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Hunter's 1st! 11:05 this morning. Sorry it's sideways.

Was another great year and a happy little cousin on Saturday morning. After calling in and missing a beautiful Tom at 20 steps, he redeemed himself 15 minutes later when i struck up another Tom close by. 9" beard, 1" spurs. We were all done by 7:30. Love this stuff!

we took our 9yo grandson Gavin to camp for the youth hunt that happened on Saturday. Gavin and I left Thursday afternoon so we would be there before dark to do some scouting and then be out Friday morning to scout. The bird I had been watching was mia Thursday evening and again Friday morning but I did find him right back where he had been the last 3 weeks Friday evening just before dark and just before the torrential rain started and put him to bed. It finally quit raining about 11pm and was partly cloudy and full moon when I got up at 3:30, had Gavin and Scott up by 4 and was on the road to the spot by 4:30. I walked across the big field, which was about 400 yards from the truck. we timed our walking with the clouds as they covered the moon. We got to the spot I wanted to set up and got the blind up and a hen decoy set up, again only moving when we had cover of darkness. when it would get bright out we would stop, hunker down to try and keep off the skyline. had everything set up and was situated in the blind well before legal shooting time. He didn't gobble till almost 6 am. and he was in a tree about 100 yards behind us. I let him do his thing and knew he had 2 hens with him. I did a flydown with the wing and then gave him some soft clucks and yelps... The moisture was really killing the sound of my burrville bomber. He finally followed his hens out into the field and would strut up to 60 yards then go back to his hens. we played that game till 6:45 when I went silent on him. shortly after 7am he gobbles along the woods edge. I make a call and he cuts me off and it was game on. He loved what he was hearing so I got him fired up and then fell silent again once he came up the edge of the field committed to finding the sassy hen. we go Gavin all set and finally the bird worked up into the open and with the aid of the caldwell system shooting pod he could stay steady on his target, little did I know what scene was going to transpire was one we had reviewed many times on Friday while scouting. The bird strutted up through the field and it was obvious once he got to a certain point he could see the decoy. at this point it was all up to Gavin and the gobbler, when he extended up to look at the decoy Gavin had the crosshairs centered on the gobblers neck and took the shot. From my results on the pattern board to the results on the live bird that little 20 ga with the federal heavyweight 7's is a deadly combination! For 9 years old he did fantastic by making sure he was steady on the target and squeezed the trigger and not jerk the trigger. it was a pretty happy moment for all.

You're looking at it wrong, buddy. A bad father wouldn't have even been out there with her. A bad father would've been too hung over, or too selfish to share. It's not the bird that makes the youth hunt, it's the time with her Dad. My son and I connected this year & it feels great, but we still talk often about last year & the fun we had even with no kills. Cut yourself a break.

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!

I haven't been on for awhile Things have been so busy at work & at home with personal issues. I was not sure I would even get out to hunt this year but have decided it is the one thing that will help me forget about "life" for a bit so I am at least getting my NH license still not sure I will make the trip out to NY this year. I did a mentoring class with the state of NH & the NWTF in which we have about 30 students I will be taking 3 out for the spring gobbler season. I hope everyone is doing well & hope to be back to huntingNY more regularly soon

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

Here's a few more shots from yesterdays sit in the blind. The last shot is from this morning right off the roost all 3 came in fired up again. Same jakes as yesterday came looking for their foam friend again but didn't stick around as long when he was nowhere to be found.

I guess bad dad didn't come out as intended. Believe me , we made memories to last forever and both enjoyed it very much. I'm so proud of her so good at ballet and wanting to go hunting with me. Just a little disappointed in myself for not sealing the deal. I get the not always shooting part. I passed on a shooter 7 point at point blank of gun opener 20 minutes into season to teach her just that ." It's hunting and not shooting ". She got it. It's a chess match with hopes of checkmate coming at a later date.

That's why it's called hunting and not killing....sometimes I feel like not killing one sets realistic expectations of hunting and makes getting one that much more special.Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

Took my little cousin out Saturday morning for the youth hunt. Right off the bat had a love struck tom in full strut spitting and drumming all the way down to us. I think the nerves got to him a little bit as he let one rip before I could talk him through the shot. The bird was in full strut with his head tucked firmly against his body and you could guess what happened. After a few minutes of learning from the situation, I struck up another bird within 15 minutes of the previous shot against the same exact tree. Getting a little aggressive with the calling and a few double triple gobbles from him we had this bird hook line sinker. We watched this bird strut all the way across the field to 15 yards. Nolan made sure this bird wasn't getting away! He did everything right in my eyes this time and we had a bird down and happy camper. The hunt will go down as one my best turkey hunts to date. Bird had 9" beard and sported 1" spurs. PS. Forgot to add both the miss and the kill are on film!

