Mr VJP

I never realized a Jake was a bird only 1 year old or less. I've always called any young bird a Jake. Unless it was a big bird that had a long beard and a drawn out deep gobble, to me it was a Jake. Even at my age you can learn something new once in awhile.

LOL! I guess so. I've only taken 10 so far. Most have been 20 lbs or more with at least 1 inch spurs and beards 10 inch or longer. Never planned it that way, just sort of happened. I thought that was average.

Yes, it did have a full fan. You're probably right about it being a two year old bird. It seems small to me though, as it's the lightest one, with the shortest spurs and beard I ever shot. But it was a fun hunt.

I believe this is the same bird I've tried to call from his roost since the opener. This morning the ground was wet and it was cloudy. I didn't know where he was roosted, but I suspected he was in the same area of my woods he had been lately. After working my way uphill I started setting up next to a big tree by moving leaves out of the way and froze when I heard a gobble really close. I thought it was in a tree I passed on my way uphill but wasn't sure. He gobbled again and ruffled his feathers. I looked around and spotted him. He was just ahead high up in a tall oak about 20 yards away. I was so close I feared he'd see me if it got lighter or if I moved at all. One branch on his tree was between his head and me, blocking his view of me on the ground. I never even got my call out or had a chance to use it. He gobbled a lot for at least 15 minutes. There wasn't another turkey anywhere around as I didn't hear any other birds close by. At 6 AM it was still pretty dark with the cloud cover as he fluttered down to my left 40 yards out and turned towards me. When he got within 30 yards, my 30 year old camo Mossberg 835 in 3.5 inch 12 gauge sent a 2 1/4 oz load of Federal copper plated #5's at his head. He went down like a candle flame blows out. He never even twitched once down. He's only a Jake, probably in his 2nd year, weighing 17 pounds with 3/4 inch spurs but the beard is 9 inches long. Not bad for a Jake. Not the biggest bird I've taken, but I'll never forget this one.

Fun With Numbers When we start tossing around big numbers, it's tough to put them into a perspective that translates to a relevant number to individuals. When you're bringing home $25,000 a year, a million dollars sounds almost too-large to imagine. So imagining a billion dollars (that's a thousand millions of dollars) is pretty much out of the realm of relevance. Last week, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service announced it was going to distribute $1.1 billion dollars (that's $1,100,000,000) in revenues generated by the hunting and angling industries to state and territorial wildlife services across the nation. That probably elicited a resounding shrug from most of us. So, we wanted to put a little bit of perspective on that number. The best way to do that is to breakdown the massive number into smaller, more easily understood numbers. So…..here are the way funds are being distributed by state by thevoluntary taxes paid on hunting and fishing gear by outdoorsmen. Sorry animal rightists, but you didn't didn't raise this money. STATE/TERRITORY ALABAMA $25,562,321 ALASKA $51,951,630 AMERICAN SAMOA $2,502,516 ARIZONA $27,219,443 ARKANSAS $19,403,525 CALIFORNIA $44,134,573 COLORADO $28,516,034 CONNECTICUT $9,242,606 DELAWARE $8,232,316 DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA $1,155,056 FLORIDA $25,607,039 GEORGIA $25,236,594 GUAM $2,502,516 HAWAII $8,232,316 IDAHO $21,670,126 ILLINOIS $23,783,360 INDIANA $18,386,530 IOWA $16,502,569 KANSAS $19,984,814 KENTUCKY $19,623,501 LOUISIANA $22,570,941 MAINE $11,872,265 MARYLAND $11,140,015 MASSACHUSETTS $11,131,347 MICHIGAN $37,569,842 MINNESOTA $37,850,616 MISSISSIPPI $15,109,447 MISSOURI $29,783,609 MONTANA $29,781,997 N. MARIANA ISLANDS $2,502,516 NEBRASKA $17,608,725 NEVADA $19,340,531 NEW HAMPSHIRE $8,232,316 NEW JERSEY $11,131,347 NEW MEXICO $22,125,164 NEW YORK $28,927,341 NORTH CAROLINA $31,320,942 NORTH DAKOTA $16,004,762 OHIO $24,084,830 OKLAHOMA $25,729,133 OREGON $26,047,277 PENNSYLVANIA $37,974,470 PUERTO RICO $7,024,381 RHODE ISLAND $8,232,316 SOUTH CAROLINA $15,674,905 SOUTH DAKOTA $19,016,379 TENNESSEE $31,366,355 TEXAS $54,850,661 UTAH $20,944,045 VERMONT $8,232,316 VIRGIN ISLANDS $2,502,516 VIRGINIA $19,431,901 WASHINGTON $22,215,325 WEST VIRGINIA $12,088,070 WISCONSIN $36,479,149 WYOMING $19,662,264 The Outdoor Wire

Congrats! Nice bird. But the blind one wasn't a squirrel, it was that Tom!

