Next....

Fall turkey season is officially closed (for me). I hunted yesterday morning and heard a couple of birds in the trees around me. I never saw them when they hit the ground, so I went home and mowed the lawn. Took a shower and was back in the field by 4 p.m. by 5:14 my tag was filled. I didn't get any video because this little girl came in silent. She peeked down the trail turned to walk away so I put the red dot on her and put her in the dirt.
 Season over.

Next week: duck and goose opener....YEAH

Own your mistakes.... face the consequences

Yesterday morning I woke early to get some chores around the house done because I was meeting up with Sean for the turkey opener. Well, I got a call around 6:26 a.m. letting me know that Sean just got up and was going to be late. No worries don't rush just get here when you can. Well, we finally got to our hunting spot around 7:40ish a little late but not terrible. As we sat there we could hear the turkeys talking back and forth, still roosted a little to our east. I'm guessing around 8:15 we had our first fly down, a hen dropped in no more than 10 yards from us. Sean couldn't see her because of a couple of trees in the way. He also had a hard time because he wasn't turned enough so he had to contort to get on her. Anyway, she saw him move when he was turning for the shot, so she ducked her head and briskly walked away.
I really wasn't worried at this point because we could still hear turkey's in the trees talking. As we waited I had Sean turn a little and I kept chatting with the turkeys in the trees. After a couple of minutes, we had some more fly downs but they went to the North out of sight. Then we had another flydown in the same spot the first hen was. Right behind her were a couple turkeys coming in from behind us.
Well, I wanted the birds to keep walking by us to get in front so we both could get on a bird. However, at 10 yards you just can't get away with any movement, and they were seeing stuff they just didn't like. So they started walking away, I started prodding Sean to pick one and shoot, shoot, can you see one? shoooooooot.
Finally, he was able to get on a bird and squeeze the trigger. When he did an explosion of turkeys ensued, all the birds to our right took off, the birds in front of us took flight and took off, even the birds that set down to our North were coming in to see what was going on jumped in the air a couple feet then set down and took off. We were covered up in turkeys and I couldn't get on any of them to double up. So we decided since Sean's bird was flopping in front of us that we would just sit for an hour to see if we could get one to come back for me to shoot.
Well, when the hour was up we got up, walked over to my deer stand and I showed him where I was when I shot my deer last week. Then we walked back picked up his bird gathered our stuff and headed out to the car to get the hero pic.

Well once we got the gear stashed in the car we started filling out the transport tag.
Sean asked me if it was the 10th or 11th?
I looked at him and said,"what?? it's the 17th"
He said no it's the 10th.
I said no it's not..... and I grabbed my phone and stared at the date in disbelief..... we shot this bird a week early.
Now the holy shits set in, after the initial shock wore off, the first call I made was to a Conservation officer to turn ourselves in and see what he wanted us to do.
I explained what had happened and how I honestly thought it was Oct. the 17th. After some more discussion, the C.O. asked where we could meet up, by that time I was already at home so I gave him my home address and he said he would meet us there. We unpacked the car I cleaned the bird and awaited the C.O. and our punishment. Even though Sean squeezed the trigger and took the bird, I was the reason he was there and I felt ultimately responsible.
I told Sean that no matter what happens I'll make it right, whether he gets fined or his gun taken away I will reimburse him.
After a half hour of sitting on needles the C.O. finally shows up at the house, and we tell the story again.
After hearing it again he says, "mistakes happen, and since you called and turned yourself in I'm just going to give you a warning."
In amazement and relief, I just stood there for a couple seconds and let what just happened sink in. I gratefully shook his hand and I think recounted the mixup a couple more times, not really sure, I was just kinda babbling and not paying attention to what I was saying.
He wrote up Sean's warning and we all chatted about hunting and the opportunities up North here. After all was said and done we shook hands again and we parted ways.
All in all, it was a good experience that I never want to have again, and trust me I will be checking dates twice before going out hunting again.

Not to minimize it but you see turkey is in season right now for archery, not firearms. So really we just used the wrong method to take this turkey. Firearms opens on the 17th of Oct.
I'll be out opening morning trying to get my bird.

well.... back to work

At least until next week, when fall turkey season opens. Last week, I did quite a bit but it feels like I really didn't accomplish much.
I forgot about this but this finally happened.

LOOK AT THAT INSIDE TEMP 59.4 YEAH!!!!

 I worked on the boat mostly,

I got the whole deck in and only have to drill and rivet it down before I lay the vinyl.
...yeah trying to remember what else I did last week. Sorry but just drawing a blank, however, I did work on the boat again this week. I got the whole front deck tore off, and am trying to decide whether or not to invest a couple hundred bucks in aluminum to raise the casting deck another 6" or just redeck it as it is.... I'm leaning toward the investment.
Anyway here's the pics

It would make it easier to fish out of and I would be that much higher so I could see into the water easier. Really leaning towards the investment.

Well, I went out deer hunting yesterday, I forgot my thermacell so I only lasted a couple hours before the skeeters drove me nuts.

