CamoGuy

Me and my son just got our late season plots in and cleared an acre on top of the ridge where we hunt with intentions on putting in a winter food plot. I go to the feed and seed store with intentions on getting winter oats for the plot. The guy behind the counter drops a bomb and tells me that they don't carry winter oats. A quick call to the other feed store reveals the same info, no winter oats. So now I am torn as to what to put in. My options are winter peas, winter wheat and winter rye. I have already ruled out wheat as it just doesn't provide enough draw IMO. I am leaning towards peas as they will provide food for both deer and turkeys. I am also unsure how attractive rye will be. Anyone have any experiences with peas or rye? Also Southern States has a Fall/Winter seed mix that includes wheat, rye, peas, triticole and clover that is supposed to be successful in colder climates. Anybody ever use it?

Hey guys, sorry I haven't been around lately. There hasn't been anything to report. Our season ended last Saturday. It was the worst season of my hunting life. I hunted an average of 4 days a week. I never heard a single gobble the entire season. It wasn't just me either. I don't know what was going on. I only know of one person who even killed a bird and he just happened to hear it gobble while he was doing farm chores and ran to the house for his shotgun. He normally kills 2 birds per year (legal here) but he heard very few gobbles while actually hunting and never got a response to his calls when he did. I stopped down at the local sporting goods store where they keep a "Wall of Fame" with Polaroid pictures of everyone who checks in birds. There are only about 15 pictures and many of the birds are jakes or 2 year olds with 6-8 inch beards. It was really rainy and windy this year. Every day that I hunted it was either about to rain or had rained the day/night before and there was never less than a 5-7 MPH wind blowing. I am not sure if that was the reason why but even my wife commented that it has rained alot this year for our area. Anyhow, I am sorry for not filling my tag. I feel like I let the team down. This was a freaky year. Thanks to a schedule change I actually hunted more this year than I have hunted in 10 years. I entered the season convinced that both myself and my son would get birds. Whats worse, this was his first year to hunt turkeys and he got so discouraged that by mid-season he lost interest and didn't want to go anymore. I can't blame him, I argued with myself about going on several occasions. Anyways, I hope everyone else's season was good. It looks like most of you had a good one. I will see you guys on the boards. - Cam ___________________________________________ They haven't added Boomers bird to the list yet but I did the math and with his bird we are in 3rd place with 185.025 points. Team 4 has 248.185 and Team 5 has 253.625 but they have their minimum of 4 birds entered and we only have 3. If The Kid or Turkeygirl get their birds entered and their bird scores over 68.6 points then we will be in the lead.

Glad to see everybody is doing well. Perhaps I should try a different state LOL It is now the start of the 3rd week here and I still have not heard a gobble yet. That's right, not a single gobble. It isn't just me either. I talked to some guys who hunt the other side of the county from me and they have only heard a few gobbles from the roost and nothing after flydown. Not sure what the problem is but it is getting frustrating. The two weeks before season started we had fantastic weather. Sunny days with temps in the upper 50's and 60's every day. Two days before season started the weather turned nasty and has stayed undesirable every since. It seems that every day it is either bitter cold, raining or windy....or bitter cold, raining AND windy. Right now the temp is a pleasant 50 degrees with just a gentle breeze but it has been a stready drizzle since before daylight and has rained most of the last two days. Hopefully it let's up sometime today because we are going out tomorrow assuming it isn't another thunder storm.

Congrats on the bird hoytbowhunter!!! Things have been horrible here. Our season opened Monday but it might as well have been closed. After 2 weeks of nice balmy, warm weather it turned nasty Saturday night. Rain, wind and cold continued all the way until 6AM Tuesday morning. I didn't even go out Monday because of thunderstorms passing thru. I went out Tuesday in the rain and snow mixture. The rain let up right before daylight. Winds kicked up and were between 10 and 20 MPH all day. I hunted some valley pockets I know of where the wind couldn't reach hoping the birds would seek shelter from the wind there. Saw some scratching in the leaves but never saw or heard anything. Wednesday was a perfect morning (or so I thought). Kind of cold but no wind, sunny, just seemed right. Me and my son were out at first light. Hunted til mid-morning. Never heard a peep. We hiked about 4 miles calling ever 200-300 yards and never struck a single bird. Didn't hear a single shot all morning either so I guess it wasn't just us having a bad day of hunting. I am going out again today but not until after I take the kids to school. Hoping the birds are warmed up some this morning.

Holy cow!!! 26 pounds???!!!! That is a frickin' monster, great bird!!!!!!

Excellent!!! First blood has been drawn and that is a beautiful bird Holy cow!!! 26 pounds???!!!! That is a frickin' monster, great bird!!!!!! ---------------------------- I just want to let everyone know that I am still around. Our season here starts 1 week from today so there hasn't been much to report. I am in college and my finals week is the 2nd week of season so I have been trying to get all of my written assignments done prior to next week so I can concentrate on hunting all of next week with no interruptions. The first gobbler I see will most likely not be mine. My 15 year old son is going to give turkey hunting a try and I am taking him with me so I expect that the first mature gobbler to show it's head will be his. On the upside, my favorite hunting grounds has numerous mature birds so I actually have my hopes up for a very good season. It has been raining off and on for the last 2 days so I am going to do some driving and glassing fields today in hopes of spotting some birds in new locations to hunt.

Welcome to the boards!!!!

HaHaHa, that made me laugh outloud. Gotta love a good Irish drinking tale.

That is actually a very good idea. If they required random drug test I bet there would be a lot of people off of the program real quick. However, I have issue with people being required to pass a drug test for jobs that don't require operation of equipment or dealing with hazardous materials, etc. Hear me out. WalMart makes all new employees get a drug test before they hire them yet 95% of WalMart employees just run a register, clean the store or stock shelves. Then WalMart passes the cost of these mandatory drug tests along to our government as business expense tax write-offs. No big deal you say? WalMart employs around 1.5 million people, multiply that by say $50 per urine test, that is a $75 million dollar write-off!!! That number is actually more than that considering WalMart's high turn-over rate. When I was a department manager for WalMart we had a 138% turn-over rate which means on a yearly basis we hired 138 people to keep 100 positions filled. So arguably, WalMart hires over 1 million people per year. Now factor in all of the other retail businesses that require drug test for non-risk jobs and imagine the billions of dollars that those tax write-offs add up to........

That is the exact reason I got out of retail management. It is amazing the number of people that can't handle standing behind a counter, talking to customers and running a cash register. For me, the final straw was a weekend in which I worked 46 of the 54 hours the store was open because people kept calling off or just not showing up. Add in the 6 hours I spent doing paperwork before opening and after closing and I worked 52 hours in three days. That was it for me. I am now in my 4th year of college working on a BS in English Education. Some people say I am crazy if I think it will be easier because I will be working with kids. At least I know what time I go in and what time I leave, and some lazy bum calling off won't cause me to have to work a double-shift.

Fantastic!! Congrads on some great birds and a great hunt.

It is just my opinion, but I feel that turkeys have a short-term memory unless you make it a habit. I look at it like this. If you see a stray dog in your yard one time you will just shoo him away and forget about it. If you see him there every day you will probably take notice and start watching for him. I think turkeys are the same way. As long as you don't bump them repeatedly, you are OK. Fall hunters intentionally scatter the flock and I never hear them talk of never seeing the turkeys again. It takes more than one spook to cause a turkey to relocate.

I use a TruGlo Gobblestopper Xtreme and I love it. TruGlo makes both the StrutStopper Xtreme and GobbleStopper Xtreme for Franchi. The StrutStopper is .643" internal diameter and the Gobblestopper is .665" internal diameter, so the StrutStopper would give you a slightly tighter pattern.

Shot Size - You need to try different loads. Each gun patterns differently and shoots different shots sizes in different ways. Your gun will handle up to 3" mags I believe. 3" shells extend your range some and give you additional shot pellets in your pattern, both increase your chances of a clean kill. If you are comfortable shooting 3" shells, I highly recommend it. Personally I won't shoot anything smaller than #5 shot. As you can see, some guys prefer #6, but in my opinion, after you go smaller than #5 shot the loss of energy is greater. Here is a chart showing the energy delivered by each pellet size. As you can see, the larger the pellet size the less total pellets in the shot, but the higher amount of energy delivered upon impact. Pellet -------Shot Count ------- Energy @ 40 yds. Size -----------1 oz.-------------- in Ft. Pounds # 6 ------------225-------------------- 2.3 # 5 ----------- 170-------------------- 3.5 # 4 ----------- 135-------------------- 4.4 Also, heavier shot such as #4 or #5 will penetrate the thick layer of body feathers better, should you shoot low and hit the body instead of the neck or head, and reduce the chance of wounding a bird instead of killing it. Calling - Calling is difficult to give advice on. As others have recommended, you should go to some websites. The NWTF site that Rhino mentioned is very good. I also recommend renting/buying some videos and listening to the "pros" call and watch the reactions they get. If you can master the yelp, the purr and the cutt, then you are off to a good start. I killed my first bird using nothing but yelps because that is all I knew how to do. The box call is the best one to start with. It is the easiest to master and use and IMO turkey react very well to it. I carry a box call with me everytime I head into the woods and swear by them. Good luck!!

