Turkey Time - Are You Ready?

For some states Turkey season is already under way, but here in Connecticut we still have a few days left before our season opens on April 30th, 2014 so I know I'm a little late with this post but what better time then now for a turkey hunting refresher. 

No turkey hunting post is complete with mentioning the NWTF - National Wild Turkey Federation and what there efforts have meant to restoring wild turkey populations across North America.  If you hunt turkey then in my opinion giving back to the sport is important and becoming a member of NWTF or attending a NWTF event or fundraiser is an excellent way to do so.  Check out this link for ways you can give back.  http://www.nwtf.org/help_now/

What is the NWTF?

The NWTF — a national nonprofit organization — is the leader in upland wildlife habitat conservation in North America.

Founded in 1973, the NWTF is headquartered in Edgefield, S.C., and has local chapters in every state. The NWTF is dedicated to the conservation of the wild turkey and the preservation of our hunting heritage.

Through vital partnerships with state, federal and provincial wildlife agencies, the NWTF and our members have helped restore wild turkey populations throughout North America — from a mere 30,000 in the entire United States to more than 7 million across the United States, Canada and Mexico.

Who Are They?

We are sportsmen, women and children who care deeply about our natural resources and the wild places we love to hunt.

We cherish the memory of the ridge top gobbler we hunted last spring and fondly remember the cornfield where we saw that big buck at sunset two years ago.

Collectively, we come from all walks of life to engage in conservation and preserve the hunting heritage we all hold dear.

... the champions of conservation.

According to many state and federal agencies, the restoration of the wild turkey is arguably the greatest conservation success story in North America's wildlife history.

We have spent more than $412 million to conserve nearly 17.25 million acres of habitat.
That area is larger than the state of West Virginia.

Wild turkeys and hundreds of other species of upland wildlife, including quail, deer, grouse, pheasant and songbirds, have benefited from this improved habitat.

Our dedicated volunteers bring new hunters and conservationists into the fold — nearly 100,000 every year — through outdoor education events.

Most certainly in the the State of Connecticut I do believe that the restoration of the wild turkey to be the greats conservation success story in our history.   I watched out turkey season go from a lottery only hunt in just one small corner of our state to the entire state being open to turkey hunting and now the ability to purchase and hunt both on state land and private land.  As you can see from this Wild Turkey facts sheet post on the Connecticut DEEP Wildlife website.

Wild turkeys were abundant in Connecticut when the first settlers arrived. However, a combination of forest clearing and a series of severe winters eliminated the turkey from Connecticut by the early 1800s. From the 1950s through the early 1970s, attempts at wild turkey restoration through artificial propagation were largely unsuccessful. The major breakthrough in restoration efforts occurred when free-roaming wild turkeys were live-captured and translocated using a rocket net. This large, lightweight net is fired by rockets from a remote blind and carried over turkeys that have been attracted to the area by bait.

Between 1975 and 1992, 356 wild turkeys were released at 18 sites throughout the state. These releases and subsequent population expansion have resulted in the successful restoration of wild turkeys to all 169 Connecticut towns. Recent land use practices in Connecticut have also favored the expansion of wild turkey populations as the landscape has become more forested. As a result of restoration efforts and the increase in forest habitat, sportsmen have been able to hunt wild turkeys since 1981, and landowners and others have enjoyed observing them in their natural state.

Know and obey all the local hunting laws.  You have to understand things like license requirements, gun and ammo restrictions,  Private land permission, legal birds and bag limits, hunter orange requirements, decoy regulations and sometimes just knowing what other hunting opportunities are available during the spring turkey season can shed light on what you might encounter while out there.  If you plan on hunting other states, make sure to keep your regulations straight.  In Connecticut during the spring season any legal turkey must have a visible beard.  That means it is legal to shoot a bearded hen, but just because it is legal doesn't mean you must.  My clan chooses to let the bearded hens walk on by.  Sometimes we might choose to shoot mature birds only and let the young ones take jakes if they want to.  As long as it is a legal bird and you choose to take it then it's a trophy in my book.

Hopefully many of you planning to hit the woods on opening day to chase turkey have already got your preseason preparations done, but if not you still have time to hit the woods and get your scouting in as well as patterning your shotgun, choke and ammo combination.  These birds are not only smart but they are tough so doing your homework and knowing where they roost, feed, strut, breed is crucial to a successful hunt, but even if you know all these things and have practiced your calling you better make sure you are putting enough pellets on target so spending time on the range to get the best possible choke/ammo combination for your firearm is extremely important.  For those chasing turkey with stick and string, well I have major admiration for you folks.  I have yet to use my archery gear for turkey and plan to some day but they are challenging enough for me with the firearm so I'll stick to that for now.

Making turkey sounds is important, but knowing what sounds to make and when to make them is even more crucial to success.  Some times I ask myself - do I really need to carry all these different calls with me?  Well the answer many times is yes.   There have been hunts where I have used every call in my vest within a 100 yard area, knowing there are turkey's there only to have no response on all but one of those calls.  The tone, pitch and volume sometimes just need to be what they want to hear and it is the only thing that works.  One tip about calling - try to sound natural.  What this means is don't use the same sequence, tone and volume when you call.  Mix it up.  If you are letting out some yelps in a 5 or 6 note string then for the next series maybe only yelp twice then pause and then yelp two or 3 more times and even through in some clucks in between and after.  Listen to the real turkeys and you will quickly notice that don't sound like a broken record repeating the same sounds and notes over and over so you need to do the same.  YouTube has plenty of great videos of live hens calling in the field.  Watch them and practice mimicking their calls.

Think safety and think defensive minded!  There is so much to cover when talking safe turkey hunting but understanding what you are actually doing out there will help put it all in perspective.  You are most likely dressed in full camo and hidden well.  You probably have a realistic turkey decoy out in front of you somewhere and you are making realistic sounds of a turkey.  This could be a recipe for problems but if you pay attention to these 10 Tips for a Safe Spring Turkey Hunt provided by the NWTF then you have the building blocks for a safe hunt.   If you are using decoys spend a little extra time when setting them out to make sure that anyone that might come across your decoys in the field can be seen and that if they take a shot at them you are not in the line of fire.  Remember think defensive minded at all times.  Decoy setup isn't necessarily a science but if you observed enough turkeys during your scouting you've picked up some little tidbits of information on how other hens, young toms and that old mature tom interact with each other.  Use that to your advantage when setting up your decoys.  Make them visible and position them in a way that causes that old tom to concentrate on them and not you.  There are times when the best decoy is none at all.  Don't worry the birds will tell you what they want.


