Seans first Spring bird

 Well my minion got a hold of me last week and wanted to try for a turkey this year. Since I already had mine, I thought I could spare the time to call one in for him. So he and I went to the only place I have to turkey hunt and that would be those 5 magic acres from a couple years back. We got out on property a little late (per normal) and headed into the woods to sit and listen for at least half the day. After I got the decoys set out and set up the kill command area it was time to call and listen. All the video was taken with my RCA little wonders cam instead of my good cam so it's not the best at distance, but you get the idea.

Once the sun started coming up we heard a gobble to our left. Not in our woods but in the woods just across a field from us- that was good. The other gobble came from our right, way far right- that was bad. This gobble came from across the road and a creek. With the two birds talking I concentrated on the bird to our left.
Well after an hour of calling, the bird to our left found love and shut up. The bird on the right however was thundering every time I called which meant he was close and could hear me. I still thought he was across the creek and the road from us. I decided to get up go to the car drive down and see if I could see the bird. If I knew where he was it would be easier to get set up to cut him off. So I went out to the car and it wouldn't start, so I pulled up my big girl panties and walked down to see if I could see the bird.

Well I didn't see the bird so I went back to where we were sitting and continued to call every 10 minutes or so.
I was sitting there trying to figure out our next play. I started thinking the turkey gobbling was closer than I thought and he saw me get up and out of the woods. When I looked over to the left and saw 3 birds coming into the decoys. They didn't gobble, or strut I think they had been whooped by the big boy on the block.
 I didn't edit any of these videos so bear with them.
You should turn your volume up a little.

MMMMMmmm Turkey!!!!

Spring Turkey Season 2017

This year felt a little like last year just without all the rain. I hunted hard all 3 days from a half hour before sunrise to 1pm which is when we have to leave the field.
 The first day was decent with mostly sunshine, so the birds talked a little in the morning. Then shut up the rest of the day, which is normal on public.
The second day had some rain which wasn't too bad, but the wind was really kicking. I didn't hear a single bird all day. I did see 6 meandering through a field. I didn't have my binoculars with me so I couldn't get a good look.
The third day I really thought it was going to happen. I set up in a field I saw a strutter in the day before, so I knew he was around. When the sun popped up I had 3 turkey's talking, I had 1 really close to me another was not that far and the third was way to my right across the road. He was actually the turkey I hunted the first day and to tell you the truth last year. So I knew he was there and pretty much what he was all about.
Well I stayed put and listened to my 2 birds fly down, meet up, and follow a hen (I assume) directly away from me. That all took about 2 and a half hours.

 So once I realized where they were and where they were going I packed up my gear and headed out to cut em off. I got to the truck and headed up the road. When I got to were I thought I was in front of them, I got out of the truck shut the door and headed to the other si...... that was a turkey putting. Yep I had stopped parked and got out no more than 30 yards from where the turkey's were. So I got back in my truck and drove down a little further and hoped they would keep coming. I parked grabbed my gear and headed down to the furthest field in an attempt to get ahead of these birds. On the way I picked up my binoculars and glassed down the first field. I was right, the birds were all the way at the end, still in the field. So I got down to were I spooked them set out a couple decoys and called....and waited....and called.....and waited. Now if the birds were still on the way I should've heard or seen them in the hour that I gave them.
When they didn't show I got up and looked down the field and they were gone. So I packed up my gear and headed off to the truck. I went to the field in between where I was in the morning and where I had just been. I was still hopeful to get ahead of these birds. On my way into the field I was rounding a corner to the opening of the field and spotted a turkey contently feeding across my end. I glassed the bird and saw it was a hen, I got pretty excited because she might be with the birds I was hunting so I waited at the ready for the Tom to show. Well when he as a no show and she walked into the woods I made my way to the back corner of the field and into the woods to set up. I decided to give it an hour before I started back to the big field where I heard the Tom across the road this morning.
Well that spot didn't pan out, so once again I packed up my gear and headed to the truck.
I was going to head back and try to get on the Tom I had heard in the morning.

So I got to the parking spot a little before noon I grabbed my shotgun and off I went. When I first glassed him strutting like a stud in the field I knew it was on and that he was my only play. When I got to the 1 on the map that's were I stopped to see where he was and devise a game plan. It was 12:21 when I started the second leg of the stalk. When I saw him in the field he was working down that way and I knew if I wanted to fill my tag I would have to put the sneak on him. I just didn't have the time to drop a couple decoys and coax him up to see me, which I am sure he would've done... he was lookin' for love. I had to go back across the field follow the treeline and then cut back towards the Tom to get within range. When I got to the KZ-(kill zone... oops gave it away) I figured it was about 40 yards.I waited until he picked his head up out of strut, I put the red dot on his neck and squeezed the trigger. He just dropped without a flop I was amazed, I was ready with a follow-up but it was not needed. It was awesome I just put the sneak on a Boss Tom and made a clean kill from around 40 yards with 15 minutes to spare.
I would have much rather called him and had him strutting on video and taken him at 15 yards but I just didn't have the time.
Anyway..... he weighed in at 25 pounds had a 10 3/8's inch beard and 1 1/8 inch spurs, he was at least a 3 year old Boss.

