Pygmy

I'm no spring chicken, but I am also no mechanic...But it looks like a foot operated high beam switch to me...Never saw one out of a vehicle before...

Jackie Chan's left testicle ?....

In my experience, wild brookies will take nearly any fly, even if you don't present it perfectly, as long as they don't SEE you.... As an example, while on a bowhunt for elk in Colorado, I caught a bunch of brookies from a small mountain stream, mostly by dragging a dry fly across the surface...No self respecting brown would hit such a presentation, but the brookies loved it.. An old friend of mine, long gone now, always said that when he was fishing brookies he always preferred a fly with a bit of RED on it...

It is a common northern water snake...Not venomous, but quite aggressive/defensive and will strike readily if you corner it or get too close.. The trilliums are beautiful..They are official flower of the Province of Ontario.. When I was up there gobbler hunting I saw some areas that were carpeted with them for acres and acres...TRILLIONS of trilliums.. Very nice pictures !

If everything goes well, you should have a new family in about 28 days...Once she hatches them, they'll be gone quickly..They don't hang around the nest area long, once the peeps are hatched...Generally they will all hatch within a 24 hour period...

Me too.....Not sure how I avoided it this time, but I just got bludgeoned by his wings..

I wish I had you with me, Bill, to grab that bird by the neck...You probably could have held on to him..I have bruises on my left arm the size of baseballs...

Great birds, great story,great pictures....Congrats to you both !

I wish I had it on film...

Here is a summary of my two Canadian gobblers... Day two....I had my blind set in a very open patch of mature hardwoods, which is fairly tough to find in the area that I hunt due to the predominace of thick cedar and ash cover, interspersed with large pastures..I knew from previous experience that this woodlot was a favored roosting and strutting zone on this property...Due to the fact that birds might be roosting literally within gun range of the blind, is was necessary for me to approach the blind as quietly as possible, in full darkness...I plan not to use a decoy...The woods were VERY open, but I have had limited success using decoys in the woods.. I was settled in the blind at 4:30 AM....At 4:45 AM, a gobbler sound off in front of the blind, no more than 75 yards away...Then another gobbled BEHIND the blind, at about the same distance..I was bracketed between two gobblers, a good position to be in...After those two birds had gobbled back and forth for a few minutes, a pack of coyotes lit up about 200 yards away, howling, barking and yipping...Suddenly the woods was FULL of gobbles, all around me...There were seven gobblers gobbling on all sides of me..I was effectively surrounded...Hehehe... After a few minutes, the gobbling slacked off, with the bird directly in front of me and the one directly behind me doing most of the gobbling... When flydown came, the bird in front of me started moving away, toward some fields that were a couple hundred yards away..The one behind me flew down, and that bird started moving directly toward my blind...The bird appeared in sight, but he was just out of range and it appeared he was heading past me toward the other turkeys..I did some soft clucking and purring, and he stopped strutted and gobbled for about ten minutes, but refused to come within range. He finally turned and walked toward the other turkeys .. Things settled down and throughout the morning things settled ,down and I called on and off and received an occasional answer, but nothing seemed hot...Then about 11:00 AM, a bird out in front of the blind gobbled at about 100 yards away.. I called softly and we he gobbled a few more times, but seemed to be moving off...Meanwhile I heard a few soft hen yelps behind me, but heard no gobbling from that direction... At NOON, I heard a hen PUTT behind me, and I looked out the back of the blind to see a hen running away.... A full minute later, crow cawed right overhead, and a gobbler gobbled DIRECTLY behind my blind..I looked out the back to see a gobbler in half strut, walking directly in the direction the hen had gone, at a pretty fair pace.. I got the gun out the window and shot him as he came out from behind a tree about 30 yards away..He dropped like a rock.. I approached the bird and he was sort of squatting, bleeding profusely from his mouth..I figured he was dying, and just watched for a couple of minutes expecting him to start flopping any minute..After a couple of minutes, he seemed to become more alert and started looking around...I decided I should wring his neck to finish him, and reached down and grabbed him by the neck. ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE..!!>> The bird started flopping and pummeling me with his wings, knocking my half off and rotating me in a complete 360... He broke loose and started flopping down through the woods..I At this point I knew it was no time for a finesse shot, or he might get away...AT about 25 yards I centered him in the scope and plastered his rear end...He rolled and stopped, but his head popped up again, so I sent my last shot downrange...This time I walked over and stood on his neck until he stopped flopping..I was shaking like a leaf by that time..I am getting too old for full contact turkey hunting....21 pounds, 9 1/2 inch beard and inch spurs.. Gobbler #2....The next morning I was back in the blind before daylight again and a gobbler started gobbling in front the blind...I could swear he was in the same tree where he had been the last 3 mornings...Another bird cut in on him now and then, so I knew there was more than one.. Flydown came and the birds did some gobbling and I did some calling, but they did not seem hot and gradually gobbled less and less.. About an hour later I got a response about 100 yards out, and eventually I could see a gobbler strutting through little gaps in the trees... Eventually, two gobblers and two hens worked into sight..One gobbler was glued to the hens, but the other one decided to come over strut for ME, and I wait until he stretched his neck and dropped him at about 40 yards..Good thing I had my shooting sticks, because I had my gun up a LONG time , and never could have made the shot without the rest.. When I shot, one hen too off, but the other hen and the gobbler ran over to the one I had shot, checking out the action as he flopped..The second gobbler was HUGE...Easily a 23 or 24 pound bird...I had to get out of my blind and shoo him away, telling him to come back next year.. Despite being the subordinate gobbler, he was a true trophy..21 pounds TWIN 9 1/2 beards and spurs of 1" and 1 1/8"... I would like to know the weight and spur length of that BIGGER one...Perhaps next year....

