Jennifer

She's beautiful! I do hope you have her mounted. If you are looking for pose ideas, try the taxidermy.net forums, there are mounts there that will blow your mind. The bird guys and gals over there are top notch.

Lawdwaz, those vests are great. I don't have one but my dad does and he wears it all the time. Someday I'll save up for one. I always have an orange cap in my pocket that I put on if I need to (carrying turkeys out or when I am nervous about guys sneaking in on me). The liklihood of someone shooting an upside down floating turkey seems pretty low to me, but since it happened to someone I know, it's always in the back of my head to be extra careful.

Wish I knew. I bet our friend Don was wondering that too. Doesn't make any sense does it? People do some strage things in the woods..!

I see deer and turkeys together all the time! This is really smart if you think about it, and I bet that over the bajillions of years that turkey and deer have co-habitated that they have developed this relationship. Think about it-- deer can hear and smell (especially smell) potential predators, and turkeys can see predators coming 40 miles away. When they mill around together, feeding, they are doubly safe, meaning there is twice the chance they will have an early warning. They eat a lot of the same feed, especially in the fall. It's why I was surprised when Apoallo said that the deer spooked the tom. This seems unlikely, but I wasn't there. One thing the woods has taught me is that crazy things CAN happen any time. I have noticed a definate calming effect when there are galliformes around deer. Okay, I will explain. I have chickens and I only let them free range when I am out and about with them because we have every predator here that would like to eat them (I'll admit it, they're pet chickens). When I am out in the yard doing thingsm sometimes I will catch glimpses of the deer back in the woods, sneaky sneaking around and generally acting like spooky deer do when they are around people's houses. When I am out and my chickens are ranging in the yard, nearly without fail, deer will come up into my yard and their behavior is totally different. They are relaxed and feeding. Yesterday a young buck came within 10 yards of me. I have never, NEVER fed the deer. The moment the chickens get put away they (the deer) leave again. Sometimes they will even make a big show of snorting and running off, as if I hadn't been there the whole time! It sounds nuts but I have videos of it. My dad jokes that we should bring the chickens with us during deer season. That's silly, of course, but the turkey decoy is an idea! I never thought of that. It might be a neat experiment.

Nothing here so far. I bumped into five?! other guys today in a small 30 acre area. Needless to say my first light was shot, so we walked way back up in to get away from everyone else-- not only for our sakes, but so we didn't accidentally harass their hunt either. Stayed out till noon then home again. A safety tip for you guys that are bagging turkeys-- this sounds stupid but it really happened to a friend of ours. He had a turkey upside down over his shoulder (so it was upside-down, hanging, 5 feet in the air) and another guy shot him, thinking he was shooting a turkey. Yes, really. He was picking bbs out of himself for years, not to mention the chonic pain. Luckily the guy that shot him helped him out of the woods or he may have died. Pack away an orange cap, vest, or even some surveyor's ribbon and put it on your dead bird after harvest if you will be walking through the woods with it!

I agree-- if a tom is henned up, sometimes the best tactic is to really make one of his ladies angry. Cheese off the top hen by cutting her calls and calling like a cranky lady bird yourself has brought the boss hens running to kick our butts many times! The real key is then not to get busted by her, as the toms usually lag behind. Even if you don't get a shot, it sure is exciting to have a mad hen looking for a fight in front of you! The experiences are fantastic even if I don't get a bird. I once had a hen about 4' in front of my face, cutting loose. She was so angry! I was trying not to laugh. This is a video that I love to watch for that reason (not my vid): Watch how mad she gets when he cuts at her. Do you see her feathers rouse? That's turkey body language for "oh no you didn't!" If I heard the bird in that video (and didn't see it) I'd be sighing and wondering why that guy woudln't stop calling! The worst sounding turkey calling I hear in the woods always turns out to be real birds! Sometimes my dad and I look at each other and whisper "That has got to be a guy!" but sure enough, it's real birds.

For sure. I probably worded that wrong. I live in Portville, and ticks have always been here. What I was trying to say is that their numbers fluxuate, and overall in the region they have been higher than average since 2011. They can vary a great deal based on locality-- even from one mile to the next. I had personally never had a tick on me (that I've found!) from this region until this year, though I recall years that my uncle would bring home deer that were loaded with ticks. As an example, behind my house, I have 14 acres of thick woods and brush that I regularly walk, and I regularly see 14-18 deer at a time back there (unfortunately). Our mouse population is also high, and yet I haven't picked up a tick back there yet. 3 miles away at a hunting spot, we pick up ticks every time we go (since this past winter). I don't know why-- deer certainally have a large range and you'd think that they'd be transporting ticks quite a bit. Overall my message is to be careful. Lyme disease sucks.

I'd never seen a tick in my part of WNY (Catt/Allegany counties) my whole life (though I'm only 30) and had never seen a tick until last fall. Suddenly we were crawling with them. We use great precaution with spray and even still, after hutning all morning I pulled five of them off of my clothing. None scored a bite so far that I can tell. Research suggests that the number of mice and small rodents has the greatest effect on how many ticks people pick up from the papers I've read. I contracted lyme disease when I was 12 from a different part of the state when I was off in girl scout camp. For some people, a round of antibiotics can nuke it if it's caught early, however some unfortunate folks have chonic problems from it. I do, and have had problems for 18 years now, and let me tell you, it is often pretty terrible! I have my good days and my bad days. Also be aware that the bulls-eye rash does not always form when the disease is transmitted (though it is a good warning when it does show up!). Not trying to scare anyone-- I don't want to say anything that keeps people from enjoying the woods-- I'm just saying to be careful. It's not worth messing with Lyme.

