I haven't been out in the woods a WHOLE lot this summer. But from what I have seen........and what my brother has seen.......we didn't get much of a hatch this year.
He's seen a grand total of one brood and I've seen two broods. He saw a single hen with 2 poults approximately a month ago. Yesterday I saw 3 hens with 2 poults among them. One was about 2/3 the size of the adult hens. The other was about the size of a Hun or a chukar.
Hopefully it's just because I haven't been out much. But from what we've seen so far............ain't good.
I saw some earlier this year, but it has been so hot and dry around here I am not sure if they all made it or not. I have seen several hens in the last few weeks but none with little ones. Hard to believe that they are already out on their own.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Last winter I killed 28 or 30 coons on 80 acres. This summer I have 2 hens on camera with one poult each. I'll probably be able to kill another 30 coons this winter. Then there are the coyotes killing off almost every fawn around the area with a few bobcats thrown in for good measure. It'd be tough world to be a animal momma in. This in central KS.
Last winter I killed 28 or 30 coons on 80 acres. This summer I have 2 hens on camera with one poult each. I'll probably be able to kill another 30 coons this winter. Then there are the coyotes killing off almost every fawn around the area with a few bobcats thrown in for good measure. It'd be tough world to be a animal momma in. This in central KS.
Good on you !!!! Turkeys need all the help they can get. This fall starts an all out WAR on turkey and turkey nest predators on our property.
I have seen more hens with poults in the past month than I've seen in several years. On the flip side, I've seen a bunch of hens without little ones, and they are the majority of the hens I've seen. I have trapped a bunch of coons here this year, around 20 or so, but I believe there are other reasons for the bad hatches. But, I'm just tickled pink to see some little ones, and from what I've seen, I'd say they were probably the second nesting.
I have trapped a bunch of coons here this year, around 20 or so, but I believe there are other reasons for the bad hatches.
There are definitely other reasons. Weather, likely being the biggest of those. But I ain't figured out how to do anything about that one yet. LOL !!! So, til I do........ I'll just work on the stuff I CAN make a difference on.
Great that you're seeing good broods in your neck of the woods !!!!
Great turkey populations up here in NE WI, but great predator populations too. Seeing more and more raccoons on the trail cam pictures, some booner racoons too! Lol! So I'm starting to do what I can as well, the 17 Mach II is sighted in and ready to go! Trying to talk my good friend, who is a WI resident, into going suppressed just because... I can't as an IL resident. Our politicians here watch too many movies, but that's an entirely different topic in a different forum.
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
Pulled out of my driveway yesterday and started down the road, 2 houses down and a good size flock of turkeys at it, with most being this years hatch. That made me feel better, at least about that one group of birds anyway.
Last edited by pullit; 08/19/22.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
In the last week I've seen a group of 4 jakes, a lone longbeard, a group of 5 longbeards and a group with 3 longbeards, a jake and two barren hens. Not very hopeful news...........
As an aside.......... One of the longbeards in the group with the jake and hens was swinging one of the longest ropes I've ever seen around these parts. Pretty cool to see.
if fur prices don`t come back we won`t have many Turkeys in Minnesota last year at my home i shot 26 coons,3 possum 2021, this year 2022 so far i have killed 14 coons 3 possum . broods are small to none , i have 3 jakes and 1 tom that stay close to my house this summer 2022 must be to many predators out here in the country ? i keep my 22 K-Hornet loaded and close. Minnesota needs to start a bounty on predators again.
I have been in the woods a bunch this Summer and I have seen maybe 15 or so hens that had a total of 4 poults. The turkey population in my neck of the woods has dropped to what I estimate is 1/4th of what is was 10 years ago.....Hb
Not many peOple put out trail cameras without putting bait in front of them....
That being said I've never or ever will own a game camera.
Hunting is about the unknown.....too many so called hunters today are just window shoppers.
I can certainly see your position. I run about 15 cameras to let me know what I have to sit over (deer) and to make sure that I only shoot a 4 year old or better. Most of my hunting is in low/no light so I will take every bit of help I can. Cameras also help me to limit pressure on places that I have good deer.
"If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die, I want to go where they went" Will Rogers
In my neck of the woods, the turkeys are bigger than the eagles and fight back.
They're fighting over the whiskey.
I have no doubt turkeys fight back. But the flight abilities and hardware on an eagle trump the turkey's. And the proliferation of eagles must be having an impact. I saw so many eagles last spring season, more than I'd ever seen in the past. We have so many eagle here in southestern Virginia. A few years ago I saw one attack a Blue Heron in the top of a cypress tree, drive it off, and carry away the Heron poult.
In fact, the numbers of raptors of all kinds have exploded. Even small Coopers Hawks will take poults and I see those every day. They're everywhere. I saw a Coppers Hawk tailing two crows, catch up underneath, pull an Immelman. and snatch a crow and try to carry it off in the direction it had just come. I find feathers in my yard all the time from Cooper Hawk attacks on doves.
Given all the raptors out there, its amazing turkey poults survive at all.
I guess I'm skewing your numbers, no bait here. And it's totally up to you whether you use a tool that's available or not, but please be careful you don't fall off that tall soapbox you like to stand on. My 2 trail cameras serve more purpose that to see what wonders by. They help me monitor the 2 legged varmints that wonder by too.... which, unfortunately, is an issue lately.
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
Years ago, I saw a red tailed hawk either catch, or try to catch a poult. The hen flew after the hawk, and I have never seen a turkey fly that fast or that high. We don't have many eagles here, but do have an overabundance of hawks. Growing up on a farm that had a large flock of chickens, my grandfather had a rule............if it would catch a chicken, you killed it. Back before they became protected, we shot every hawk we saw.
I see occassional Red Tailed Hawks. I see far more eagles. And smaller Cooper Hawks. And we have a metric shytload of Barred Owls around here. And those owl very much will hunt in the day.
