Spring vs. Fall Gobbler Hunts!

Fall turkey hunting is a completely different experience from spring time hunting. In spring obviously the birds are mating, so the males respond to calls of hens. Calls that you are making from inside your blind, and calls that males believe is coming from your hen decoys. This method obviously makes hunters more successful in the spring because the birds come to them. The fall however, the birds are not mating and therefore do not respond to mating calling. (photo compliments of statesmen.com)









So how do you go about hunting turkeys in the fall then? Well this year will be the first fall hunt for TGO, and from everything I've read this is how most hunters have success in the fall.
First, it would be good to set up as many game cameras as possible before the season opens, so you can figure out where the birds are feeding everyday. If you have a food plot that makes it even easier to figure out. The reason for knowing where they are feeding everyday, is because you will need to scatter the heard. This means once you locate a flock, you literally run at them screaming, causing the birds to scatter in fear. Some areas also allow dogs to use for scattering. It is important to get a good scatter where the birds fly off in all different directions. After they have scattered, you set up your blind and decoys in that same location. Then you sit and pretty much just wait and hope that they come back to the same area to continue feeding. I know what you are thinking, I also thought it sounded kind of silly, the first time I heard it, but it sounds like a lot of fun too! I have read that you can hit them with some soft purring and feeding calls to lure them back. (photo compliments of vectors) There are other techniques as well, but this is called the most classic way of fall turkey hunting. The most important thing to remember about fall hunts, is scouting. If you do a good job scouting, you will be able to either get ahead of a flock or under a roost, and get set up in the right spot.

 



In Florida the start of the fall turkey season for zone, begins with bow hunting only. Turkey bow hunting with also be TGO's first attempt this year. Hunting turkey with a bow is also very different from the regular shot gun. With bows you have to be more accurate, and have steady hands and therefore steady nerves. While with the shot gun you pretty much only aim for the neck of the bird, with the bow you aim for the breast or the butt. To demonstrate what I mean by breast and butt, here is a diagram from different angles that can help you visualize it. (photo compliments of bowsite.com)

 



It would be this hunters goal to be able to provide a tasty turkey for the families thanksgiving this year, hopefully the season will go well. Until the season opens, TGO will be hard at work practicing these kill zone shots with the bow. Stay tuned for the conclusion of Spring vs. Fall turkey hunting.


"He makes my feet like the feet of deer and he sets me on high mountains." Psalms 18:33

One pursuit of a hunting companion!

The time has come for this TGO to add another member to the family, and to the hunting brigade. A hunting dog to be exact, and what an exciting adventure so far. Over the past few months TGO has been researching the many different types of breeds and what they are purposed for. I have learned so much and am excited to share it all with you.

First, you will want to consider all the top breeds that are used for hunting, and what kind of hunting you will be doing will also have an effect on the type of dog you end up buying. The different categories are as follows, retrievers, pointers, flushers and hounds.
Retrievers are used for bringing back any game that has gone down in the water or on land.
Pointers are used to track and mark game that is on the ground.
Flushers are used to kick up any game that is hiding in the brush.
Hounds are used for their ability to sent tack wild game. Some pictures of each are featured below, please note there are many different kinds of pointers, retrievers, flushers and hounds. They are all simply just categories and each individual breed should be considered separately.

Pointer:



Retriever:

 

 

Flusher:

 

 

Hounds:

 

Secondly, when picking out a hunting dog, it is best to go through a reputable breeder. The way to determine if you have found a reputable breeder is as follows..

1. Make sure they have been inspected and passed by the American Kennel Club, and that they have the appropriate paper work to prove it.

2. Take a visit to the breeders facility, make sure it is clean and well maintained, and that the puppies are well socialized and clean, and not malnourished or sickly looking.

3. Ask to see the parents of the puppies and pay close attention to their temperament and size, this will most likely be a reflection of your new puppies future.

4. The breeder should be willing and able to answer all of your questions about the breed, and be knowledgeable and honest about the good and the bad points of that particular breed.