The lack of support for police by elected officials is going to end badly. Already many cops have adopted the "retired on duty" attitude that is inevitable. Why should they bother enforcing any laws when they are hated for doing so? Why is it we are expected to believe cops are all evil, when we are being asked to believe none of the rioters and looters are bad people? Individual responsibility is being murdered here!

Had a Tom on the roost today at dawn. He flew down and headed my way about 100 yards out. Suddenly two deer ran from the area he was in and he stopped answering my calls. Next thing I saw was a coyote running from the area. I didn't see a turkey in his mouth and didn't find any feathers on the ground, so I guess my success was the only casualty of that episode.

It means he's read plenty of stories about people having their gun rights violated for non-violent offenses regarding gun laws. You do know your guns can be taken for violating gun laws that have nothing to do with violence, right?

Well, today things were a little better. I heard a Jake on the roost before sun up. I was able to get within 100 yards of him on the roost as he gobbled. I was west of him and a little downhill, but he flew down towards the east and then walked north as he gobbled. He was alone too. I think he may have heard me in the dark. There were no hens with him at all though. Later on, about 9AM, I heard two other birds below me, but they didn't respond to my calls as I was uphill from them. I heard two separate shots today. I believe at least two birds were taken today by the sounds of it. One was probably the one I saw on the roost at dawn, as the shot came from the direction he walked off. At least the weather was nice. Tomorrow's another day.

I saw today Rush has spoken out on this issue. Love him or hate him, he's 100% correct on this issue and all the BS surrounding it. http://newsbusters.org/blogs/jack-coleman/2015/04/28/limbaugh-baltimore-burns-because-political-climate-change-destroying?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=marketing&utm_term=facebook&utm_content=facebook&utm_campaign=limbaugh-baltimore

He never said that at all. He was referring to others who have been victims of over zealous gun control and confiscation. I'm not surprised you didn't see that. When it comes to 2nd Amendment violations, you don't seem to see any.

LOL! I thought the same thing. Guess he was just more interested in getting a good video. Some folks don't know when they are in trouble.

This is from Virginia.

If a person happens to point out that Baltimore’s criminally inept government has been run exclusively by Democrats since 1967 (with one Republican mayor since 1947) and features not a single city councilor who isn’t a liberal, he may be called a lazy apparatchik. Because not everything, you see, is reducible to mere party politics. Now, if an economic renaissance sparked by the progressive policies of Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had lifted Baltimore from poverty, I imagine Democrats would be eager to claim credit for the accomplishment. Entire political debates are predicated on the effectiveness of partisan ideas. We blame presidents for recessions they probably have little to do with, yet according to liberal pundits, the party overseeing a city riddled with poverty, failing schools, high crime rates and racial tension bears no responsibility for what’s happening. The president disagrees. Sort of. After a night of violence and looting in Baltimore, Barack Obama spoke to the press and said that “we, as a country, have to do some soul-searching” — by which he meant “they,” as in conservatives, need to get on board. Obama said that solutions to mend Baltimore’s suffering are sitting right there in Washington — unpassed because of ideologically inflexible Republicans. “And there’s a bunch of my agenda that would make a difference right now,” Obama claimed before going on: “Now, I’m under no illusion that out of this Congress we’re going to get massive investments in urban communities, and so we’ll try to find areas where we can make a difference, around school reform and around job training and around some investments in infrastructure in these communities and trying to attract new businesses in.” What piece of legislation have Republicans obstructed that would have helped keep families together in Baltimore — right now? Which proposal would have created jobs to turn the city around? What law has Obama lobbied for that would have made Baltimore’s police department — which has been answering to one party for decades — more compassionate or effective? Is there a criminal-justice reform effort that Obama’s been spearheading all these years that we’ve all forgotten about? Yes, the war on drugs is a disaster. But Democrats are complicit in that war, too. And Democrats are also in charge of a city school system that has huge failure rates, despite the fact that Baltimore’s school district also has consistently ranked in the top five among the nation’s 100 largest school districts in spending per pupil. Like most big city districts, there is no accountability. It’s Democrats who consistently sink conservative education reform ideas (ones that in many cities are popular among African-American parents) for their union patrons. For that matter, when did the president ever offer comprehensive legislation that would have brought “massive investments” to inner cities or reformed how government functions in urban communities? Was it when Democrats controlled both houses of Congress and the White House? Or was it after? As Obama noted, the citizens of Baltimore (and all of us) have an alternative. They can care more, just as he does. “But that kind of political mobilization, I think, we haven’t seen in quite some time,” he explained. Rather than resort to counterproductive violence — the kind of violence numerous leftist pundits were justifying — Baltimore can vote for candidates who reflect and act on their concerns, candidates who will demand the police be accountable to civilian oversight. There are African-Americans in elected office and power positions throughout the city, so surely, there is no active racist faction undermining the ability of blacks to participate in democracy. Right now, they need better Democrats in Baltimore. Where does the blame for the civil unrest lie? In plenty of places. Some of those places have absolutely nothing to do with politics and can’t be fixed by any Washington agenda — imagined or otherwise. The tribulations plaguing cities such as Baltimore are complex, having festered for years. But does that excuse the bungling of Democratic Party governance? Does it change the fact that massive amounts of spending have done little in the war on poverty? And if Democrats claim that they are uniquely sympathetic toward the poor and weak, that welfare programs can never be reformed, only expanded, and that perpetually pumping “investments” into cities is the only way to alleviate the hardship faced by citizens, it’s more than fair to gauge the effectiveness — not to mention the competence — of those allocating and overseeing those policies. Because Republicans may be horrible, but they aren’t running Baltimore. Patriot Post

