Gobbler Chaser

Weather not perfect this morning in South Ulster, so I decided to get my Covid antibody test in Newburgh. Not a single bird in the fields, but that's been the norm around here this season. Numbers are definitely down. I saw this with the lack of fall birds during last deer season. As of May 1st I've been out several maybe 8 mornings and have only heard two distant gobbles. I've given up dumb hunting from my blind and pretty much walk the land with ears open. I've been over to nearby state forest and things aren't much different. One thing I did notice on state land yesterday/Sunday morning was there wasn't a single hunter. Well we have a couple of decent days coming up and I'll be out there with ears open. Wish we would finally get some real spring weather. Haven't had to use the mosquito spray yet this season.

I had my first exposurer to Gobbler hunting as a 10yr 14yr old kid with my dad way back in the late 1960s in the northern Windham NY mountains. While working outdoors in the early spring he would announce I'm hearing Gobblers and we're going out in the morning. We would head out in the dark and listen and when he heard a gobbler we'd head towards it and sit by a tree and he would call with a box call, that was it, one old worn box call. He hunted with a Marlin bolt action .22 magnum with a 4 power Redfield scope mounted on it. Not sure if that was even legal back then, but I'm not even sure my dad ever even bought turkey tags or hunted in season either. As far as he was concerned, when the turkeys gobbled the season was on and I remember it being real cold on some of those morning out with him. He took several birds with me in tow and even let me take a couple while he called them in. He'd shoot them right above the back leg and they would drop and flap for a minute and be done. I remember him taking shots at what had to be 80 yds with that Marlin. We didn't wear camo or face covering but he was smart enough to have us wear anything bright either. He had a buddy who used a .222/12 ga Savage break barrel back then. All highly illegal and dangerous today, but that's how things were back then I guess.

I'm at a loss for words

Stepped out at 5 and the wind was blowing pretty good (Ulster). I gave it an hour and it only got worse. Tomorrow has promise according to the weatherman, I Hope. Starting to panic because we're into May pretty good here and it's flying by fast. So I pulled out my Turkey log book and looked back over 15 yrs of my Turkey kills and I have nailed Gobblers right up to May 24th and several mid month, the 16th, 12th.. So despite everything I still have hope..

Better late than never. You get the second round of activity later in the morning some days

It's always a tough walk home after a situation like that

Great story. Very exciting. I haven't been so lucky. But I'm still trying. They're already hened up around here.

Yes I'm hoping to see morels on my turkey hunting hikes. Good luck

Those are NG. I've been able to buy fiddleheads in my local Hannaford every spring. They don't seem to grow here in Ulster County.

Yep they were going off here in southern Ulster Tues afternoon

Mmmmmm Brats

That sucks. "Good Brown Gravy"

Nuts. Turkey hunting as planned!

Maybe I'm wrong for basing this on China's numbers. But we have experts predicting the possibility of deaths in the 100s of thousands or even millions in America. Why would our mortality rates be so much higher?

It appears to have run its course in China with less than 4 K deaths. China a highly populated country with dense population clusters. Most people who die from Flu die from respiratory failure, Pneumonia or flooding the lungs with fluid.

The higher elderly mortality stands true for the Flu with much higher numbers.

The Flu killed somewhere around 60k in the US alone in 2018. We average about 20-30 K deaths a year from Flu. China population 1.3 billion plus with 80k reported cases of Coronavirus and under 4k deaths. The virus has ebbed in China with less than 20 new cases being reported a day now. Now I'm no medical professional but what about these numbers doesn't make sense? In simple terms can someone explain to me why haven't we locked down entire countries and caused panic and chaos over the Flu every single season, especially the really bad Flu seasons like the one we had in 2018. I have to be missing something here?

No snow flake jeans. Only fat guy jeans, lol. Yea I'm actually going to use them for logging out in marsh area on my property (lots of dead Ash)and the briars are freaking nasty. I did see a town worker wearing a pair at the local pizza place today and yes it looks like I should be able to pull my jeans over them. And my bibs should be no problem at all. Thanks for the great replies guys

Sucks.

Hi, New Guy here, Glad to be here.. Just ordered a pair of Mucks with the neoprene tops. Was wondering if blue jeans can be pulled over them to protect the neoprene or are they too fat?