|
|
|
Welcome to Outdoor Life
Subscribe to Outdoor Life
Free Gift with Paid Order
OutdoorLife.com is part of the Bonnier Outdoor Group Network
Copyright © 2009 Bonnier Corp. All Rights Reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
Comments
Fall Turkey Checklist16
Let the games begin. Gathering gear for a fall turkey hunt (and road trip) isn’t all that different than in spring, unless you hunt with a dog as I and many others do. I spent September chasing early Maine geese and scouting turkey flocks, often at the same time. My home base shotgun season for turkeys doesn’t arrive until Oct. 17 though, so I’m off to New York in early October. The season starts Thursday, Oct. 1 in the upstate area I'm hunting; I'll miss the opener but get in there not long after. Stay tuned here for a full report.
Hey Steve, Thanks for your report and input, and thanks to everyone else for all your comments. I am not sure if I will be able to put together anything this fall. The belt is a little tight after having to buy a hunting rig this fall. Sold my truck last year and managed to beg and borrow my way around until now and if I want to make it back to Kansas this spring I will have to pass on the fall option. Anyway, I agree that some type of reduction would have been much better than a total ban. I firmly believe that the 388 birds harvested last fall was probably not the total kill but I am also sure that we did not come anywhere near the almost 10,000 harvested in the spring of '09. I simply hate the fact that this problem was not addressed before we came to the point of closing a season.
Fall Turkey Checklist16
Let the games begin. Gathering gear for a fall turkey hunt (and road trip) isn’t all that different than in spring, unless you hunt with a dog as I and many others do. I spent September chasing early Maine geese and scouting turkey flocks, often at the same time. My home base shotgun season for turkeys doesn’t arrive until Oct. 17 though, so I’m off to New York in early October. The season starts Thursday, Oct. 1 in the upstate area I'm hunting; I'll miss the opener but get in there not long after. Stay tuned here for a full report.
Hey Steve, It is now official...despite the fact that the fall 2009 hunting regulations have been published and distributed by the AGFC the fall firearms as well as archery turkey seasons have been closed. The panel passed the proposal for the closing of the season by a 4-2 vote. I am afraid that it may be a long time before Arkansas sees a fall turkey season again. I hate it for several reasons. I always liked having a wild turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas and it is super hard to hang on to one from the spring but now there is no fall opportunity. Another reason is the fact that I took my first bird with a bow last winter and my two young sons were with me....now that has been taken from me as well. Anyway, please keep doing what you do and I will live my fall turkey hunts through the words of you and your readers....and wait for April!!!
Sunstein on Hunting and Animal Rights15
In the Gun Shots blog, John Haughey, and by proxy, Alan Clemons, does a great job outlining the danger Cass Sunstein, Obama's pick to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (for which he might be confirmed as early as today), poses to hunting and how/why hunting and firearm organizations oppose his nomination.
I thought I'd take it a step farther and provide you with the source material, straight from the horse's mouth, and some of the highlights from his University of Chicago White Paper (along with some of my own comments), entitled "The Rights of Animals: A Very Short Primer".
When they close our current hunting seasons we all just need to ban together and open seasons on jerks like this.
How Was The Hatch?7
Brood survey results from New Hampshire are in.
Ted Walski, the longtime Turkey Project Leader for the N.H. Fish & Game Dept., reports that some turkey breeding behavior was noted as early as mid March in this northern region of the country. This made for some early brood sightings.
Steve, Disturbing news from my neck of the woods. The AGFC (Arkansas Game and Fish Commission) has released word of a proposal, not from the Turkey Program Coordinator, but from the new commish that all fall seasons, archery and shotgun, will be closed in 2009. I understand that the proposal also includes spring changes that have a 2 week season starting around April 7 and a one gobbler limit. I have done the democratic thing and voiced my opinion via email regarding the fall archery season which averages between 200 and 300 birds per year in the natural state. I am not sure of the fall shotgun harvest but there is already a safety net in place that closes fall firearms when the spring harvest drops below .5 birds per square mile of forest. Not sure where this "agenda" is coming from but I will keep you posted on the changes. BTW the poults are looking great, very healthy and numerous compared to the last few years.
Turkey Permit Time7
As of this writing, two items dominate Strut Zone turkey news: one to begin buying fall permits and one to offer an opinion on establishing spring hunting dates. Both share the same date: Monday, August 10, 2009.
First the permits. This year will be the first time turkey hunting is allowed during the November Nebraska firearm deer-hunting season.
