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I know some people in this country forget what this weekend represents. It means a lot to my family and was made sure I new what it was for growing up and my kids know as well. My father lost one of his brothers in Vietnam when my dad was only 10. So every year we lay a wreath at his grave stone in our little way to thank him. I have a long list of military members in my family and am truly honored to say they are family. Remember those that have lost their lives for us to have the freedoms we have. Take the time to thank service members current and former when you still have a chance to thank them. Today we will be having a going away party for one of my closet friends. He will be deploying to Afghanistan for a year. He heads out for training tomorrow morning at 2am for a month before he goes over. THANK YOU FOR YOUR SACRIFICE

This one's ready to go to his permanent home with the resident trailcam expert!

As I mentioned, the story. So yesterday morning I had no gobbles off the roost and started to make a trip around to the south trying to elicit a gobble. I came to one of my trail cams that had a card that hadn't been looked at in a couple months. I pulled the card and then made a couple yelps, getting a good gobble maybe 150 yards away but across a very steep and deep gully. I had to at least try and get him to come across as you just never know.........the thing is, if I'd have tried the crow call first like I usually do in a situation where setup could be tough, I'd have got that gobble and went way the heck up and around to get on his side of the gully but no, that didn't happen. So after about 20-25 minutes I could tell he wasn't coming. Then I hoofed it up and around to his ridge and all was quiet there! Hmm, maybe he went up that ridge, crossed a pasture and was headed up to a known strutting area?? OK now I had to head back to the north and sneak up the outside edge of the little pine brush lot and get to the top edge and THEN, find an open area to make a call. After another 20 minute sneak, I was where I wanted to be and scoped out a likely tree. I stood there, made my fairly quiet yelps and damn, GOBBLE GOBBLE right to the south of me, CLOSE. I quickly saw the tree I liked sucked and had to find another yesterday. I sat down and within just a few minutes here comes to adult Tom turkey. They were close, inside 40 yards. As they came closer I tried to look for my opportunity to raise the gun and suddenly the 2nd bird putts twice. The first one is closer now, like 30 yards close. He turns to retreat with his buddy and has to go behind a good sized white pine; now or never! I pull up and the second bird putts some more, the first one steps out from behind the pine and............ He was a good bird; 19lbs, 9.5" beard and 1" and 7/8" spurs (measured at home) The picture above I took when I got back to my truck with my camera, not phone. Nicer color with that camera.... I mentioned in another thread here that I saw a bear track in the mud yesterday, the first I've ever seen.

Need a box call? PM me your address.......I have one for you. Might have a slate too?

Sorry if the dynamite deployed with the NWTF shirt on but this $hits about to get real for my daughter tomorrow and every day leading up til June 1. Gobbler going to get a headache with tss 6’s. Better her than me. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He hit the ground in front of me and bang . He was mine

Grilled pizza night at the Plav house!

Caribou Skirt steak with a Red Chile Tomatillo drizzle

I had (3) days to use up by the end of June, so I cashed in 1/2 of one today. I stopped at Rineharts and picked up 200 pounds of triple 15 starter fertilizer (that is enough for 4 acres of corn at the rate I use it). The cost of that was $ 9.40 per 50 lb bag. I also picked up 2.5 gallons of Crop-Smart (41 % gly), which was $ 14 per gallon, and about a pound of sweetcorn seed while I was there. I have lots of leftover field corn seed ready to go, since last year was too wet to get any planted. I got home in time to get about 2 acres plowed for the corn, on my driest ground. I hope to get that spot planted by June 1st. The other wetter spot (about an acre), I hope to get in by the end of June. I will save 50 pounds of fertilizer for tunips planted in late July. The current plots will be mostly field corn, and each will get about 1/2 pound of sweetcorn planted along the edge mostly for raccoon eradication purposes. I am looking forward to trapping as many of those as possible this summer, starting when the corn starts making tassles, hopefully by early August. The sweetcorn will draw them from miles around. We might get a few meals out of it ourselves, if it don't cross-polinate with the field corn too bad and if the coons don't take it all out before I get them. Our town is being ravaged by rabies right now. The best way to fight that is to get rid of the coons. Since fur prices tanked, no one traps them anymore, resulting in an out of control population and rabies. I did not plant any corn or trap any coons last year and the neighborhood pet-owners are paying the price for that right now. Two years ago, the coyotes would dig up the coon carcasses within a night or two of my burrying them (the DEC recommends that landowners bury or burn "damaging" coons prior to the opening of regular trapping season in mid-October). There don't seem to be any coyotes left around, based on the numbers of red fox that I am seeing (I ran over a young one on the way to work this morning). Nonetheless, I am not taking any chances with the coon carcasses this year, so I have a fine burning barrel all ready for the carcasses. There is so much fat on them in August that I imagine they will light up like roman candles after a little squirt of lighter fluid: I hope all the corn that should be left standing, after the coon eradication, will result in a few deer hanging around here after the first shot is fired on opening day of gun season this fall. Last fall, with no corn around, they all bugged out at that time and I had a hard time even finding a track back there in the snow after December 1. That was why I did not use up more vacation days then. I will save them last 2-1/2 days until after bass season opens up on the third Saturday in June (I got to fill that freezer one way or the other).

Hello fellow hunters. I thought I would share a few pictures of my shoulder mounts. All of these deer were killed on properties less than 30 acres in 8f.