Patience is key when turkey hunting.  If you've spent time in the spring woods chasing turkey then at some point I'm sure you've been in the situation where you've been working a gobbler that was sounding off and all of a sudden everything goes quiet.  Not a peep.  Your brain goes into overdrive trying to figure out what went wrong.  You change up call after call and still nothing.  It's time to move, right?  So you start to stand up and your hear it.  Put, put, put... and off he runs.   Turkey's have incredible hearing and eyesight and they use this to their advantage.  In nature it is the hen that usually goes to the tom so you are asking him to come to you.  Learn to be patient and not to quick to move your setup when a bird goes quiet on you because he just may be circling in nice and quiet for a look.  If he is with other hens, once those hens start to wonder off, he might just come back looking for you.

Once you got that bird on the ground make sure you take care of any tagging requirements before setting up for some nice in the field photos.  If you are allowed multiple birds, maybe even set back up and see if you can't get another bird to commit.  If you are going to mount the whole bird, cape it or even just mount the fan, take time in the field to keep blood off the bird and all the feathers in tact.  If you don't plan to use the turkey feathers maybe you cans wing by the local fly fishing shop or know some folks that tie their own flies and offer those feathers up to them.  I've tied many flies using feathers from turkeys I was luck to harvest.

For most the most regarding part of the hunt comes when that turkey is sitting on the dinner table.  I know for a fact that after harvesting a bird a comment will be made about eating turkey poppers before we even make it half way back to the truck.   You can pluck the bird, skin it or even breast it out.  Most folks I know just breast it our, but don't ignore those legs and thighs as they make great additions for soup.  My two favorite recipes are Southwest Turkey poppers and Turkey, mushroom and Wild Rice soup and you can get those recipes here:  My Favorite Turkey Recipes.

I wish everyone a very safe and successful spring turkey hunt and remember to share the outdoors with someone new if you can.

Additional Turkey Hunting Resources:

Turkey Hunting Success and Safety pamphlet from the NWTF.
Turkey Hunting Tactics  - NWTF Website

Crossbows for Everyone, and other New Regulations for Connecticut

This past week the CT Legislature finally passed the proposed set of hunting regulation changes after some fine tuning the wording.  This new regulations package brings some good and controversial changes to Connecticut. 

Changes include: legalizing crossbows for all archery hunters, expansion of youth hunter training opportunities, use of muzzleloaders as a lesser weapon, fluorescent orange exemption for coyote/fox hunters, adjustments to the crow season dates and establishing seasons, bag limits and other restrictions regarding the take of snapping turtles.

Crossbows not just for the injured anymore here in Connecticut.  Crossbows have been added as an approved hunting implement for everyone here in the Nutmeg State.  For some bowhunters, they believe this to be their worst nightmare come true as the woods will now be filled with "those once-a-year hacks with the antler stickers all over their trucks will be trampling our early season" or "FUDDS" as one poster on a forum I frequent put it.  A word of note - it's not YOUR or MY season, it's EVERYONE'S season!   I've hunted other states that allowed Crossbows to be used by anyone and I did not notice an over abundance of "FUDDS" personally, but I did notice a few veteran hunters return to the fall woods with their Crossbow, as well as some youngster join our ranks.  Isn't that we what really need - more kids, more women and the return of many of our veteran hunters?!  If crossbows help, then I say bring them on.  Me personally, I'm sticking to the vertical stick and string!

It will be interesting as people now scramble to get in on the fall archery season with their new crossbow, only to realize they need to have completed and passed a certified bowhunter education course!  It will be more interesting as they struggle to find available classes as most of us that are instructors will be spending our free time hunting, instead of teaching!  You can visit the CT DEEP wildlife website for a list of available hunter education courses here:  CT Hunter Education Courses

No matter what you use to hunt with, it is your responsibility to be comfortable, safe, knowledgeable and proficient with your equipment and we should expect no less from our new fellow bowhunters!

Another change which has stirred up controversy amongst fellow hunters is the extension of the youth training days.   The new regulations allow for 7 youth hunt days (Turkey and Deer) which is up from the 2 in previous years.  Now having had the pleasure of bringing many youths into the hunting sports, I personally believe these youth hunting / training days are the best addition we have seen in a long time and the increase in days is the next step to making them better!  Of course many are complainging how unfair it is to give the kids 7 days of hunting before anyone else, but let's be realistic for a minute.  Of those 7 continuous days (used to be 2 Saturdays only), how many hours is your typical youth going to be out hunting?  They are in school, the weather will have a say int heir time afield as will their other commitments to extra curricular activities.  I may be on the wrong end of this one again, but I'm all for this and I don't have any younger kids anymore!  We need more kids in our ranks and if this helps then let's do it!

I am excited about the ability to use my muzzle loader during the shotgun/rifle deer seasons now as well as the shortening of the October closed hunting season.  Overall I am happy with the recent regulation changes and appreciate the hard work the folks at the CT DEEP put into these changes.  Many hours talking to folks, both for and against, surveys, reviewing what other states have done and finding that balance between our days afield and population control.  Now all we need is Sunday hunting!

You can review all the new regulations here:  http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?A=2586&Q=514086

Now let's quit fighting with each other and get outside in the great outdoors!

Happy Hunting!

Another Successful Youth Turkey Hunt

Me, Dylan and Busch Pilot with Fingers

Passinthru Outdoors is all about sharing the passion for the outdoors with others and this past weekend Busch Pilot and I had the opportunity to take a youngster out for only his second turkey hunt ever.  Earlier this week Bubba was telling us about Dylan, whose father had just been deployed and his serving his country as a member of the Air Force and that Dylan had no one to take him Turkey hunting.  Bubba was going to be out of town with his family so we didn't hesitate to say yes when asked if Busch Pilot and I would take him out for youth day here in CT.  The chance to take a youngster out for a hunt is always top on our list, but to take a youngster who's father is currently serving our great country and protecting our freedoms is definitely number one on the list.

Turkey we named Fingers who was on our hit list.