 

Well after much consideration by TGO and her associate, it was decided that a Labrador retriever was what suited us best. There is still much debate on the color that will be chosen, but we are leaning towards yellow because they have the least amount of skin problems! Luckily we have a few months before we will be officially ready to pick out, purchase and bring home our new bundle of joy. In the meantime we are in search of a good breeder and are having fun picking out names. Here are a few we are considering...

1. Ghost

2. Lefty

3. Tobias

4. Penny

Which is your favorite?

I hope this post helps any of you who are considering getting a hunting dog, get started in the right direction. There is so much information out there, just make sure you do your research and bring home a happy healthy pup!

Stay tuned in the next few weeks for cute puppy pictures, and TGO's first attempt and puppy training, that will defiantly be an adventure for real.

"As a deer longs for flowing streams so my sole longs for you, oh God." Pslam 42:1

The fundamentals of the cast net.

First and foremost, I apologize for the radio silence over the past few weeks! I have been in cognito hunting the extremely illusive grades of the A+ variety! Grades tend to hide indoors at my desk and the library! This endeavor had been exceptionally taxing seeing as there are turkeys and fish left to kill/catch! A few weeks ago I did manage to escape the jungles of study hood and fish for a few hours, and as luck would have it my good friends Jack and Freddie were there to accompany me, and school me on the ins and outs of cast net throwing! For those of you who don't know, you use the cast net to catch bait fish, in order to catch bigger fish! This, I have discoved is a sort of art form! There are similar techniques, but evey caster has his or her own style of execution! I will now share with you what skills and tips I picked up in my classroom day at sea!

First and foremost, cast nets get heavier and harder to handle as the size gets bigger. It is important to learn the skill of cast net throwing with a smaller size net until you perfect it, then you can move up to a larger size! I began with a ten foot net! 

Secondly, gather the majority of the net in your non dominate hand. Next grab the outter edge of the opposite side of the net and place the edge in your mouth between your teeth. With your dominate hand, begin tossing the excess of the net over the same dominate forearm until the rest of the net is distributed evenly between both arm and hand. At this point let the net that is over your dominate arm slide down until you can grab it in hand, making sure to keep ahold of the net in your mouth and opposite hand.

Assuming that you were able to follow those instructions, it is now time to throw. Stand with your legs shoulder width apart, making sure you have stable footing (falling off the side of the boat is not recommended.), now wind up to the opposite side and release both hands at the same time, and your teeth grasp last! The net should span out into a circle, therefore grabbing as many bait fish as possible! Remember practice makes perfect! 

Below is a photo from my first lesson! Enjoy! And stay tuned for bait catching awesomeness! Happy adventuring! 

"Jesus called out to them, come, follow me and I will show you how to fish for people." Matthew 4:19

An Osceola occasion ended with a Bang.

