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Thought I'd give a little recap of yesterday's hunt... Ethan and I got got to our ambush spot around 5:10 after a nightmarish half mile walk through a soggy plowed cornfield. I popped a groundblind up and we waited to hear our first gobble. From the trailcam pics and several years of hunting this spot (we've killed 3 opening morning youth birds here by 6:30 three years running), I knew the two longbeards that we were after should be roosting close. I was just hoping that they would be talkative in the crappy weather. About 5:45 I hit the crowcall and nothing. A few minutes later I scratched out a few soft yelps and...GOBBBLEEEE...GOBBBLEEEE...there they were only 75 yds above us!!! Over the next 35-40 minutes they gobbled ridiculously at everything. We sat there impatiently waiting for flydown...finally around 6:25 they hit the ground. I thought it would be another done deal in a minute or two. WRONG!!! They stayed strutting and gobbling about 80 yds above us around a bend in the logging road for the next half hour but won't come down to meet us. After not hearing a gobble for 20 minutes or so, I snuck out of the blind and walked up the trail calling, but was greeted with silence. I had a feeling they had hens the entire time. The back of the farm is always good too so we left our blind/dekes and went to doing a little running and gunning. Finally, we got to where I thought we should get into some action and BINGO...a gobble rips on the hillside below us only 75-80 yds away. We quickly set up and I went to work on the Halloran slate and one gobbler turned into three!!! A few minutes into my calling, a hen starts yelping below...I call to her and her she comes up the hill looking for the new hen. She went past us calling the whole time and I thought the boys would be right behind her. Wrong again...she went on up the woods and they stayed put. I tried everything that I could thing off to get them to advance...soft calling, loud calling, fighting purrs and even gobbled at them. They would answer everything but weren't budging. With a squirmy 13 year old sitting next to me, I knew that playing the silent game and trying to wait them out was not an option. I decided to back up the train a ways and descend down the hill to their level and try a new set up. Once we were got down to the bottom I called and they responded from the same spot. We quickly closed the distance and setup again. The next gobble was closer and I knew they were coming. Soon, we heard something walking just over the hill and a longbeard pops up at 45 yds and just stands there surveying the area. I was worried that we would be busted. Soon, another longbeard showed up behind him and they both proceeded to work around below us. As they went behind some trees I got Ethan moved around and situated to shoot. The original bird slowly closed the distance to 35 yds and then started to turn around. It was pushing the range of his Mossy 500 20 gauge but it now or never....I gave him the go ahead. He shoots and the gobbler soaks up a load of 3" Mag Blends but doesn't go down...after a follow up shot the young hunter had his first ever turkey: a nice 20 lb two year old with a 9.5" beard. To say he was excited was an understatement. What a great start to the season!!! His pants right after shooting his bird... After a LONG walk back to the truck...(I forgot to stock my vest with ziploc gallon bags...lol) Come on sunday!!!

Thought this might be interesting to some;going through some pics from a recent vacation/hunting trip. Was fortunate enough to get a look into the life of a female Leopard and her 2 cubs this past week during a visit to the Sabi Sands game reserve in South Africa. Sabi is a associated private park ( termed "APNR" land)attached to Kruger National Park designed to expand the park and give the animals free movement. These private areas effectively double the park boundaries, but being private allow for off track use of vehicles to spot big 5 game in the bush. There are several lodges to stay at both in Kruger and on APNR land..... This is this females second litter; she successfully raised two female cubs on her first litter ,very unusual for a young cat. These two male cubs are roughly 6 mos old and they lost a female sibling a short time ago, most likely to a Hyena. Being able to track the cats off road has the private rangers able to keep good tabs in her home range without the use of radio collars (collars are now hacked by poachers and extra precautions are taken on voice radio chatter not to pin point Rhino and other animals prized by illegal smugglers) We came to the scene with cub 1 in the a tree gnawing on the leg of a Impala kill taken a full night prior, 24-30 hrs maybe..... Mom was patiently calling to her second cub somewhere hidden in the thick bush; Cub 2 pops up in the thick; After sometime the second cub got a warm greeting from mom who was always glancing back to keep an eye on the first cub; Roughly 1/2 hr later it was cub 2's turn to feed, so mom called cub 1 down and he waited by the base of the tree; The female then escorted cub 2 up and returned to take a nap when we left them alone; The beginnings of a top predator in Africa; This was my 4th trip to Africa; I have baited Leopards for other hunters and seen countless feeding signs, kills, pugs marks, and trail cam pics.....never in my life would I have told you it was possible to see 4 different Leopard relaxed in daylight over several days, best i have done is a tail or a glimpse in poor light. To see a set of cubs was an unreal thrill.