Dylan had completed his hunter safety course last spring and got his license just in time to hunt the last day of the 2011spring turkey season.  Dylan was fortunate enough to tag his first deer last fall and was really looking forward to trying his luck at spring turkey and we were excited to be part of it.  Any time we take a new hunter out to the woods, especially a youngster, it always adds a little bit of extra pressure as you always take the opportunity to teach and you want that person to see game and have a positive experience and if possible to fill a tag.  Well this hunt offered up everything we had hoped for.

Busch pilot and I spent time doing our scouting and getting an idea for what was going on and it was interesting how things changed in just one week.  The birds were broke up even more and were much more quiet.  Even their roosting habits changed. There are hens on nests and we are catching them returning to roost very late in the day.  This is why scouting on a regular basis is important to successful turkey hunts.  Friday evening before the hunt we had 6 jakes work through the farm and head off to roost on the adjoining property, the good news was we felt they would work right back on to the farm or at least we could get them to do so as they would be well within range to hear us calling.

I picked Dylan up at his house at 4:30am and we made the short drive to the farm where we parked and waited for Busch pilot to show up because stopped down the street to talk with fisherman waiting for the 6:00am start time for Connecticut's opening day of fishing season. We got our gear loaded up and headed off to the lower part of the farm which would put us close to where those jakes headed off to roost.  The first signs of light were greeted with a long distance gobble, which perked all 3 of us up.  It wasn't long after that when the next gobbler sounded off and others responded.  We had gobblers close enough that we knew we could work one and it wasn't long before Busch Pilot was working his magic and talking turkey.  We had been talking and teaching Dylan about what was going on and what we thought might happen and he was very attentive and asked some questions.  The best question was when he asked us if we should load the gun!  We got caught up in listening for birds and explaining things to Dylan that it was almost 15 minutes into legal shooting and we still hadn't loaded the shotgun.  We all had a good laugh about that one.

Check Fingers off the hit list

We had gobbles not far from us and knew they had crossed the property and were in the lower pasture of the farm we were hunting and now all we needed was a visual.  I caught the first bird moving up the field and put the binos on him and could see it was a good tom so Busch Pilot gave him a few calls and he stopped and looked right into our setup.  As he stopped to look, we noticed more birds coming in the field below him and it was the 6 jakes from the night before.  All we needed now was for one of them to get interested in the sweet sounds coming from Busch Pilot's slate call.  When that tom took two steps towards us, we knew that this was going to happen.  That tom worked our way while the jakes continued up the field and out of sight.

I had the camera running, BP was calling  and we couldn't forget about coaching Dylan who was extremely calm and ready to go.  At one point when the tom was in range BP and I had a discussion and we decided to let him keep coming to the decoy to offer up a closer shot and the Tom obliged.  When he got to the jake decoy Dylan had the gun up and a bead on him and when we gave Dylan the okay to take the safety off and take his shot.  When the Remington 870 20 gauge barked that tom flipped over and Dylan had his first turkey on the ground.  I think Busch Pilot and I were way more excited at first but it didn't take long for Dylan to join in the celebration.  We exchanged high fives and hugs and let our adrenaline calm down and then sent Dylan out to retrieve his longbeard.

Dylan brought the bird back over to the blind and we looked it over, filled out his tag and took some pictures before breaking down the blind and packing up the decoys.  Dylan's first bird was a two year bird weighing 20lbs and had a 9" beard and had just incredible color.  His bird was also one of the birds on our hit list known as Fingers and there were plenty of folks in our crew hoping to claim his as their own, but not a one was disappointed in the news that Dylan shot fingers.  Matter of fact, everyone was extremely happy and excited for him, even my daughter who held out last weekend in hopes of getting a poke at Fingers.

Dylan with his first turkey - 20lbs 9" beard

 Just as we made it back to the trucks, some friends showed up to check out Dylan's first bird and offer up congrats for a job well done. We then headed off to Busch Pilot's house to clean Dylan's bird and call it  a day.  Dylan plans on mounting the tail and beard and I hope that every time he looks at it he remembers this hunt and thinks about how he can share the passion with someone new.  Because in the end, it's not about the trophies on the wall or the filled tags, but the memories of sharing the passion for the shooting sports with someone else.


Congrats Dylan!

2012 CT Youth Turkey Hunt Success

Saturday April 14th was the first of two turkey youth hunting training days here in Connecticut.  These days are designed to allow licensed youth hunters to hunt prior to the opening of the general season as long as they are accompanied by a licensed adult.  Only the youth hunter is allowed to carry a firearm or bow and the only one allowed to hunt.  This offers up plenty of opportunities for the youth hunters to learn as the adults teach.  Great concept and very valuable in getting kids excited in our sport of hunting.

So Saturday Busch Pilot and I planned on taking out My Daughter and Bubba's youngest son Jared out turkey hunting at the farm.  This would be Jared's first turkey hunt and my daughters second year.  Last year Kaleigh was successful tagging her first bird on a youth hunt and we were hoping the same good luck would be with Jared.

A mature bird nicknamed Fingers - he is on Kaleigh's hit list

We have been watching the farm for weeks and knew we had plenty of birds using the farm regularly including 3 longbeards and a jag of young jakes.  At times during our scouting the filed would be full of birds as much as 20 at one time.  The Friday evening before we scouted the farm, and the birds did the exact same thing they've been doing as previous scouting trips which made our game plan simple. Busch Pilot and Jared would setup in the upper field closer to where the birds were roosting, while Kaleigh and I hunted the lower pasture hoping to catch one of the bigger toms skating around all the action.

Just as it started getting light the first gobbler sounded off and it started the typical morning chain reaction and we had birds gobbling on the roost all around us so we knew the kids would see birds today and hoped they would come close enough for a shot or two.  Once the birds hit the ground they got a little quiet, but there was a good mix of birds in the field and heading down off the upper field which would put them in view of Jared's setup.  Bubba had to work and couldn't join the hunt, but he was down on the road watching the show and his watch all while willing the birds into the Jared's setup.  Busch Pilot is our Turkey Whisperer and speaks fluent turkey and he gave a couple of soft yelps and purs and that strutting Jake turned to look and got his first glimpse of the decoy.  That strutting Jake walked right up to the decoy just 15 yards from where Jared sat and when that Remington 870 20 gauge barked that Jake hit the ground and never twitched.  Jared's first turkey ever was on the ground bit the field was still filled with birds so they sat tight.   Seeing we have a 3 bird limit on private land here in CT, Busch Pilot asked Jared it he wanted to shoot another one, which by the way was a stupid question, of course Jared did.  So Busch Pilot worked a another Jake and hen into the decoys and told Jared to shoot when the hen cleared out and was safe.  That hen cleared out, Jared shot and two Jakes hit the ground.  Yup, another Jake was running in as he shot and both went down.  So Jared's first every turkey hunt ended in him tagging out by 6:30am.  That wasn't the plan, but it happens sometimes.