As far as raccoons, this area is proliferating with them. Not only will they kill poults, they are capable for killing adult turkeys and fawns. The Va DWR says raccoons are the #1 predators of fawns. I've seen them go across my property at night in groups, and they are as big, bigger than the foxes I'm seeing.
I keep the dog proof coon traps out year round. I caught 2 coons and 2 possums in the past week. It's illegal to that according to the trapping season, but if I don't my place will be overrun with them. The coons will devastate a sweet corn patch, and both coons and possums prey on my chickens.
The state game and fish people need to wise up and allow the taking of these predators on a year round basis.
Never heard of a racoon killing a turkey big or small or a fawn.
Some of the local Mennonites raise turkeys on a contract, pasture raised birds. They do it so whoever processes and sells them can call them organic or some kind of crap like that. Anyway, they have problems with predators, including coons, and having seen a coon kill a full grown chicken, I have no doubt they could take a pretty good sized turkey.
Now, a fawn is another matter. I've never seen or heard of it happening.
Plenty of turkey broods in the east-central part of Minnesota. I get around from the Cities to Duluth and see at least a couple every day. I chased up one brood of about a dozen from the yard at the cabin when I went to mow the trails. Just yesterday I ran across three groups of combined broods numbering from about 15 to more than 30. Bachelor groups are regularly seen running around 10 birds in each group.
I lost two nests to predators, likely raccoons, this spring. I haven't seen any signs of a raccoon taking a turkey but I have seen two instances over the last 30 years where an otter tried. Neither time was the otter successful but there were a lot of feathers. Around here, fox seem to be the real problem where it comes to predation of turkeys. Find a fox den and one will find the remains of a fair number of ground nesting birds. One will find far fewer signs of bird predation around a coyote den but one will find fox remains (and cat too).
A newborn fawn weighs under 10 lbs and won't move when approached by a predator. Raccoons can go over 20 lbs and would have no problem killing a fawn. I remember a DWR study done some years ago, when they were the DGIF, that suggested where there were bears, they and bob cats were the biggest predators of fawns. Where neither existed in any numbers, raccoons were.
Damn! A coon kill a fawn? I never considered that but I know coons are thicker than fleas on a dogs back around here....nobody hunts them anymore, I only know 1 coon hunter now....Hb
Anyone that thinks raccoons are just trash can raiders and egg eaters are discounting the fact that they are efficient and capable preadators in their own right capable of taking down an animal at least their own weight. I doubt a newborn fawn weighs as much as this iquana.
I've seen raccoons on my property running acros my front yard 2 and 3 at a time, with some so tall that they would come up to my knee.
I have had guides on pheasant hunts tell me that coons there get to be in the 30 pound range and will tear up a bird dog. I did shoot one out there while hunting, they were WAY bigger than any I have seen around my house.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
raccoons can be dang nasty here in Minnesota sometimes, a friend shot a raccoon years ago that weighed over 60 lbs but the record raccoon weighed 75 lbs. i have shot them 30-40 lbs at least once a year . i went to using a 22 K-Hornet just because a raccoon is tuff to kill sometimes .
Maybe if you owned a game camera or went out at night, you might not be so ataken back at someone saying they can be as tall as the knee. It's really not uncommon at all. They can, and do, get bigger than a lot of people think. They aren't just fuzzy, cute, widdle aminals.
I have had guides on pheasant hunts tell me that coons there get to be in the 30 pound range and will tear up a bird dog. I did shoot one out there while hunting, they were WAY bigger than any I have seen around my house.
A coon will whip most any dog that screws with it...I guess you guys never saw a coon dog fight.
I use to coon hunt a lot in my teen's and early 20's so yes, I have seen a coon fight a dog. Never seen coons as big as they have in SD around the woods we hunted in TN.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
They'll get big any place they can eat well. I live near marshes and I see them along the creek banks feasting on fiddler crabs. They can eat non-stop. The fiddler crabs here are crazy thick.
I have had guides on pheasant hunts tell me that coons there get to be in the 30 pound range and will tear up a bird dog. I did shoot one out there while hunting, they were WAY bigger than any I have seen around my house.
A coon will whip most any dog that screws with it...I guess you guys never saw a coon dog fight.
Depends on the dog. I had a Lab that would kill them. I've seen a coonhound grab one and chew on until it died, even though the coon was biting it's ears and nose off.
We have several broods around my place. The largest has a10 chicks and the birds are good size. One clutch is clearly a second hatching, the chicks are so small I fear they will not last the winter. I found one nest that was destroyed and there were lots of adult feathers around. One of the broken eggs had a chick inside. I'm thinking this was a neighbor's dog because every thing wasn't eaten. No raccoons or possum in my area and few coyotes. There is a bobcat with cubs showing up on my neighbors game camera and he likes them.
Crows move into my area with the birds start nesting. I believe they watch the hens and learn the nesting sites. It's not safe for me to shoot at birds up in trees and they have all learned to not land on my property.
The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. Albert Einstein
I have had guides on pheasant hunts tell me that coons there get to be in the 30 pound range and will tear up a bird dog. I did shoot one out there while hunting, they were WAY bigger than any I have seen around my house.
A coon will whip most any dog that screws with it...I guess you guys never saw a coon dog fight.
Not true, we had a dog that took on a whole family of coons, I believe there were 6 total. The young ones were nearly full grown. It didn't take long for that dog to kill them all.
I prefer classic. Semper Fi I used to run with the hare. Now I'm envious of the tortoise and I do my own stunts but rarely intentionally
I have had guides on pheasant hunts tell me that coons there get to be in the 30 pound range and will tear up a bird dog. I did shoot one out there while hunting, they were WAY bigger than any I have seen around my house.
A coon will whip most any dog that screws with it...I guess you guys never saw a coon dog fight.
Not true, we had a dog that took on a whole family of coons, I believe there were 6 total. The young ones were nearly full grown. It didn't take long for that dog to kill them all.
