up camp, Angus and I cleared out for home. I could get philisophical here. I could try and relate all this to a bigger picture, but I won’t. This season was grueling. It beat us down. We were lucky to get out. We did have casualties. I don’t know what I had that got hold of me back on the Opener. All I know is that I started coughing and didn’t stop for two weeks. I missed the last half of Opening Week, flat on my back in bed. Everybody had … More . . .
Calling to Hens
I guess I’ve strayed pretty far from the subject, but it was a good story, and I hope you get the point. None of this is a for-sure thing. . . You may think you’re sounding like a sexy hen, but to the turkeys you may be coming off like a drunk in the bushes with an ice pick.
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Report from Turkey Camp — Yeah, Right.
It is the second Monday morning of KY’s Spring Gobbler Season, and I am sitting here with that “did-anyone-get-the-license-plate” kind of feeling. For the first time in a week, I have my voice back. Yesterday was the first time that the trip between bed and my chair in the family room didn’t require planning. The doc saw me on Thursday and did not say exactly what it was, but threw me some Zithromax and told me to call if it got worse. I knew it was probably going to be ugly when I drove back from the farm, but I … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp — Sunday
Angus and I went out this morning to hit the Honey Hole again. SuperCore went back to the Jagendehutte. About 0815 a gobbler came up to the blind and due to the steep contours, he was invisible until he got within 10 yards. Angus saw a head pop up out of the grass and then heard wild putting. I was watching the back door of the Honey Hole and had several come fairly close, only to drift off before they could show themselves. SuperCore had a jake come in at one point, but he just could not bring himself to … More . . .
Report from Turkey Camp — The Opener
The past few years, I’ve been reporting from Turkey Camp a day or so ahead of the Opener. I’m out there glassin’ and frettin’ and . . . just can’t stand it, ya’ know? So this year, I’m back in the saddle again– got a new job after 2 seasons on the sidelines. It’s a bit of a crimp to the the turkey hunting, but I am not complaining. So the Opener kind of came on hard and fast. One minute, I was at my desk, being a computer wonk and the next minute I’m fighting rush-hour traffic. KYHillChick and … More . . .
Sorry I Haven’t Written / Last Minute Tips
This is the time of year when I should be posting every day about turkeys. However, I look back and it has been over a week. No, I’m not sick. No, I haven’t lost interest. It’s just. . . . . . I guess you can say it’s all been said. I have a few clothes left to pack. I have the shotguns together, the ammo is already down at camp. I’ll stop at Sam’s Club and buy a bunch of food middle of the week. I have been scratching on a few calls, but mostly I have been just … More . . .
PODCAST: Busy Morning
I’ve been down at Turkey Camp all weekend, and we’ve been up to a lot of things. This morning I got out early and managed to catch a gobbler and hen with my new sound rig. Sit back, plug in your headphones and have a listen. Gobblers and Hens at Broken Corners Here’s my new recording rig. Yes, that’s right. It’s a paint roller handle and an umbrella hat, but it makes a dandy parabolic mike. This post has already been read 8480 times!Views: 0 Related posts: Congrats shaman…you now carry a camo purse. Went scouting and never left the … More . . .
Personal Ethics in Turkey Hunting
It’s funny about turkey hunting. However, when I wrote The Role of Personal Ethics in Hunting , I was wearing my deer hunting hat. Now it is getting on towards turkey season, and I went back and read it again, and I realized there were a lot of things that had reversed themselves in my brain. I do not mean to say what I wrote back in January was wrong. It just does not fit turkey hunting. In turkey hunting, there is a lot of stuff that gets turned on its head. Deer hunting is a pretty wide-open thing. You … More . . .
Return to Turkey Camp
Originally Post #1 , “The Shaman Enters” at The Quaker Boy Forums 1/9/2007 The wind was stiff enough that it blew the door open as soon as it came unlatched. It was snowing lightly, but it wasn’t cold enough to stick. It was cold, it was muddy. It looked like the sky was going to open up. The shaman bolted the door and kicked a clod off his boots and surveyed the inside. In the murk, you could still see an open box of thirty-thirty and a broken grunt call on the dining table. An orange vest hung off the … More . . .
TreeRooster’s Tale– The Annual Safety Post
Originally published 2/18/2010 From TreeRooster at Turkey And Turkey Hunting Forum In the spring of 2005, I had just finished a turkey hunt in Colorado with my friend James a couple days earlier. James headed to Kansas for another hunt and I was on the road to Black Hills of South Dakota. As I drove near a cell phone tower my phone beeped. It was a message from my wife. In an emotional and broken voice she said; “Gary call me, Fred shot James” James was hit with a Remington #5 Hevi-shot from approximately 40yds (shooters estimate). He was just … More . . .
The shaman and the Old Turkey Hunter
I was over early to the old turkey hunter’s shop near Browningsville. It was still February, but almost not. It was past time for breakfast, but still time for a second cup of coffee. This was the perfect time for going visiting in the country. No one felt obliged to offer you a plate of whatever they had anymore, and no one felt bad if you said you were still full from your own. A cup of coffee is always welcome as is the company.
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My First Turkey Hunt
I’ll never forget the elation I felt as I set down a plate of pancakes for a friend on a Sunday morning in January and he told me of a place in Hocking Hills and a buddy of his. Five minutes later my buddy handed the phone to me. I was talking to the guy and he was telling me about his place, a 70 acre orchard. “I can’t wait for you to come.” said Gordon. “Those turkeys come in the Spring and knock down all the blossoms and then the dang deer come by in the Fall and eat … More . . .