Weird! I wonder if they were 'newbies' to spring hunting and maybe thought you do it like you do in the fall-- bust the flock? I know some guys in this area (reg. 9) use shots at the ground in the fall to bust a flock.

My family at the DEC says that the wildlife guys are already suggesting this very well could be the case. Tick numbers were up last year and this mild winter only means it could get worse.

There are some of you that I always agree with in this argument that have me shaking my head! It's really important to remember that your situation and your experiences are not the same as everyone else's.

I don't have cable, or any sort of other service. We watch TV very little here-- I rarely have time for TV!-- so we just have Netflix (which we have on our TV set thanks to a gaming console hookup). It's around $8/month and for the times we want to plop down and watch something we can always find something on there. It would probably be a different story if we watched sports, but even that you can find streaming online if you don't mind the quality.

Good call-- you're right, I don't do straight up coyote hunting; I've only seen them when hiking/hunting for other critters. I admit that I haven't spent a lot of time watching them, usually all I get is a glimpse for a few minutes or less.

I'm afraid I'd feel the same. I've known some great dogs.. great pets, that looked way more like a coyote than the photo above...

Trying to get mine too... saving up for the application fee for my husband and I has been an undertaking. I'm in Cattaraugus county.

This is correct. Recent studies have shown that our eastern coyotes are indeed hybrids, and have far more wolf 'in' them than the western counterparts. Some reading: (note that a lot of coyote genetic studies have been done in NY state recently) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/31/eastern-wolves-coyote-hybrids_n_869268.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2011/11/111107-hybrids-coyotes-wolf-virginia-dna-animals-science/ http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32976657/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/coyote-wolf-new-breed-predator/

Thanks! It's a Canon 60D. I don't know what half the fuctions are, I am just so used to shooting all manual, so that's how I use it.

That's what I'm worried about-- and I'd also rather be friendly with neighbors rather than 'enemies'. You know how it goes sometimes. I'm going to be trying to re-open the line of communication with some of them again this spring when I post it (I hate to but after having a fellow shooting literally right behind my house this year I gotta do what I gotta do, he sure didn't have permission from me to be within 500') to explain that I don't mind respectful use if they will ask me first.

I would, but what do I do if a deer runs off of my property or dies in someone's back yard? I have 14 neighbors whose back yards kiss the borders of my property all the way around. I've managed to talk to a few, but some won't even answer their doors. The last buck I shot (someplace else!), I got one lung and ruined his heart, and he still managed to run nearly 150 yards before piling up. I was really amazed afterward by how far he ran without a working heart! They must get one heck of an adrenaline surge.

I haven't had the chance to take too many photos in Nov/Dec... I was out hunting most of the daylight hours! Now that things are slowed back down again I'm trying to get behind the camera a bit more. This button buck and his twin sister were fawned very near our house in the woods. When he was born, and long before we could tell he was a buck, we called him 'Gimpy', because he had a defect in his leg that looked like a large knot/tumor and caused him to limp badly. We knew his survivability was low because he couldn't run, and every predator likes to eat fawns! Well, the growth in his leg shrunk (you can still almost see it, a slight bulge above his front knee) and he can run very well now, and both he and his sister made it. Here's the same guy a few months ago, you can see his weird leg growth better here. He couldn't put much weight on it when he was this age: "Gimpy" in the front and his twin sis in the back: It's good to know they made it through the season. There is no audio-- all you would hear would be a train going by and my chickens making a racket, anyhow! These are both shot in HD, for those inclined to watch in HD. My focus leaves a bit to be desired but it's not terrible since I still really don't know what I'm doing with the video. Gimpy chews his cud (you can see him burp some up mid movie) and his sister walks by. Gimpy gets up and scratches his ear. I would have panned with him but my tripod lock was on, oops!

I wish it was that cut and dry, but the DEC folks are really decent people, at least here in region 9, I used to work with them. They do care, but NY is cutting their jobs left and right, and the budget is a mess. The DEC has much much less manpower to do work on projects like this, much less funding to pay for them, and I am sad to say that interest is probably at an all time low. I don't think you need to convince the DEC game and wildlife guys that we need to work on habitat and studies in NY in addition to the moneyflow a good gamebird population might bring-- we need to convince the people that write the budget for the DEC. Not trying to be argumentive, just trying to share the other side of the coin. Trust me, I love upland birds and would love it just as much as you if we could see an increase.

Well done. Don't be afraid to push your darks a bit more, to make the contrast really pop. It's nice to see another artist on here!

Pheasant Run, I hear that. But I think the major differences between states that have well managed and good upland bird hunting and those that don't (like NY) is to look at where/who most of the voting, tax-paying population is. Like it's any news to us, but the vast majority of NY residents are either indifferent to or even against hunting.

For hobbies, I birdwatch, garden, tend my chickens, Geocache (some of you might want to look into this, it's fun during the off months: http://www.geocaching.com/ ) I am self employed so I rarely have much free time so my hobbies list is small.

13BVET, I understand what you mean. I'm not familiar with your part of the state so I apologize-- it's true that not seeing any is different than them having a cyclic population. max3, isn't that funny? Turkeys will eat anything rich in protein that they can fit down the gullet so to speak, and will readily take frogs, small mammals and if they are easy, tiny baby birds too. Turkey predation of grouse is probably not a very significant impact on grouse populations, though, at least compared to other predators. Grouse are tasty, and everything knows it.