And the day is done.... Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

With the camera of course,lol I made some adjustments to my blind set up last night to put me in a better position for some better pics this morning. The first gobble rattled off at 6:19am before a few hens showed up a little while later. Eventually, these three jakes made their way in front of the blind and spotted my "fake jake". I couldn't get out of the blind until 12:09 when they FINALLY made it to the far corner of the field and into the timber! No longbeards today, but no shortage of fun and excitement behind the camera either!

How does she expect to see anything ?

Well my nephew and I hunted hard saturday we had a hell of a day in the woods coming close to quite a few gobblers,jakes and countless hens but the closest we got to sealing the deal was 70-80 yards.The last 2 years we have been down to a friends camp for the sunday of youth season that puts on a youth turkey hunt that has been very sucsesssful.We went down and got in camp last night and before dark the group of us went out and roosted some birds for the morning,after that a feast was put on for the kids,dads,uncles,friends and family. While we were eating dinner the typical hunting camp stuff was going on with stories being told.We all meet some new people shared some new techniques and then we all went to bed around 1030-1100 last night......so 4am was a real wakeup call!!!HAHA One by one we all got up and got ready for the day,ate some quick breakfast and rolled out into our discussed group.Myself and my nephew (Reed) went out with another youth hunter (Briana) and a new friend (Mike)who did the calling.He was something else behind those calls and what I learned was a real eye opening this am.We made our way to the area where we had roosted a bird the previous night and when we got to the spot he hammered off the roost like he was reading a script,only problem was the spot he was in he could very easily pitch down into 2 different fields so we chose the filed to the north.We found a spot that was full of briars and nasty stuff to set up on and I set out a strutter decoy,jake and hen.The two kids set up so one would shoot right and the other left.After we settled in he gobbled no less that 50 times from the roost and at around 100 yards away if the kids were half as excited as I was we did our jobs!!He pitched off the roost but in another field behind us,so he would have to cross a small stream and some briars to get into the shooting setup.He worked his way in behind us to about 50 yard and paced back and fourth strutting,gobbling and doing his thing.We aren't sure if the strutter or the creek kept him from coming across but he wasn't having any of it so we let him walk off to the west.Mike said "Lets let him head that way and we will try and cut him off up ahead",as soon as that was said we heard multiple gobbles to the northwest of our setup as 4 jakes came charging in.They ran right in and started throwing a beating on the jake decoy at 15 yards.Mike was with the kids with myself Reed and Briana's dad behind her,as jakes always do they bunched up and we didn't want to have one shoot 2 or 3 at one time so we waited for the best time.After a few second which seamed like minutes they had clear shots and the order was given.With all the excitement both of them missed the first shot!!!!! The second was also a swing and a miss with Reed but dropped the jake on the right with his 3rd shot!!Briana's shotgun had a malfunction with shot #2 that she cleared all by herself racking in the third shell while Reeds jake was flopping on the ground but the other 3 were in high gear going away when one decided he wanted to beat up on his friend.He turned,came back and proceeded to stomp the heck out of the flopping bird and she knocked him off with her 3rd shot.When that happened I'm pretty sure the whole lot of us were louder than the shotguns with screaming,guns were cleared and the pics,hugs and congratgulations began!! This is Briana's dad,Briana,Reed and myself a few more This is Briana,Mike and Reed And the lucky hunters walking back to camp

Got our for 2 hours before golf. Rowed 2.3 miles according to gps. Got 2 Browns and 1 bass. Missed 2 other hits. Mine brown was 20" 4lbs, my Dads was 17" 2.5lbs. Both kept and filleted. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We made a move and spotted toms, then we cut the distance way down and I called 4 long beards in to 10 yards. Of course he had a brush pile in the way when he shot and didn't get a bird. I think he's hooked now at least. Nothing like thundering gobbles at 10 yards.

Spent the early afternoon hiking with a bro. Came home and made some BBQ chicken. Made the potato salad in the AM, added homemade pickles. Chicken looks dark but that's because it was done low and slow with 6 layers of Sweet Baby Rays.

Brown trout for me!

One down this am..

