JohnP

Good shooting and great recap of the hunt Marty.

So you were the guy on the far east side sitting along the edge Nitro, or were in the blue Titan? The guy in the middle sure was tearing it up tho. Few birds around but not as many as I've seen in there in the past. Thanks for the compliments on the dig work. Got a lot of things we need to work on but she did alright for her first trip of the season. Did you see chase that down the cripple that I finally had to put down, Lil booger had more life in it than I expected for the way it went down ;).

Awsome Marty .

Been up since 4pm yesterday so I'm plumb worn out. Got off at 0600 and decided to give it a shot. Stopped by the house grabbed the yella dawg and gear and headed to the fields. Awsome sunrise pulling into the field. Only 2 other parties in the field when I got there so plenty of room. Birds were few and far between but had my chance at a limit plus. Passed quite a few shots that were just out of range and had a few the came in from my blind side that I didn't get shouldered quick enough for a shot. Ended up with 10 birds total, no lost birds with 16 shots fired. Lost 5 shells in the brush. Not too shabby of shell to bird ratio considering I usually go about a box and a half pet limit ;).

Been seeing quite a few dove and teal around. Looking forward to it.

Hate to say it but I'm done with summer and ready for dove and teal seasons ;).

Sometimes you just gotta take what is offered. Congrats Slider.

Well have to start out by saying this has probably been my personal best turkey season as far as size of birds go and maybe quickest. First birds was 24 lbs and shot within 30 min of sitting on opening morning. Second bird 23.5 lbs. Didn't get out again till Wednesday when a couple buddies invited me up around Clinton to camp out and do some hunting and fishing. Wednesday was a tough muddy hunting day after the rain the night before but ended well. Try to listen for birds gobbling early and nothing. Do some walking and find a couple birds that look like their heading our way so we quickly get set up. After a couple hours of playing with a hen the toms wouldnt pull off the hens they were with. Birds went back the other way so we picked up our strutting Jakes and tried to get ahead of them with no luck. Thought we had em pin pointed where they were heading but turns out they turned around and went back to the corner where they'd been hanging out when we first seen them. Decide to try the ol Indian sneak behind the deres. Belly crawl 50 plus out into the muddy field and get to about 125 yds from them. They see the dekes but refuse to pull off the hens. Laid in the mud for over an hour watching them and calling to em hoping eventually they'd get ticked and respond but they weren't having it. At one point Jeff had another Tom sneak in on his left to within 30 yds just enough of a draw that all we could was his blue and red head and don't know if it was the 2 strutting Jake dekes he didn't want to tangle with or 2 bodies the dekes were dragging ;). Dude never made a sound just walked off feeding down towards the other group. So know there's 3 toms and 2 hens that won't budge out the corner. Finally decided to back out out try to make our way to bottom corner without getting busted. After an hour or so of sneaking the long way around finally get to the corner and surprisingly their still there and actually heading up the fence row towards us. Look at the time and it's noon so knowing if it was going to happen we didn't have much time left. Crawled into the thick brush and tried to find an opening. The hens pass by approximately 50 yds with all 3 toms not to far behind. Problem was just out of range and didn't feel comfortable shooting thru the brush at that range. Jeff starts mouth calling when I see a hen standing behind us at 20 yds. She starts putting and runs off. Crap, we're done we both think when one of the toms starts gobbling and heading back down the fence row towards us. We can't see them, then we start hearing them drumming and spitting. Know their close but I still can't see them. Both of on our knees in the under brush. Jeff finally sees a head and a fan but not the same birds. So we have both close. He asks if I'm ready and I tell him still don't see them. The angle brush had me blocked out plus 5 ft 11in height compared to his 6 ft 4 in height probably didn't help me ;). Still drumming and spitting Jeffs finally had enough and he shoots. Finally I see a Tom run out to 30 yds and I ask him if he is going to shoot him again thinking he missed and says no he dropped his so I shoot and drop the 2nd bird. Both birds dead in their tracks. I didn't see the bird Jeff shot til I stood up and there it laid 15 yds out. Shots fired at 1230. Got back to camp, processed birds, ate lunch, and headed to the lake to catch a limit and a half of Truman crappie. Awesome day and much needed get away. The last 2 days we tried to get Jeff His Second Bird and his brother his first for the season but again their being stubborn and not playing. Gobbling good on roost but tight lipped and not responding to the calling once they hit the ground. I had to come back for work but their still up there, hope they can find some birds that want to play. Jeffs bird (lower) 18.5 lbs, 1 1/4" spurs, double beard 10.5" and 7". My bird (upper) 23.5 lbs, spurs 1 9/16th" and 1 5/8th", beard 10.5" Skillet of awesomeness. Fried crappie, taters, and hush puppies.

Congrats Marty. Tagged out up around Windsor with a buddy on Wednesday. Will post up a story later but here's the pic. Bottom bird is a buddies (18.5 lbs., 1 1/4" spurs, double beard 10.5" & 7") and top bird is mine (23.5 lbs., 1 9/16th" spur and 1 5/8th" spur, 10.5" beard)

Congrats to the Mrs and yourself. Great write up of the hunt as usual BH.

That just might be my next smoke adventure along with some backstrap.