Congratulations to all the successful and unsuccessful youths some great birds taken and great memories made. .My buddy and i took 2 youths out together Saturday morning and Blaze 13 smoked this jake 5min after it hit the ground from its roost.. We worked several more birds throughout the morning and one nice long beard came into within 35 yards but no shot for my nephew Dillon 13....

Her Saturday

Haley and I got out for a few hours Sunday morning. We had a couple of gobblers going early, they were both pretty far away. Saw a bunch of deer, but that was about it. It was fun just to get in the woods with her. Everytime the turkeys gobbled back at us, or she heard any sound out of the ordinary, her eyes just lit up. I dont think its gonna take much to get her completely hooked. Shes pumped to get back out there this Sunday too. This week Im gonna be doing a little more scouting to see if I cant hone in on where these birds are roosting so we can try to get closer to them.

I'd forget the cams and put a new gun in the cabinet. But, that's just me.

Ha....ask Lawdwaz, its getting me to shut up that's the hard part when Africa is the subject, best to leave that topic alone. As I'm a bit of a species collector, the hunting often involves animals that are lesser known to most, there is a brief hunt report for that portion of my trip here for those inclined to see some additional pics. http://www.africahunting.com/threads/south-africa-kmg-hunting-safaris-april-2016.28549/

I'd contact Phade.

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.

This year I’m going to keep all my cams on the same trees till at lease Labor Day. I’m just going down to pull the cards and change the batteries. So here’s some pic’s from the first pull. The cams have been up since January.

I was driving between Ontario and Syracuse last week and when I was on the beginning part of 370 just after 104 there's some old beaten down houses. Freakin tom roosting on the top of one of the roof peaks!

I like mine to still be on the woman. There...someone was going to say it so it might as well be me and get it over with.

As a Bills fan, I don't like this. We're now in a no-win situation week 4. Either we win and get to hear "good job, you beat our backup," or we lose and "couldn't even beat [their] backup."

Yesterday I mentioned on a thread that a guy in a picture looked familiar. I didn't mention his name out of privacy as he wasn't the one who snapped the shutter. So last night I got a PM from a fellow forum member saying that he recognized the guy also and mentioned his name. I said yup, that's who I thought it was. So I said to him that we probably had some other friends in common. His profile says he is in Niagara County and I know quite a few folks up there, what was his name and where up "there" did he live? I said my name and where I lived......... He replies back that he has moved and lives on the street BEHIND me. I told him to stop by sometime when he saw me out & about. So now I have 2012_taco one street to my west, me in the middle and another member to my east, one street. I'M SURROUNDED!!!!!!!!!!!! One other member on here, "turkeyfeathers" has a connection we discovered a month or so ago via the PM system. Although we aren't close friends I've known his older brother for at least 25 years through a mutual friend. Pretty neat stuff!

Breast em out. Marinate in OJ and Italian dressing, little dry rub, wrap in bacon and throw them on the smoker. Devine ! Dang underscore

You guys set it up and I'll come up! I got the WNY roots too. TF knows my 1-armed long lost cousin! (not joking).

Guys I appreciate all of your posts but can you please only post pics of successful hunts along with pics on this thread?

Our saturday was a little bit of a let down, i didnt get a chnace to roost any birds friday night so we setup on a great roost spot. The weather was quite crappy, Thick fog, rain and some wind.. that didnt clear out til close to noon, and we could only hunt til 9 saturday morning. Well long story short, not one bird flew out nor gobbled anywheres nearby. until about 630am a bird gobbled behind us about 600 yards out in or near the "big" field... We made a move and setup on what was atleast 4 or 5 birds.. sounded like full fans mixed with jakes.. couldnt see with the fog. Well we tried our hardest to work some magic but whether it was us or the weather.. the deal went in the birds favor.. they gobbled to every 2 or 3 of our calls but seemed to have no interest in committing. The boy still had fun watching the squireels and seeing the several dozen deer we encountered. He kept saying i hope we get one, i hope we get one. I told him i hope so too, but just dont get upset if we dont. the day will come that we get you one.. until then were gonna learn these birds, and thats the best part. He smiled and agreed. that ended our Saturday hunt, later that day after my events ended he asked if i could take him out during the regular season so he could sleep in on sunday instead. lol, i said happily that would not be a problem. so Sunday was a sleep in day for myself. was bummed a tad only because the weather was much better, and the action may have been too, but we will chase them again soon.. Congrats to all the kids and mentors that successed, youth seasons are awesome.