I kinda snickered at that, too.
But, bear in mind......... A guy sitting in a Memphis subdivision doesn't know a whole lot about country dogs and what they do to raccoons. Matter of fact, there's a whole lot he doesn't know a whole lot about.
I know one thing for sure Donny bOy you are full of crap....
Tell us again how you were paid by the turkey hunting and choke tube industry for what was it two decAdes secret agent mAn.
First off.......... If were gonna stay friends, Luther, you're gonna have to remember. It's "DonnIE". Not "Y". I told you that once. But you musta forgot. Try to get it right next time.
And, Yes. Right around two decades. You DID remember THAT right.
The elephant in the room few people talk about is poaching. There's lots of poachers out there and one poacher shooting a lot of illegal birds can put a huge dent into a local population. For every one caught, there are many more that get awayt with it. I've no use for a poacher, among the lowest life scum there is. They should serve jail time, loose their hunting priveleges for life and be banned from owning firearms at all.
“He had five-gallon buckets full of turkey beards. There were more turkey beards than any one person could legally harvest in a lifetime,” said Kekic. “There was an 8-foot by 8-foot shed in his back yard that was full floor to ceiling with deer antlers.”
“Over the last three years, we could only find evidence that Cook had legally checked one turkey,” Cobb said in the article. The legal annual limit is three birds, but Cobb said Cook later confessed to killing nine turkeys and missing three others during April 2006. Cobb said Cook said, “I can promise you … that’s it right there. You just can’t get any better than that.”
Cobb said Cook confessed to killing up to 12 turkeys per year and as many as four a day, although a photo in evidence shows him with a dog and five freshly killed turkeys.
The elephant in the room few people talk about is poaching. There's lots of poachers out there and one poacher shooting a lot of illegal birds can put a huge dent into a local population. For every one caught, there are many more that get awayt with it. I've no use for a poacher, among the lowest life scum there is. They should serve jail time, loose their hunting priveleges for life and be banned from owning firearms at all.
“He had five-gallon buckets full of turkey beards. There were more turkey beards than any one person could legally harvest in a lifetime,” said Kekic. “There was an 8-foot by 8-foot shed in his back yard that was full floor to ceiling with deer antlers.”
“Over the last three years, we could only find evidence that Cook had legally checked one turkey,” Cobb said in the article. The legal annual limit is three birds, but Cobb said Cook later confessed to killing nine turkeys and missing three others during April 2006. Cobb said Cook said, “I can promise you … that’s it right there. You just can’t get any better than that.”
Cobb said Cook confessed to killing up to 12 turkeys per year and as many as four a day, although a photo in evidence shows him with a dog and five freshly killed turkeys.
VDGIF biologists confirmed 52 pair of turkey wings were seized from the poacher's house.
That stuff just disgusts me.
When I started to hunt, my dad (who was 150% by the law book) told me "If you didn't do it by the rule book.......you didn't do it". His way of saying you've no right to claim any accomplishment that you didn't do completely within the rules. I have lived those words EVERY time I've gone hunting my entire life, whether it be turkeys, deer, crows or coyotes. Cheaters fire me up.
I will say I never thought about poaching, I guess because I don't and would not do it, that it never crossed my mind. That said, I could see how (in the cases stated above) that could sure put a dent in the population for sure.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
One of the reasons I carry when I'm in the field in NC, and the biggest reason, is that bear poaching is a serious problem there. I'm far less concerned about bears than I am about bear poachers. And they work in groups. I saw a truck load of bear poachers on the NWR I frequent who had come over from the game land to the south. Even got photos for the law enforcement I contacted. Those guys are serious criminals and not to be trifled with.
Another thing they do is work in groups. One guy, or maybe more, in trucks but without a weapon will come onto the NWR and scout the property and locate a bear then radio his buddy who then zooms in in a separate truck and shoots it, loads it and takes off, while the original guys keep a lookout for the law. The guy that shoots is stopped for only minutes before he is gone with his bear. It's easy there. In the many years I have been going there, I have only seen USFWS law enforcemnent patroling the area once. I occassional see a refuge facilities vehicle, but almost never actual law enforcement.
I have zero use for a poacher. They are wildlife and game thieves.
Those examples of turkey poaching above from Virginia are only the some of the ones that have been caught and written about. Poaching is a a serious problem, and I suspect most of the poachers don't ever get caught. I've known people that always seem to have fresh venison. Really? How'd you re-stock your venison supply in July?
Even got photos for the law enforcement I contacted.
Best thing you can do............. GET INVOLVED.
Too many people that I know moan and groan about their neighbor or a friend of a friend or the Amish poaching.
Me: "What do you want ME to do about it ?? Did you call the warden ??"
Them: "No".
Me: "Why not ??"
Them: "They won't do anything about it."
Me: "Maybe not. But DEFINITELY not if they don't know about it."
Seems too many people around here would just as soon turn a blind eye and just whine about the poachers. Either DO something about it or shut up. As true sportsmen, we are OBLIGATED to get involved whenever possible and police our own ranks.
I was an IL and WI Hunter Safety Ed Instructor for a very long time, a very long time. Finally got tired enough of the politic riddled DNR's here to "retire". But in doing it for as long as I did, I got to know many of the Conservation Police Officer's and still have a couple in my phone. I too will contact them if needed, there's too few of them out in the field, they need our help against poachers! Around here, the biggest poaching are huge whitetail bucks. While not common, I've seen many over 180", some over 200"! As we all know, poachers steal from every law abiding hunter out there! Sadly, there's just too much money involved in it! I like how many of the countries in Africa handle poaching, they're shot on the spot!
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
It's not unheared of that a trophy whitetail is bought or killed in Michigan or Wisconsin and tranported to Virginia or some other state, possibly killed along the way, then reported as a kill in the destination state.
