Birds at the Buzzer

[charlie elk]

I sit on an old camo boat cushion. A couple of the guys on the T&TH hunt said, Man You Sit Too Long but I did move 3 times in the 15 hr I was out. Patience is a must in turkey hunting, but I do push that a little too far . I knew the birds were located in that area and where using that field quite a bit.

OH! My body feels your pain, there is no way I could have done all that sitting. Perhaps my biggest challenge as a turkey hunter is lack of long term patience. Under some extreme conditions I have managed almost 4 hours and 1 hour of that was attempting to straighten back up.

I keep wondering what I would have done given your set of circumstances, sitting that long even moving 3 times is a no can do for me. Most likely I would have tried the fall tactic of rushing the other end of the field when the hens were there in hope of breaking the hens off in a different direction than the tom. Then setup in the area the tom was and call him back. In a field with no trees I lay with my head propped on my Avery Power Seat set at an angle in order to see the turkeys coming back, then hopefully get him to strut and when he fans me raise the gun to close the deal. This tactic has worked for me many times. Do you think it would have worked in your situation? That grass line sounds a good layout spot for the recall?

[TurkeyJohn]

Way to go guys,

I'm with Gopher on this one. If nothing's doing after a while I start thinking, my first mistake, that I need to walk to find the birds. Usually end up back where I started and the odd occasion, there's birds there, Duh

Always next year for us hunters.

Still have a week left here in Ontario and one tag left. We'll see where I end up,

TJ

[kygobbler]

Way to go Charlie on a very nice gobbler.

Scott, I have done that before on a gobbler and I have to agree it makes to be a long day. Fortunately for me, on that day, I was setup on a path that the birds used to go from the field to their roost and was able to get the bird at the last minute.

Now that the season is over Im counting the days down for the fall season. It will be here before you know but not fast enough.

[arrowsonly]

I wonder if it's a Wisconsin thing or Scott thing ?
Back when I got my first Double Bull blinds 12 hour sit's were common,in @ 4am out @ 4pm; Nap's # 1, I made hot food & fresh coffee all the time in one spot. As soon as you would get up to move or a nature break " busted " by silent birds especialy mid-late morning.
This year I did not spend one day in the turkey woods, "BUMMIN" but my family & home come first...

[Treerooster]

Nice beard on that bird Charlie. Glad you got one the last morning.

2 broken spurs...eh? Bet he was a fighter. Notice any scars on his body? How about the legs?


I got 3 "buzzer" birds this year...or at least what I consider buzzer birds.

In Neb I was pretty much done hunting on my trip there but the season still had a ways to go yet. I was in my tent having a snack before I packed up and thought I heard a gobble. Put my hearing aids in and went out and made a call. Gobble came back real close. Got set up fast and killed the 2 year old about 3 minutes later.

Got him in my camp slippers.



On the last day of the Wis 4th season I had to quit hunting at 8:00 am. Killed a nice tom at 20 minutes to 8:00.

Then on "MY" last day of the Wis 6th season (which was Monday the 21st) I was going to hunt until about 7:00 or 7:30 am and killed a bird right off the roost at 5:30 am. Still had time for a cup of coffee and to reflect back on another season that had just ended for me before packing up and heading for home.

[dewey]

Congratulations on all of the buzzer beaters treerooster. It appears as though you had another outstanding season and saw some beautiful country.

Dewey

[charlie elk]

2 broken spurs...eh? Bet he was a fighter. Notice any scars on his body? How about the legs?

Lots of scars and bruises, his drums and thighs were so bruised up they are not edible according to me. However, after being cooked up little with bones removed Vic thought they were excellent gourmet fare.

Got him in my camp slippers.

Did you forget to put on your boots on or just shoot him from the tent.

Your pics are always so great. Do you have a pro photographer following you around?
I assume you do them yourself. What is your technique? Type of camera, tripod etc.?

Glad you did well in WI this year, that will keep you coming back for more.

[Treerooster]

Your pics are always so great. Do you have a pro photographer following you around?
I assume you do them yourself. What is your technique? Type of camera, tripod etc.?

Yes almost all the pics of me are taken by me. I just use a tripod and a timer on the camera. The camera is an Olympus FE-230 (7.1 megapixel). Not sure how important all that is and the camera is a bit old anyways. The important thing is the size of the camera. Its small and lightweight. That way its not a burden to carry and I always have it with me. The camera is only about as big as a credit card and less than 3/4 inch thick. I have it in a small cloth case and then in a zip-lock bag in case it rains. I also keep an extra charged battery in the case.

I have 2 tripods. One big one I keep in the truck and a small & light Gorilla tripod I carry in my vest. The Gorilla tripod is short (about 6 inches long) but has flexible legs that can be wrapped around a branch or something in the field. Even the bigger tripod is relatively small and lightweight and cheap. I just need something to hold the camera.

My technique is to just take the time to take pictures. They make for great memories and the older I get the more the memories mean to me. I also try to take pics of things I see while out hunting, not just the dead turkey shots. And I take lots of pics to get one good one. With the digital pics now days its a no brainer to just take a bunch. Also when I look at the pic I just took I look at all that is around the subject so as not to have something distracting in the frame.

My wife is always taking pictures if she comes with me. I use to roll my eyeys and complain about having to wait for her. Then I would see a neat picture she took and go "wow...thats cool". So I credit her with teaching me to slow down and take the time. Anymore my camera is as important as my gun when out hunting.

Here are some white Trilliums, a common flower up north where I hunt.



and a relatively rare purple one.

[ellour]

I love white Trilliums - the picture is truly beautiful. I once gave my beautiful wife a whole bouquet of Tilliums via serenata's flower delivery. She really loved them and ever since it is our special flower.

[Brian Lovett]

Observation that might only interest me: Gary, I saw more purple trilliums this spring than ever before. Usually, the woods are white with them during the late season. This year, every woodlot I traipsed through had at least a few purple flowers.