G-Man

fact is bowhunters tend to wait for a buck... numbers are controlled thru doe harvest. in general us bow hunters are poor deer managers.. we let a doe walk past on the chance a buck may be following. we may pass a small buck to wait for a bigger one,but that is not deer management. adding crossbows will initially increase doe harvest (when i started bowhunting i took every deer i could) as excitement to harvest game is present in new participants. In time that too will fade as ne crossbowers either quit from fustration (no deer harvested/ cant get close enough), or simpley become more selective as they see how deer interact, and become better hunters in general. this is not end of the world the woods are going to be overrun with hunters.. your a bowhunter you know how to study the movement of deer if pressure increases you go into thicker areas, escape routes, security cover... the new guys are not as familiar with the land and habbits like you are... a good bowhunter adapts, i know several who hunt during gun with bow and are sucessful every year..

its crazy but something happens and just add another rule..never looking at previous rules it vilolates.. its like laws for dmv.. officers have a thin book of geneeral rules but back at thestaion the have the un abbridged...they can charge you with stuff you never knew existed ....

An 60 lbs bag plants 3 acres for me on 28 in rows at heaviest seeding rate. If your broadbroadcastig 20-30 lbs per acre. Depending on your dragging covering method. The ad vantage of a row planter is your seed is planted a a set depth. 1.5 Inches for me. Broadcasting, then dragging /discing/;cultimulching into three ground is possible with Practice and good depth control. But shallow seed may be more succeptible to drought, predation by squirrel, birds,rodents, ect. If you can find a planter whose fert hoppers are rotted away... as long as it plants you can brodcast your. Fert over it.. my planter is from 1948..and it is wore..i have very rocky ground and every 5 . Years i weld new skids on it . But it only cost me 150 bucks out of a hedgerow....

I work for a company that has over 4000 rules we are suppose to follow. Most conflict with each other..commensence is the name of the game..if they are looking for you they can get you on some rule you go to an investigation and fight the stupidity there. I have doc i have been on here for a while and do value your opinion. all encompassing laws are found in dictatorships (do you want your hair cut only a certain Way. I do not wish to live in a society where I need an all encompassing law ). The reason laws are confusion is that some lawyer play a loop hole, and another law is created. Rather than using common sense and finding the person at fault..jurys feel pity and let them go... if your that dumb to shoot at another person or persons property you should be found guilty .period... i for one still want to think and follow my morals with out being told what to do every thing i try or attempt.

Too much lime this year and you will shock your plants... its usually a 2-3 year process if your raising ph any significant amount..

Tennessee..

That's a few years old being dead...

I have a few around every year and have launched an intensive habitat improvement project last two years. Seems its starting to pay off..

gobbling a week ago..snow seems to have made them stop this week.

Was out early this am as I had a day off, heard.3 Different ruffed grouse drumming in about 300 yard area. Most I've heard in quite a few years. Perhaps with a dryer spring maybe they will have a good hatch...deer and turkey hunting is fine but nothing beats a day hunting grouse for excitement and shooting!!

I think laws that exist should be enforced period. As for a law being all encompassing.. I don't want to live in a society where that is even possible...might as well become communist and live where you are told do exactly what your told or go to the Gulag... people are people and mistakes are made its human nature. A guideline for distance is fine if your that dumb to shoot in the direction of people or a house there are laws to fine /lock you up. Already.

Society as a whole has gone crazy over sports, look at high schools new rec centers, travel team in towns, heck kids have personal trainers.... for baseball at age 7.. hockey, football... I'm not sure how or why its happened but if a player is on a free ride to college he is getting paid. personallyI'll watch local NFL teams or NHL from time to time but that's it really I could care less.l

lol, such fun birds to watch

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/wild_turkey/sounds pretty good link if you cant find a good instructional video

i dont see tufts of hair on the ears and as said before feet dont seem to be big enough, i would say bobcat.. like people some are tall and some are more squat.. but they are still just people..think nba player. and 5'6 tall guy....

I should of stated that birds in general do not roost on the very top of a ridge but down off the top 50 to 300 yards depending on wind speed and direction, the ridges I run have logging roads running the top of them so I can move quick and quiet. . As for sounding like a turkey.. I have heard real hens sound so bad you would swear it was a human dragging his nails over a chalk board. Cadence and volume is more important.. quakerboy has some good instructional video, as do h.s. strut and primos (most good ones were made back in the 90's) the more birds you can locate and roost areas you can locate the more successful. You will be.. you do not need to be an expert caller.. woodsmanship is 90% of turkey hunting, learning the woods and how to move thru it quiet are extremely important. as is the ability to read the woods knowing where ravines, creeks ,old fences anything that may cause a bird to hang up... best of luck to you!

yes out west but no trees/ limbs in way either.. i've killed a buck in a field in ny at 65 but it was as close as i could get in 5 days of watching it cross the field...

took me 7 years to convince my brother and friend to get it as well free doe tag valid anywhere...lol well worth the price..

most habitat free corn is a year old when handed out to conservation groups..its usually around 85-90% germ.. yours will depend how it faired in your garage.. i keep my left over seed in a metal garbage can covered in my barn.. i lose a little germ but i am only planting for game anyway.

they consider it archery equipment so yes extra tag is still there as far as i have read and heard... it is not a seperate licence but x-bow will fall under archery

best do a germ test, grab 100 seeds put on top of a damp paper towel on a tray cover with another damp paper towel ..put someplace dark and warm..wait 3-7 days and keep damp..count how many seeds germinate..80 will be 80 % ect. most seed loses 10-30 % germ as year goes by if not stored in a dry cool place. if its below 75% you might consider seeding it heavier than recommended.. much below 50% the cost of ground prep will out weigh the benifit of bad seed.. use as bird food if uncoated or over seed and existing plot with it.