And I agree about too few DWR officers. East of I-95 and south of Rt 33, which is basically the southeastern quarter of the state, there are 3 on duty at any given time. I talked to one that checked my license this last spring. He was a DWR officer that has checked my license before and I've gotten to know him, kind of, and he stated they simply can't repond to all the calls they get. We have billboardshere along some of our highways advertising for jobs as DWR officers. We just don't have enough. But we have more than our share of slob hunters.
During deer season, we allow hound hunting east of the Blue Ridge. That is a "club" activity. They have no problem shooting literally anything their dogs chase out of the roads. I've seen it. Fawns, does, buck, foxes, whether they are in season or not. On a local WMA I hunt, taking does is forbidden. Yet I see them laying in the back of hunt club trucks.
And I agree about too few DWR officers. East of I-95 and south of Rt 33, which is basically the southeastern quarter of the state, there are 3 on duty at any given time.
Truth !!!
In this state, there are 2 wardens (at best) in each county. And that is assuming the fish & game dept. is fully staffed............which they never are. They are pretty much limited to 40 hours a week except in big game seasons.. This county is 664 square miles. The county south of here is 1036 square miles (178 square miles smaller than Rhode Island). Poachers have nearly a wide open opportunity.
The elephant in the room few people talk about is poaching.
Quote
“He had five-gallon buckets full of turkey beards. There were more turkey beards than any one person could legally harvest in a lifetime,” said Kekic. “There was an 8-foot by 8-foot shed in his back yard that was full floor to ceiling with deer antlers.”
Wasn't there a feller on here that threw away 5 gallon buckets full of turkey beArds ?
One thing for sure glOckhead you'll never have to worry about being a pOacher.
Actually, everything I kill is legal. What I don't do is kill 30 turkeys in a year (IF that actually happened), brag about it, then whine about decreasing turkey numbers.
BTW, try and get out some more. Maybe your notions about all raccoon being no bigger than mice might be corrected.
Anyways, I'm off. Shooting clays again today. Shooting clays, Luther, that means actually going outside and doing something.
Just got back. I've been using my new Browning Citori White Lightning 12 g 26".
Scored 18/25 on the wobble stand, 16/25 on the 5 stand, and 68/100 on the course.
My shooting buddy shot the course using his CZ 20g semi auto. He had just gotten the gun back from CZ for failure to cycle issues. Had something to with the carrier they said. It's not fixed, he was having failures to cycle all day long. We were shooting 2 shots, 2nd shot on report (I guess that's what you call it), he was missing a lot of the second clays due to the failure to cycle. So back to CZ it's going. He switched to a CZ 12g o/u on the wobble and 5-stand and did much better.
It was terribly hot today. Not bad in the shade, but in the sun it was wicked hot and humid.
Clay games can be frustrating, humbling... maddening! Even more so when equipment doesn't work as intended and designed.
One course we were shooting on, they used these little black targets through the shade of the trees. None of us could see them at all! Lol! We could hear the trap release, but that was it.
I was successful enough at hitting the rabbit station consistantly enough that the staff called me "an ol ground swatter"! Lol!
Last edited by DeanAnderson; 08/25/22.
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
Just got back. I've been using my new Browning Citori White Lightning 12 g 26".
Scored 18/25 on the wobble stand, 16/25 on the 5 stand, and 68/100 on the course.
My shooting buddy shot the course using his CZ 20g semi auto. He had just gotten the gun back from CZ for failure to cycle issues. Had something to with the carrier they said. It's not fixed, he was having failures to cycle all day long. We were shooting 2 shots, 2nd shot on report (I guess that's what you call it), he was missing a lot of the second clays due to the failure to cycle. So back to CZ it's going. He switched to a CZ 12g o/u on the wobble and 5-stand and did much better.
It was terribly hot today. Not bad in the shade, but in the sun it was wicked hot and humid.
Sounds like some pretty good shooting. I can’t hit anything moving with a shotgun being that I’m right handed and left eye dominant. I tried once or twice and it was pitiful.
“No one in hell can ever say I went to Christ and He rejected me.
Just got back. I've been using my new Browning Citori White Lightning 12 g 26".
Scored 18/25 on the wobble stand, 16/25 on the 5 stand, and 68/100 on the course.
My shooting buddy shot the course using his CZ 20g semi auto. He had just gotten the gun back from CZ for failure to cycle issues. Had something to with the carrier they said. It's not fixed, he was having failures to cycle all day long. We were shooting 2 shots, 2nd shot on report (I guess that's what you call it), he was missing a lot of the second clays due to the failure to cycle. So back to CZ it's going. He switched to a CZ 12g o/u on the wobble and 5-stand and did much better.
It was terribly hot today. Not bad in the shade, but in the sun it was wicked hot and humid.
I'd love to try some of the other games someday. All I ever shoot is registered trap from the 16 and 27. Mostly the 16. I can do OK with that. Living out here in the sticks, a few local clubs have nice trap houses. But the nearest sporting clays course is probably an hour or more away.
I can see how you'd sink down that hole, fast. Last time I was at our big shooting/hunting store in Richmond (Green Top) I started fondling a Ceasar Gureini and a Perazzi sporting gun and started wondering how I could swing one of those.
That is what I said, now, two Kreighoff's, a heavily modified golf cart and trailer, and lots of chokes later, I can tell you it is a slippery slope.
No worries, then !!! I couldn't AFFORD the Kreighoffs and rig.
Need to be like a buddy of mine.......... He used to go to The Grand and Reno and about 6-8 state shoots. He shoots a Seitz, a Ljutic, a Kreighoff and Perazzis. I think most of them were given to him in sponsorship or some kind of deal like that. That'd be a sweet gig, huh ??
I was successful enough at hitting the rabbit station consistantly enough that the staff called me "an ol ground swatter"! Lol!
I usually do fairly well on rabbits. This time they had a stand that had a rabbit roll straight out from a machine that was next to the shooting box. So all you saw was the clay rolling away in profile. That was was maddening. A clay in profile is a pretty thin target.