I have never been able to clean one in much less than half an hour ...Three of us did 18 one morning and it was quite a chore.. Funny thing happened while we were doing it though...We were about halfway finished and a car pulled into the drive... Jehovah's Witnesses... A young boy got out of the car in his Sunday best carrying his armload of WATCHTOWERS....I walked out to meet him, blood from head to toe and holding a bloody knife in my hand.. He took one look at me, turned kind of pale, and said " Maybe this isn't a good time"...And promptly retreated back to the car..

The leaf looks like a locust ...Check out black locust and honey locust...I can never keep them straight, but one has thorns on the branches and the other one doesn't.

I bagged several before I got the nerve to eat one....They didn't pass the sniff test...

Don't blame the turkeys, Bill...I wouldn't want to live in Jersey either...Hehehe...

I wish I had one yesterday when I shot the double beard and his big buddy came running over to see what all the commotion was about !

Thanks, Jay...Now and then even a blind hog finds an acorn...This is only the second timed since I have been hunting Canada ( about 20 years) that I have tagged out there and in NY the same year.. Now I gotta go home and cut grass...<<sigh>>...

Bingo !! Tagged out on Canuck gobbler #2 this morning....Vital stats, 21 pounds, TWIN 9 1/2 inch beards and spurs 1" and 1 1/8 "... He was with two hens and a BIGGER ( body size) gobbler..The dominant bird stayed glued to the hens, but this guy came in to check me out...After I shot him, the big bird and one of the hens came over to check him out as he was flopping,..They stood forty yards from me ..That gobbler has HUGE..Big body, big head..Beard looked average, but it may have just looked that way because his body was so big..

Bingo !! Canuck gobbler #1 at high noon today..Vital stats...21 lb, 9 1/2" beard and sharp inch spurs..Solid 3 year old bird... Pretty good story, too but that will have to wait until I am posting from home.. Teaser..At 5:00 AM I had seven gobblers gobbling around me. all within 200 yards, but I had to wait until noon to get a shot....

Nothing crappy about that pattern, Jerry...Good luck in the morning. I heard my first gobble this morning at 4:50 AM and the bird flew down at 5:20...You should have time to get it done...<<grin>>….

had some action this morning, but no SEEGAR....They are gobbling pretty good, hope it continues..Weather looks good for tomorrow...

I made it up here in good time today and got my blind set up for tomorrow morning....It is raining now but the weather is supposed to be decent the next few days.... Having a few frosties and a couple of Crowns ( $21 bucks for 1.14 liters)….I'll be checking in tomorrow after hunting...

Where did you get the picture of my ex-wife ??? Hehehe...

I should have invited Bionic to go up with me... He might be able to lend me a hand...

DAMN you guys !! Now I'm HUNGRY !!….

LOOOOVE the P-Meal bacon !! Can't get that stuff down here.....