Unless you're in heavy woods, most wildlife shots are done during the day with a bunch of natural light. If you're not getting enough light to speed up your lens, bump up your ISO. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I had a rack of lamb in the Skylon tower to celebrate my sister in laws birthday

Took my buddy's 12 yr old out East on L.I. this morning...had torrential rains and some fog..no gobbling...did some light calling and had a bruiser run in from across the field and beat the heck out of Pretty Boy decoy and then Frankie flattened him at 10 yds with his Mossberg 20ga...all done at 6:20AM...AWESOME hunt and got it all on video. Bird weighed 20.5lbs 1 1/4" spurs 11" beard

Congrats! I had an awesome hunt this morning too. Thought we had the deal closed first thing...moved on to a different group of birds...killed one at 9:30.

Start to finish, went much smoother than I thought and came out better than I thought. I use a hammer and crowbar to get the old crappy boards off while saving the 3 bases which were fine. For $40 instead of $20 total I went with the composite decking stuff. Also, got a cool video of 4 deer who jumped my neighbors fence and were stuck in his backyard for a few minutes. They didn't come into my yard since I was right there videotaping https://vimeo.com/163954762 Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Thanks for checking them out guys! Wildcats- I just use an entry level DSLR. Nikon D-3200 with a slow 55mm-300mm F/ 4.5 - 5.6 Nikon lens. I shoot most all of my critters in aperture priority. When I moved my blind last night, I did so with the rising sun in mind. The first pic I posted here is the money shot I was looking to get, so I was pretty pumped when I got home to see the sunlight glowing through his fan the way I had planned! Sometimes my best hunting set ups are not the best photography set ups, and vice versa. Whenever I have a chance to "scout" an area, I try to pay attention to the little things that will make for the best photo shots as well as the places I can kill an animal when the time finally arrives. I don't hesitate to snap a TON of shots as well and sort through the best of the set when I have time. I took over 300 pics out there today with these guys.... these were just the first ten that I got around to working on.

We need to have that Beer Rendezvous soon. During hockey playoffs

That's dad's job ..lol! Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

My cousin got his first bird ever a Jake at 9:30 this morning! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Steak and sprouts Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just wanted to show one of the prizes that we will be offering. The lamp was made by our very own wooly and he has graciously donated it for the contest. Can't thank you enough wooly for supporting this contest and our youth hunters!!

Just got my 2015 buck back yesterday from fish and wildlife taxidermy in Long Island. What do you guys think of it?personally I think he did a good job, but then again I only have one other mount done by the same guy. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

RIP. May the whang-bar flying 'V' escort you to heaven. You could play, my friend. A little acoustic guitar duet with SRV for your enjoyment: https://search.yahoo.com/yhs/search;_ylt=A0LEViSJ7RtXr2QAuOUnnIlQ;_ylu=X3oDMTEwZHBxMGxyBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNyZWwtYm90?p=lonnie+mack+youtube&ei=UTF-8&hsimp=yhs-001&hspart=mozilla&fr2=rs-bottom%2Cp%3As%2Cv%3Aw%2Cm%3Aat-s&fr=yhs-mozilla-001

Nice deer and great mounts. Nothing beats just getting away for a weekend of relaxation.

They look great congrats to you and you nephew, I love the wood work you have in your trophy room. Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk

Hey folks, Just got in this afternoon. Had a great weekend with my girls. Most important thing was that Twin Kiss ice cream shop was open Saturday night!!!! Love their ice cream. Heard a few Tom's Saturday and Sunday morning. Got some work done and picked up the two mounts we had done at DJ's custom taxidermy in Bath NY. I couldn't be happier with the results. I had the wall pedestal mount done and my nephew had a semi sneak done. Both look amazing. The panoramic picture is in my trophy room with my 4 biggest bucks. He fits right in! Enjoy…… BTW my Nephews buck has a full black chin that we never noticed until DJ pointed it out.

Remember; it's the Indian, not the arrow.