Weight 25#, beard 10 3/8", spurs 1 1/8"

Almost a limb hanger

he can ride in my truck

The one thing I figured out this year is I have to buy at least 2 more pair of lucky underwear.

3 days in the same skivvies is just toooooo long.

Start of 2017 Fishing season

Mike and I went up yesterday to Lake Michigan to try our luck.
Good news and Bad news: I had luck and Mike didn't, well I shouldn't say that, he did snag a decent sized shad (trash) that is now seagull/coyote food on shore. He did try all day and didn't give up though. We had a pretty good day, the sun was out but it was pretty gusty all day. I caught both my fish on a red eye shad in red sexy shad color. We even stopped at Bass Pro and Mike bought the same thing I was using, still no luck. Well I guess just being with me and netting my fish should be enough to give him that warm fuzzy feeling. 😀

Well that and I let him keep the fish...... I wonder what he told his wife?

Time to put the 2016 season to bed

Yep it's at the end of another year. And this is how my next to last coyote hunt ended.

I just couldn't understand why my feet were getting wet and how the sticks were able to penetrate my boots. The good news was the weather was nice and I only hunted on them this way from noon on. Then the best news was I went to Rural King and got a pair for 18$.



I hit the sale at Rural King just right I got a pair of boots and an Under Armor beanie for 30 bucks which is just an unbelievable price. It was so good I went back the next day and got another pair of boots and another UA beanie.
Well enough small talk here's the stats from this year:

   2016  Hunting Season Breakdown

 Species    |  Days Afield  |  Number of Critters Taken

  Turkey                  6                           1

  Deer                      8                           0

  Dove                     3                          14

  Rabbit                   0                           0

  Pheasant                1                           1

                               Coon                Did not hunt/no fur market                          

  Coyote/Fox           3                           0

         Waterfowl            33             22 ducks/29 geese

Total                      54                          67

Well I can say I doubled my duck count but went down on the geese. I spent more time afield for deer and turkey and didn't capitalize on either, but it was still a good time. I got out a couple more days than last year and brought home more game.
I don't know... I think I had a pretty well rounded year this year and hope 2017 will yield about the same.
This summer is going to be kinda depressing, I'm selling my boat and won't have another until next spring. I am going to be working more this summer to help pay off some bills and save for the next boat. I am going to try and get out and do some fishing just not sure how much or where.
Anyway Turkey season is next and I have already put in for the draw at Mississinewa. I don't think I'll get it (I got drawn last year) but there's always hope. If I do need a spot Mike has mentioned that he's got tons of turkeys. So who knows, maybe this year I'll go shoot one of them dumb private prop. turkey's.
Anyway hope your year went as good as mine.
Stay safe and enjoy what life gives you because it can just as easily be taken away.

Waterfowl season is over

Last week was the last week for my waterfowl season. Mike and I went out twice, once to one of his properties and Friday we hit the water.
Wednesday- We got to Fred's stepped out the truck and realized the geese we were going to be hunting had roosted in the pond. While we looked the situation over we noticed something in the water closest to our shore. So I turned on my light and proceeded to walk closer. The closer we got the more confused we were. They didn't look like ducks and they weren't geese, so we continued to get closer. When we were within 15 yards I could finally make them out. They were snow geese... I have never seen a flock of 15 snow geese anywhere around here. Well needless to say once we were that close they took off. When they got up everything on the little pond got up. For the next 10 minutes it was nothing but flock after flock leaving the area. Well we got set up and could've quickly nailed down our limits. But we took our time, knowing we were going to stay the day in the hopes the snows would come back.
 The ducks and geese on that little pond offered a great show that went on all day. Once daylight started to wane we realized the snows were not going to return. Snow geese got the better of us again...
So we packed up our gear took the pics and headed home.

Friday we hit my water spot and toughed out the wind til around 2pm. We were a little late in arriving and had to push out the geese that had roosted there. We had a couple pairs come back and give a chance to bring geese home but we couldn't put steel on birds for whatever reason.
Oh well, we had to give it one last hoorah.
The only critters left now are coyotes and with the warm weather coming next week, I'm going to try to get out a couple times this week.