Stoking the fire

[BrentD]

Ben,
I think you are on to something. Scouting is something I do all the time, even driving down the interstate without any intentions of hunting any of it. Just looking the lay of the land and thinking - yeah, over there. Under the lip of the hill, or whatever.

I worry less about filling my tags than I used to, but I do enjoy the excitement of the moment. Today, 20 birds beat me hands down, but tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the day. I've got a plan...

You'll have to ask @Ben Lamb and @BrentD

Only if you are handsome enough to carry one

French Darne, German Merkel, British Cashmore, British Scott, and best of all, Grandpa and Great Uncle Carl's '97 Winchester. The last is my main snooty turkey gun. It was out there today.

 

[Brittany Chukarman]

Here you go, Mr Lamb

 

[Ben Lamb]

3 grouse flushes this am off the logging road. Likely the same bird three times, but the black dog got her dopamine hit for the day.

Lovely spots with small open fields under 5-8 acres. Nice and young aspen & beech surrounding, water close by but no sign of turkeys. There's a ridge between this spot and a little lake, so after the rains stop friday, we'll check it out and drop a camera on a little saddle that looks promising.

 

[noharleyyet]

3 grouse flushes this am off the logging road. Likely the same bird three times, but the black dog got her dopamine hit for the day.

Lovely spots with small open fields under 5-8 acres. Nice and young aspen & beech surrounding, water close by but no sign of turkeys. There's a ridge between this spot and a little lake, so after the rains stop friday, we'll check it out and drop a camera on a little saddle that looks promising.

View attachment 322347

"Hold up, let's stop at the next tree and have a sammich."

 

[Joseph Peterson]

Got me wondering....
Are you allowed to shoot turkeys with snooty shotguns. Can they even get the job done?

 

[BrentD]

Excellent. Another member of the Snoots with Guns Club (SGC) scores!

Where are you at, and tell us about that gun with the awesome hammers!

 

[longbow51]

My late great hunting buddy, once he retired, scouted deer every single day. Morning and night. That was his life. Fished once in a while, and as he lived on the Sun River caught some big Browns.

But, he was obsessed with whitetails. For us, it was about mature bucks, but not too old, as the goal was healthy (and tasty) meat for the family.

Every time we shot a nice big 4 point, he would say, well, there's a bigger one.

He made almost everything into jerky and ground, so to him it didn't matter.

Different strokes.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Pulled the cameras ahead of some rain today. We'll reset in the morning on a couple of new spots that look really nice. 2 cameras, set 4 days & 2 days, over 300 pictures of the wind blowing stuff around and 6 of two deer. I am thinking my settings might need tweaking.

But the eyes on this deer were pretty cool. We bumped a big whitetail about 100 yards deeper into the woods, and found the next set for the camera. Great security cover, tons of lanes for feeding and closer to water.




To get to this spot, I drive by a piece of private that was scoured for timber about 5 years ago. It still is pretty barren with very limited shrub or understory growth and no mature trees of consequence were left. They just strip mined the thing. So of course 6 large Toms were strutting on it. 400 yards from public.

 

[noharleyyet]

Pulled the cameras ahead of some rain today. We'll reset in the morning on a couple of new spots that look really nice. 2 cameras, set 4 days & 2 days, over 300 pictures of the wind blowing stuff around and 6 of two deer. I am thinking my settings might need tweaking.

But the eyes on this deer were pretty cool. We bumped a big whitetail about 100 yards deeper into the woods, and found the next set for the camera. Great security cover, tons of lanes for feeding and closer to water.

View attachment 322433


To get to this spot, I drive by a piece of private that was scoured for timber about 5 years ago. It still is pretty barren with very limited shrub or understory growth and no mature trees of consequence were left. They just strip mined the thing. So of course 6 large Toms were strutting on it. 400 yards from public.

What's the lock time on those hammer to primed anvils?

 

[Ben Lamb]

What's the lock time on those hammer to primed anvils?

 

[noharleyyet]

Same guy, honest...

 

[44hunter45]

I wasn't jacked about the Turkey opener until I did chores at first light today. It was an outrageous gobble fest out there.
So I'm going to be in late for work on Monday.

 

[Ben Lamb]

We're in a rain delay this morning. So, working and getting ready to shut the office down early when the rain supposedly stops at 1.

The dogs are nonplussed and have resigned themselves to never having any fun ever again. Sighs abound.

 

[Ben Lamb]

The dogs finally couldn't stand the death sentence of having to wait for a walk, so we checked the back of the property to see if the camera had anything good on it. These birds are roosting just to the left of the camera in a big stand of red pine. We get to host them from March until usually October or November when they move back into winter habitat.

 

[elkduds]

Same guy, honest...
View attachment 322434

 

[Ben Lamb]

Saturday we reset a couple of cameras on saddles overlooking a pond. Tons of deer & grouse sign and a little turkey too.

As we walked through a mature stand, something bounded out behind us: Michigan's apex predator, a cat. The dogs, sensing the chase, went into full dumbass mode. The cat made an easy escape.



A few miles in the slash & downed timber, two dogs that found mud & heaven, no birds and we pull into the yard to be greeted by this.



Sunday we hit a grouse cover to explore deeper into the parcel. Luckily the river was cleaner than the pond from Saturday & so dogs got a bath. Found 3 new covers for grouse and didn't see much for big bird sign. A hen about 1/2 mile from the house was standing in the road. I think God is telling me to shoot a yard bird.

 

[BrentD]

Saturday we reset a couple of cameras on saddles overlooking a pond. Tons of deer & grouse sign and a little turkey too.

As we walked through a mature stand, something bounded out behind us: Michigan's apex predator, a cat. The dogs, sensing the chase, went into full dumbass mode. The cat made an easy escape.

View attachment 322900

A few miles in the slash & downed timber, two dogs that found mud & heaven, no birds and we pull into the yard to be greeted by this.

View attachment 322901

Sunday we hit a grouse cover to explore deeper into the parcel. Luckily the river was cleaner than the pond from Saturday & so dogs got a bath. Found 3 new covers for grouse and didn't see much for big bird sign. A hen about 1/2 mile from the house was standing in the road. I think God is telling me to shoot a yard bird.

View attachment 322902

I'd love a yard bird. My wife usually sees the one and only turkey that we will have on our property while I'm 20 miles away - turkey hunting. Never fails. Happens with deer too.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I'd love a yard bird. My wife usually sees the one and only turkey that we will have on our property while I'm 20 miles away - turkey hunting. Never fails. Happens with deer too.

I've got a pass on yard birds because they steal the wife's fall cover seeds. They also get into her garden despite her putting up a fence (I tried to explain that turkeys could fly but WKRP has ruined this).

The deer though, I just can't. We're on a little travel route between the upland and swamp, so we get the same 5-10 deer every year. I'm watching generations of deer come & go on the game cameras, so you get to know them a bit. It would be like shooting a pet. Same deer across the street in the neighbors farm? Get after it.

 

[BrentD]

We have a "rule" that nothing gets shot West of the orchard. That leaves a bit over 20 acres. That rule has been bent a little once or twice in the name of squirrel suppers and such.

 

[Ben Lamb]

Wife: I am over these squirrels and how aggressive they are on the bird feeders!

Me: quite feeding them

Her: I'm not. I'm feeding birds!

Me: there's a large grey bird with a fuzzy tail stealing your suet cake right now.