I’ll just need his SS# for verification and we can put this matter to bed Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I did a little fact checking today on Bill. Many questioned his 120 turkeys. To be clear, I did not. But wanted to see what I could dig up: He once said he took 37 jakes, but that was before he shot the NJ one this year so that means he's at 38. He also said previously that he killed 33 hens in his career. Then he had said he killed 49 Long beards and that his next would be 50. So 38, 33, 49 = 120. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Good day on the water. Fishing buddy Corey @FISHDO did the heavy lifting today he was killing it. Biggest eye and the most perch for sure. I got 3 shorts had to throw back. Walleyes were tough but got some and a perch pile.

Double congrats and big virtual HUG for Cynthia !! AND I hereby nominate Blackbeltbill as official forum HERO of the YEAR !!…...

Haters hate...players play and Billy slays Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Cool story that DID NOT need the pic for support! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bill you need to get the guys from Hunting the Public up to NY and show them how it's done! Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

Well we built the garden today, hopefully planting tomorrow if I can find some time amongst 300 other projects, pretty excited!

Were camping at the land finally and im looking forward to staring at it while drinking my face off!!

Ronald Reagan was the last presidential candidate that I REALLY wanted to vote for..Since then it has always been a case of voting for the lesser of two evils....

Get em Jay. Hope your standing on a neck tomorrow! Then family hero pics

Lobster ravioli Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Everything is doing well , I have a feeling the 2 BlackBerry bushes will produce this year. Strawberries are flowering nicely and the raspberries are looking amazing already .

Weight 18.2 pounds . beard is 8 inches long. Spurs are just shy of an inch. (Smaller then the first ones ). Now I got to buy another mount will look nice one wall one on each side of the tv.

He really should write a book.............

I went to the in laws for dinner tonight with the wife and son .

Is that one of your daughters? I gotta know before I comment on what I would do masked or not. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Bacon/swiss/raw onion/tomato/sweet baby ray bbq sauce burger, and fries

Freight Yard Brewing Grandmas PJs NEIPA Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Going out again in the morning. Gonna try and get in on that big spooky SoB before first light, he roosted within 100 yards last 3 times I've been out. If I don't get him I'll go up to the food plot and wait it out til 8. Oh that reminds me I gotta get those pics off cam.

send it

Went with a meat lover’s pizza tonight. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

For the first time since this started I was told that I needed to put a mask on. I went in a liquor store a couple towns over on my way home and when I walked in the owner told me I needed to have a mask on. I said no problem, told him to have a good weekend and walked out. I have absolutely zero problems with an owner of a store requiring a mask. It’s their business and their choice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Just so happens I live in clyde and have an apple farm.

And now available for other protégés!

Congrats Cynthia! I’ve said it before, Bill is the Turkey Master! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Got 2.5 acre of field corn in yesterday right before this rain. Still have acre of soybean to do. Perhaps later this week.

Yup tagged out first year and I owe it all to bill the turkey master

It is real easy to grow stuff with minimal fertilizer on the dark bottomland soil at our place on the NW corner of WMU 9F. I can get well over 100 bu/acre corn with just 50 lbs/acre of starter fertilizer, and no later urea application, simply by planting it on a 3-4 year clover / 1 year corn rotation. The only trouble I have here is that some years (like last), it takes a long time for the ground to dry out enough in the spring to get my plantings in. My folks place, on the SE corner of the same WMU, is above the Onondaga escarpment, a bit rocky, but much better drained and takes more nitrogen to get good corn yields. There is enough cover over there, and surrounding cornfields that I no longer bother with that, or any spring plowing. That was always easy over there (except for the occasional rocks). The only thing I plant there is an occasional early fall "refresh" of wheat/soybean/white clover mix. White clover does about 90 % of the "deer-attraction" work for me over there. I had to do considerable work on that old tractor over the winter (new distributor and battery) but it really does a good job on the plow when the soil conditions are just right like they were yesterday. Some years, it is too wet to use it, and I need to go with my newer 4wd John Deere. That one will pull that little 2 x 12" plow thru standing water in the wet spots (it is kind of cool watching the wakes roll off of the plow shares). The 4wd lacks "draft-control" however, so it is tougher to maintain uniform plow depth with it, than with that old Ford. The Ford still has the original (1951) calcium-filled rear rims on it, but one is starting to look like it is getting ready to blow out from corrosion. When and if I need to replace those, I probably will not re-load them, or do any more plowing with it. It will still be good on my 2-row corn planter and cultivator, and better for hauling firewood around on the 3-point carryall, without loaded rear tires.

Breakfast waiting for rain to let up. Cracked pepper and jalepeno sausage, cheesy grits and eggs over. And Bionic potato, egg, grits topper.

I better get to sleep lolol bill will be waiting lololol night all happy turkey hunting .

Kids in bed, out on the back deck beer. No gobbles. 100+ acres behind me getting pretty wildlife free since I moved in 1.5 yrs ago and place is no longer foreclosure and growing wild. Thinking about heading to the farm in morning to see if any turkeys are left. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

Like most everything ... it depends. But for the most part, what they’re eating dictates how and where in the water column a trout eats. Stimulators are like that girl in the bar sitting alone with a little too much makeup on and in a slightly too tight dress making eye contact with every guy who walks by. Hard to resist if you’re “hungry.”

Did wings on the grill to go along with some Blazed pizza my wife picked up on way home from work. Pizza was actually pretty good for a chain place. Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

What a great session beer Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not a single gobble today, but i am set up for tomorrow morning in a new spot. I found my first morel of the season and checked in on my wood duck box. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk