Bachflock

First off, Welcome! Anything, hunting, fishing, watching TV, enjoying Nascar, even our own families, can take the place of God. When this happens, no matter what it is, its wrong. Can hunting become a stronghold of addiction? You bet it can! Can family cause us to obcess and replace God in order of importance to us as individuals? You bet it can. Exactly why we need to keep everything in proper perspective.

April 20th here I come! Its killin' me! LOL I'll be in the woods on the 17th sneaking around and just enjoying being off from work. I should be healed up by then. It's ugly...

Congrats Leo!

Turned my ankle BAD during a run Monday. I've got a month before my openner... I should be ready! Anyone else hunting yet?

Yo, Team 5 - where you is? LOL Noone checking in here? Team name - I vote for "Gobble Grounders." Not sure if anyone here is looking for a blind to hunt out of or not but Gander Mountain has the Primo's Eclipse for $120. My old blind worked great for gun hunting but wasn't going to be wide enough for bow so I picked up this blind. I think the material is slightly heavier than other blinds. It doesn't have the vision coverage of, say the Ameristep 360, but good coverage. I also picked up a decent swivel stool (also at Gander)that puts me right at the perfect level for the windows. Here's a link to peruse the Eclipse...Primo's Eclipse Hub Blind Now I just need to get some more practice in. I couldn't wait so I set up my target in my basement and made a few shots from about 8 yards - LOL!!

Great to hear from you. I'm sure you're plenty busy with school - no need to worry.

With Ted involved its a shock noone died!

Welcome!!!!

HOWDY! Glad to be a part of the team! I'll be hunting 200 acres of private land from April 20th through the 25th. I will be using a bow unless the last day I'm empty handed then I'm taking the gun. Team Name suggestions - I like those above as well: -Shocked Gobblers -Hob-Gobblers I'll keep thinking...

Bachflock Adult Easterns

Credit where credit is due... I just found out the gent that filmed this is Trkyhntr from the NWTF forums. He hails out of California. Nicely done, Joe!

My brother sent me this link and it is a video that contains about every call the turkey hunter will want to learn in the woods. I have no idea who the original author is but this video has everything. There very well may be other quality videos or recordings out there but this is one of the best I have ever heard/seen. Video quality is "ok". Audio quality is great in my opinion - at least for hearing the different sounds of the spring wild turkey!

Prayers, you can count on it.

Bacon - good solution but you'll still have to pamper it or its jerky for dinner.

Well, it sounds like she has interest but is probably concerned about what to expect. The same was true with my lovely wife. The worst thing you could do is to push. It's very true, that kill is only part of the total equation and we sometimes tend to put to much emphasis on it. My wife was the same way, saying, "...I just can't see myself shooting a deer." I didn't push her. I picked up a few women orientated hunting magazines such as "Women in the Out of Doors" and pointed out articles specifically for women in some of the other outdoors magazines I had. Next I asked her if she'd be interested in shooting a bow. I picked up a nice, used, bow that fit her and let her shoot all she wanted. She learned to love it. My favorite hunting is turkey so I asked her if she'd be interested in trying it out. To my surprise she said "yes" saying "...turkeys aren't as cute as deer...". LOL! Well, not exactly the way I would have thought it but that spring I was sitting next to her, a Winchester 1400 MKII sitting across her lap, me sitting next to her with a big ole smile across my face... I was hunting with my wife! She had a blast. We were only able to hunt 3 days but the first day we had a gobbler within 50 yards. It hung up on the far side of a fence just gobbling its fool head off. It was extremely enjoyable for my wife. She didn't care less that she didn't get a shot (so she says...) while I was pretty disappointed. Just goes to show you the different views on hunting. She didn't care she didn't bag a bird. She just enjoyed being out in the woods and getting a chance to be that close to a turkey. Later, that summer, I started getting ready for bow season and she pulled out her bow and was shooting regularly. One day we were shooting together and she said, "You know, I might just want to try bow hunting...". A little stunned I said "...deer?" Yup, deer. Unfortunately we were not able to get out that year but she still has the interest. Bottom line, don't push. Remember the chances of her having the exact same interests in hunting you do are about zero, but she very well some day could be just as passionate about it, just for different reason. Start small and easily obtainable goals. Targets up close, small caliber rifle, light draw bow, etc. No insult meant but sort of like how you start off a child - you don't put a .44 carbine or a 10 gauge with turkey loads in the kids arms the first time off. Ease into it and don't fling out frustration if things don't go exactly how you'd like. Its all about her and getting her interested, and successfully, into hunting on her terms. You won't regret it...

GREAT topic. I have to admit that I am daily tempted to look at sucess in my life as how I'm doing in my job, money (how much I have), material belongings, how my relationships are going with friends and family, things like that. While these things all have relative importance I have to remind myself that the ultimate guage of how my life is going is my relationship with God. I can amass a huge stock pile of belongings. Have friends calling on me daily. Even have a "perfect" marriage with great kids. However, without my having a solid relationship to God it's all worth nothing, not in His terms anyway. This view sometimes puts me in a quandry, when I'm going through a rough stretch... "...I feel that I am right with Him so why does my life really stink right now...?" There isn't an easy answer. God doesn't exist in everyway that I can understand. He doesn't operate in ways that I will "get" everytime something happens. Part of a solid relationship is trusting and during those hard times it really challenges that trust factor, at least for me. So, how's my life going? How do I judge my life? Given its generally done in hindsight I can look back at some of the darkest, heaviest, most burden days and see how I reacted and say, "I've got room for improvement but I spent a lot of hours on my knees trusting Him." And today all is well? I have to ask myself, "Am I trusting Him as much as I did during a bad stretch or am I so comfortable I'm clipping along on my own?" Personally that's how I judge my life and how things are going.

Well, I've been a bit absentee over the last 6 months but I'm very thankful to say we have bought and are getting settled into our new home. God has REALLY blessed us in many ways including the home we purchased. While it needs some fixing up it is very livable, even comfortable, as is it needs some help. However, we purchased for much less than it is really worth. I'd posted a number of requests here from deciding if I should leave the place I had worked for 12 years to move, the interview process, selling the house we were in, all the way through to finding and purchasing a home. I praise God for answering all those prayers and thank all of you for praying for us!

My season is over guys. Had fun. Just the one doe unfortunately. Thanks for letting me in...

Howdy team. I didn't post it here but back in October I dropped a antlerless deer. My first ever archery deer. Very small. Wish now I had waited but you may have read that thread already. Anyway, I hope to get back out after rifle season and see what comes by. I have one more tag to fill.

First archery deer... Team 18. Antlerless deer - 5 points.

I've taken my first archery deer. Not only that, it was after only 45 minutes of my very first time in a tree stand with a weapon. I grunted a few times, bleated a few times, and he walked in. I dropped him on the spot, never ran a single step. I hit him high shoulder and spined him, no tracking necessary - from 22 yards. SO... why the reluctance? After all this is my first archery deer. Basically I shot Bambi. Probably a year old. Matter of fact, until I was down off the stand and at the deer I though it was a small doe. Tured out to be a yearling button buck. I was so angry with myself I couldn't bring myself to brag about any part of it. Even worse, I took pictures and realize, with me in the picture for reference, how small the deer really is. None-the-less, it has been a great learning experience. I'll know next time to really size up that deer before I let it fly. If I can get over it I'll post some pics but, really, its pathetic.

Dreamin' of the outdoors... LOL! Been busy is an understatement. I should have counted the red squirrel I shot the first day I was out!! LOL We close on our house Wednesday and I have this upcoming weekend off. I am going to get out this coming weekend!!!!

Yo Team 1! Anyone doing any good? I hope to make it out Thursday.

Nice buck! I went out today and did some scouting. I won't be hunting until after Oct 15th... closing on a house sale. I cleaned out the house and put everything in storage the last couple of days so the openner was a wash here. On the upside, a ton of sign where our stands are. We'll see.

Took me awhile but I'm here!!