Thanks Marty and good luck to the Mrs. in the morning. Its way over my head but its pretty nice and I'm still learning on it and the smoking game as a whole. It's one of those BPS outlet store finds that I'm glad I didn't walk away from. Side of the box was crushed in, pulled it out of the box and nothing was damaged and everything in it that should of been.

Got a Masterbuilt electric smoker with some BPS gift cards after Christmas and really haven't had the time or reason to use it. Shot a turkey on Monday and figured that would be a good way to break it in. Brine the breast overnight in. Rubbed a little lemon pepper on one and salt, pepper, and garlic on the other. Wrapped both in a woven bacon blanket and smoked with Applewood for approximately 3 hours to an internal temp of 165. Wrapped internal foil and let them rest for approx 30 min which was the hardest part after smelling them out of the smoker. Both turned out great and had to yell at my wife to step away from the counter more than once after I sliced em up ;). Love the smoker and sure I'll get yelled at by the traditionalist but was nice setting it and forgetting it especially with the Bluetooth capabilities that I can set and change settings thru my phone.

Congrats Marty. 24 lbs, 10 inch beard, and 7/8th inch spurs. Got off work at 0600 set up in the field by 0620 and bird taking a nap at about 0700. Fun quick hunt but about blew it and let him get when he and the other Tom were more interested in the Jake tailing 3 hens 50 yds away than my strutting Jake decoy. They came to it and then turned back around. Believe I got busted when they turned but not bad enough the left the country. Let clear the tree to my left at 20 yds when one if them started strutting again so I didn't give him another chance to change his mind ;).

Good stuff Marty and what a way to wrap up the season. You got me looking forward to getting into more black foot hunting with you next season.

Good stuff Dan. Glad to hear you made it thru that ordeal. Mother nature isn't something to mess as unfortunately a couple duck hunters found out the hard way this year :(. I've pushed the limits in the past but no duck is worth is a life human or dawg.

Oh yea, glad you could show the dawg how to retrieve, think she learned something ;).

Them are some big ol' birds First off Marty, thanks again for having the yella dawg and I up there for a late season goose hunt . It was a honor finally getting to meet you and the Mrs. in person and getting a hunt in while we were at it and swapping stories. Sadie and the hunt plum wore ShellB out as she was out and snored the whole trip back ;). The birds were definately the icing on the cake as the hunt was more about, at least for me, getting to hunt with the legendary Billethead and introducing the pup to something new. You were almost right that the jerky wouldn't make it home, managed to restrain myself from eating the last 2 pieces so I could share it with the wife ;). It is mighty tasty. You pretty much summed up the hunt so here's a few pics. Last sunrise for the season. Mouthful of goose. Tell her to smile and she closes her eyes ;).

Definately been a odd year. Buddy and I were just talking about the lack of gads seen this year and no gwt. Think I've only shot 2 gads now that I think back and haven't seen any gwt. Usually this time of year were shooting gads and gwt with the occasional mallard. But everywhere I've scouted it's been mallards and hollywoods. I also believe your correct in that they are hung up in the middle and north zone as I'm still hearing people talk about the #s of birds up there. Best hunt we had was on the Osage, been awhile since I've seen that many birds.

You weren't hunting up in Swan creek were you? It's been holding a good # of birds for the past couple weeks but getting them to work has been a chore. Scratched out a couple here and there. Almost thought about getting olive drab tarp to throw over the boat and just anchoring in the middle of the creek ;).

Guess I did take a harvest and a sunrise pic on a hunt back before Christmas.

Been a frustrating and humbling season to say the least. Had a couple great hunts early as far as harvesting birds go but have had far more days this season where I never fired a shot than i ever had. Found birds the last couple weeks but they are most definately educated late season birds and hard to compete with real birds sitting on the other side 200 plus yds away in open water. Call shy, decoy shy, want to land out in the middle of the lake just out of range after working hard and then swim away. Threw small single # spreads and bigger spreads. Mojos and no mojos. Jerk stringed it and also broke down and got a water kicker wonderduck this season. I will admit tho that I didn't get out as much as I normally do as I did more deer hunting/sitting the first half. Thankful for being able to enjoy another season with a new pup and friends. Now to put all the hunting gear away and get the fishing gear out ;). Sorry I didn't take any harvest pics this year other than teal season.

I didn't like hunting in 15 plus foot flooded timber in a 16 foot boat with a blind on it last week, I can't imagine hunting it out of kayak or canoe. Glad to hear your safe.

Water level is just under the basketball back boards in Shadowrock Park if that gives you an idea of the level. We put in off the Forsyth-taneyville road yesterday with no issues but like was mentioned be mindful of the guardrail. You can also put in off of Y-hwy at the old Boat Dock Field access. Haven't seen many if any boats fishing the dam area but there have been quite a few bank fishermen below the dam the last few times I drove by there.

Awsome stuff as usual BH. Thought I found the "X" wednesday afternoon to only be on the "y" yesterday :(. Too much water (lakes up 25 ft) and late season wary birds made for a tough hunt. Finally found a good concentration of birds but couldn't get em to land where we wanted and hard to compete with real birds especially with a mouthy hen in the timber a couple hundred yds away ;). Although it was cool listening to her got frustrating when she'd pull everything to her :(.