I was successful enough at hitting the rabbit station consistantly enough that the staff called me "an ol ground swatter"! Lol!
I usually do fairly well on rabbits. This time they had a stand that had a rabbit roll straight out from a machine that was next to the shooting box. So all you saw was the clay rolling away in profile. That was was maddening. A clay in profile is a pretty thin target.
All this sounds like fun.
Couple questions.....
Do you start with your gun at the "ready" position in SC or in a "down" position ?? Is a shorter barrelled, "quicker handling" gun better than a longer gun ??
First, I only shoot for fun. Second, when you shoot for fun you can start in either position, since whatever rules for that don't really apply. I always start with the gun down, in a port arms sort of position. I've tried both and I find I'm not as jerky or snap shooty, not shooting too soon, or whatever you call it, when I have to shoulder the gun for the first shot. I hit more when I start from the down position. I also like to shoot the second shot on report, where I don't say "pull" but rather the switch operator throws the second clay as soon as he hears my first shot. The gun is still shouldered but the clay is coming from an entirely different area so that helps with me not shooting too soon.
I shoot my Citori with 26" barrels. It's a hunting gun and not a clays gun. The guys I see on the course that are really good shooters and shooting longer barreled guns. Pullit will chime in. He knows way more about it than I do and knows the rules, terminology and can give better advice than I can.
I was introduced to sporting clays more than 20 years ago by a fella that's a class A shooter. I did it a few times with my old Beretta 390 then sort of fell out of it until recently when I got my new Citori then decided to try it again. This was my second time out in the last couple of months. It's fun.
They guy I shoot with is a dedicated bird hunter. He's a dove, quail and partridge hunter, and usually goes to Mexico every couple of years. He's a good bird hunter, but he's not that great at sporting clays. Tells me sporting clays is way harder than hitting birds.
I start with a low gun most of the time. I will go ahead and put the gun on my shoulder if it is a fast moving close up target. In a tournament, you can "pre-mount" your gun if you want to unless you are shooting Fitacs, The rules for that are, you can not mount the gun until the bird is visible by you and the score keeper/judge. I got a warning at one shoot for mounting my gun too early. I am 6'4" and the judge was maybe 5'3", I told him I could see the bird just fine and that he needed to get a box to stand on (kidding of course). He never questioned my mounts again.
I shot tournaments for several years but have not shot them in about 5 or 6 years. I would rather go to the range with some friends and have a good time that to shoot tournaments
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Actually, everything I kill is legal. What I don't do is kill 30 turkeys in a year (IF that actually happened), brag about it, then whine about decreasing turkey numbers.
BTW, try and get out some more. Maybe your notions about all raccoon being no bigger than mice might be corrected.
Anyways, I'm off. Shooting clays again today. Shooting clays, Luther, that means actually going outside and doing something.
I'm outside or in my shop making or working on something everyday....and unlike yOu when I go hunting I usually kill something.
I'm outside or in my shop making or working on something everyday
Keep at it, maybe one day you'll produce a call as good as a Zach Farmer or a Christopher Brumfeil. By the way, do you have to pay a royalty to other call makers when you copy their designs?
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....and unlike yOu when I go hunting I usually kill something.
Mostly time, no doubt. Helps you come up with blithering nonsense like the "accidentally killed 30 turkeys" in one year. And didn't you also claim you killed 7 turkeys when you were scootching around the forest on cruthces after a hip replacement?
Of all the people I've seen on any forum of any type, ever, I think you are the fullest of [bleep].
Says YoderbOy the phoney and his buddy GlockheAd that accused him of shooting two gobblers off the back porch this past spring.....and thinks everyone is lying.
Well back to turkeys. (the feathered kind) I was going down the road yesterday and had to stop and let a big group of hens and this years hatch cross. I did not get a good count, but I am guessing around 30 or so with about 4 or 5 mature hens in the bunch. Some were already across the road in in the edge of the woods so kind of hard to tell.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Well back to turkeys. (the feathered kind)........
Yeah. STILL no good news, here.
Several days ago over on the property, saw a group of 5 good toms. No hens. Yesterday, a different group of 5 or 6 toms and 2 or 3 hens spent the whole day bugging in a low field a couple miles from here. No poults with the hens.
What's odd is that my brother told me how just random guys (farmers) at the local restaurant have been remarking about how MANY little turkeys they're seeing.......... Time will tell, I guess.
Started out of my driveway yesterday and had a group (small group) of hens and new birds at the gate to a field across from my house. There were 2 hens and maybe 6-8 new birds that were getting to be good size now. I am hoping that all the birds make it thru as we need them for sure.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Started out of my driveway yesterday and had a group (small group) of hens and new birds at the gate to a field across from my house. There were 2 hens and maybe 6-8 new birds that were getting to be good size now. I am hoping that all the birds make it thru as we need them for sure.
I'd be tickled pink to see 6 or 8 poults at this point..............
I live an hour away from where I hunt. But we do have turkeys around the local airport and a guy that lives on the backside of the airport used to have a flock that came into his yard, with some nesting in his azaleas. I haven't seen any on his property this year. No toms, hens or poults. They all seem to be gone.
Have not seen "big" broods, but have seen a lot of broods. A neighbor harvested several acres of winter wheat and they were gleaning the fields. Several turkeys and broods gleaned my oat fields and after second crop hay was taken off a lot of them were in the fields feasting on grasshoppers.
I think, as soon as it dries off, I'm going to go mow one of the grass fields at the property. Should make things about perfect for bugging within a week. Maybe that'll be a draw for hen/poult groups if they're around. I have a hard time believing........even though I'm not seeing.
