Thanksgiving morning


This morning

My buddy Bucktail Bob posted the story on this site.

http://www.predatormastersforums.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1904510#Post1904510We had some awesome hunting in Northern Illinois over the past weekend.


I took a nice tom off the roost in 30 mph winds.
There were birds roosted about 100 yds from where I was set up.
I was able to convince Ms. Henrietta to come over for a visit and she had company.
10 yd shot.
SBE #5 Hevishot
10.5” Beard
Matching 1” spurs
23 lbs
Quaker Boy World Champ mouth call
No decoys

My buddy came out with his 2 boys that night, 8 and 12 year olds. Neither of them have taken a turkey before.
They have shot a lot of deer.
I took out the 12 year old in quest for his first bird, and my buddy took out his youngest.

We started out at the same spot I took my tom the day before.
Not one bird on the roost. It was windy.
We relocated to an edge of a turned over corn field.
Set up 3 decoys. 2 hens and a jake. No fan.
We heard birds gobbling off in the distance. They liked aggressive cuts.
All of a sudden a hen pops out in the field with some red heads following behind about 200 yds away.
I called in the hen and 3 jakes followed her in.
They were 14 yds from us. We were in a blind so movement was not a problem. I told him to get his gun up, concentrate on that neck and squeeze.
He connected with his first bird. It was very cool. His dad heard the shot, we texted his dad, he was so proud of his boy.
We are not done yet.
He still has a second tag. So we stayed in the blind.

About 2 hours later we had more birds gobbling in the thick woods. Some aggressive cutting got them interested.
All of a sudden 4 red heads come out in the field. 2 clucks and they saw my jake decoy.
They ran right in. 2 nice toms and 2 jakes.
They put on a unbelievable show of spitting and drumming, 12 yds in front of us.
The bigger tom did not like my Jake decoy. He clobbered it, knocked it over and was stomping on it.
I told him to concentrate on the bigger tom. And just squeeze just like your deer gun.
I could tell his heart was pounding with excitement. His breathing was loud and then he squeezed.
He connected again, unbelievable show and to share it with a youngster…it does not get any better.
Of course his dad heard the shot again, we texted him. He was speechless.
The tom was
21Lbs.
9” beard ¾” spurs
The jake was 18lbs.
SBE with #5 hevishot

And we are still not done.
We were tagged out and left.
My buddy called in 2 hens with a tom following about a hour later. His 8 year old made the 12 yard shot and connected on
A nice tom.
20lbs
8.5” beard ¾” spurs
With a 20ga with #5 hevishot.
A day we will always remember.

The calls I used were the Quaker Boy World Champ mouth call, and my Quaker Boy Grand Old Master Supreme Grade box call (made in 1993)
I’m sure Dick Kirby had a mighty big grin on his face in the heavens above us.

bb

Here's a few pics from a buddies field trial

Not from this year, but one of the best quail hunts Ive ever been on... We made the dogs earn their keep that morning!

2012 opening day

30mins and had my limit I was really excited by the fact I did it with one box of shells and beat everyone else to the limit.

This year. Top was between 3 people. Bottom was between 4 people

Outside Gregory SD Sunday



The bird didn't make it.

Abbey makes a retrieve

I'm a new member here, but bird hunting is my passion, so I'll play. Here's a little photographic retrospective of our 2012 season so far.

Our season always starts on Sept 1, when the local dove season opens. It's not real upland hunting, but it is still fun shooting and the dogs get to do lots of retrieving, which they enjoy. My family owns several ancient PA Dutch farms in the valley below where we live and that's where we do our dove hunting. Doves are usually plentiful and we are the only hunters allowed on these farms.

I've been lucky enough to have looked at cover in many places around the country (mountains, deserts, high plains, ag areas etc) over my beloved Maggie's shoulder for 14 seasons now. I feel very lucky to still have that privilege this year.



Maggie scanning the skies for birds.





My younger dog, Chase, also watching for incomers:





A few of the many retrieves:





Some of the "doves" were large and black:



I mostly used a 20 gauge Famars roundbody droplock in game gun configuration:





In mid-October, finally ruffed grouse season opened and we could do some real upland hunting on my property and other places in the mountains where we live. The mountains:



Chase hunting on my place (Maggie was on the injured reserve):





Point!!



