alloutdoors

Yes, wood burned and relief carved all around the art.

Forecast isn't looking good for tomorrow, anyone buying tickets is going to have a pretty good chance if turnout is low.

Just got this one finished up. It's being donated to the student chapter of the Wildlife Society at my former college to be raffled off as part of fund raising efforts to support club activities. Primarily the money goes to helping offset the cost of sending students to the annual national meeting of the Wildlife Society where they enter a team in the student quiz bowl each year. The meeting is also a great opportunity for students to meet and network with current wildlife professionals and managers. The call will be raffled at the clubs annual Wildlife Festival this Saturday, but there is a chance of rain which may hurt the turnout. I thought I would post this here in case anyone is interested in getting in on the raffle for this call. I believe they are selling tickets for $1 each or 6 for $5. If you are interested send me a PM and I can arrange to get some tickets entered on your behalf. If you live near Cobleskill, NY the festival is held in the park in the center of town from 10am-2pm. There's a kids fishing derby, lots of live wildlife on display, wildlife shows, vendors, sportsmans groups, etc. If you are close by come check it out. They put on a pretty good show and it's free to the public. The call features a turkey feather on one side, tracks on the other, and a white oak branch wrapped around the middle section with a deer antler lip stop. Thanks for looking.

I'm in.

Personally I don't use a special head for turkeys. I shoot Grizz Tricks just like I do for deer. The sweet spot is pretty much at the height of the beard and directly over the legs. Head on or straightaway shots are the best in my opinion because you have a good chance for a spine hit.

They will work. They won't be as effective as something like a DSD or Avian, but they will still bring in some birds.

Hammering. I was there Friday and Saturday too and they gobbled a few times from the roost and went silent when they hit the ground. With the warmer weather today they were going nuts.

Snuck out this morning to do some scouting/photography. Got in close to a huge winter flock but they went the other way onto posted property when they hit the ground. Eventually a few hens drifted back my way and past my blind. They brought their boyfriend, but he wasn't quite as cooperative about having his picture taken. Peek-a-Boo

Our season can't come fast enough. Which is why on 4/12 I'll have my back against a tree in SC with 5 tags in my pocket.

It depends on what time you need to be back in Clifton Park, you could check out Capitol District or Partridge Run WMA's but they are both close to an hour drive.

I recommend checking a local gun store for the shotgun purchase. If you are getting a 20ga that you will turkey hunt with and would like a load that will out perform a lot of 12ga setups, get a 562-5 choke from Sumtoy Customs (http://www.sumtoycustoms.com/) and pick up some 3" Federal Heavyweight #7's. Otherwise get some lead turkey loads in 5's or 6's and you should be able to find a choke that will give you a killing pattern to around 35 yards or so. Whatever you get, spend some time patterning it at the range. As for stores: http://www.midwayusa.com/ http://www.cabelas.com/ http://www.natchezss.com/ http://www.wingsupply.com/ http://www.midwestturkeycall.com/ https://www.rogerssportinggoods.com/ http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/ http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/Main.aspx?

Shooting at turkeys past 40 yards with lead has nothing to do with being an "expert" hunter, being an expert doesn't change the laws of physics. The Winchester ad with the Doofies boasting about a 66 yard shot makes no mention of which Longbeard loading they were using. The shells come in 6 flavors, 4, 5, and 6 shot, in either 3" or 3 1/2". Size 6 lead runs out of gas pretty quick after 40 yards and you can forget about making a clean 66 yard kill with it. Size 5 fairs a little better but it's going to take a lucky shot. The 4's will do it energy wise, but good luck getting a reliable pattern. The 66 yard shot was almost certainly with 3 1/2" 4's, and it was a lucky shot no matter what anyone says. That's if it even happened, wouldn't be the first time the truth got stretched to push a product. Winchester has developed arguably the greatest lead turkey load of all time, and paired it with one of the most deplorable advertising campaigns ever seen. Guys that buy into the advertising, especially the ones who have never even bothered to pattern a turkey gun in their life, are going to wound a lot of birds with these by trying to be turkey snipers instead of turkey hunters. They are an amazing shell though for people who recognize their limitations. That brings up another point, expert turkey hunters call their birds in close for a clean kill. They don't take pot shots at turkeys from the next county over, and they are willing to acknowledge the days when the bird has won the game and will walk away with a smile on their face just the same.