Jared's first, second and third Turkey of hist hunting carreer

Kaleigh and I could hear the whole thing and would catch a glimpse of the top of a strutting tom's tail but the only bird to make it to us that early was a bearded hen. When Jared went to retrieve his flopping bird, the birds spooked and flew off so Kaleigh and I decided to stay put and let things calm down.  About an hour later we had hens talking and birds gobbling again so we got back to business and it wasn't long after that when we saw birds coming around the point and working are way.  Kaleigh had decided that she wanted a mature bird and was not going to shoot a Jake and I thought that would be thrown out the window at the first sign of a Jake and she was about to be tested, not once but multiple times.  As we watched the first bird coming our way we could see the second, third and eventually the 7th Jake coming down into the lower pasture.  We looked them over good at a distance with the binos and then I asked Kaleigh if she wanted to shoot one and I thought for sure she would say yes, so when she said no I was shocked.  I asked again to make sure and she reemphasized her no a little louder which was my signal to not ask again.  So I asked her if she wanted to have some fun with them which she agreed to, so we gave a few soft helps and those Jakes turned and walked right to us.  The milled around gobbled some, tried to strut there stuff but they seemed a little nervous which was probably due to the fact that Jared had knocked down 3 of their friends.

The Jakes finally headed off down below us and continued to gobble every now and again.  While all this was going on, we could hear two more gobblers off in the distance and we both knew they were most likely the mature birds we were looking for.  I felt that trying to work the mature birds with 7 Jakes less then 75 yards from us would prove to be ineffective, but we gave it a shot.  Just about 10 minutes after calling to those mature toms, that I hear that sound of a turkey strutting and peak out the window to the right and there is one of those Jakes just 10 yards from the blind.  Crap, they came back.  I once again asked Kaliegh if she wanted to shoot one and this time I got the head shake and a dirty look.  So we sat backed and enjoyed the show that the Jakes would put on for  almost 20 minutes.  They huddled up by our decoy at a mere 15 yards and gobbled and gobbled and gobbled.  They gobbled at everything.  Crows, planes, geese, other turkeys, actually they gobbled at just about anything that made noise.  All this time we could hear those two other gobblers still sounding off but getting farther away.  Not good, but we decided to sit and enjoy the show which we did.  We giggled at almost every gobble, Kaleigh took pictures with her cell phone and sent them to all her friends and she would ask some questions and I would answer.

Once the Jakes finally got out of our setup, we waited about a 1/2 hour and decided we would do some additional calling from our current setup to see if we could hear those other Toms before changing game plans.  We got a long distance gobble here and there but they obviously had their ladies with them and wanted nothing to do with us.  We did a little run and gunning but couldn't go to where those Toms were and nothing else responded so at about noon we decided to call it a morning and head out to get some lunch.  We ate lunch and ran back to the house to check in with mom and it was almost 1:30pm and even though we could hunt until 5pm on youth day, Kaleigh had a birthday party to go to that evening and decided to skip the afternoon hunt.  She was going to from camo and the turkey woods to a dress and heels all in one day.

Fingers the day after the youth hunt - Kaleigh took his picture

Success comes in many forms and success is really defined by the individual.  Jared had a very successful day no doubt about it, and some may feel that Kaleigh didn't.  The fact that Kaleigh made up her mind and stuck to her game plan and never wavered, even with multiple legal birds taunting her just feet from where she sat taking their picture, says different.  These youth hunts are also about training and opportunities to gain experience, I'd say the hunt provided us with plenty of opportunities to discuss and learn from and for Kaleigh to grow as a hunter and I was proud of how she handled the experience.  In my book that equals a successful hunt.

Not Your Typical Teenage Girl Birthday Presents

It was my daughter Kaleigh's birthday recently and her presents weren't necessarily those typical things that most teenage girls get like clothes, shoes, or shopping sprees.  I was looking for something special that no one else had and would represent her new passions for the outdoors.

When my son turned 12 I gave him custom handmade knife, actually I had two identical knifes made.  One for Brendan and one for me.  It represented both the passion and the time we shared and continue to share in the field.  It is something that when either of looks at our knife it is sure to stir those memories of enjoyable times afield.  Not that I need anything to stir up those memories, but these knifes focus those memories on our outings.

So with my daughter finally getting into the outdoors with more passion I felt it was time for her and I to have something to share that was related to our outdoor passions and pursuits.  So knowing my daughter I knew she would like something that she could show off and it had to be one of a kind just like her.

At first I thought this would be a daunting task, but through the course of catching up on many of the blogs I follow, the light bulb went on and I instantly knew what I wanted to do for Kaliegh's birthday present.  See my very first "They Have the Passion" blog post highlighted Joel and his blog  "A Year on the Fly" where Joel combines his passion of fishing and painting into a wonderful blog that highlights his art and I knew I just had to ask him to help me out with my idea.  I emailed Joe my request and I immediately got an excited yet somewhat nervous reply from him but I could tell he was hooked.  So I sent Joel a picture along with what I was thinking and Joel set off to do what he does, by the way did I mention that he does a dang good job at it.  Joel communicated back often showing progress and introducing some additional ideas and thoughts and the result was better then I imagined.

I don't remember telling Joel about the custom knifes I made for Brendan and I, but he must have sensed something because he also sent me an additional 8x10 print of Kaleigh's turkey so I too will always have that visual reminder available to me and for that I am super appreciative.  I could sense a little "what about me" going around the room so I'm certain that Joel will be hearing from me again in the future.

To say Kaleigh was excited and happy is an understatement.  She was grinning from ear to ear and I think I even saw a small tear role down her check but don't tell her that I noticed it. She mentioned that her two favorite gifts where her Turkey painting and her new Buck Commander DVD that her brother bought her.  I may have to buy her another copy of that DVD because I think she might wear this one out watching her favorites Chipper Jones, Luke Brian and Jason Alden.