But I do think a 7-8 acre field...........a field that I don't mow til about now so as to not destroy turkey nests and/or fawns...........would benefit the turkeys, now, by being opened up. The farther a turkey can get from a wood line to feed decreases the chances it can be sneaked up on by a cat or a coyote or dropped on by a hawk or eagle. Plus, 7-8 additional acres of grasshopper habitat can't hurt either.
It ain't rocket science. But I figured I'd take the time and expend the effort to explain it to a rookie.
But I do think a 7-8 acre field...........a field that I don't mow til about now so as to not destroy turkey nests and/or fawns...........would benefit the turkeys, now, by being opened up. The farther a turkey can get from a wood line to feed decreases the chances it can be sneaked up on by a cat or a coyote or dropped on by a hawk or eagle. Plus, 7-8 additional acres of grasshopper habitat can't hurt either.
It ain't rocket science. But I figured I'd take the time and expend the effort to explain it to a rookie.
BTW............ Welcome back !!! I've missed you.
Originally Posted by LFC
I'll give you one guess what exactly they were feeding on
Again you avoid the question .
Been right here Grasshoppa'
So you think that turkeys (young or old) out in an open field are safer from attack from a big Hawk or Eagle ?
And that by mowing you are creating grasshopper hAbitat ?
Your psychiatrist dad must have drugged yOu when you when you were little.
So you think that turkeys (young or old) out in an open field are safer from attack from a big Hawk or Eagle ?
And that by mowing you are creating grasshopper hAbitat ?
Yes. And yes.
Ever noticed that turkeys and geese prefer to feed in big, wide open fields ?? THEY figured it out. Much easier for predators of all types to close the distance on them undetected the closer to the wood line they get.
Originally Posted by LFC
I'm hearing good hatch reports from all over the country....so it's not all gloom and doom.
That's a VERY good thing.
Like I said above.............and what's puzzling.......is that a lot of local farmers are remarking about how many little turkeys they're seeing. But we aren't. Time will tell, I suppose.
Must be. Around here, grasshoppers die in the fall and they only live through the winter as eggs, or nymphs where it's even warmer. By December there ain't much in the way of insect life for turkeys to feed on. Here they're eating mast and left over stuff in fields.
Mid December 13 degrees for a high in Cheatam county Tennessee.
The gobblers were scratching up big grass hoppers in a long sage grass field along the Cumberland river.....the two gobblers I killed craws were bulging as big as soft balls...filled with grass hoppers .
Contrary to old folk lore most insects do not die in the winter nor does the cold play much part in the number of insects the next year.
Must be. Around here, grasshoppers die in the fall and they only live through the winter as eggs, or nymphs where it's even warmer. By December there ain't much in the way of insect life for turkeys to feed on. Here they're eating mast and left over stuff in fields.
Glockhead your so quick to comment on things you obviously don't know jAck chit from shinOla about.
Virginia weather I'd not much different than Tennessee weather.
No one said "all insects." Grasshoppers specifically. All you have to do is google the lifecycle of grasshoppers and the .edu sites state grasshoppers die when it gets cold, only surviving as eggs, or nymphs in warmer climates. And that they start to starve when temps drop below 65 degrees. Yet, your turkeys were scratchinmg up big grasshoppers in 13 degree weather. I think you make shyt up just to argue.
Fields full of "big" grasshoppers in 13 degree winter weather.
I suspect the grasshoppers had burrowed down in a sage grass and gone dormant....I guess the gobblers thought they were good or they wouldn't have gorged themselves on them.
Ticks are dormant in the leaf litter....when I fall hunted in December and January I treated my clothes with perminone....more than once I got ticks on me after warning up the ground for several hours in 30 degree weather.
I took a fellow fall hunting with me once before dark we got up and left....as we left he remarked thats the longest I have ever sat in one spot....I replied I didn't think it was that long. I recall it being about 6 or 7 hours. No kills that day had a couple turkeys come in behind us presenting no shot. The next morning we got in there before light and best I recall the guy killed at least one.
Glockhead I'm sick of you calling me a liar....tell you what bub when I come back to Powhatan Virginia next spring we can sure as hell hook up and I'll show your sorry azz who the liar is.
Ticks are dormant in the leaf litter....when I fall hunted in December and January I treated my clothes with perminone....more than once I got ticks on me after warning up the ground for several hours in 30 degree weather.
It seems that 30 degrees is right about the cutoff point for tick activity. I don't think I've ever found one crawling on me any (or much) below that. I know I've found them crawling when it was a lot colder than you'd expect to find one.
I offered to hook up with you this last spring and you wouldn't do it.
And if anyone here, including me, thinks you're a bullshitter, maybe the first person to blame for that is yourself. You burst onto this board little more than a year ago claiming to know everything there was to know about turkeys and turkey hunting. In the meantime, you've said quite a bit of things that might make any reasonable person wonder if you know as much as you claim.
Notwithstanding the present claim that your winter turkeys were gobbling down big grasshoppers in 13 degree winter weather, there's been these gems (just off the top fo my head)...
I think it was you that claimed turkeys migrate hundreds of miles between Texas and Kansas (was it?) and that's how the northern state got mesquite trees, or some such theory. When Yoder said he wanted to go Oscellated Turkey hunting, you argued with him that Oscellated turkey weren't turkeys at all, but pea fowl. You offered up page after page argument on TSS shot, even though it was well proven, and even managed to get yourself banned from yet another forum, Apex's IIRC, over your argumentativeness. You've ruined thread after thread after thread after thread demanding that Yoder prove, to your satisfaction, his involvement in the choke tube business, while simultaneously claiming you were on "this one guy's prostaff" without offering the same kind of proof you demanded from him. That was the year you "accidentally" killed 30 "legal" turkeys, IIRC. And in what appears to be an effort to appear relevant, you constantly set up straw man arguments just so you can knock them down. Like when Dean posted about game cameras, you said his baiting predators "proved your point" despite the fact that Dean never said he placed bait, and despite the fact you had made no point to prove. Not to mention your incessant need to pop into a thread solely for the purposes of calling me, or Yoder, or both of us an idiot.
