Pygmy

Moog and I were on the phone/email a couple of times during this process.. I told him it was the first time I ever participated in a CONFERENCE CALL regarding shotgun patterning...

In my opinion, the ideal range to shoot a bird is about 30-35 yards...That is close enough for sure kill pattern density with nearly all of the guns that most of us use for turkey hunting, but is far enough to give you enough pattern spread to compensate for minor errors in hold, adrenaline rush, etc... Some guys like them closer, and that's OK....When I hunt, my goal is to KILL THE TURKEY in the most efficient way possible....I can go out in closed season and call them in if I only want to watch them strut and gobble..When a bird gets closer than 20 yards, I start to get REAL nervous..

A very well thought out and thorough post, Apex...I won't repeat some of the excellent advice already given, but will discuss field/blind/decoy hunting...For 30 years I pursued a run and gun hunt, nearly always in the woods, but due to factors involving mostly my age, I have spent most of the last ten years or so hunting from a blind... I have used jake and adult gobbler decoys and still do if I know or suspect that there is an aggressive dominant gobbler around, but day in and day out two quality hen decoys will do the job...My favorite setup is a bobblehead hen feeder ( I think the motion of the head adds realism) and an Avian X breeder..I don't use decoys with erect heads, because I want my decoys to appear as calm and unalarmed as possible.. I generally place them about 20 -25 yards from the blind, perhaps ten feet apart and facing each other..A tom will sometimes stop outside the decoy spread and strut, and having the decoys close increases the odds that he will be within my 40-45 yard maximum range... I am a minimalist regarding calling....I only call loud enough and often enough to let the gobbler know I am there.....Once the gobbler enters the field and spots the decoys, I generally stop calling altogether and let the decoys do their work...Calling at this points only complicates things, and often can cause a tom to hang up and insist that the horny hen comes to HIM.. A bird will often stand and strut at a distance of 75 or 100 yards for what will seem like an eternity, but if you are patient and don't try to force the issue by calling too much or too loud, 9 times out of ten, he'll eventually approach the decoys and give you your shot..If he starts to walk away, you can always resume calling again..You have nothing to lose at that point and you might convince him to come back.. One scenario that happens often in field hunting is that a gobbler will come into the field in the company of hens...No amount of calling is going to convince him to leave those hens and come to you, but often the hens will see your decoys and come over to investigate...In that case I usually do a little soft yelping, clucking and purring to try to interest the hens...Sometimes, a dominant hen will light up with some hard cutting and yelping...THAT is one time that loud calling can be appropriate...If you mimic her and give it right back to her, she'll often get pissed and come over to kick butt, bringing the rest of the group with her.. If this happens, keep in mind that the gobbler will nearly always bring up the rear, and you'll have to be careful of busting one of the hens waiting for him to come into range.. It can be problematic trying to get your gun on a gobbler when there are 3 or 4 hens practically looking in your blind windows, but most of the time, if you are patient, you will get your shot..

There was a small Naval Station at Dresden...They had a barge anchored out in the middle of the lake ( about 600 FOW) to research sonar gear...I don't know if it is still there or not....

Two young fellows decided it would a good idea to canoe across Seneca in a 14 foot canoe... They fished one out clinging to the swamped canoe...Last I heard they were still looking for the other one So now it is considered a search and recovery mission, rather than search and rescue.. Sad for the families... However I can't help but question the wisdom of crossing a killer lake like Seneca at the widest point in a small canoe, in high winds and 40 degree water.. Unfortunately the fellows were 27 years old and bulletproof... I'm sure many of us, myself included, have done our share of dumb, unsafe stuff and were lucky enough to survive it...

I'll just tell them that you're from the TALL side of the family....

Sure...wear your camo knickers and camo beanie with the propeller on it... If the fish cops stop us, I'll tell them that that you are my 13 year old nephew, Wentworth....

AWESOME spurs, Bill.....I never got one 1 1/2" and have only had a couple over 1 1/4.....

Me too...I was hoping to have a youth hunter this year, and had a couple lined up, but the damned Cornhola Virus nixed it... I'll still be on the property this weekend listening and looking...I have that cute little Moog guy coming down to try to lose his turkey cherry with me this season...