I know how much the time spent in the field this spring meant to me and I only hope it means as much to her.  I am looking forward to getting her out in the duck blind and deer stand this fall so I can live and breathe ever single moment as she experiences the raw addiction to the great out outdoors and our sport of hunting.


Now I just need to find that special place to hang Kaleigh's painting so she will stop taking down Brendan's buck mount and putting up her big smiling face.

Weekend Recap - 5/8/11

With the weekend tied up with helping out at a local fishing derby and Mother's day I decided to spend a few hours on Friday before work chasing some gobblers.  Problem was there were no gobblers to chase just 4 hens and some deer.

I was hunting a piece of private land where my daughter shot her first bird earlier this season hoping to find a smartened up long beard.  I was out before those first slivers of light waiting in anticipation for the gobblers I was certain I would hear, but not a single gobble was heard the entire morning.

My first visitors on the morning were a pair of Whitetail Deer that popped out of the woods just about 40 yards from my setup.  Once they got comfortable with this big camouflage blind they turned their attention to the stationary turkey out in the grass.  They walked around the decoy I had out there and every so often would stop and give it the once over.  If they weren't trying to smell it, they were giving it the old head bob routing.  Here is a small video clip of this show.  Sorry for the quality but all I had was my cell phone as my video camera was still in the truck.



As the deer were heading off to my right I looked back down the field and noticed a turkey moving in my direction.  After a good look with the binos I noticed it was a hen so I gave a few soft clucks and she kept working my way.  She got into the decoy and got a little nervous and worked within 20 feet of the blind and off into the woods. 

 

As the above hen was sitting in my decoy I could hear another hen yelping away and with this hen sitting right at the decoy I decide to wait a bit and as she moved off int he woods I let out some more sweet turkey talk hoping that hen making all the noise would come my way with an old tom in toe.  Well she came my way, but she was alone.  When she popped around the brush on the side of the field and into my view she was close and I swore I saw a beard.  Hmmm.  Grab the binos and sure enough she had a beard.  No in CT the spring regulations allow for the taking of a bearded bird and I must say I did think about it at one point but I decided to enjoy her and hope her requests for courtship would be answered by a tom but no luck.

I then saw two more deer and two more hens but not a single tom or even a gobble.  I was definitely enjoying the great morning and the activity but Busch Pilot texting me and telling me he was working birds wasn't helping my cause.  It wasn't long past 8:00am when I got a picture message of Busch Pilot's third bird of the season.  At one point he had 7 jakes come in on his setup but just couldn't get them separated enough for a shot.  so he moved his setup and called in a lone Jake and decided to end his season so he can partake in the spring striper run in the river.  So I am still sitting at zero, but not discouraged yet.

They were making sure I read the scale correctly.

Saturday I had the pleasure of helping out my pals at JT's Fly Shop weighing in fish for the kids at a Vernon's 42nd annual fishing derby.   It was a great morning but the turnout was light.  The families that did come out found some cooperative trout and had plenty of fun.  I love to hear the kids screeching with excitement as they reel in a fish and then run over to have it weighed in.  We had a trophy for the overall heaviest fish and awards and prizes for the top 3 in all categories.  We had kids not only out with their families having fun catching trout but winning some great prizes like new rod and reel setups, nets, tackle boxes and some tackle.  My daughter even decided to come and help out and we both agreed that the smiles on their faces made missing a morning of chasing turkeys well worth it.

A few more 2011 Connecticut Turkeys

Connecticut's 2011 Turkey season has been open for 3 days now and I've been stuck in the office all week, man I need a new job.  Maybe one that allows me to hunt and fish all day, every day.  Anyone know of any openings?

So the second of CT's two youth turkey hutning days was this past Saturday and I awoke to rain, wind and even snow flakes - and they were sticking to the grass even.  After checking in with the boys it was decided that we crawl back into the sack and see how it is a little later in the morning.  Well about 8:30ish the rain lightened up enough to make a run to provate land, but my daughter and I had to back out as we had family coming in from out of state for the holiday and the wife needed our help.  That's okay because Busch Pilot and Bubba took Bubba's son James - aka Little Bubba - out for a run at some birds and it is a good thing they did.  Little bubba scored on a pair of soaking wet jakes that just couldn't resist checking out that crazy hen making all that noise in the rain.  This was Little Bubba's first ever turkeys and he was excited and I think he forgot about how wet he was.

Busch Pilot & the victory sign after running down one of Little Bubba's Jakes

Little Bubba with his rain soaked Jakes

Busch Pilot has been at it since the opener where he had to contend with some other hunters with a not so nice attitude.  It's a good thing I wasn't there because I am no where as nice and as patient as BP is.  Anyway BP didn't get any shooting in but he did work a few birds.  Busch Pilot does his homework and he has been on the look out for Chief - the tom with a missing tail feather that my daughter missed on youth day -  and BP had him put to bed the other night and at just after 7am the next day Chief stepped out and gave BP a perfect shot and down he went.  There was another tom with Chief and all he had to do was to walk away but he stayed around and BP gave him the same welcome he gave Chief.  My daughter is a little unhappy that BP got Chief, but she says she will just shoot a bigger one.  Gotta love that confidence.

Busch Pilots 2011 Toms

Bubba finally got out as well and during my 7:30am check in with him he had only seen one hen and it was quiet.  For the piece of land he was hunting, this isn't a good sign and it wasn't looking very promising.  It wasn't long after that Bubba started working a bird and a lone jake came running right in to the setup.  With 3 private land turkey tags in his pocket and turkey poppers on his mind, Bubba never hesitated and down went the jake.

Bubba's 2011 Jake

Just a few Connecticut Turkeys showing off their 2011 birds

So let's take inventory here.

Kaleigh - 1
Little Bubba  - 2
Busch Pilot - 2
Bubba - 1
ME - ZERO.

OUCH!  I better get on the stick and get in the woods.  Hopefully tomorrow will be my day, but with turkey hunting you just never know what is going to happen and that is one of the reasons we all love turkey hunting - Every outing brings hope, disappointment frustration and hopefully success.  But no matter what the day holds for you as a turkey hunter it always serves to drive the passion. 

Boys Will be Boys

As I break down the 20+ minutes of video that we took during my daughter's youth hunt I continue to be impressed with everything she got to see that day.  We had action from 11am until quiting time and we just didn't know what would happen next.