I agree pygmy, 50 yards is to far even for a crossbow..wind , wind gusts would effectivly just make you end up missing or wounding an animal let alone the animal taking a step.. get closer it can be done.... i would really have a chance to use an atatl on deer or any large prey red squirrel and wood chuck are just to small(only no protected things to throw at).., i make some great stone points. and thats about as primitive as i can go.. just throwing a spear by hand seems way to hard...

I really wish they would have a spear season, i could really use my atlatl and homemade points... maybe the month of september ?

no blinds or decoys for me, although i can use a mouthcall i dont(i have a gag relex to them) a slate, push pin, and box are my calls. See if you can find a video called americas wild turkey is ver useful in seeing birds and listening to their calls as well as learnignwhat the eat and breeding habits. If you cant find a good hunting video that shows birds and minimal calling by a hunter (the late 980's early 90's are best as now everthing is for entertainment purposes adn not very instructional) I go out the evening before and at last 1/2 of light i use a shock call to get birds to gobble on the roost. moving along a ridge calling every 100- 300 yards (depending on foliage and tree cover)You can use an owl hooter, coyote howl, peacock call, crow call, i even use an elk bugle. 2 people doing this with one 50 ft or more ahead or behind the caller.is a great way to hear a bird that cuts off your shock call. as well as a second pair of ears to hear direction and distance to bird that answers.(unless your partner is deaf in one ear and than you have to figure that out yourself...sorry tim...lol) when you locate a bird if you can get it to shock more than once it may help you position it better, but public land birds are tough and might only answer 1x.i dont likke to educate birds so move on and try to locate another. soon you will learn roosting areas.. a bird may not answer every time but they will be in same area for years and years using the same roost trees.roosting can be done at first light but it but it puts you behind the 8ball in getting close as the bird is already awake, imo. OK you roosted a bird. mark in you mind or gps where you were when you heard it and how far away you think it may be (a bird gobbling away from you sounds further away than when its facing you in same tree)in the am in the dark hr to 1/2 hr before legal shooting time with no light or a filtered flashlight get as close as you feel comfortable to where you heard bird gobble as quietly as possible(terrain and leaves will also help determine this) to close and bird will spook off roost(thats why its good to have a back up bird) there is no magic yardage to get to i've sat 40 yards from a bird and 100 plus yards.. although closer if undetected is better in my opinion. Now if your very close i recomend not calling at all.. let the bird wake up and call its self (you may hear soft clucks from hens roosted in same area. if you heard hens with tom night before (yelping an clucking) try to be between the tom and the hens if possible. if your far enough and the bird gobbles say 80 yrds away and you cant see it onlimb or limb shaking or any other birds you can try soft calls called tree calls (most instructional videos will have these) a few soft calls (if you have hard hearinf you my not even hear yourself calling) may elicit a gobble from said bird..do not call again till bird is on ground. (you may see it fly down. hear its gobbles change not as clear when on ground.) i've had bird fly doen within 10 yards of me so have gun ready in direction of bird, if you see it fly down move slowly and reposition youself to be ready for shot. OK bird is on ground, if you hear hens in area just mimic what ever they do , cluck,purr, cutt, cackle. if no hens heard or observed i like to start with just scratching leaves in a rythmic cadence of 1--- 2,3 a few times ..sometimes thats enough to pull the tom in range(you sound like a hen feeding) then a soft yelp.. either may or may not elicit a gobble, or start the bird drumming. you then continue calling as needed to get tom to come less is usually better, unless your in a calling match with a real hen then loud calling may pull the dominant hen in with tom in tow.that is usually a typical early morning hunt. If you strike out: tom goes other way... you need a plan b... strutting areas, feeding areas should of been found before season and during the season, scratched leaves, drag marks in dirt or snow from toms wings. head to these areas and set up a yelp now and then works for blind calling as do purrs and clucks. plan b- 2.. cutt and run.. you can walk a ridge calling as you go being especially wary around forest openings and fields. setting up when you hear a bird or knowing to try to get closer are things learned from experiance , and knowlege of the land.. in general walking the high ground is more productive and a bird will strutt in a high piece of grund for visability. you can and i've called birds down hill but its much easier up hill. i do not have much field hunting experiance as i hunt mostly woods. perhaps someone can help you there if thats where your hunting. I was fortunate to have a very experianced callmaker and hunter (r.i.p.)instruct me and i hope i passed a little of his knowledge on to you..

crossbow will not be available this spring as regs (axle to axle distance,pound pull,ect) have to be establshed and there isnt time..this fall is possible for turkey.