Noisy, obnoxious damn things...My father in law used to have a flock of them and unfortunately, they spent a lot of time around my house... Stick to chickens and smaller....Quail are cool and very good to eat... Keep Crappy around for awhile...A lot of members would like to see pictures of him when he reaches puberty..

I was just going to give Bill a THUMBS UP for losing so much weight since his last picture...

There are two things that I ask my fishing partners not to laugh ( too hard) at.... Backing a boat in at the launch, and fly casting.... Still, I seem to always be able to get the boat into the water AND catch some fish on flies...I guess a blind hog finds an acorn every now and then...

I'd shoot the one on the right every time....Beard looks heavier, fan looks bigger, and the one spur I can see looks like a good one... And his head is up PLENTY far enough....Hehehe...

Is that in NY or NJ, Bill ?? Do you still have more hunting in NJ before the NY season opens up ? In a normal year I would be heading to Ontario tomorrow to get set for the opener there April 25th....I'm really missing that

Are state, municipal and other public launches open, or is it just private launches and marinas ?

I've been seeing solitary birds the last few days too, Rob....An indication that the winter feeding flocks are dispersing and the hens are staking out their nesting areas...

I have no issue with shooting jakes, I just choose not to... I also do not consider myself a "trophy turkey hunter"... I will shoot any gobbler that is two years old or older, and the vast majority of my birds have been two year olds.. I consider a true trophy hunter someone who scouts his birds thoroughly and knows before season if a bird has good spurs and beard, because he has probably looked at them through his binos or spotting scope...This is the guy who consistently kills 3 or 4 year old gobblers( or older) that have big paintbrushes and long, sharp spurs.. We know at least one guy who does that......

That's the way I feel about deer.....All those spikes and forkhorns and little sixes I happily shoot are "jakes"....Hehehe....

I gave up long ago trying to tell a jake from an adult by the gobble... Sometimes you can, but I have been fooled too many times to count on it...The birds can control the volume and intensity of the gobbles too.. I have heard numerous jakes that could gobble like a champ, and I have heard some big toms with flat, chintzy little gobbles...

About the same as my heaviest NY bird, 22 1/2 lb. Second heaviest was 22 1/4.... However I have killed heavier birds out of state...23 lb. in VA, and 24 and 24 1/2 in Kentucky.. My best spurs were 1 7/16 " and they were from a NY bird taken on The Mermaid's property shortly after she and I got together.. Probably cemented our relationship, but don't tell HER that....Hehehe.. I never took an 11" beard.. Longest was 10 3/4" and I could count the beards over 10" on one hand... Lots and lots of 8" to 9 1/2", but 10 inch beards have been rare for me, although I have taken a number of real heavy beards, plus 5 or 6 doubles, one triple and one quadruple...

Funny...1998 was about when I STOPPED, at least on a regular basis...<<sigh>>...

What kind of sports ?? "Hide the Weenie" was my favorite social sport...Other than that it was hunting, fishing, shooting rats at the town dump, etc. etc.....

Fred Sanford....Loved him.....My most favorite quote...." I'm a pretty good catch, Elaine....I still got some of my hair, most of my teeth, and ALL of my social security".... Favorite quote #2 ( in the police station)… " Don't you ever arrest no white people ?....There's enough n*****s in here to make a TARZAN movie !! "

IMHO, that is the main reason that bigger birds are killed later in the season...They are nearly always henned up early, and the later you get in the season, the better chance that you will find that one morning, or perhaps that one HOUR that the bird doesn't have a hen nearby, and that's when he is most vulnerable....

I stepped out my back door one morning many years ago and found a large, very dead, buck mink... There was fresh snow that morning, so I backtracked to learn the story.. The mink had come up from the creek behind my barn, and was headed directly toward the chicken coop...He made it about halfway, and his tracks were intercepted by tracks of my springer spaniel, Doc.... Thanks to Doc, instead of the mink getting a chicken dinner, I got a mink pelt to use for my fly tying...