I also got out this morning for all of an hour, this is what I saw.

pretty young buck, but I'll have deer meat this year

 I went out to my private prop. again this morning and knew with the direction of the wind I would be able to sit below my tree stand, (didn't want to be tempted to shoot too far) and my scent would be blowing away from where I thought the deer would come from. I was only sitting for 45 minutes before this guy started walking in from upwind and right of me. He kept walking from my right to my left and I grunt stopped him at 14 yards directly in front of me. He never knew I was there, I was tucked back in some brush and behind a tree. When he stopped, I was already safety off and ready to shoot. I loosed the arrow and from the way he took off, I knew I got a good hit on him. I gathered my gear and walked down to check the arrow. Nice clean red blood on it, it was only a matter of time. So I packed out took the car home and got the truck. When I found him he was only 20 yards from where I shot him and when I gutted him, I saw why he only went a couple yards.

Total heart shot

 MMMmmm heart... it's what's for dinner.

This is the first deer I've shot in a while, he wasn't huge but he got to ride in the Titan.

Hunting and Fishing lull

The next couple weeks are going to be nothing but work weeks. I still have the deck of the boat tore up and there's really nothing to hunt until the 1st of Oct. when deer comes in.
This week I went to the dentist on Monday, rented a 50 septic snake to snake out the drain in front of the garage. Tuesday I returned the snake dismayed and ticked off because it didn't work the way I wanted it too. The drain in front of the garage has had water back up, and I thought if I got the snake I could open the other end and the water would drain better. Well, from the way it felt the people who built the garage cemented over the exit hole. Now I have to get a sewer company to come and tell me exactly where the discharge hole is so I can bust up the concrete. I also cooked up a bunch of geese on Tues. which turned out really good. I did a pulled goose with 6-7 geese and a goose stew with 2 geese and today I actually cooked up some flying prime rib. So I will have plenty to eat for the next couple weeks. Wednesday I brought my car in and got a chip in the windshield fixed that happened on Tues. coming back from F.W. Then when I got home I patched up the exhaust on my pos so I would stop bothering the neighbors 3 blocks over. Today.... well today outside of the cooking I searched for a flashlight that has been missing for a while.
I haven't worked on the boat yet, but need to before Oct. 1st. So more than likely next week I'll work on the boat, I'm hoping to get the deck in and maybe even get the linoleum laid.
I cannot wait for waterfowl opener.

Auspicious beginning

Alright, not really but I wanted to start the new hunting year off on a good note. This is how it really started. I went dove hunting last Monday and the only thing dropping was sweat.
I went to Mongo which usually has a pretty good dove showing only to see that the sunflowers that were planted for the doves either didn't grow or got grazed off by deer. I sat in a very poor excuse for a sunflower field for over 5 hours only to see a handful of doves. The only dove I did have a shot at I whiffed on. Now the fields weren't the fault of the DNR, we had a 27-day drought that was the leading cause of the poor shape of the fields. Since I didn't do so well dove hunting I headed into town to pick up my chairs that my neighbor had refinished for me.

 

 He did a super nice job on them and they look brand new, Thanks, Tom.

Tuesday I stayed home and worked on the boat.

 It still looks the same today however, it will get some attention next week. Now on Wednesday, I found out the dealership didn't receive my check for my extended warranty. So had to call the bank and get them to issue a new one and cancel the old one.
Then work.
Monday My Minion and I went to Mongo to try their goose stakes. Now I had never done this but thought we should give it a go just to see what it's like. Come to find out it's just pass shooting spots across the whole property. I was under the assumption that these were stakes set up under known goose flight lines, you just needed to get lucky to be under the one that they are using. So needless to say we didn't do well, we did see a goose but he was pretty far away.
Yesterday I was going to pack up and make the 45 minute run to the river. I got up on time, loaded the truck, hooked up the boat and ..... no lights on the trailer. After an hour of looking for my 12-volt circuit tester, I did what any sane person would've done, I went back to bed. When I got up I looked for my tester some more, realizing it was gone I went and bought a new one. Then after testing my wiring I went and bought some new lights. Since I felt as if I had wasted most of the day anyway I decided to mow the lawn, that way I could say I mowed the lawn and fixed my trailer lights.
Wednesday I got up packed the truck, hooked up the boat and headed to the river. After hunting most of the day and bagging the only goose I saw.

boy that's a small goose

 I packed it in and started home, but before I did I noticed one of my grease covers on the trailer was missing. I checked them yesterday and must not have attached it well enough to stay on, so now I'm in the market for a new cover. When I got back I had to call the dealership again and I found out they messed up my title for the truck. So now they have to do some more leg work and fix the title so I can get the truck in my name. They said it would take better than a month to get it straightened out and they will pay the fees incurred because I only have 45 days to get the truck titled.
Thankfully I will have about 4 weeks of nothing to do but work on stuff unless I go south for some dove.
Anyway, my hunting season started with 1 goose, a crappy sunflower field, and some trailer issues....... oh well I guess this is where one would say, "it can only get better".