Based on the results of many, many people Longbeards are probably the best lead shell ever developed. I've got a couple boxes of 3" 5's I plan to use in my backup gun this year. Once it warms up a bit and the wind stops blowing 20mph for a few minutes I'll get out and pattern them myself, but from what I've seen I'm confident it will be the best lead patterns I've ever had. That said, lead is lead. Keep your shots to 40 yards and you will have dead birds. Don't listen to the Doofy brothers and their 60+ yard nonsense.

Been working on this one for a couple days now. First try at something other than thread wrapping on a wingbone. Lip stop is from deer antler.

Thanks, I've done pretty well with them.

I really like the FF3. I've used a bead, fiber optics, a scope, and a scope style red dot in the past. In my opinion the reflex style sight is the way to go. It's rugged, waterproof, has a battery life something like 10,000+ hours, and weighs less than an ounce. Pretty hard to beat.

Just stick to pots, boxes, diaphragms, etc. No need for gimmicky calls like the Flextone stuff. Hard to beat a Harrison Hoot'n Stick for an owl call.

There isn't much point in scouting right now. The birds are bunched up in winter flocks right now and will disperse before the season. I do some scouting in April, but mostly it's to look for a new property or two to try and get permission on. I try to add at least one new one each year. One thing I will do is drive around and watch birds from a distance on the properties I can hunt. I like to look for gobblers that have attracted a large harem of hens, even better if there are a few satellite gobblers that the boss is clearly dominant over. If I see one strutter with three or more other toms that won't dare to strut in his presence I get pretty excited because I know it's a dominant bird and that's the one I want to hunt.

Last year I started applying for an Osceola quota hunt in FL and VT moose.

Terry I like that! I've got a 6 beard mount that is made from the paddle of a box call that I want to do the same thing with, just need to get some spent hulls.

I made a few that way probably 10 years ago or so. A lot of guys wanting to make their own calls start out that way. Once you make a few it will most likely go one of two ways, either you will satisfy your urge and get bored with it, or you will get bored with it and want to jump into true call making with both feet. After I made a few I didn't do any more calls for quite a few years, when I got the urge again I started to make wingbone calls to do something truly custom. One of these days I'll pick up a lathe to be able to do some other call types. This is a good source for pot call blanks and materials: http://www.customsawing.com/ These are some of the ones I put together from kits: A couple of the ones I do now:

You wouldn't know it by the amount of snow in my yard, but turkey season will be here soon. Let's see your gobbler mounts from past hunts. Think spring! I took this bird in GA last spring. 20lbs, beards were 11 1/8", 9 1/2", 8 1/2", spurs were 1 1/8" and 1". Inside, with one I did myself several years ago. This one I took in NY with my bow last year, if the GA bird wasn't already at the taxidermist this one would have been. 24lbs, 10 5/16" beard, 1 7/16" spur on one side and the other busted off at 1". The fan measures 30" side to side.

I have an excellent condition 20" fully rifled 12ga 870 Express Mag barrel (3" chamber) that I would like to trade with someone for a 12ga 870 smooth bore Rem Choke barrel 21" or less. Specifically thinking of the 21" vent rib with bead sight, or the 20" smooth bore with rifle sights (if it's the version threaded for chokes), there may be others I'm not aware of so let me know what you have. The barrel I have is off an 870 express slug gun that I would have purchased around '95 or '96, it hasn't had more than about 30 rounds through it. I haven't even carried it since 4G went to rifle. I would also sell the barrel for $150 if it's a local sale, $170 to ship. I'll provide my eBay info to anyone concerned with my low post count here.

I've got about 1200 acres across 5 properties to turkey hunt on where I did just that. A couple of those properties get hit hard by other guys, others I've almost never seen anyone else on. I try to add one or two properties in the general area each year. If you are only looking for turkey hunting access (or really anything other than deer), and you make that clear, I've generally had pretty good luck. I spend a lot of time looking at tax maps and scouting from the road before I knock on any doors also. I like to focus on active farms that are a couple hundred acres or more in size. Farmers are generally pretty willing to let turkey hunters on their land, at least in the area I hunt. Anyway, you won't know until you ask. The worst that can happen is they say no.

WNY I see that your Browning changed camo at some point, did you have it dipped or are you using the Mossy Oak Gun Skins? I really like it in the Bottomland.