Pygmy

Hehehehehe.. That's true. When I hunted caribou near the Arctic Circle in 1994, my Inuit guide showed me a video on his camcorder of his 9 year old son shooting a 10 foot polar bear with a .222.. Dropped him like a rock. My guide, George Konana ,was carrying a .300 Win mag, which he said belonged to his father... I commented that the .300 might be a better polar bear rifle than the .222. George replied " Nope... Ruins too much meat"...End of conversation....<<grin>>...

Thanks for the heads up, Bubba... I need a rainy day project today, so I think I'll inventory my components and then maybe make a run to the gunshop.. I need to get some trigger time on my .280 this summer to prepare for my CO mule deer hunt this fall.

30-06....So boring but so CAPABLE... A bit heavy for the small stuff, and a bit light for the big stuff, but with proper bullets, adequate for everything and perfect for a LOT of things. A fellow named Grancel Fitz took dozens and dozens of species, including the big bears, with the 30-06. Do I hunt with one.. ?? Not very often, my only 30-06 is my M1 Garand... Did I mention that the 30-06 is BORING ??

VERY cool, Wooly... And your picture presentation is excellent as always....Well done !

I have scored a few treasures over the years in my travels. My latest find was a " Union Pint" flask that I found while rabbit hunting last year. For years when I found an interesting treasure I would give it to my Mom and she would clean them up and display them. Mom's been gone a few years now and I don't know what happened to her collection...

Good luck....If you catch them, take 'em to the cleaners !!

Were you wearings shorts ?...<<grin>>......

They work great...I have hunted gobblers in early June a couple of times ( Maine) and the bugs were HORRID there.. A couple of minutes after I fired up the thermocell, they were no longer a problem.

Box turtles are relatively rare here in NY...Are you sure they were not the much more common painted turtles ? Other than snappers and painted turtles the only other species I have seen here on the road in SW NY is a wood turtle, whom I rescued from the road near Bath a couple of years ago...They are not real common here and I had to look him up on Google to ID him. I have seen softshell turtles in Keuka Lake and Honeoye Lake so I suspect they are in all the Fingers Lakes System. If you want to see a softshell, go to the gravel beach at California Ranch on Honeoye Lake in June..Ther are nearly always a few of them up on the beach there. They are quite wary, and will head for the water if you get too close to them, but you can get close enough to get a good look at them. Over the years I have caught and eaten quite a few snapping turtles. They stink when you catch them. I would keep them in an old bathtub or watering trough for a week or so and hose them down every day before butchering them. Took a lot of the stink off them. Then I would skin and disjoint them ( never an easy job) and cook and eat them. They are excellent, if cooked properly. Turtle soup is good but my favorite is roast turtle... The neck is the biggest piece of meat on them and is all white meat. The front legs are the next biggest piece and are part white meat and part dark meat. The hind legs are smallest portions and are all dark meat. What do they taste like...? Turtle.... If I had to define it I would say they are closest to small game like rabbit or squirrel, but they have a distinctive flavor all thier own.. I would say that I have never served roast turtle to anyone who said they did not like it. Those 10-15 pounders are better and more tender than the 25-30 pound jumbos... Besides...A 30 pounder may be 60+ years old, and it bothers me to kill something that may be older than I am...

Just pick 'em up by the tail... Happiness is a healthy snapper..... Good job Wooly....You are my HEEE-RO.....

Wooly...You are a man of many talents and one of them is you are a great "straight man"... I had an encounter with a "giant angry beaver " once myself, down in Tijuana, but it didn't have TEETH, thank goodness.... I can't remember if my SHORTS survived the encounter or not. I think the TEQUILA may have had something to do with it

I have been to Alaska seven times hunting and fishing...I wish I could afford to go every year. I LOVE the place ! Live there ?? You gotta be KIDDING !! Very brief spring, short summer, very brief fall and LOOOOONG dark winter. Fishing is excellent, but GOOD hunting even for most Alaskans is an expensive plane ride away. Anyplace accessible by roads ( even atvs) is either marginal hunting or tags are very difficult to draw. Even Alaskan residents have to wait years to draw a moose tag on the Kenai. WONDERFUL place to go fishing or hunting ( IF you have deep pockets) but I would never want to live there. I think I read someplace that the suicide rate is the highest in the nation.

Your fan is BEE-YOO-TEE-FULL, Wooly.... I'm sure you'll do something creative with it. Now let's get back to your shorts... Do you favor Hanes or Fruit of the Loom ? I think Paula really wants to know.... << s**t eating GRIN>>....

Geeze, Paula... I thought you were talking about THAT button.... Glad to hear it was something concerning the computer...<< sigh of relief>>...

Hehehehehe... This is neither here nor there, but I remember what my Dad paid for for the home that I grew up in here in Steuben County. House, big barn, 3 outbuildings ( plus an outhouse) Ford 8N tractor and all kinds of farming tools on 187 acres of prime hunting land. It cost him $5600 in 1956. The first winter there was no indoor plumbing. We used the outhouse and heated bath water on the combo gas/woodstove. No pond, though....<<smile>>...

Yeah..I agree that being able to call without movement is a definite advantage.. The best woods caller I know uses a box sometimes to locate birds, but switches to a diaphragm to work the bird, He is absolutely the most authentic caller I have ever heard...He doesn't do anything fancy either, just yelps and clucks. He can do it all..He's a former NYS champion caller. He just doesn't feel the need for the fancy stuff. However he sounds more like a turkey than a TURKEY does... He is one of the few people who can fool me in the woods with a diaphragm call, and I have been listening to him call for about 40 years. I have heard a number of guys who fooled me with a box call...Not so many with the pot calls, although I don't deny thier effectiveness.

Fine bird, TF...Comgrats !!

You may have used a mouth call on all of your birds, but that doesn't mean it is necessary to be proficient with a mouth call to kill turkeys. I know a guy who bought a Lynch Foolproof box in the 60s . He has used it exclusively and has killed well over 100 gobblers with it. I also know guys who are deadly with pot type calls and mouth calls. One thing they all have in common is that they have mastered whatever type of call they prefer and can make AUTHENTIC turkey sounds with it.

........ You da MAN, Wooly......<<GRIN>>...... I just wonder why Paula keeps asking about your shorts....?????....

I have no experience with CZ shotguns. However, I own a CZ centerfire rifle and have a couple friends who own them. They are very well made and scary accurate. If the shotguns are similar I would not be afraid to buy one.

This is something that has worked for me in the past on difficult birds.. My partner and I used it just this year in Ontario and it worked in theory EXCEPT the gobbler came past the shooter (me) just a little bit beyond my comfortable shooting range. Another ploy that has worked on birds that would approach a caller and then always hang up 60 or 70 yards out....Put the shooter 50 yards or so ahead of the caller.. I realize that would not work on a bird that will not respond to calling, but it has been the end of a few difficult gobblers over the years.

Hehehehe....I have done that at least three times over the years.... Last time was when an Amish family had built a house right in the woods....

Good luck Wooly... Get in early, get in close, and get Turkenstein set up where he'll see it... Don't even touch your calls... I hope to see the pictures of that bad boy tomorrow with holes in his beak....

OMIGAWD...!!! This could be the beginning of a ZOMBIE TURKEY APOCALYPSE..... And it's all WOOLY'S fault... Just remember, friends and neighbors...Keep shooting them IN THE HEAD !!! I'm gonna go board up my windows.....

Go ahead and oversleep...The birds are gobbling better after 10 AM. Better yet, be in the woods pre-daylight and hunt until noon..That way you'll be there WHENEVER and IF they gobble..<<smile>>..