The coveted North American Wild Turkey Grand Slam is a goal I decided a few years ago that I wanted to pursue. The Grand Slam consists of the Osceola (Florida native), the Miriam, the Rio, and the Eastern. Months ago I began my preparation for this year's 2014, Spring turkey season. My first goal was the turkey closest to home, the illusive Osceola. As luck would have it a week into the season my first Osceola was taken on March, 18, 2014 at approximately 9:30 am. A gobbler with an eight inch beard, one inch spurs and weighing in at 20 pounds. That day was a great day, and it started out looking very dismal and very much the opposite of a great day! It had been raining the entire day before the kill, and all the way through the night and into early morning of that day, Tuesday. I was a restless sleeper that night with visions of turkeys dancing in my head. I awoke, what seemed like every hour, and the sound of thunder high winds and rain, made me start to think that mornings hunt was going to be a wash. Turkeys are not ones to feed in a rainstorm, especially one of this magnitude. The forecast was calling for a 0% chance of rain at 6 am, however. If this was true, it was my belief the turkeys would be on a feeding frenzy, seeing as how the day before they were unable to do so all day. If this was true the frenzy would begin right at sun up, which was when I planned on being there to see it! But how could I be sure that they would frenzy feed, and how could I know that weathermen were correct? Lets face it, they are wrong more times then they are right! Against my better judgment, and some of my hunting companion's advice, I called everyone that morning and told them the hunt was still on. The drive to the property did not help the feeling of doom I was having as it still continued to rain for the hour we were one the road. The winds seemed to not be letting off the gas either. However a few days before, after sitting in the blind for close to 4 hours and seeing and hearing squat, it was decided we would take a walk and see if we could rustle up some feathers. Luckily, we busted a group of 5 hens and 2 gobblers when rounding a corner of the property that day. This allowed us to follow them to their roosting tree, and tree them. So, this morning I knew exactly where I wanted to set up the blind, exactly where the decoys should go, and exactly where I thought they would cross the next day. This new location for the blind was met with some resistance my co-hunters, not that I can blame them, I was proposing we move to a new location that was 200 yards or more away from the food plot. A food plot that we had proof they were feeding in, and proof that there was a huge gobbler also feeding there. The move seemed risky and not wise, but eventually all agreed to try out the new spot. After setting up all the decoys and blind, the first light of day was just starting to come up, and Coach Fred and I starting hitting the calls with some purring and quiet clucks. Purring is the sound that turkeys make just as they are waking up. However on this morning just like all the rest, the Osceola's were silent as the grave, which is a trademark attribute of this breed of turkeys. Much unlike their cousins to the north the Eastern's, Osceola's never say much, especially early in the season. This does not mean they won't come to your calling however, so off calling we went. For the first time in history, the weather forecasters were spot on, at exactly 6 am, the skies were parted by the powers that be, and the sun came out, but still no chatting turkeys. At this point we increased our frequency and urgency of our calling as to say to the Gobblers "Hey its been almost 24 hours since I was bred get your behind over here now!" At approximately 9 am Coach Fred was dosing off to sleep, doing that open mouth head bob in his chair. I know this feeling and so does every hunter, after so many days waking up before the sun, and the peacefulness of the outdoors, it's the perfect combination for narcolepsy. The problem with this, especially when you are hunting alone, is if you fall asleep, the animal could walk right by and you would never know it! The good thing about hunting with a partner is you can offer them  relief at least temporarily. Un announced to us, coach Jack that was supposed to be watching the other side of the property, had taken the truck back out and gone to sleep! I digress. So I turned to Coach Fred and told him that he should nap and if the turkeys emerged I assured him I would wake him from his hunting induced slumber.  He gratefully accepted my proposal and slinked back in his Coleman lawn chair and went to sleep. Then next few moments were a blur, but I will do my best to recall the chain of events for you. Coach Fred had been asleep for maybe 1 minute and all I remember is looking out of the left side of the blind, no turkeys. Looking out of the right side of the blind, no turkeys. Looking down at my watch, "hmm 930 am, they should be out by now". Looking once again left and with one swift motion of my head, I gazed upon the greatest flock of wild Osceola turkeys I had ever seen. They emerged out of the brush, just as the sun was hitting their path, the iridescent coloring of their feathers lit up the small field, like 12 little turkey gods had come down to earth. It was everything I could do not to be hypnotized by the amazingly unique and beautiful colors of their feathers. The flock of birds was moving right towards our position and towards our decoys. While being blinded by the beauty that was before me, I grasped Coach Fred's knee to awaken him. It seemed as if I was almost frozen in time, partially out of shock at what I was witnessing and partially out of fear, this was it, it was time to take my first Osceola gobbler. Among the flock there was a gobbler already fanned out in strut position and one jake that looked to be about 1.5 years old. As Coach and I slowly retrieved our guns, it was apparent to me that I was nervous, I came to this conclusion by observing the amount of trembling that my arms and legs were doing, it was enough to measure a 4.5 on the Richter scale for seismic activity. Coach Fred leaned over and instructed me to get into shooting position and not to forget to breath! "Breath! Oh yeah, breath, I knew I was forgetting something!" I exclaimed to myself. Just two weeks ago when I was watching armature turkey hunting videos online, I laughed at the people hunting when they would get themselves all worked up and start to shake. "Silly!" I thought. "Its just hunting, you're not on trial! How strange. I have been on plenty of hunts, and never had that reaction." I thought. Now the taste of crow was ever so apparent on my tongue. This was a new experience for me, sure last year I went turkey hunting with my friend Jack but he was the one who shot, I just called and pointed out that fact that what he was looking at was indeed a tom. I had also been on countless dove hunts, fished in the murky waters of Tampa Bay with sharks and stingrays at my feet! Surely I was tougher than this! The only word that kept repeating in my head was, "NO! NO WAY you screw this up!" "That gobbler is in perfect position at 38 yards, you have farmed and planted, and patterned and treed and put in countless hours and amounts money in order to be in this exact position you are in right now!" "NO! NO WAY you screw this up!" As I was mentally abusing myself Coach Fred's words fell upon my ear, and he said, "wait until you have a good shot at his head, you take the gobbler and ill take the jake. I'll wait for your count, and we will shoot on 3." "Oh Lord!" I thought! "Do I even remember how to count to 3 now? Goodness gracious I have to pee like a Russian race horse! Ok I can do this, I will do this!" I said to myself! Just as I had a good shot on the gobblers head, Coach's voice once again rang in my ear drum, he explained "your gobbler is breeding that hen, let him finish..... Its a guy thing." "Really! How in the world did I fail to notice that!" I thought. After the gobbler was done with his manly turkey duties, and the hen shook him off and ran for it, I was ready! Upon bated breath just as he turned around, I told Coach, "Ok I have a shot, one....two...three, BANG! Gobbler and Jake down! Coach Fred and I had done it! Two shooters, two birds down! As we escaped the blind to claim our prized turkeys, and after I jumped around and squealed like a school girl! I couldn't  help but say a prayer of thanks, and remember how truly blessed I am to have such great friends that have helped me along my hunting adventures. Fred and I just did what many hunters wait their whole lives to accomplish! We got Osceola's! THE hardest turkey to hunt in North America. THAT was a great day! The following are my journal entries from opening day until the big Osceola take down complete with pictures....

