UpStateRedNeck

No shock gobbles this morning on top of the hill, got all the owls stirred up too.

Figured it would be a good idea to start one of these, much more likely to put it here than write it down anywhere. Found myself reading my own posts from last year for patterns etc. Planning on getting up at 4am to go see who's gobbling tomorrow, then roll back home to get the kids off to school. Wind should be dead, maybe some rain showers. Nothing like coffee on a tailgate as the sky lightens up!

I guess my tip would be : Always set up in shadows/outline breakup. They have amazing eyes and can pick you off really well.

Solid lesson. It's scary how accurate their hearing is for pinpointing where that "hen" was calling from. Seems like they can know, within 20 yards, where you were when you called from over 400 yards away.

Today would have been the day to get out of bed and make the drive for a gobble listen. Maybe I'll try tomorrow morning. Thursday and Friday look to be washouts.

Love it.

Happy birthday! Can someone make a meme of Tyrell Owens saying "That's my quarterback " except, that's my taxidermist?

Definitely seems like 870's are the superior shotgun to the old 500. I still love her though. Never forget your first. I love bird hunting, and at this point in my life there's no reason why I should have a real turkey gun. The old Mossberg may wind up with a smooth bore slug barrel on her and sitting in my closet with 00 buckshot hidden way up high. If there's one gun I don't even need to think about loading in the dark and half asleep it's that one.

200 lbs of oats, 18 lbs of clover, spread and planted. Roller did a nice job smoothing it out, though did have to stop and scrape it a couple times. It was turning into a mud snowball and taking some of the seed with it. C'mon rain!

Tweaked my sight just a smidge, deep cleaning on the barrel. Still holes in the pattern, good to 40 I guess. Maybe next year a Benelli super Blackhawk 2? Depends on the ammo situation. 30 year old gun, still seems like the pattern should have less holes in it.

Looks like planting this coming Saturday, fertilizer will have had 10 days and some rain, and supposed to get a good rain in Sunday. Having the oats in a week before turkey season starts would be sweet! Almost makes me want to get a blind and set it up there.

Got her out, back to the cabin. Had to crack the line to release it, got a nice covering in hydraulic oil. My dad is supposed to be taking the ram to his buddy with an easy out. Shouldn't be awful to get these threads out, they're pipe taped and only a year old. Hopefully he can fabricate something to replace the ghetto double clevis hitches.

I can tell you they #'s are definitely down on my farm. Especially compared to the 90s. I wonder how much of an effect the bear population has on the nesting hens? You would think with those big old sniffers the bears would get a lot of turkey eggs.

I think the undertaker is more centered than the last choke tube. So the rear sight might need to be tweaked a bit back to center. I'll also clean the barrel thoroughly this time. It does make me want to upgrade my turkey gun, but not this year.

I have 8 rounds of XR #5 and about 2 boxes of XX #5. Wish I had some good #6 to play with. No ammo anywhere that I can find. I really prefer to out the sight right in the middle of the neck, maybe tweak the sight down just a smidge.

Ding ding, winner! Need to adjust the sight down a bit, aiming points are marked with the big X on the paper, but longbeard XR #5 + undertaker is throwing a nice pattern to 40. Of course I forgot my screw driver set, but it gives me an excuse to come back next week.

Look at how far he plowed the hitch into the ground! We need a better hitch made anyway, 2 clevises linked is what we were using.

Had to drive all the way to Cobleskill to get the 15-15-15 required, but got the fertilizer on and disc'd yesterday afternoon. 800 lbs of 15-15-15 and 400 lbs of 0-20-20. On the way back from the field, my dad was driving the disc harrow through a stream, disc came off the pin (no idea what he did, maybe rock popped it out?) and he didn't stop. Busted the hydraulics in like 4 places on the disc. Going to have to take the hydraulic ram to a welder with an easy out to get the threads out, and replace at least 3 lines + the coupling on the tractor. I don't have the heart to tell him not to use the equipment, but man..........

Dean's Mills, Freehold. Sure isn't cheap but at least I don't pay sales tax as I buy it with the farm account.

Awesome pictures, cute little buggers

Its going to be interesting, tomorrow I should be able to try out the undertaker with #5 shot.

I could not recommend it more to anybody else in ENY if @Buckmaster7600 decides to do this again. Dude really, really knows his stuff and not only helped me a great deal, but taught us how to teach ourselves. Thanks again!

Two reasons really : #1) it's a destination feeding plot, I just want them to Chow down spring and summer and fatten up. Definitely keeps them in the area. #2) Frigging turkeys go bananas for it all of May! Mainly it's just to feed the deer.