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 waiting. Thinking about it is becoming painful.

The Opener is Saturday. It will be cool, but not cold. It will be wet later in the day, but we’ll have a dry morning hunt. The outlook for the first week is not the worst I’ve hunted. It won’t be as warm as this week, but it won’t be nasty and cold like so many opening weeks have been.

I wish I had been down at the farm this past weekend, but I talked to O.T. and he said that I had not missed all that much. The gobblers have been filled with a dolorous langour as of late. Yute season was a sincere bust. I’m hoping they get fired up this next week.

Angus will be along too, but sadly Moose is out. He’s a working stiff now and has to work weekends. He also has a girfriend. It’s all starting to change. Angus turns 13 this coming weekend. I’m back at work now; I’ll only be able to spare a week.

This past weekend, I had to stay home to take care of all the other stuff. The truck needed an oil change, Angus needed new glasses. There was a lot of this-and-that, and Saturday night Angus played at the Spring Ceilidh. The only thing Angus gives up bagpiping for is turkey and deer hunting. Angus did a fine job. He’s outgrown the junior bagpiping competitions already. When he goes out this year, he’ll be competing as an adult. Thankfully, the Ceilidh was scheduled in the by week between Yute and Spring Gobbler Season. That saved us a lot of driving coming back in from Turkey Camp, so I am not complaining. By the way, you can listen to what he does here:

Angus the Piper

That was a day shot right there– getting the videos and the pics published. However, I guess I should stop my complaining; at least I did not have to torture myself thinking about turkeys.

So it is coming down to the wire. What last minute tips can I give?

1) Check your shoelaces. There is nothing worse than being out in the boonies and having your shoelaces break. I carry a spare. It doubles as a makeshift turkey tote.

2) Double check the plug on your shotgun. If your shotgun is lacking a plug, take a plastic stick pen, pull out the tip and the ink straw and shove the barrel into the end of the magazine. A Bic stick pen is just the right size for the average 12 GA magazine.

3) If it is going to be cold, buy yourself a Jon-ee Handwarmer. I put mine on the shelf decades ago– they stink to high-heaven from the lighter fluid. Deer can smell them from a mile off. However, turkeys can’t smell. The trick is to stuff it in a breast pocket– I put mine in the front pocket of my bibs– underneath my outer layers. The handwarmer heats up the blood in your chest and that in turn heats your hands and feet. The magic of this solution is that it is lightweight and saves gobs of extra insulation. When it warms up midday, you can snuff out the handwarmer and not have all that extra bulk to carry around.

4) Before you sit down to call, make sure you have a stick handy. I keep a thin long stick in my blind that I use to pull through the leaves to make that turkey-scratchin sound. Scritch (pause) scratch scratch. It’s also great for pokin’ your partner if he falls asleep and starts snorin’

5) Toilet paper in a sandwich bag– nuff said.

6) If the waterproofing in your turkey boots goes, a couple of plastic grocery bags will save the day. On long treks, I carry a change of sock and a couple of bags.

7) I’ve managed to forget nearly everything at one point over the past 30 years. When you’re done packing (or so you think) walk away from it. Take a break and then go back over your stuff with a set of fresh eyes. Trying to find turkey loads at 4 AM on the Opener is not fun.

8) Carry a plastic leaf bag somewhere in your kit. It comes in handy for a lot of things, but in a pinch, you can use it to stave off hypothermia by either crawling into it or using it as a vest.

9) Dang! I got to thinking about the Opener again, and . . . I can’t stand it ! The walls are closing in. I can’t breathe!

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