wooly

Threw a cam over a decoy I had left out a few days and nights and put another cam over an area I found some heavy scratching above my neighbors pond. Was hoping to hear some gobbles, see some strutting, or watch them beat the deke but didn't get any of that. Just happy to see some birds around and have a few cams that shoot good video. Hoping to capture a kill on them Monday!

Construction site gobbler....? Sounds like a good place to set up the compressor and nail gun with a belt full of 16 copper coated pennies!

Man, I hope some of these kids stick around the site after this! They write better stories than some of our senior members,lol Congrats on all your birds so far!

Thanks again everybody! Grampy- I decided to take your suggestion to carve some crosses and deer tracks on antler burrs as well. I still don't have the tips quite small enough for the fine detail stuff I'd like to get into, but I get plenty of practice with some basic designs until I can fine tune everything.

Nick Wallenda ain't got nothing on that guy! My coons are more like lovers than daredevils!

I did the same thing to my chocolate Easter bunny. His headless carcass is still in the fridge.

Yeah, that was a deadhead find from about 3 or 4 years ago that I had mounted to a plaque. One of the best deadheads I've found here, so I knew I'd take my time on it so it would turn out alright. Definitely helped keep me focused when I tend to get sloppy.

That tree's got more lead in it than Curmudgeons eagles,lol My ol' man was shooting that tree before I was strong enough to lift a gun. Probably close to 40 years since it took it's first slug and she's still alive and kickin'! It's carved. Here it is after the first carve. Then I burn it with the torch and carve out (blend) what I don't want colored.

Finished up my first buck skull carve today. This guy's been in need of a makeover for a looooong time. I was getting pretty bored with him. Now I like him again.

I haven't tried that yet, but they are on the long list with just about anything else you can dream up,lol Anything but paint.... well, with the exception of when I really want WHITE!

Thanks guys! This burning actually looks really cool on skulls too! I still got a few deer to clean up and burn now. I hit that old cow skull with the torch the other day and sprayed on a coat of poly. Gonna try a cut-through spider web design on my coyote skull next, but I'll probably just use conventional stain on that one so I don't burn through the thin bone web!

The most important step to ANY wild turkey recipe is to generously "pepper" the head and neck regardless of how you'll prepare the rest of the bird. My mouth's watering already!

Messing around making some bone trinkets this weekend. Finally got around to adding some color by staining a few with fire and ebony wood stain. Some work still in progress on a few of them. The two dark feathers were my first two attempts at them. Those two were stained with instant coffee. Feathers and points were cut from cow scapula and the heart and crosses from antler.

I've only seen one here my entire life about 2 or 3 years ago. He hung around my neighbors pond for a few days in a row before he disappeared. I only managed to get a few grainy shots of him just before dark, but nothing good enough for me to save for the albums. A few days after he vanished from the pond I saw him a few miles down the road on a telephone pole again just before dark down near the park. We've had quite a few new species of critters appearing around here the past couple of years.

Happy B-day Burt! Got you a life size poster to hang on the ceiling above your bed!

Sweet dude! I was out yesterday laying on the flooded pond shore in wet goose crap trying to accomplish this same thing,lol

Not great..., but not TOO bad. Started to get a little too deep and lost the top section when I hit some pourous bone. Wanted to do some more with the turkey but got skeered when I held it up to the light and saw it getting thin there too. Stained it with some strong instant coffee and a few drops of food coloring on the leaves. Now I know what I can do with this particular bone for next time.

I can't say whether or not the tubing itself will disrupt things any, but the age of the forest may be a bigger factor, as well as additional human intrusion. I hike a lot of ground with MILES of tubing taps each winter and spring. While these areas can and do show good deer sign once in a while, it's nothing in comparison to the areas surrounding them. Most of these properties are heavily cut up with year round access roads for set up, (tractors, ATV's, UTV's, sleds) collection, and maintenance.... and are void of much undergrowth (browse and cover) and other undesirable species of trees (also browse and cover) that have been selectively removed. The really big operations in mature timber have a significantly less deer traffic as a result of the selective removal and lack of sunlight through the dense maple canopy to generate new growth. Not good for deer IMO, but I've never hunted one of these areas in the fall to see the true effects. If it were my 25 HUNTING acres, I'd leave it alone and go with Aunt Jemima on my flapjacks!

Set up a trail camera at the panel to see if you got a ghost F'n with ya!

Nooooooooooooooooo problem! Glad we had this little breakthrough. While you're at it, you should probably also bow out of the deep wilderness survival posts..., coyote threads..., and the entire political section as well. You can still let us know what you had for dinner as long as you don't give an opinion on how it taste.

Who's crying over deer they killed? Maybe when you kill that first deer and it just so happens to be a mature 10pt buck, you'll change your tune and never want to kill a 1.5yo basket 6pt. Maybe your first buck WILL be a basket 6pt that does nothing for you, so you'll learn that it's gonna take something a little bigger to make you happy. Point is rob, right now you know nothing about what you like or don't like about killing ANY deer, big or small..... you just wanna kill ONE! So yes, my point was quite relevant. Maybe you're just not cut out to be a deer hunter regardless of how many points they have, or don't have. I don't know how you feel you have a better understanding of deer management than the DEC when you hardly ever see anything. Instead of blaming them for herd mismanagement, maybe it's something YOU'RE doing wrong on your end as a rookie "deer hunter".

Have you ever even killed a deer or two to know what size you prefer to kill? If not, then I can understand how a guy who rarely kills anything would want to be able to kill everything.

So far, maybe 2 hours into drawing and transferring (my weakness), and about 3 hours into cutting the outlines and actual "carving". +1.5 hour round trip to the boneyard too to fill my pack. I probably got another 4-5 hours before I start to think it's time to put it down and call it good enough! For this one I'm planning on cutting out some leafs around the edge to get rid of the old cow bone look, and maybe adding a few in the dead spaces as well. That's "the plan" anyhow. That can all change with one slip of the Dremel,lol

Killer action shot!