Cooling off in a little mountain lake by my house:



Then my favorite time of year arrived - pheasant season. It was the best season since I was young - the dogs and I hunted at least three days/week and limited every day except four. Heading out into foggy cover:



At work:



Youth and wisdom:



A couple of the many points:





A couple of the many retrieves:





A couple of the many beautiful birds taken:





In addition to my trusty 20 gauge Famars, I also use an old 16 gauge Model 12 I've owned since I was 12 - this was its 54th season, not counting three long years spent overseas as a prisoner of Uncle Sam in the late 1960's:





Sadly pheasant season is now closed and deer season is open. I don't run my dogs even on my own place during deer seasons for fear that some tresspassing nutjob will take a shot at them. Although I do kill a deer every year for the meat and have already done so, I would not dignify the process by calling it "hunting" - more like "shopping" and not something I especially enjoy like I do bird hunting. Here is one of my deer stands in a little high meadow on my place. Tough duty, eh?



The lower rifle is my primary eastern big game rifle (the upper one is a .270 - my western big game rifle). The eastern rifle is a single square bridge small-ring mauser by Mark Silver in 7x57mm - it has harvested countess deer and other stuff.





In another week late ruffed grouse season opens and we'll be back in the uplands again. Here's Chase pointing a ruff on my place last year in the late season:



Countin' the days.....

Thanks for your kind thoughts, Zarboe!

Having taken our deer and no bird seasons being open because there is another full week of deer season to endure, we went to the hunting club (where I work part-time as a guide) and scratch hunted a couple of times this week to ease the pain of not being able to be in the uplands. It's not quite real hunting, but by only scratch hunting and not releasing any birds, it can get pretty close.

Dogs at work:



14.5 year old Maggie is still running hard:



The Chaser:





After working a running bird for a while, Maggie managed to cut ahead, pin and point a fat, colorful rooster (no pics of the point - sorry). After the little side-side spoke, she went for the retrieve, but Chase is a super-fast retrievin' machine and he got there first, snatched her bird and brought it to hand.



I generally use a .410 or a 28 gauge when at the hunting club. This day, I used a nice 5 pound 28 gauge sidelock and some Holland & Holland Royal Game cartridges a friend bought in the UK and gave to me. The phez looked happy to have been killed by such fancy loads - don't you think?.

An update through the end of 2012:

After waiting out deer season when all the bird seasons are closed, the late ruffed grouse season finally opened and we headed more or less out the front door to hunt in the mountains where we live. Ruffed grouse hunting is hard to photograph because the areas where they are found are so thick with birch and aspen whips, grape vine and green briar that you can't see 10 feet. Now and then you come across a rare open spot and can snap a pic. Here are Maggie and Chase team-working opposite edges of a large open area. Note how different the woods look in the late season from the early season pics posted above!



The Chaser looking out from one mountain top to another:



Fourteen and a half year old Miss Maggie hard at work:



Chase cooling off in half-frozen little mountain pond:



We found this stone wall in the middle of absolutely nowhere - I hope no one was trying to farm that rough land long ago.



Most places back in the mountain have massive, glacial rock deposits. They are exhausting for this 66 year old guy to climb because many of the enormous rocks are wobbly and there are deep holes between the rocks, plus most are very steep, as you can see. One fall and you WILL have a broken leg miles from any road.



Then, when you get to the thick, recently timbered areas where the ruffed grouse like to hang out, and find more rocks, plus jungle, you begin to wonder when the fun is supposed to start:



Here is Maggie working a hillside below me for grouse.



The Chaser taking a peek over a cliff into the valley far below:



My buddies on a high ridge:



As usual, we also chased a few winter phez:



I like the winter and the snow - beats the hell out of heat, humidity, sweat and bugs! Usually, it doesn't get all that cold, snowy or windy around here, but one day, I felt like I was back hunting in ND in December again - a steady 40+ mph wind and bitter cold. It's hard to get a pic of that, but maybe this pine blowing in the bitter wind gives a feel for it.



Just some shots of my buddies at work, including a few points:













Maggie does her best in cold weather and, given her age, is a marvel. She still finds her share of birds, too. This day, the skies were spectacular.





Now and then we scrape up a bird or two. Chase grabs every retrieve these days:









Well, that's a wrap for 2012. It was the best phez season in 30+ years. Maggie, Chase and I will keep hunting ruffed grouse until the late season closes at the end of January, even if we have to resort to snowshoes (which I hate)and there is the hunting club until the end of March. After there is no more bird hunting, I'll pay more attention to the rifles, "tactical" matches, etc.

That shotgun is stunning!

Fantastic pics!