Dear Diary,
Day one Spring Turkey season 2014; Saw 5 hens. 2 at noon and 3 at 6pm. No gobbles yet. Discovered a boss hen that fights over Wrens Abruzzi. Staying positive. Tomorrow we hunt in the afternoon.  

Dear Diary,
Day 2 Spring turkey hunt 2014. Significant improvement today. Called in boss hens and their subordinates. Discovered roosting tree. Belly crawled through palmettos, the spotted small jake and one gobbler, approximate 8 inch beard, but was out of range. Fat gobbler strutted twice. We hunt again 2 days from now, where certainly the fat one has a date with his turkey maker.

Dear Diary,
Gobbler down! 03/18/2014. Osceola, 8 inch beard, 1 inch spurs, weight 20 pounds! First step in grand slam complete!







....Stay tuned for the complete series "The Grand Slam Pursuit" with The Girl Outdoors!

An adventure in preparing for Turkey Season!

Wow can't believe a year has flown by already and it's almost time for my second season ever turkey hunting! Preparing for this years hunt (Spring 2014) has been fun, educational, taxing, but ultimately rewarding. It all started with scooping up some more decoys and reliable reading material! When we picked out decoys to add to the collection this is the kind we chose!

Charlotte was the first decoy to become a part of the heard this year! She is an Avian-X decoy, this brand has the best paint job out of all the ones I've seen! Very realistic! The second step was securing property and planting a food plot! You can see the specifics of the planting process in my article entitled "Get in the ground, 'fore the rain come down, a lesson in driving a tractor." However to sum it up we found a piece of private property that the owners are allowing us to hunt this year, and plant Wrens Abruzzi and Buck Wheat for munching turkeys! Below are some snap shots from that day..

Discing!

Seeding!

Next, it was time for us to hurry up and wait for the grass to grow! And it was not before long we got our wish! 

After the concern for the growing plot was depleted from our minds we focused our energy on pulling out all the turkey gear and making sure everything was in working order! When we discovered that indeed it was, our yearly trip to bass pro shops was signifigantly less money, hooray! The advantage of taking good care of your gear from one year to the next! I suggest every hunter do the same, it saves you a lot of money in the long run! Just when I thought I was prepared and ready to go the boyfriend and his wonderful family gave me the greatest surprise of all, a new pot call for Christmas and a brand new turkey gun for my birthday! How lucky am I? 

