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Post by 101ABN on Apr 13, 2012 14:53:56 GMT -8
Turkey hunting!  Three of us went our this morning at Zero-dark-thirty in the pouring rain. About 0800 the rain quit and the birds started gobbling. and we started calling. A group of 6-8 jakes came up out of the ravine about 35 yds out and we downed two of them. Mine is the one on the left, a year old jake with a three inch beard and about 10 lbs dressed out. The heroic bird is now on ice while my brining solution cools. He will be eaten tomorrow with full culinary honors. ;D |
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Post by tripleo on Apr 13, 2012 18:20:57 GMT -8
I shot my first turkey I ever tried for this afternoon. Scared the hell out of the other shoppers in the frozen food aisle.  ;D |
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Post by 101ABN on Apr 13, 2012 18:35:15 GMT -8
What camo pattern did you wear?
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Post by tripleo on Apr 13, 2012 18:45:03 GMT -8
A really divine little mauve outfit with pink paislies around the cuffs - really to die for, you know  By the way, I was curious about that. Here in Colorado, as far as I know, you have to wear those orange vests or something similar when you're out hunting. Obviously different in your part of the world? I haven't hunted in years, other than zapping a few errant wild beasts that were being less than cooperative in peacefully existing with some livestock. On another note.....Did you have to say Fancy mady you think of a turkey? Really uncalled for, ya know. ;D |
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Post by tankcommander on Apr 13, 2012 19:40:02 GMT -8
Do you turkey hunt every year?
Did you do some calling?
How ya gonna cook it?
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Post by 101ABN on Apr 13, 2012 20:45:27 GMT -8
I just took it up again last year after a few decades off.
I did a little calling with a cedar box but I wasn't working the call when the Jake brigade attempted to storm the ramparts.
I'm brining it until tomorrow then handing it off to Mrs 101 to roast for dinner.
One of these days I'll get a smoker.
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Post by 101ABN on Apr 13, 2012 20:50:53 GMT -8
A really divine little mauve outfit with pink paislies around the cuffs - really to die for, you know By the way, I was curious about that. Here in Colorado, as far as I know, you have to wear those orange vests or something similar when you're out hunting. Obviously different in your part of the world? I haven't hunted in years, other than zapping a few errant wild beasts that were being less than cooperative in peacefully existing with some livestock. On another note.....Did you have to say Fancy mady you think of a turkey? Really uncalled for, ya know. ;D Do they actually require orange safety vests for turkey hunting? That seems bizarre since turkeys can see color. |
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Post by tripleo on Apr 14, 2012 5:12:56 GMT -8
Like I said, I haven't hunted for years. Back when I did a lot of hunting I don't think orange was required for anything, or if it was I guess I was breaking the rules. But it does look like my assumption was wrong and you hit the nail on the head, judging from the picture at the top of this brochure: wildlife.state.co.us/SiteCollectionDocuments/DOW/RulesRegs/Brochure/turkey.pdfWhere I live turkeys are a real rarity. You have to go further north to the Platte and on east near the Nebraska and Kansas borders before running into any significant amount of turkeys. I will say, though, that while still an unusual accurence, they are being spotted more often. I think that is due to the fact that a few years ago a lot of us landowners worked with the Pheasants Forever outfit and put in a lot of those windbreak/habitat plantings around the area. I put in four of them on my land. I really don't see that it made a lot of difference in the pheasant population but I suspect that those little areas may provide cover for turkeys. Last year about this time I looked out the window and saw six of the things walking right down the middle of the road by my house. That is the largest bunch of turkeys I have ever seen within 70 miles of where I live. So maybe the population is on the upswing? |
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Post by tankcommander on Apr 14, 2012 8:03:26 GMT -8
The comeback of wild turkeys in North America is arguably one of the greatest conservation success story in history. I don't hunt them in the Spring anymore, but I see them all the time during deer season. They are legal here during the Fall, but I hardly ever shoot them anymore. I like sitting in my deer stand, and watching them fly up into the trees just before dark to roost, and listening to them flopping down at daylight, and clucking to each other to assemble the flock. Then the damn things usually come over, and eat a bunch of corn from my deer/hog feeder .  The ones I 've shot, I skin, and and cut out the breast, and thighs. The drumsticks are like chewing on a piece of Kevlar!  |
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Post by 101ABN on Apr 14, 2012 9:27:22 GMT -8
I'm a member of NWTF. They've been very influential in the comeback of the wild turkey. Once there were less than 30,000 in the wild, now there are over 200,000 with sustainable populations in 49 states. . www.nwtf.org/Are those Oceolas in your neck of the woods, TC? |
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Post by tankcommander on Apr 14, 2012 10:13:30 GMT -8
The ones I see on our hunt club's lease are. It's in Levy County, on the gulf coast, south of the line the NWTF uses to establish their range. "The National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) only recognizes birds as Osceolas if they are taken south of a line drawn between Taylor and Dixie counties on the Gulf to a line running between Nassau and Duval counties on the Atlantic coast."Most of the ones I see are on oak hammocks, high ground in the cypress swamps, and sloughs. The Osceola... www.wildturkeyzone.com/wildturkey/osceola.htm |
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Post by 101ABN on Apr 14, 2012 19:24:34 GMT -8
MMM! A most excellent Turkey dinner with mashed taters & gravy, dressing, green beans, and cranberry sauce.
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;D