Know Thy Game, Know Thyself
Everyone goes at turkey hunting a little different. One guy wants to take a gobbler only if he has called it into him. Another guy only wants to do it with his grand-daddy’s side by side. Another fellow only feels right if he’s spent $500 on ammunition and is wearing the latest camo pattern– vest and boots matching. Another guy only wants to saddle up his bird and ride it back to camp singing “John Brown’s Body.” We all look at this sport differently.
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Turkey Hunting circa 1942
Back when I first started turkey hunting, there was not a whole lot out there written on the subject. As usual, I turned to my trusty Outdoor Life Cyclopedia, published in 1942 for advice. The following is the entry I found. This and a couple of Ben Lee tapes constituted the sources for the bulk of the goo in my head when I first went out hunting in the early 80’s. One of the important takeaways from this tome is that turkeys will always travel to water when they first get going in the morning. Therefore, it is advised to … More . . .
Turkey Hunting Secrets
There are so many new turkey hunters out there this year, I thought I’d share a resource with y’all. I don’t know this guy. I know he’s selling stuff, but who isn’t these days? Here is Roger Raisch’s site. It has a bunch of free content, mostly geared to beginning turkey hunters. TurkeyHuntingSecrets.com He really does a good job of laying it all out. This post has already been read 1181 times!Views: 3 Related posts: Know Thy Game, Know Thyself TreeRooster’s Tale– The Annual Safety Post TreeRooster’s Tale– The Annual Safety Post A Letter from Brian Lovett My First Turkey … More . . .
A Ninety-Niner’s Look at Turkey Hunting
Back last August, I felt compelled to write a Ninety-Niner’s look at Deer Hunting. A Ninety-Niner Speaks Out About Deer Hunting In case you are wondering, a Ninety-Niner is a fellow who goes the full 99 weeks on federally-mandated unemployment compensation and then falls off the back end, still without a job. Back then, at the end of the summer, the term was just coming into usage and I though it interesting that I had become an unwitting and unwilling part of American culture. I was too young to be a Flower Child. I was too old to be a … More . . .
Show a Little Compassion
One of my shaman buddies is all into compassion right now. I was watching his thread over on Facebook, talking about compassion. ” Compassion, compassion, compassion!” It hit me: how does compassion fit in with Turkey Hunting. You have to wonder some days why we go out and hunt turkeys. Our friends are right: it really is cheaper to go to the market. Turkey is about as cheap as it gets. It would seem just a little stupid to go out there and brave the cold and the rain and sleet and later the heat and the mosquitoes when there … More . . .
How to Work a Gobble Call
A quick lesson in how to work a gobble call.
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The Tipping Point
Every year I face a tipping point when all of a sudden I stop thinking seriously about deer hunting and start contemplating turkeys. If you had asked me a year ago where and when I might have that moment of transformation, I would have offhandedly said it would be at my laptop, looking out the dining room window at home on a cold frosty morning in January. That is where it usually happens. Something snaps inside of me and my inner serial killer starts thinking about birds. If you had told me I would be laid up at a Super 8 … More . . .
The Role of Personal Ethics in Hunting
It seems that every time I go and knock Ted Nugent, I get blasted for being un-American, against the sport of hunting, and a general waste of good air. So when I decided to comment on Ted’s latest missive on D&DH Ethics Shmethics, I figured it was time to take a new tack. In order to bang through all the hero worship and blind fawning from his acolytes, I figured it was time to try and put out something positive. Everyone hates complainers that don’t have a solution in mind. I need to pick up the ethical shovel and craft … More . . .
What Makes a Great Turkey Gun?
First off, turkey hunting is by its nature not all that demanding on guns. This is not wingshooting. This is not duck hunting. You make a shot, fill a tag, and that’s it. A cheap gun will do as well as the most expensive. Of all the systems I’ve tried, the pump is probably the best in my mind for weight, ease of operation and overall usability. I hunted with a semi for years. I’ve hunted with a bunch of others. Pumps have their problems, but they seem like the best for the job. Think cheap. A $150 pawn shop … More . . .
SuperCore Tags Out
For a textbook kind of morning, it was a cold one. 35F. It did not seem to bother the gobblers though. We were pretty well bundled up as we checked into the blind overlooking the Mother of All Honey Holes. Yes, we’d been there before. Yes, we had not seen much action out there so far this Spring. However, I figured that one side faced East into a pasture that got a lot of early morning sun. If the gobblers needed a spot to warm themselves, there was not any better to be had on the farm. SuperCore was looking … More . . .
SuperCore Scores in a downpour
When I got up this morning, I was hard at work trying to convince myself it just wasn’t going to happen. The lady on the weather radio told me it was raining, winds gusting to 25 mph, and 52F. That is not my idea of turkey hunting weather. I went out on the porch and got hit with stinging drizzle– not even the dogs wanted to go out. SuperCore was not all that enthusiastic either. After a strong cup of coffee, we decided it couldn’t be all that bad going out to Midway. At least there we would be in … More . . .
The Blind Squirrel Gets Ambushed — A Pre-Season Tale
I got to thinking about things as I was walking out this morning. This is still a week before the Opener here in Kentucky. You’re not allowed to use calls. Of course, you can’t carry a gun either. Still, this is getting to be one of my favorite times of season. It becomes a matter of “by woodsmanship alone” that a hunter gets in close to turkeys. For some of y’all, that might be anathema, but there are a lot of facets to this sport that are not to everyone’s taste. In the pre-season, one of the keys is that … More . . .
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