No birds on my end but we had a great day. A tom returned a call with a gobble at about 0615. The only bird in the woods on sun morn that we saw. He walked around about 80 yds out and wouldn't come in and give us a shot. He went to the right behind us and we kind of forgot about him as he went totally silent. We sat until about 0710 or so and mine and my buddy's son were getting cold. That being said we decided to get something to eat and i stood up from behind to ground blind to see that big tom about 25 yds behind us. Frozen i let the boys know when they could move as i was watching the bird as i stood against the tree. As they got situated my buddy's son was never presented a good shot with obstructions in the way. The bird just kept coming to the left and presented himself to my boy at about 15 yds. He stopped stretched up his head and upon hearing both myself and my buddy quietly say SHOOT, My son shot high and the tom flew away waving his tail feathers at us. All four of us were disappointed but nonetheless it was great to get returned calls by birds and the memory of that tom walking by at 15 yds will last even though we didn't come home with a turkey. Good luck to everyone else for the rest of turkeys and keep bring kids out hunting with you.

Around where I live if you pull a tick off its straight to the Dr's for a test and drugs . If you wait to see a bullseye its way to late , my DR. Wouldn't let me wait over night to come in.

This is only part of the food we will be eating next weekend. This pic is from 4 years ago when my wife and I hosted Greek Easter. Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

Nice day out Biz. Nice fish! Dude, your dad looks a little like Dee Snider from the metal band Twisted Sister.

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

How does she expect to see anything ?

...got pulled from the back of the safe. Heavy. Only really use it to clear woodchucks from hay fields during the warmer months. Hope to have enough time this summer to tally up 100 for the year. Problem is I'm down to my last box of BlackHills 60gr Vmax. Tried some AE FMJ just to practice and box test with but holy hell the stuff isn't a good combo. 6" groups at 200 yrds! Compared to the routine 3/4" groups at 200 yrds I get with the BlackHills. I'll be ammo hunting or getting into reloading quick. Not good.

Phade , trail camera pro offers a 2 year warranty , have you dealt with them before? Roto , now thats a sweet buck..... I almost got the 2 , 2015 versions for $209.00 but opted for the 2016 version .

I had the same feeling when I blamed myself for my son not getting a shot at a nice buck a few years ago....came in too fast and got too close, I rushed him and the buck caught our movement....beat myself up for awhile after that.....I honestly think I felt worse then he did, but like the others have already said, you did good no matter what the outcome was.

Thank You it wouldn't bother me if I never shot another I get just excited when someone with me can get one especially someone new to the game I have more fun just doing the calling

If youre making a trip we'll work around your schedule. And you left out that the one armed cousin is a golfer, which adds to his legend!

Ramps are up. I'll pick some this weekend. Looked for morels quick at one of my spots and didn't see any. Next few weeks should be good.

Winchester 1892 in 44-40

I should really use the camera I got. pretty decent one that sits there collecting dust well the bag anyway. wooly one things I always think about it the shutter noise. how close where they and do you think they minded at all? awesome pictures.... even the best photographers out there take a ton and have to sort through them. seems instead of the gun in the back seat they've got a camera and tripod. never know when you will see something. wife and I were heading to breakfast around 8:00AM and had a long beard with limb hangers walk right by us several yards from the car bumper. we just sat there and watched. would've been a perfect photo op. wasn't on a property I knew of, so no APB went out to any youth hunters. (must be late and i'm tired. some mistakes needed correcting above.)

Yes. The first season of Alone a dude tapped out after a few hours too. If I remember he was just an average dude, and got scared of being alone. The dude that tapped out this season got scared of bear scat. He had a great location too, water and flat land for shelter. That show really does test the fortitude of your mental capacity in very extreme circumstance. But, unlike the other shows, Alone offer a huge prize. $500,000 for the one stays the longest. Last years winner lasted 56 days to get the prize.

Great pictures...they may be jakes but hey look like BIG healthy birds. Great Shots!

Nice place Burt! Good looking mounts! Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Tab S2

The pictures and your description of them are simply awesome. Not sure if I'll make it to Africa myself. But I could settle for a campfire, a good beverage and listening to your stories and experiences. Thanks for sharing.

Did you want to say all of that?

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.

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.

Really hate to follow Sam ...... Went to a friends land in Macedon . I don't know the land well , only hop in one of his stands a couple times a year. Walked it to learn the land better and shoot my new Glock. Found the shed 50 minutes in to the walk and the small head a few minutes after. Number 7 shed for me in maybe 12 to 15 hours of walking around blindly. I just can't grid search to boring for me I just hike trails and such looking for good spots to hang stands .