I agree with everyone else, the birds decide. I have been out on "perfect" crystal clear mornings and not heard a single gobble. I have also killed birds in 30 mph winds, in the rain and in the snow. The best time seems to be a crisp, clear morning with temperatures hovering just above freezing. The cold seems to make them more vocal, but not always. The only weather I have ever had absolutely no luck in was bitter cold. While I am sure it is possible, I have never seen a bird strut or heard a gobble in temps below 20 degrees. Sub-freezing temps seem to make "the mood" go away.

New Banner Link Hey guys I adjusted the banner size to meet the board requirements. The current banner is almost 280k, about 250k over the limit. The new one looks exactly the same but it is only 29.4k and meets the required 30k limit. Simply insert this link in place of the other one and you will be good to go. For those of us with dial-up, it will load a lot faster too http://i27.tinypic.com/idekuw.jpg CGuy

OK, thanks for letting us know.

You didn't miss much, just an oddly dressed, irritatingly happy guy....

Thanks guys. I was pretty pumped considering it was public land and it was my first bird with spurs over 1". Hey Whisky, what part of OH? I lived in Erie County, PA for 9 years. Some of the best turkey hunting I have ever seen there. I have also hunted NC, TN and VA and have an invite to go to Cadiz, KY and hunt a big farm there if I can ever get away from school. I was friends with the family that makes Troyer Farms potato chips and had permission to hunt all of their farms (about 10,000 acres total). The farm I hunted the most was about 800 acres in size and right across the road from my house. On opening morning of my last year there I sat in the same spot and counted 13 different birds gobbling all around me. I ended up nailing a 21# bird with a 11.5" beard and 7/8ths inch spurs. EDIT: I wonder how long we are to wait on rad_112176 to show up? He hasn't posted on the forums since 02/05.

Was talking to an old school buddy that said he has a flock of strutters on his property everyday. Anybody else seeing any activity yet? Kinda concerns me that they are already out strutting 7 weeks before season starts. I am in Greenbrier county BTW.

I hunt public land almost exclusively. My county is about 70% national or state forest so finding a good spot isn't to difficult. Things did get a little tight last year when I arrived one day to find vehicles parked in all of my favorite spots, but I ended up hunting a spot I had never hunted before and tagged an older bird with a 10 inch beard and 1 3/8ths inch spurs. In the last 4 years I have gotten 3 birds, none under 19 lbs and all with at least a 10" beard and 1" spurs. The one year I didn't get a bird was a really bad year for the entire area.Nobody was seeing birds and I only know of one guy who killed a mature tom. With more free time to hunt this year I am really pumped and looking forward to hitting the woods. Here are a few pics of my public land bird from last year.

Have you ever shot 3.5's? The first time I did I was stunned at how much harder they kick than a 3" mag. I had shot 3"ers for years and didn't really feel like they were much worse than 2.5's. The 3.5" is double the kick of a 2.5" in my opinion. I highly recommend a quality recoil pad. Personally I use a Shooter's Friend pad. It is made of a soft gel that feels like gummy worms. They go for around $18 and work fantastic. I also saw that Limbsaver came out with one that supposedly reduces felt recoil by up to 66% but I don't know of anyone that owns one.

Absolutely. I carry an Aluminator with me everytime I hit the woods. Also have a crystal slate but I only use it occasionally.

Turkeygirl - I figured you would be here LOL. I feel your "pain" on the school thing. I am in my 4th year working on a degree in English/Literature Education. I have missed most of the last 3 years of deer hunting because of classes. Somehow they manage to schedule finals week on the first week of firearms season.....I think they plan it that way Luckily this year all of my classes are evening and night classes. Since our hunting time ends at noon I can hunt pretty much everyday without interference from classes. By the way, northern or southern part of western NY? I used to live just accross the NY/PA border in Erie county. TheKid - I am kind of old-school. No $2000 semi-autos here. I use a singleshot H&R Pardner Turkey 3.5" mag with a TruGlo Gobblestopper choke and TruGlo RedDot scope. It ain't as purty as a Benelli but I can put 37 pellets in a pie plate at 50 yards, and none of the birds I have killed with it even flopped. When I pulled the trigger they were D-E-A-D. I go by the mantra, take one shot and make it count. I have yet to miss a bird with it (knock on wood).

Still waiting on hoytbowhunter, rad_112176 and Turkeygirl to check in. I am going to PM them with a link to this thread in case they don't know that the teams have been set yet. EDIT: I have PMed everyone that hasn't checked in yet. I fear that rad_112176 may be a no-show because he/she hasn't posted on the boards since he/she signed up for the turkey contest back on Feb. 5th. Not sure how long strut10 waits before replacing a team member.