For someone who so obviously wants to be regarded as the ultimate authority on turkeys and turkey hunting, it seem to me that you've gone out of your way to make yourself look absurd.
Bubba if I hook up with an idiot like you it won't be for a friendly visit.
I still stand by what I said about the Oselated pea fowl not being a true turkey and I never said turkeys migrated from Texas to Kansas....I said the biologist for the state of Kansas told me the Rios in Kansas travel long distances to get in the big winter flocks.
You shoot what ever shot you want because you don't have to worry about shooting a turkey because time after time you've proven you are too stupid to kill a turkey...you couldn't even kill a squirrel.
Funny thing Yoderboy sings back up for you and you acuse him of shooting his turkeys off his back porch this spring....you two are two f'd up individuals.
You stand by it because every time you say something demonstrably stupid, instead of admitting it or letting it go, you double down on it. You simply cannot be wrong. You're not half the hunter or outdoorsman you want people to think you are.
I still stand by what I said about the Oselated pea fowl not being a true turkey ...........
You may stand if you like, Luther. But your best bet on this one is to sit down and STFU.
Try SPELLING it right, at least.............
There are NO peafowl native to Central America or the Yucatan peninsula......or anywhere within 10000+ miles of there. Peafowl are of the genus Pavo.........native to India and Sri Lanka. Wild turkeys are of the genus Meleagris. Meleagris gallopavo.......the 5 subspecies of turkey that everyone in North America knows. Meleagris ocellata.......the Ocellated.......the turkey you think is a peafowl. The difference between the two is too small to consider genetic segregation by the scientific community. But, I'm sure you already knew this and were just standing by another load of bullschidt to see if one of the resident idiots was actually smarter than you gave him credit for being.
The things you don't know..........for being a self-proclaimed "expert"....... sometimes even surprise me.
When you've hunted turkeys, studied turkeys and LIVED turkeys as long as I have............. THEN you come back and we'll talk.
You stand by it because every time you say something demonstrably stupid, instead of admitting it or letting it go, you double down on it. You simply cannot be wrong. You're not half the hunter or outdoorsman you want people to think you are.
And that's why you're a bullshitter.
I'm not trying to make people think anything....
I'm not the guy posing on here.....that can't even kill a squirrel let alone a turkey.
I didn't say he did, and I actually communicated with him about it. So another lie. You're the one that has taken that and run with it. More bullshit from the lead bullshitter on 24hrcampfire.
I think you're the biggest poser on this website. And the reason you've been banned just about everywhere. That and the fact that you decided harass other call makers, without reason, on other forums.
You know, banned? The reason you had to set up you own "Old Mastur[bator]" forum so you could gratify yourself on being you.
And btw way, "here's a ridDle for you, lFC boy," who was the "one guy" who has a prostaff you were on they year you killed "30 turkeys" "accidentally" just for the sake of "being paid in dead turkeys?" Because we all know single individuals all have "prostaffs."
30 turkeys. If that's true, and that is one fugking big IF, what would possess you to kill 30 turkeys in one year? You think that's something to be proud of? You think that claim makes you look like a big shot? I think if that claim is true, I think it make you look like a rube - as if you needed more help with that given all your other bullshit.
Did you really shoot those two gobblers this past spring out your back door like GlockheAd said you did ?
Haha !!!! You and your mental concoctions and straw narratives............
Go back and find the post with the turkey on the porch. Re-read it. Come back and tell me whose porch it was on. But, just to humor you............because you humor the rest of us at a rate we could never repay..............
Here's the "where they fell" pics of my two birds from my home state this past spring. Let's play a game called "Find the Porch".
Yoder and Glock, could you do everyone a favor and block the idiot like I did. You're giving him what hew wants by arguing with him. I've never understood it but some people aren't happy unless they are bickering constantly. Had an ex mother in law like that. Life is better without them.
Yoder and Glock, could you do everyone a favor and block the idiot like I did. You're giving him what hew wants by arguing with him. I've never understood it but some people aren't happy unless they are bickering constantly. Had an ex mother in law like that. Life is better without them.
I had for a time. But his wisdom still shines through the blocking any time someone replies in quote.
Besides................. Sometimes the pro's of the cheap entertainment value of an irritant outweigh the con's...........
Yea, well, Donnie and I have discussed it like men. I apologized to him for doubting him. I apologized and admitted I was wrong, because that's what MEN do. And that's why you don't understand it. You've never admitted you were wrong on this board, and you've never apologized for you borish, childish behavior. Arrogance is now part of who you are. You couldn't change now if you wanted to.
No, I said I was sorry, and he accepted. That's not licking gonads. That's being men. And again, that's why you can't understand it. Just like in your Youtube video, you tend to sink to the vulgar and homoerotic, and can't let go of perceived slights, even though you bring that on yourself.
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This is a first in a series of videos that will expose some back stabbing SOBs I've ran across in the last 30 years .....in the next video I will expose a phOney that licked my arse and used me like a two bit hOe. All without mentioning his name he and the "Good Lord" will know who I'm talking about along with a few others. When he told me "I'm going to church and pray and ask the good Lord to forgive me for what I've done to you". I told him then that the Good Lord couldn't save his sorry lying azz....time to pay the piper.
I don't lie about what I do and what I've accomplished. I don't tell tall tales. I don't excessively kill turkeys (30 in one year) and then brag about it. I would never ridicule and harass fellow call makers like you have done. I have no psychological need to do any of that. Apparently you do. I don't brag. I haven't been kicked off any forums, ever, well, except one (LMAO). Your "Old Master" forum, where I literally NEVER posted except a single time to steer your very, very few and misled members to this forum when you posted my youtube video there just to ridicule it not thinking I would see it. You made a big deal about it. "I had to ban you" from my forum, you wrote. I guess steering your negligible membership here to see your silly antics pissed you off. Whatever. It was almost just you posting anyway, and nothing useful could be gleened from anything that bObBLed from your keyboard.