Hey Steve. I have checked my recently-placed camera for the first time this year and have several pictures of a hen with 8 healthy poults dusting and picking in the ground I turned up for my food plot. Those pictures made me happier than if I had caught a 140 incher on the mineral lick!! Love seeing those healthy youngsters!!
Bearded Ladies13
So why do some hens get shot in spring?
Here’s where it gets tricky. It’s legal in many states. At least if they’re bearded. Sure enough, some hens have beards, often thin, with a kink in the middle, though they can go eight inches or so. Consider recent kill statistics for two states this past spring season: one in America’s turkey-hunting heartland and another on the northern edge of turkey habitat.
Hey Steve, Excellent topic of conversation. If you can remember, I started my season off with a bearded hen that fell victim to my bow back in Feb. of '09. As far as the Fall/Spring debate, isnt this a little like the age old question of when to harvest a doe, early or late season?? Bottom line is, a hen that is shot in October will lay the same number of eggs as a hen that is shot in April....zero. I would be the first to tell you that with the way our population is here in AR I would like to see the fall season go to male turkey only for the "gunners" and go to one male turkey for the spring as well.
Hooks From Hell8
“Who’d a thought you could even find a turkey during a dust storm with 40+ m.p.h winds?” Skipper Duncan said in his recent end-of-season report. “Here’s proof that even unfavorable weather can still produce results.”
It’s been a handful of years since I sat around the fire ring at Skipper’s place, but the following spur stats from a couple trophy turkeys don’t surprise me.
Hey Steve, Despite the heat wave we have I have seen a few birds out in the cut hay fields bugging lately and am now suffering from turkey hunting withdrawls. I have several sets of hooks from Kansas that are 1.5-inch-plus with one set that measures 2 inches and another that is over 1.75 inches....and I took those two giants together around April 20 a few years back. I will try and get some pictures of the spurs posted to my profile soon. In my opinion, anytime you can take a bird with spurs of 1.5 inches or better you have a monster on your hands, no matter what the beard looks like.
Turkey Mounts15
“Sir, what’s this feathery looking thing in your carry-on bag?” the TSA guy asked.
“A wild turkey tail,” I replied.
He laughed, nodded his head, and let me move on to my connecting flight.
Like many of you, I’ve traveled this spring with turkey parts. I’ve beards, fans and spurs drying down in my log home’s basement. Fiddling with turkey parts is a way to bring the spring turkey season to a close, at least for me.
Hey guys, I have a few fans but usually I save my brass from the shell and knock the primer out. I cut the spurs from the leg about 1 inch above and below and use a Qtip to clean them out. I run a piece of leather through each spur then through the primer hole in the brass of the shotgun shell to serve as a lanyard, then hot glue the beard in the shell and I have a complete set of beard and spurs from each bird I have taken.
Cat Attack14
Western Massachusetts turkey hunter Rick Donati sat motionless, in full camo, using his box call to imitate a lovelorn hen.
“I was on the side of a hill. The sun was out; it was an absolutely gorgeous day. I was tucked in next to a stone wall that had some brush along it,” Donati later told the Nashua (NH) Telegraph newspaper.
On a similar note I was attacked several years ago by a huge wild boar while turkey hunting in the Ozark National Forest. I was trying to work in a bird when I saw something black coming out of a pine thicket onto the hardwood bench in front of me. It continued to come straight to me as a turkey would but when it hit the opening I saw it was a hog. I waived my hands in the air thinking it would spook the animal but he gave a couple of grunts and came at me full steam ahead. I let him get inside of 20 yards before I ever pulled the trigger. 3 shots of Winchester Xtended Range later he piled up at a mere 7 steps. The last shot he was so close it looked like a slug slammed his forehead and I found that wadding buried in his neck after it passed through his skull. Nerve racking to say the least.
Last-Minute Gobblers17
Yep, still turkey hunting. New Hampshire. May 31. Spring turkey season closed at noon.
Two days before, Friday May 29, my buddy Dave—who had killed a nice Maine gobbler—and I found two longbeards in a rainy-day plowed field over the border. The landowner said they came there every day. She renewed permission to hunt them at the wire. A sure bet? Easy pickings to close off the season right? If you answered yes, you haven’t hunted wild turkeys long enough.
Hey Steve, Nothing like the taste of sour grapes to chew on until October!! I am in total agreement with the season blowing by and seeming like a dream...although mine wasnt quite as long as yours. The flood waters here are finally backing down but I am sure they took a toll on nests. A friend of mine said his dad ran over a hen on a nest of 11 eggs last week while mowing hay. He said she had not been on that nest long because the eggs did not have birds in them, just bloody yolks. Just what a suffering turkey population needs....higher mortality/lower hatch....