Had a great morning. Got in a d set up by 525 am. As it got light silouettes of bird showed in the trees all around us. (Good to know roost areas) first bird gobbles 50 yards below us at 545 another 10 minutes goes by and tom gobbles again. He flies down at 553am filled by 5 other birds. Just to our left at 50 yards , still birds in the trees.. a couple of soft clicks and he comes up struttibg at 40 yards. One bird is still in front of us at 30 yards roosted,it's a hen that pitches out and lands 10 ft from us..the last bird pitches out and lands behind tom. The whole time the tom stays in strut, a few soft call and leaf scratching and he moves up to 30 yards.. a hen answers 200 yards behind us to out left.. 9 birds on the ground get to bickering jakes gobbling, hens purring and yelping tome keeps strutting back and forth in 10 ft area gobbling when he reaches each end of the line he's strutting.. I keep wondering when the shot will happen ... I can see her gun up and her uncle sitting with her 10 yards in front of me.. at 630 the birds start to move off.. still no shot nor does tom stop answering or drop out of strut,he just moves down the hill to the left with his 8 companions. 715 I call and see a jake peal off and go into strut headed back our way about 80 yards out.. the whole group turn and slowly the tom leads his group back in strut the whole time.. not gobbling but he's not letting the Jake get some where before him.. they dissapear behind a rise 50 yards out..I'm thinking great they will pop back out at 40 and come right in. Then nothing dead scilence, no spitting and drumming, can't hear them scratching leaves or soft calling.. 10 minutes go by.. and then sounds of something walking.... Damn thats a big fisher!!! Birds must of headed down hill to avoid it... We decide to move hoping the birds may of scattered from fisher a little.. down hill 50 yards and 40 yards to our left. Set up again I drop back 25 yards behind the hunter.. l et out a few lost yelps and bird hammers 20 yards in front of hunter just below ridge.. they shift and face the one brush free opening you know it going to pop up in.. a few more yelps bird hammers back again.. the pop up jumps a jake 15 yards to their left ,walking back and forth on a log.. no way to move or shift to get shot.. he gobbles 4 more times jumps off log and drops over ridge in 2 steps. (It's a steep hill) we try 15 more minutes, hunter tells us she's cold so we pack up at 830 and head back for some grub and a quick nap..

I need a camera. This seems like a lot of fun. Thanks for posting.

Sweet.................Perfect placement of the blind! Did you hear any shots this morning?

Now I know this is not a hunting trip, but I did post a video of my recent trip into Lows Lake on Youtube, and thought some folks might like to see it. Just like the last 3 out of 4 years I plan to head back into Lows opening week of deer season, the last week of October barring any drastic weather forecast. I used my same fall outfit, a small wall tent, wood stove, cot, food box (wannigan), I ate good got some quiet paddling in with my wood/canvas canoe, drank alot of coffee cause the beer/booze is a thing of the past for me these days. I had planned to cut and cache some firewood for October this trip, didn't happen, but I found a good source so I'm pretty confident I'll be good this fall.

Original battery I assume? You might want to put a load test on the battery JUST to be sure. They'll EAT batteries when not used.................... Good luck and keep us posted.

Had a great day despite not tipping one over. Hoping for a double on regular opener. On our way out view

Dead silence here, other than the Chicka-Dee that landed on the end of his gun barrel.

after a long show and hens (us) not going to them they got bored , escorting the real hens off and went silent and disappeared. Now we're waiting them out and relying on some of "grampys " luck.

You guy's got the birds there! Now you just need a little luck. BEST OF LUCK TO YA!!!

Nice Pics .... I have a pump like that in my backyard and it works believe it or not !

Careful posting that dove picture a certain someone may try and hijack your thread and preach about how badly they want a dove season. Beautiful pictures by the way, had a great day to get out there and snap some quality pieces Sent from my SM-G935V using Tapatalk

Can't show and tell on LI without someone who will want to hunt that area or possibly poach it! So usually the area we tell you is not exact and kept secret for this reason.

No I got it up in Ulster country with a rifle. I've only hunted LI once and I didn't like it too much. I'll be trying again this year though.

How is the battery? The others could be correct that it is the starter but a battery low on juice could be just barely moving the gear to the engagement point............. I find it extremely hard to believe that starter has gone titsup in three years. Hope not.......

Who's Bob Villa?

His list of female conquest was pretty impressive as well. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our dekes Someone had to borrow my fleece. It was 36 degrees when we left the woods Crossing the Wiscoy as she has ballet

5 deer in field. Fawns are playing.

Have a blast, I'm a few hills SE of you.

Want to avoid all appearances of discrimination? Get ALL the human faces off the money. Use the Bald Eagle, Niagara Falls, Mt. Hood, a Blue Marlin, the Grand Tetons or any other specimen of nature in our land. That would shut the mouth's of all of the PC cry babies.

based on him asking about the Stinger an Elite might not be an option. it's at least x2 the money. they are nice last bow I bought was an Elite. More over I think the stinger being a 32+" axle-to-axle bow might be uncomfortable to a trad shooter. I'd go with a longer one say a Bowmaddess version with 33-34" axle-to-axle. they go down somewhat low for draw length. definitely shop around on say archery talk or ebay and other places to save some money if you're willing. there's been some used shorter draw Elite Energy 35 bows on ebay cheaper and would fit you real nice. ENS cam and you can change modules to get you different draw lengths from 26.5" - 24.5".

Thanks for letting me be part of it Lou. I look forward to this contest every year.., as I'm sure the new hunters do as well!