Cabin Fever

Not sure if they'll be in the same spot. You shot him late morning, well after he left off the roost, so if you could figure out where they roosted, you would have a better chance there. My son shot his right in the roosting area yesterday (actually ~80 yards from the tree), so I'm wondering if his buddies will roost back in there or not. Thought I'd go to camp in the morning to listen.

Nice! Congrats!

Thanks phade! I'm not even sweating the reduced vacation time that much. If I can get an extra week on top of their 2 week standard to start, it'll be OK. I typically take 5-6 weeks during bow season (OK, pretty much ALL of bow season!). I asked the hiring manager about working hours during the last interview, as I have flexible hours now and that's very important to me (kids sports, afternoon hunts, working around the house/camp, etc...), so I don't have to burn vacation time. She said hours are very flexible and people just come in whenever they want, some early, some late. She said if I wanted a day off during the week, and didn't want to use vacation or personal time, I could just work 4 ten hour days. That would certainly be nice, having less vacation time to play with! Hate to leave my company after 21 years, but...................................

I have my doubts that it's true, but it sure would be good if it was!

Nice! Look like fatties!!

I've been employed for the past 21 at the same company. Like my job, little stress, 6 weeks vacation, excellent manager.... BUT 100 mile/2+hr commute each day (much longer in the winter), maxed out position/salary wise, job and company can be shaky at times, and seniority means nothing. Kind of like the co-worker that you mentioned, another company called me and asked if I would be interested in interviewing for a position with them. Figured, sure...what the hell... nothing to lose. Had a 3rd interview with them earlier this week, and I heard that I was the only one to get #3, so I think they're pretty serious. The job would be a big promotion, it's only 3/4 of a mile from my house, and the experience would make me more marketable down the road! I exaggerated my salary (by 15%) when asked and told them I wouldn't do their job for the same salary, as it's much more responsibility. Been researching salary & benefits negotiations and it sounds like it's expected or a given, as they start out with a low ball offer. I'm quite rusty, being out of the job market for so long, so I wasn't sure if negotiations are expected, kind of like dickering when buying a car? Certainly don't want to jump on their first offer, if I could have gotten more $. Interesting what you said about the "no negotiations with time off" at your company. While interviewing with the HR manager at this place, she asked me about my vacation at my current employer. I told her that I got 6 weeks vacation. She whispered to me, if I was offered the job, to use that as a bargaining tool, as they have done that in the past. She said they wouldn't do it for someone that was right out of college or anything, but they have done it for people like myself, that are coming from places with a lot of vacation. Hoping to hear something soon...

That sucks. Did you step it off how far the shot was? Possibly farther than you thought?

He's got some mean ass spurs on him!! Very Nice!!

That's GREAT!! Congrats! Now, give up the story and stats!!!

Actually, I might be the new hire. Preparing for salary and benefits negotiating tips/info...

He's looking for you wanting you to come out and play!!

Congratulations! Were any gobbling?

I have a couple questions regarding new hire salary and benefits negotiations. Anyone?

I'm really surprised there weren't more successful hunts (kills, hearing more gobbling, and distant shooting) today! Weather was great this morning. I've been out at camp a lot (more so than not) at daylight listening for the past 4 weeks. It was so unseasonably cold in April this year, that they haven't been gobbling that great. I've definitely heard an increase in the past week though! Can only get better!

Congrats! Doesn't sound like there was a whole lot of success today, so feel fortunate that you scored!

Guess I have one to use!

Nice! Congratulations! Did he gobble much?

Oh yeah, one more hysterical thing that happened in the heat of the moment! I had fishing line attached to my one bobbing head decoy, so I could give it a little twitch from the blind once in a while, to make it move. I have the other end of line tied to a small fishing reel that I had in the blind. After I realized that my son fell over backwards after the shot and took the blind with him, I jumped up to make sure the jake wasn't going anywhere. Well, I looked and saw ANOTHER turkey laying on the ground "twitching"!!! My eyes about popped out of my head and terror struck me!! I almost had a heart attack and fell over!! Then, I looked a little closer and realized it was my damn bobble head decoy that was ripped out of the ground when the blind flipped over!! My son was still trying to get on his feet and was moving the blind, causing the decoy to twitch and the head to shake!!! Boy was I ever relieved!!!!!! When my son finally got up and walked over to me, he said, "OMG Dad, there's another turkey laying there and it's still moving!!!" Well, when he walked over to me, he didn't realize he got tangled in the fishing line, and was making the decoy move and twitch!! We got quite a laugh out of that too!!!!

Bump...

Congrats! Sounds like a great bird!!

Thanks to a lot of early morning trips to camp over the past 3-4 weeks, I was able to come up with a good game plan for taking my son out today. The first gobbler sounded off ~80 yards from us, just about to the minute, when he's started in previous mornings. My son has only killed one other turkey, so he was pretty excited! I responded with some soft tree yelps. He got fired up! A red tailed hawk flew into the area and called and 4 gobblers went nuts ~80 yards away! We were pumped! Anyway, they flew down and started milling towards our decoys (hens), gobbling every now and then. The 4 jakes stopped at 35 yards and I wasn't positive if they were going to come in or follow the hen away that was with them. All of a sudden, I looked out the window of the blind to my right, and another hen was walking by 2 yards from the blind heading to the decoys (just about could have reached out and pet her, as she was so close! LOL)! Once the jakes saw this other hen going to the decoys, they walked straight in! Before we knew it, the jakes were ~10 yards from the blind, when I remembered to give my son the green light to shoot! He shot, the turkey dropped, and the next thing I knew, I was sitting in the WIDE OPEN!! I glanced over at my son and realized that the 3 1/2" mag tipped him over backwards in his stool (we were on a small incline anyway) and since the gun barrel was sticking out the window of the blind, it tipped the blind over backwards with him, so it went right over my head!! We laughed our heads off! A hunt to remember!!! Had a good year so far, as I called in a jake for my daughter during the youth season and she connected on her first!

If the kids are with me, and I know that shooting a jake is a possibility, I won't use a jake or tom decoy anymore. Had not-so-good experiences with them in the past. Even though I use a jake decoy, the incoming jakes act very timid. They want to come into the hen decoys bad, but I think they are afraid of getting a whoopin'! After seeing this again during the youth season, I'm only using hen decoys from now on! JMO...

I'll be taking my son out and we'll be setup within 50-100 yards of where the turkeys roost, IF they are in the area. Being so close to the roost, we'll be in the woods, all setup by no later than 5:00am (They've started gobbling at 5:30 recently). Need to sneak in under the cover of darkness, while the turkeys are still snoozin'! I went out last week and cleared a path of leaves from the field to our brush blind, to cut down on some noise while walking in.

OUCH!! I had no idea how much they cost! They sure look realistic though! Good luck and I hope they pull in a big 'ole tom for ya'!

Very Nice!