This clip is of some young toms and jakes trying to impress the ladies.  Hope you enjoy it.

Youth Turkey Hunt Success - My Daughter's First Turkey

This past Saturday was the first of 2 spring turkey youth training day's here in CT and my daughter had been promising me she was ready to accept the challenge.  Not the challenge of the hunt but the challenge of going to bed at a decent time and getting up early which she is not very good at, as can be said for most teenagers, but she had promised and even practiced.  Ofcourse the deal for some new camo clothing helped as well, but first she had to prove she can get up and hunt on a regular basis so Saturday's wake up was her first test which she passed with flying colors.

The field during last Sunday's scouting trip

We had been doing our scouting both on state land and private land and have been seeing and hearing birds on pretty much every scouting trip, so we knew we had a good chance of getting into some birds on her hunt but the events of the entire day where totally unexpected and filled with so many new experiences, trials, failures and success that it just made her first turkey hunt that much more memorable and has definitely fueled a new passion in her.

Another shot from the lower field

Our hunt started out on a small piece of state land near our house that up until Friday had looked like a lock.  I went out Friday morning before work to listen for birds and there was not a turkey sound anywhere which made for a long day at work.  My daughter, Busch Pilot and myself went out Friday night to roost the state land spot and the only birds we heard was a gobbler down in the road and a car honking at him - not a good sign.   What seemed like a great game plan was turning into a not so good one fast, but we knew the birds were in the area and felt we could find them and if not no big deal we head over to private land where we know the birds will be.  We worked the state land area from sunrise until about 9:30 with not a single peep but we did cut plenty of turkey sign so we just need to figure out when they will be back.  We left State land and headed for private but first we need some sustenance because the pop tarts and Gatorade we had earlier was not cutting it.

Busch Pilot and Kaleigh taking a break during our State Land hunt

 

Busch Pilot trying his best to locate some birds on State Land

 After Breakfast it was off to a piece of private land that we have been hutning for years and all our kids have taken their first birds off this piece of land so we had high hopes for our midday hunt.  The game plan was to setup on the edge of the upper field and see if we couldn't call a few birds out from the woods.  As we were heading up the field we caught movement across the field 6 birds stepped out of the woods and into the field.  We dove for the ground and decided to watched them instead of work them as we were out in the wide open field.  They worked up the field and into the woods and once out of sight we made a mad dash along the hedgerow and up to the upper field.  We were standing there contemplating where to setup and had decided to setup on the far side of the field.  Before heading across the field Busch Pilot decided to scan the lower field one more time and when he did he noticed 2 toms working up the field towards us, pretty much exactly where we just came from.  It was a full out scramble to get the blind setup and ready for a shot and the 30mph wind gust made it that much more of a challenge as the blind ripped out of my hands and was headed to the open field when my daughter grabbed it for me.  Good thing she has cat like reflexes like her father.  Disaster avoided!

We were all tucked in the blind and in our haste forgot to put out the decoys.  DANG!  No decoy no problem right, well maybe not.  We knew the birds would come right past us if they stayed on course but would they be close enough and if not how would we pull them in.  When that longbeard cleared the hedgerow and gave us a good look we lost focus that my daughter was all new to this and started whispering orders to her like she was a seasoned veteran.  To our surprise stayed composed and handle the request well and she already had a bead on him and was just waiting for the signal to shoot.  Busch Pilot let out a few clucks and old Mr. Tom gobbled and it was enough to stop him and get him to stretch out tall looking across the field and has he did we told Kaleigh to shoot and shedid and missed completely.  We barked the typical orders to eject and get back on him and when she did the gun jammed.  She stayed calm and cleared the jam and had another round in the chamber ready to go but it wasn't to be as we just watched these two toms slowly work across the field out of range from the 20 gauge.

 

After they left the field I crawled out the blind and across the field to setup the decoys and then wormed my way back into the blind.  It wasn't long until we had two toms pop out across the field and start working toward us but they were a little leery and taking their time and that was when I noticed 3 more birds pop out from the same spot about 75 yards behind these two and the chase was on.  Those 3 jakes started running towards the two toms and they blew by us heading back down the field.  Just as the 3 jakes cleared the wood line,  3 more jakes popped out and joined the chase.  Now we had 6 Jakes and two toms running around the lower field that we couldn't see and with the wind blowing we even struggled to hear them.  As Busch Pilot put it "Oh MY!  We have a situation".  Yes we did.  Every now and then we would hear a gobble that let us know they were still down the field but we still can't see them.  All of a sudden a 3 Jakes come running right by the blind and my daughter rushes a shot only to miss by a mile.  It caught us off guard somewhat but she was on top of things for sure.  We continued to be patient and wait for the other 5 birds and sure enough they come back into the upper field out of range and headed across the field and back into the woods from where they had just came.  The count is now 0 for 2 on  and we are working hard to get ourselves under control and to come up with a game plan.  One thing for sure is we need more shells as we only had 5 with us so I made the call and had an Air Force C130 drop a box of shells into our location.  Okay so it wasn't a C130 it was Bubba who ran a box up the field to us and thank goodness he did.

Things quieted down for about an hour, so Busch Pilot and Kaleigh took a nap while I kept vigil scanning the field and woods and calling every so often.  I had to wake them up twice as birds popped out of the point and into the field only to head back in.  Around 2pm we had a hen pop out of the woods and into the field and then another.  We watched them for a bit nowing that the boys would show up soon.  Sure enough like on command, two toms pop into the upper field and work down to these hens and you could see the beards swinging as they waddled in.  One of those toms put on a great display trying to entice the hens and worked hard to keep the other tom from getting close.  Busch Pilot did his best to pull the hens across the field but the wind was just not helping.  We could barely hear the gobbles so I'm sure they had trouble hearing us. 

Kaleigh taking a nap in the blind

As we watched this wonderful display of courtship I noticed some more birds pop out in the same spot the two toms had come from and they turned out to be those 6 Jakes again.  They stayed on top of the field and had a good scrap going on as they jumped up in the air sparing with each other for a few minutes and when they stopped they were headed down the field towards the two toms and those lone hens.  It looked like a scene from a roller derby movie as they headed down the field bumping each other as they ran.  We were enjoying every minute of this, but definitely getting frustrated and my daughter was cold and tired and probably ready to go home but we stayed with it.  All the birds finally headed back up the field and into the woods but would pop back out every once and while to scan the field but we just could not get them to come to our setup.  It could have been the wind as it was definitely making our blind rock.