The pot call is a Zink slate call! 

And the gun is a beautiful Remmingtion 11-87! Now I know for sure this season will be extra special! There was just one last thing to do in order to prepare for what was and is shaping up to be an epic season, is to track and tree those gobblers! Fortunately for us there was and is many, many turkey tracks on our property, along with some trail cam pictures that put our minds at ease! 

It's difficult to see but there are Turks in this picture if you look close...

There is only 3 days left till opening day! TGO can't wait to share the adventures with you so stay tuned! 

 

Get it in the ground, 'fore the rain come down! A lesson in driving a tractor.

"For whatever a man sows, he will also reap." Galations 6:7

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The time has finally arrived to plant our yearly turkey food plot! (And the crowd goes wild ahhhhhh!!!) Ok, maybe it's just me going wild! I tend to get overly exuberant when any activity concerning turkey hunting arises. Planting a turkey food plot is step one, on the road to a successful season! This required an early rise on a Saturday, a tractor, a four wheeler with a seed spreader, seed, and a whole lot of driving in circles! In the past I have helped plant several dove food plots, but this was the first time for me planting a turkey food plot! If you are unfamiliar with what a food plot is, it is an area of ground that is disced and planted with seeds. The goal being to grow the plants that turkey's (or whatever you are hunting) likes to eat. This will attract the animals, to that specific area everyday to feed, and then when hunting season rolls around you know just where to set your blind up.

Tyler graciously started the discing process (which is not a quick process) last night while I was a work, so this morning I helped finish it up! After the shock of waking up at 7 on Saturday wore off and my coffee kicked in, I was a farming fool! 

I even found a friend to keep me company while driving. Although something tells me he was more interested in the fresh bugs being dug up behind the disc, rather than me! But I digress.

This is the tractor we used to do our discing, 

it is affectionately named "The Flea", because it's pretty small and for some reason, I have the feeling it's secretly an Autobot that one day will transform, and will pole vault 30 feet in mid air right before my eyes! That might be a stretch, but The Flea despite its name, certainly is big enough to get the job done. Today's adventure also included the ins and out of tractor driving. 

First thing first, what is what? Steering wheel, ignition key, and gas/temp gauges are obvious to any licensed driver.

The not so obvious things are the clutch,

the bucket and bucket lift lever,

pushed forward the bucket raises, pulled back it lowers, right dumps the bucket and left pulls it back up.

Speed control behind the wheel and brake on the floor board. 

A second speed control and gear shift,

hydraulic disk lever, pull back the disc lifts, and pushed forward the disc drops to the ground. 

Finally the piece de la resistance, the disc!

After familiarizing myself with all the controls I was on my way. We disced up an area of about one acre. After approximately two hours of discing the ground was soft and my buns were sore. This was my que to start spreading the seeds. If you know anything about wild turkey eating habits, you know they love winter rye! Wrens Abruzzi Rye to be specific. 

In true redneck fashion, a four wheeler rigged up with a seed spreader on the front, is the fastest and most fun way to disperse seed. So we filled the spreader, and fired up the four wheeler!

This is what winter rye seeds look like!

Don't ask why this was fun, it just was!

And off I went.....

Also, it must be mentioned that on the back of the four wheeler, we attached a grate scrapy looking thingy! Ok so I don't know it's technical name, but I know that it was a huge help when drug behind the ATV, as the seed was being thrown from the front this grate helped sift the seeds in the ground from behind!

A successful day of discing and seeding, complete, and we got it down before the rain came! 

If we continue having the same weather we have been, which includes plenty of rain, then it should be no time at all before we see the seeds sprouting.

Hopefully the turkeys will find what we planted, ASAP!  Turkeys have been spotted on this private property many a mornings, so this hunter is keeping her fingers crossed. 

Stay tuned for the fruits of thy labor, and more farming adventures with The Girl Outdoors!