From what I've gathered, you've been a train wreck on every forum you've been on. And you add zero to this forum. In fact, you detract from it. Your history here is one of disruption, distraction, harassment and abuse. A good portion of your posts are one or all of that. Besides myself, you've insulted and/or harassed Yoder, Shaman, and Shrapnel, just to name a few. I've actually conversed with Shrapnel personally, because he actually has something to teach. He runs rings around you in grace, skill, dignity and knowledge.
Understand this: I'm not your fan. I don't need or want anything from you. Frankly, I don't care if you live or die. You are meaningless to me.
So, you may return back to your "arse licking" and "gonad licking" fantasies. This will be my last response to you. Well, except for this: whenever you type a message to or about me which, given your penchant for homoerotic vulgarities, are probably typed with two or three browser pages of gay porn open, just refer back to this message to you. It's my answer to anything you have to communicate to me.
Someone call me a liar as well, over how much TSS shot I have, so I took a picture and proved he was wrong. Still waiting on an apology.... I guess some people are big enough men and will admit when they are wrong, some are not
Last edited by pullit; 09/03/22.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Well I am not rich, nor am I full of BS either. Calling someone full of BS is the same as saying they lied when they are telling the truth.
Well I never really thought you would say you were wrong, just pointed it out as you seem to forget when that happens, and remember you ask me to find it.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
well once again you need to pay attention, it was 40 lbs, not 50. As stated before, I am not rich, nor out of my mind (or full of BS), nor am I going into the reloading business. I simply bought enough to do me the rest of my life, and to develop any new loads that I want to, not that what I do with it is any of your business.
Last edited by pullit; 09/04/22.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Last I checked you were the one bragging about all the fAiry dust you had on a public forum would that not make it any and everyone's business ?
Kinda like Donnie YoderbOy bragging on a public forum about being paid by the turkey hunting and choke tube industry for over two decades then getting her whittle panties in a wad when asked paid by whO.
There's a bit of a difference between bragging and just stating the facts. Whether it be TSS or paid positions. I don't remember where either was rubbed in your nose or anyone else's. Just succinctly stated by the OP then blown ALL out of proportion by.........ummmmmmm.........oh yeah.......
LFC, you would be wrong yet again about hurting my feelings, I would have to care about you or what you think for that to happen. I was just seeing if you were man enough to admit you were wrong and to apologize (which you were not) If you read the post I linked, You were the one bragging about how much you pattern, and once again, not knowing what you were talking about, said there was no way I could could afford to have or pattern that much TSS. Once again just to prove you don't know as much as you think you know, I posted the amount off TSS that I still have on hand. As the old saying goes, "no brag, just fact".
Last edited by pullit; 09/05/22.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
No chip either, I was just wondering if you would extend an apology to me the way you demand that others extend one to you. Just a test to see if you expected of others what you do yourself.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
Last I checked you were the one bragging about all the fAiry dust you had on a public forum would that not make it any and everyone's business ?
Kinda like Donnie YoderbOy bragging on a public forum about being paid by the turkey hunting and choke tube industry for over two decades then getting her whittle panties in a wad when asked paid by whO.
Just talked to a buddy of mine. He bowhunts our property and runs a trail cam there. Says he has gotten a few pics with poults, so........ Maybe not TOTAL gloom and doom. Time will tell.
YoderbOy you should think about changing your screen name to Whiney409.
Whining about many turkeys you saw or what changes another state made to their hunting regulations.
Field reports I've received from middle Tennessee from two reliable sources are looking better than in previous years.....my farmer/cattlemen buddy said on a drive checking the farms they saw over 100 turkeys. Gobblers, hens with chicken sized young ones and some hens with quail sized polts....I even asked if he had been drinking.
So for all yOu turkey whiners out there all is not lost.
Maybe I should move to middle Tennesee where the hatches are good. Or does that just make our hatches here good by association ??
Hey !!!! If I moved to TN.........we could hunt together !!!!! Wouldn't that be fun, Luther ??? I wouldn't even charge you for the lessons.
But you DO need to get with your little buddy Swifty (who, DID, by the way STFU) and re-read my post. Do us all a book report on where the whining occurred.
You make up the premises for more straw arguments than a democrat........... I swear.... Sheesh !!!!
Seeing a lot of turkeys by my place in NE WI. Hens with poults, groups of toms, groups of jakes... Farmer's by me are harvesting grains now, seems every field I go by has turkeys in it.
It isn't what happens to you that defines you, it's what you DO about what happens to you that defines you!
Maybe I should move to middle Tennesee where the hatches are good. Or does that just make our hatches here good by association ??
Hey !!!! If I moved to TN.........we could hunt together !!!!! Wouldn't that be fun, Luther ??? I wouldn't even charge you for the lessons.
Point being my farmer/cattlemen buddy is out there everyday and this is the first significant number of turkeys they have seen.....
pOint being.....
it would go to figure that just because some bO-zo that spends every waking hour on the internet hasn't saw any turkeys the hatches must have been bad.
I hunted with this fellow a few times....last time we went I told him if we ever went again I was going to bring a roll of duct tape and tape his head to the tree.
.....some bO-zo that spends every waking hour on the internet ........
If this is in reference to me....... I'll excuse your lack of knowledge just the same as when you thought I was ignorant to the writings of Charles Jordan.
I actually DID see about 10 poults last week with 3 or 4 adult hens. They were about 3-4 miles from the property .....so obviously there's been SOME success in the general area this year. STILL no significant evidence sighted ON our place.
just got back from doing an "up north eastern tour". While the wife and I were up that way, we saw several groups of turkeys all nice looking. One big group of toms and several groups of hens.
I may not be smart but I can lift heavy objects
I have a shotgun so I have no need for a 30-06.....
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