We decided it was time to leave our setup and head for an open landing near where all the birds had come and gone for the past 2 hours.  The problem is that we had to get through the open field and into the brush without being seen.  We scanned the field over good and with no sign of birds we made a mad dash across the field to the wood line.  We scrambled over rocks and through the prickers and set up on the hedgerow that these birds kept walking down.  We had two hens out across the field just feeding but I just didn't like the setup.  We were limited in our shot area and would never see the birds coming until they were right on us making any adjustment out of the question and I was tired of the unexpected and wanted more control of the situation.  So it was back into the woods and through the prickers to get to the open landing that was just inside the woods off the field.  We got there with a few minor scratches and cuts and started looking around for our next setup but had to move fast as those birds were in and out of this area so much we didn't want to be standing there in the open next time they popped out.  There wasn't much at all for good setups but we made do with some old logs leftover from the logging they had done.  It wasn't ideal but this would work.

I was laying on a log with the video camera shooting through some brush as I was trying to make myself as small as possible which is not an easy task.  BP hit the call and we had a gobble instantly.  Holy heck, here we go again.  It wasn't long before a hen walked right across the landing and headed to the field.  BP called some more and we had multiple gobbles this time which meant those crazy jakes where on the way again.  They came into the landing and then popped into the woods, we called they popped back out but stayed on the far side.  BP gave Kaliegh the green light to shoot and she did and once again another clean miss.  For the life of me I had no idea what was going wrong because Kaleigh can shoot and the gun patterns very well but with my head buried in the video I had no idea what she was doing.   BP gave them some more calls and they stayed on the far edge of the landing, some strutting, some looking around but clueless that they had just been shot at...Again!

Busch Pilot then broke out with a round of kee kee calls and they spun around and starting heading across the landing.  As those 6 birds started across, two more jakes came around the brush from the field and into the landing and they were close.  I could hear BP telling Kaliegh to shoot and her telling BP that there were to many birds behind them and she didn't want to take the shot, especially the way she had been shooting.  It was a comical exchange between the two but it was the right thing to do.  The birds separated just enough where Kaleigh was comfortable and not a word needed to be said to her because neither BP or I called for the shot but it went off and we just watched as Kaleigh's first bird hit the dirt.  I was stunned and lost for a momentum and BP was about to jump up and go get her bird but the other jakes wouldn't leave so I told her to shoot again seeing the limit is 3 and she thought I wanted her o shoot her bird again so the rest of the jakes got a free pass when she aimed for her bird instead of one of them.  We still had one jake decide to come back in and stomp her bird but she was out of shells and I had them in my vest so we just enjoyed show instead.

 

It was now 4:13pm almost 12 hours after wake up and after putting on almost 4 miles on state land that morning plus all the craziness around us on private land including a couple of misses, but success had finally come and the smile on my daughters face said it all.  Both Busch Pilot and I were so proud of the way she hung in there and fought through it all.  It was definitely the most beautiful jake that we had ever seen.  I didn't think her smile could get any bigger but it did when I showed her where he brother shot his first bird, just 75 yards down the logging road from where she got her first bird.  We took lots of pictures and sent one out over the cell and her big brother called back immediately and he was yelling and so excited for her which made for a perfect finishing touch on this hunt.

Kaleigh with BP for a hero shot - The logs was their hiding spot just minutes before

That smile is proof that hunting is good for the soul

For myself and the guys I hunt with we enjoy sharing the passion with others, especially kids and the days events made for incredible memories and the smile on my daughters face proves that we are doing things the right way.  I know she is hooked because we were out scouting again last night and she was arguing with Busch Pilot about who is going to tag "The Chief".  As my daughter put it, "I missed him Saturday but I won't miss him next time".  The bad news for Busch Pilot is that we have another youth training day coming up so she gets another chance at him before the regular season opens up but she is the back up shooter as we will have Bubba's son James out trying to bag his first bird.

I don't even what to guess at what next Saturday will bring but as Busch Pilot always likes to say "It's going to be an adventure." and I'm sure it most certainly will.

A Hunt We Will Never Forget

I'm writing this in response to a recent writing prompt from Outdoor Blogger Network.

"It’s time to write about the outdoor kid in you or the kid(s) you have exposed to the Outdoors."

OBN suggested writing about a memory from your childhood of being exposed to the outdoors or from an experience where I introduced a child to the outdoors.   Seeing I have already written about my first deer camp, which is definitely the one outdoor experience responsible for fueling my passion for the outdoors, I decided to write about introducing others to the outdoors seeing my blog tag line is "Sharing the Passion". 

As I sit and think about all those people I have introduced to some of my outdoor passions and places I find it difficult to pick just one.  I could get into one of the many times my wife was thrust into an new outdoor adventure, usually reluctantly,  like the time I took her steelhead fishing for an 8 hour drift boat trip in a blizzard or the first time I handed her a warm pair of venison tenderloins just removed from a deer.  I could write about one of my brothers first deer hunts or fishing trips as well.  All of which have some funny and interesting moments in them but I have to be careful not to get the wife or family mad at me so maybe I'll save those for another time.

There is no doubt that I get the most enjoyment out of introducing kids to the outdoors especially my own kids, but any youngster will do and they have.  I have had the pleasure to introduce a few of  my kids friends to fishing, turkey and deer hunting and every single outing was special.

One hunting trip that really stands out is the time I took my son Brendan and his friend Michael and Josh out on a youth turkey hunt in the spring of 2005 when they were just 13 & 14 years old.  Both Brendan and Michael had taken their first turkeys in the years before this trip so they were, in their minds, seasoned turkey hunters.  We also had another of their friends along for the trip, Josh, who never hunted but was at the time experimenting with photography and videos and he wanted to video tape the hunt for me.  What made this trip special was the events of that morning hunt which are documented below.

