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My 2023 turkey tour started April 12th when we rolled into nebraska for a few days scouting prior to heading up to south dakota to start actually hunting. Way too much to tell the whole story of each hunt, I started actual hunting on 4/15/23 in south dakota had idle/travel days on 4/19, 4/21 4/24 4/16/23 south dakota merriams 4/20/23 nebraska merriams 4/23/23 wyoming merriams 4/25/23 kansas rio Arrived back at pa camp today to get in a couple scouting days or maybe go to west Virginia, I wanted to hit missouri on the way back but Judy had enough traveling. Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

Thanks Dan. Still running the bomber, would rather leave my shells home than that call. Dan, I felt it was our duty to show our support, and as I said before you need anything we are just a phone call away buddy. Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

What was found about hatchery raised birds be they Turkeys, Pheasants, Quail etc. that they missed learning from experienced wild mother hens basic critical survival skills. Finding food and avoiding and evading predatory birds and varmints is learned from mother hens, without that training they are easy pickings and do not last long in the wild. The catch and release program worked great, the wild birds propagated and the population basically exploded. Some of the very first wild caught birds were released just a couple of miles away from where I live and I got to see their numbers take off first hand. There was no hunting season for a few years and another big factor was a huge booming fur market especially for the demand of nest raiding type varmints like Coons, Fox, Possums and Skunks, their pelts were all worth big time money and trapping and hunting was going strong. Then add in the Raccoon rabies which affects all the above animals, as someone that hunted those animals I can say their populations went way down which in turn was favorable for the Turkeys, it was the perfect storm. Al

Not sure how clean this will turn out !

A Better One !

Below is a text I received from the dec earlier in the week. The wild turkeys have been in decline for the last 8 to 10 years, across a lot of states and across multiple species meaning easterns, rios, merriams, and Osceola. There have been many ideas talked about as far as cause. Certainly bird flu is a factor, predation is a factor, habitat is factor, changes in pesticide in farming seeds. What is being discusses now is that inbreeding could be causing a weekend genetic line in the turkeys thus causing them to be more susceptible to disease. As is well known when we did alot of trap and transfer back in the 70s and 80s the numbers exploded and it was a huge success. But turkeys don't migrate 100s of miles to disperse so the belief is that the blood lines over a 20,30 year period are too close. They want the upper leg section, so cut the spur off like normal where tou cut the leg off just above the spur and then send in that part which would be between the knee joint and just above the spur. They want the bone marrow to do the DNA analysis. As far as trying to farm raise birds like the ringnecks,, that was tried in the past and was a complete failure both survival and financially. Here is the text message I just got off the phone with Dr. Mike Schummer and it sounds like this research may aid in sorting out the wild turkey population decline. He indicated that he doesn't need the spur, just a section of scaly leg above or below the spur (the foot, for example). Put it in a ziplock bag, write the county and town of harvest on the bag with a sharpie and store it in your freezer. You can coordinate with him directly for more details and where to send samples. Anything you guys can do to get the word out would be greatly appreciated! Sent from my SM-S536DL using Tapatalk

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/wolverine-fights-gray-wolves/?utm_term=FAS - 042623&utm_campaign=Field %26 Stream_Newsletter&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email

My nephew Chris guide his nephew to this monster on Saturday during the Long Island youth season. Used the 410 with #9 TSS

Day 2 of youth season. We decided to move back into the woods to see if we can get close enough to them. Heard some light gobbling just after first light again, same as yesterday. We shall see. Also, it looks like Evan takes after his sister in the sleeping in the woods category.

Not the same though , I have targets in my yard and I know the distance from every weed on that bright , Level ground , with zero branches in the way . I stump shoot on the way out in the morning , all at ranges I have to guess at ,in an actual woods , uphill ,down , between branches and so on . ruined an arrow yesterday, lose a few too each year . Train like you fight and all that