Vince1, how did you get a copy of the investigations findings? Even the State Attorney isn't saying what the investigation found. Could you post it here for all of us to see?

It's gotten to the point in NY State where your guns will all be taken if you ever need to shoot someone in self defense, even if they break into your home with a gun after midnight. There needs to be due process and proper legal procedure followed in all cases involving a firearm. You are innocent until PROVEN guilty in a court of law! Your 2nd Amendment rights are INHERENT RIGHTS, they are not a privilege granted to you by the state! But in NY, the state laughs at your belief you have such a right. I believe this is because most NY State gun owners have allowed the state too much infringement without any complaint. Some NY gun owners actually think their gun ownership is a privilege granted by the state, so what can you expect.

Use to see whole flocks of turkey during the first week of turkey season. Hunted from dawn till noon today. Did not see ANY turkey. Did not even hear ANY turkey. Did not even hear ANY gun shots! I think the turkey numbers are down a bit lately.

And after they destroy these places, they tell them it's the other party's fault, stir them up and encourage lawlessness. Anyone else see how this might keep their voting base loyal?

Some good questions here. Columnist Burt Prelutsky: "If the cops are as racist as the idiots in the streets keep claiming, why is it we never see Asians or black immigrants from the Caribbean rioting and complaining about police brutality? With all the people of color residing in America, why is it always and only native-born blacks who take to the streets complaining of mistreatment? Could it possibly have anything to do with the violent crime rate and the lack of parental discipline found in their community that leads to so many unpleasant interactions between the police and young black thugs? Furthermore, if things are as oppressive as they claim, why do we never see a mass migration to Canada or Mexico? The only blacks we ever see leaving the U.S. are those like convicted cop killer Joanne Chesimard, who leave, seeking asylum in Cuba."

Only 16% of Baltimore students are proficient in reading. Only 13% are proficient in grade-level math. These shocking statistics reveal a root cause of the terrible economic and social climate in cities like Baltimore. We are told that Baltimore is a symptom of oppression. But there is something much larger going on than issues regarding the policing in black communities. Crime and poverty rates are astronomical. What liberals don’t want you to consider is that Baltimore (like many failed US cities) is run by Democrats in a manner wholly decided by Democrats. While federal standards may have an adverse effect on the nation’s education system, numbers this low demonstrate a profound failure of local leadership. $1,441,019,000 – nearly one and half billion dollars, that’s what Baltimore City Public Schools received in revenue during the 2010-2011 school year. 19% of which comes from federal taxpayers, with another 19% coming from the state of Maryland. The schools spent that and about $10 million more. Despite adequate funding, the students in Baltimore suffer. They are stuck in a system where one-size-fits-all, and where teacher unions demand job security and costly pensions for bad teachers. Money is dumped into inner city schools with no results in student performance. Charter, magnet, and private schools offer different approaches and academic cultures, but laws designed to protect public schools and teachers unions block access to these paths for many students. Competition and diversity in learning are condemned as liberals continue to prescribe more of the same. If anything, they claim they need more federal money. But it has already been proven that more money will not benefit the students. We see a lot of conjecture about what causes the kind of inner city poverty which creates conditions fertile for riots. But not many want to talk about these troubling statistics surrounding the Baltimore’s failing school system. Perhaps because that would require the people of that city to take responsibility for themselves, rather than portraying themselves as victims of institutional oppression.

I wonder if the man intentionally ran the dog over with his car and killed it, would he lose his driving privileges for life? If not, this is an example of tyranny against gun ownership.

And that is exactly why disarming law abiding citizens will only increase crime. When criminals know their prey is not armed, it emboldens them. England and Australia have proven that beyond doubt.