Brendan, Josh and Michael - 2005 Turkey hunt

The trip started out with my son Brendan and his friends Michael and Josh all sleeping over at my house.  I'm not sure Sleeping over is the right way to explain this, maybe just staying over because they didn't sleep much and neither did I as I kept waking up to the sound of their excited little voices talking about previous hunts and their expectations for their hunt in the morning.  Surely anyone that has every had to wake a youngster early for a hunting trip knows that it usually doesn't take more than one or two shakes before they jump up and say they are ready to go and this trio was no different.  Tying to keep them quiet so they didn't wake Momma and my daughter was a challenge.  It was as if they were continuing their excited conversations from the night before and I found myself overloaded before getting a full cup of mornign starter fluid.  I don't remember being that amused at the time, but I can surely close my eyes today and see myself doing the same thing on many a morning when I was young.

We loaded up the gear under a dark sky with a light drizzle of rain coming down but no worries, we had the pop-up blind in the truck because without it there was no way I was going to keep 3 teenagers still and quiet in this weather or any weather for that matter.  We were hutning a piece of private land that had a large pasture that went from the road uphill to a flat where the woods started and that flat just happens to be a common place for turkeys to cross as they work the woods around us.  We've taken a few turkeys from this same pasture and I harvested my biggest bird every just inside the wood line the previous year hunting with Brendan and Michael so I knew the birds would be around but would they cooperate is the question.

So we had four of us crammed into my Ameristep Doghouse blind with only two folding chairs and both of them were taken up by Brendan and Micheal as they were the shooters.  The game plan was to let Micheal have the first shot at a bird and for the life of me I can't remember why, but that was the plan.  we put out two hen decoys just 15 yards from the blind and waited for the birds to start talking.  It wasn't long until we heard the first sounds of birds still on their roost and in all that turkey talk was a couple of gobblers that just gave away their position.  It sure sounded as if they were roosted right where they should be and I knew that if they did what I had seen them do in the weeks prior I knew they would come off the adjoining property and head up to the pasture. 

We were still dealing with some drizzling rain and the birds were not as vocal once on the ground but I was able to get just enough gobbles to keep tabs on their positions and I knew the birds were working just inside the wood line across from our setup and heading to the pasture.  It wasn't long before we saw the first bird step out of the woods and into the pasture.  The grass was a little high but not bad, but we did have a hump in between us and the birds so we would lose them in the pasture on occasion but they did put on a show for the boys.  using the binos we could see we had 5 jakes with a couple of hens and one larger bird that looked bigger but still not a mature tom, ten birds in all.  I was working my box call and slate and did my best, which believe me isn't that good, to call them birds across but all we could do was watch as they continued to cross the upper portion of the pasture only to enter the woods.  I watched those boys fill with excitement and anticipation at every gobble, cluck and movement of the birds, only to see all that excitement come crashing down as they hit the woods.  But as I was explaining to them that it is very difficult to call Toms away from hens, I caught a little movement back over to where the birds came of out the woods and sure enough it was a turkey and it looked like a Tom.

As I pointed this bird out to the boys, their excitement grew and I had to keep reminding them to whisper and move very slowly as turkeys have incredible eye sight and hearing.  Now as I was sitting there watching this bird I was hoping for one of those birds that come running right up to the decoy in a flash, but we had the opposite.  I spent 30 minutes working this bird just get him to come about 75 yards across the pasture.  Now put yourself into a 14 year old body and think about that 30 minute wait and you can appreciate what I had to deal with.  Well this gobbler took his sweat time, but man did he put on a display for us and one I will never forget.  We had about 20 minutes of video of this bird before he got to within about 15 yards of the decoy and hung up. Now when he was hung up he wasn't nervous instead he put on a display that was designed to pull those two hen decoys staked out in front of us right to him and they just kept ignoring him so we had a stand off.  Needless to say I was getting impatient and extremely nervous so I told Mike to get a steady bead on him and when he comes out of his display to pick out that magical spot on his neck and let one rip.  Well Mike lined him up and when he came out of his "come here girls dance" I heard the safety click off and my Remington 870 12guage bark and with that the turkey jumped up in the air, spun around and was headed out of dodge.  I had Mike rack another shell and give him another shot but he just kept running away.  I was depressed for just a minute until the boys started talking and I noticed their voices filled with excitement and not depression as they started laughing and teasing each other and recounting what had just happened.  I got them all back on track and settled down and reminded them that there were more turkeys around so this isn't over, but in the back of my mind I thought we were done.




Well we got our laughs and ribbing out of the way while having a snack and letting things calm down and I would throw in a little calling as well.   About 30 minutes after Mike's miss, Brendan says he sees two birds coming into the pasture just to our right and he is pumped because it is now his turn to shoot.  Of course we have the side windows all zipped up so I unzip the side window just a little to get a look and sure enough hear come two jakes working straight into the decoys.  Only Brendan and I can see them and of course Josh and Mike want to see them so Josh pushes up against me with and starts video taping out the side window while I am trying to get my son ready but Brendan was as way ahead of me and ready to roll.  I made a few purrs and those two jakes came walking right into the decoys and as they got to within feet of the decoys they stretched out their necks to check the fake hen just standing there and then turned around and it looked like they were headed out.  Brendan had a bead on them the whole time and was waiting for them to separate a little bit so he didn't shoot both of them.  They separated just enough and Brendan let that Remington 20guage rip and down went his bird and out came a huge whoop of excitement and that is when Brendan took over and directed Micheal to shoot the other jake that had run away and stopped and was just standing there just close enough.  I couldn't see the jake standing there so it was my Son Brendan calling the shots and Mike was listening and this time when the Remington went off Mike connected and the second jake dropped.  We went from a miss to a double on youth day.  It was just plain amazing.  What made it extra special is Josh had everything on video.  Yup that is right a 14 year old video taped the entire trip and did an incredible job to boot.  So Josh got to see something that many turkey hunters never see or experience during the hunt but I think his favorite part was the up close inspection of the turkeys themselves.



It is a day I will never forget and I'm not sure any trip to come will ever top that day.  I was blessed to share a turkey blind with my son and his two teenage friends and I got experience everything through their eyes and it was incredible.  We experienced so many emotions that day that I can't possibly account for all of them and I was proud and impressed at the way the boys handled everything.  From anticipation, excitement,  failure and back to raw excitement.  We had so many good things happen on that hunt but it was extra special listening to Josh recap the days events as he was showing off the video he took to everyone that stopped over that day.

What the boys and I experienced that day, many people can't understand and will never experience anything like it and a piece of me feels sorry for them.  It was an experience of a lifetime for all of us and it is a bond we will always share.......Forever.