mowin

A turkey will eat anything small enough to swallow, and slow enough to catch.

I always check their crop when cleaning a turkey. Found the usual greens, seed, bugs, but the best was a 14" garden snake.

Like the penguins, but like to see Nashville take it. Not to confident that's going to happen though.

Buddy just sent me a text that him and his daughter just got a double on a pair of two yr olds. Hunting in northern Columbia county.

Have to say my favorite two turkey hunts were in the Catskills. 1st was with some friends from Maine. I was calling and filming, no gun with me. Had several birds going nuts, and coming in quick when I hear a twig snap behind me. At first I thought it was another hunter stalking in on us, but I turned slowly to see a 300 lb black bear 20 yrds away from me. Called that bear in twice that morning. 2nd one we heard a bird gobbling a long ways away. It was going nuts, but we couldn't get any closer as we were on the border of another property. Have to guess this bird was a half mile or more away. Could hardly hear him. I called as loud as I could. Cutting and cackling along with some assembly yelps. Sure enough, he was getting closer. Took over a hr, but he came within 40 yrds. Triple beard. 25 lbs 1 1/2 Spurs. Later that night the neighbor came over to visit. Told us he had a tom 60 yrds away when this wacko hen started going ballistic up on the mountain side and he headed that way. Lol he wasn't please when I told him I was that wacko hen, and he was a triple bearded bird. Lol

Many yrs ago I made a ground blind for deer hunting. Just some branches and bursh. Definitely not the Hilton. Got settled in a few days later. Wind was quite stiff from right to left. Had a little button buck snuggle up against my blind and bed down. He was so close I could count hit eye lashes. Lol after I5 min of so I could see his gaze fix onto my foot, and slowly go up my body. When his eyes and mine met, all hell broke loose. I about tinkled myself at him trying to gather his legs under him. Think he's still running. Lol

Great hunt. Those old birds are tuff to outsmart. Congrats on putting it all together.

It's there. It a optical illusion lol. At 6 yrds, there was nothing hit but his head. It wasn't pretty. That's all I could see as he was coming up a hill. He did some serious flopping downhill for prob 20 yrds. Sure those wing feathers got bent up then.

Ok. Finally got a chance to tell you all about our morning. Jeff and I set up against the same tree as I did with my grandnephew Kayden for youth season. A lone tom gobbled on roost about 125 yrds out. He few down about 5:25. Was 25 yrs from us by 5:30. The field was so tall he could only see his head and neck. Now being more experienced, I'd have that bird flopping. But, I have to give Jeff a kudos. He was unsure, and held off. Set up #2. Moved about a 1/3 mile to another field. The tall grass saved us, as we got within 20 yrs of the field, and I spotted a tail fan 80 yrds out. A few call and a bunch of gobbles, and within 3 minutes there were 4 toms 30 yrds away. Jeff, swing and a miss. Set up #3. We headed to another and on the way spotted a nice tom on a neighboring property. Got set up next field over, and started calling. He cut me off, and was coming in quick. But instead of crossing through a 15' hedge row, he decided to come in through the swamp behind us. He was just out of sight spitting and drumming within 10 yrs. Now Jeff is a lefty, and there was know way he could swing in that direction. I could however, and when his head popped up 6 yrs away in the thickness crap on the farm, I was ready. Ok, we're on the board. Set up # 4. There's a big pile of sheep manuer that the birds love to scratch in for bugs. Gave a few calls and got multiple gobbles in response. They wouldn't commit. Decided to sneak up on them as there's several old round bales on the edge of the field. As we peaked over the bales, there were tow tom's in strut and a couple others about 35-40 yrds away. Got Jeff in place and he shot when the tom was in half strut facing us. Another miss. We patterned his gun, and it's maybe a smidge to the right at 30 yrds, but a great tight pattern. Chalking up his misses to excitement. All in all it was a great morning. Called in 10 toms within range on 4 different setups. Birds were eager to respond and come looking. I'm tagged out, but will probably call for Jeff and my nephew next weekend. My bird was 23#, 9 1/4 beard, 1 1/8 Spurs.

What a morning.. ended up being just me and Jeff. We had birds going all morning. Let's just say Jeff has experienced the highs and lows of trukey hunting. Lol I'll post the highlights a little later.

Taking Jeff 1211 and his fiance out this morning. Going after the boss. He's a tuff old coot.

That looks more like a goose egg. But I agree, sure is a pretty fox.

Congrats nyantlerman. Great bird.

Next time it happens, have doc do a blood test for uric acid. I take alapournol (sp?) Once a day to control it. Sea food, alcohol, and organ foods will trigger a attack. I've had it for yrs, and the pain can be incredible.

I hope it was a camo bathrobe. Lol Sounds like you have gout. Very common to go to bed with no pain only to wake up in pain. Typically, it usually attacks the big toe, or so that's what the experts say. But I get it in my wrist, knee, ankle, elbow more often than my big toe.

Still a deer scratching it's nose. Lol As far as the white, could be nothing.They are dropping fawns now though. Few friends of mine have see some. I haven't myself though.

How much thick bedding cover is in the area? And I mean thick.. Thick cover will hold deer in high pressure areas, so if the neighboring properties have lots of hunting pressure, but only older growth woods for bedding, that thick stuff would attract deer like a magnet. Browse, plus protection from wind, hunters.

A deer scratching it's nose Tick maybe. Or hurt it's hoof and is licking a wound

Supposed to be 93 today. That's too dam hot. Prob work until 1ish , don't handle the heat like I used to.

So sad. Be safe everyone.

True story. Many yrs back my cousin got some turkey chicks. A couple weeks later, I noticed one was strutting, so I grabbed my calls. I layed on the ground and did a aggressive purr. The little devil came over to kick my butt... I tease him for a minute or two, while we laughed at how "tuff" this little guy was. Fast forward a few months.. this bird remembered me.. every time I'd pull in, he'd come up to my truck strutting. Wasn't too bad until he got about 20 lbs. Thing had hooks 2" long. He would wait for me to turn my back and he'd attack. Dan did he hurt. No this bird would only attack me. Didn't care about anyone else. He HATED me. My brother borrowed my truck, and when he pulled into my cousins yard, he came a running. My brother got out of the truck, my brother said you could almost see the disappointment in his beatty little eyes when he realized it wasn't me. Lol. Gosh I hated that bird.

Before the youth season came about, I was taking a youngster out on opening day of trukey. Lot of these kids were not relatives. I took them scouting a few times before the season to give them the full picture. We roosted birds, looked for sign, showed them the difference between hen and tom droppings. Patterned there shotgun, ect. Some of these kids are now very proficient hunters. Once in a while, one will see me in the store/restaurant, and start reminiscing about that first hunt. Those memories are why I do it. Maybe they will be generous with there time to take a kid out for his/her first hunt.

Correct. The knock point for release is different then for finger release.

i also shot fingers for yrs. Prob 25+ yrs. The older longer sometimes slower bows were definatly easier to shoot fingers. The newer shorter bows have too much finger pinch at full draw to accurately shoot without a release. The short brace hight doesn't help either. I tried several styles of release aids. Believe it or not, truefire use to make a release that you can shoot like a normal release, OR you could close the jaws around the loop/string and holy the trigger back while drawing the bow. You would release the string by letting up/relaxing you index finger on the trigger, similar to shooting fingers. I'm still using one of these today. I've got 2 of them. If they break or I loose them, I'm screwed as they know longer make them.

Those two choices should work well, but why not keep her with the finger release for this summer. When I taught archery, I found it easier for most youth to shoot fingers. Less to worry about. Punching the trigger is the main hurdle to overcome with a release. Now I agree, fingers are less forgiving then a release, but if one becomes proficient with fingers, transitioning to the release is easy.