wild turkey adventure...

My boys and I spent last weekend trying to hunt wild turkeys out in a county close to the Missouri River in my state of South Dakota. A pretty problematic situation in that its late in the season because the birds have been hunted hard, are scattered especially on publicly accessible land, and good turkey habitat is either few and far between or is inaccessible. But most days out in the field are better than one in the office or on the couch, so we gave it a try.

We tried pretty hard but by Sunday morning well after sun up things were looking dim. But then again things can change in a hurry and my younger hs freshman (who is the more aggressive hunter) ended up bushwhacking (South Dakota style) a nice tom. What was ironic was that he ended up getting this one about 150 yards away from a chance encounter last year.

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I'll take 1 out of 3 birds in this type of situation although I think dad should get to fire a shot in at least every 3 years or so...

A bonus on the way across the county on a township gravel road (most of the township roads are gravel), we came upon a freshly roadkilled badger. The fur of course looked like crap but the front feet were in good shape and I hoped the skull as well. I threw him in the trunk and then later at home cut off and skinned out his front feet (1 nail was busted off the others were in good shape). Hopefully I can sell the borax dried feet on ebay for $5-10 a set.

Alas, the skull was busted up from him getting hit on the road but I did manage to get out half of the lower jaw that had both both front canines (if that's the proper call for them) and part of the sides of the upper jaw with a canine each. I boiled these a bit but I think I'll throw them on an ant pile that is in my wild grass area of the back yard and see if the bugs, sun, and rain with clean them up more. The bottom jaw thing is sort of unique in that I think mr. digger had a Bill Murry Caddyshack slur in this jaw. The big teeth aren't in perfect line of each other across the jaw and this actually makes holding it a bit nicer. Maybe it can be made into a nice little knife handle when all cleaned up!

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Gee .... it's amazing. The wildlife has been making a comeback here. My back yard seems to be critter central now. Was having my morning coffee at about 5:30 A.M. the other day and a couple of hens were out on the lawn feeding. A couple of days later the Tom showed up.

The place is crawling with deer after sundown. Sometimes the doe and her lamb will come out during the day while i'm working in the yard. She doesn't seem to care as long as there's some distance between us.

Got nothing against hunting & trapping.... it's just that i like to watch all the creatures that pass through during the cycle of the seasons.

It's kind of a comfort too. Things will probably be fine, but if the ship ever does hit the fan we know we will be able to provide for ourselves. Between what's available from the land and from the ocean there will be plenty enough to feed the people here in the island for years.

Dakota Rog,I too headed out to fill my Spring Turkey Tag last Friday morning. Congrats to you and your son on that nice Tom.
My hunt however was unsuccessful again like last Falls Turkey trip was but at least I was finally getting clucked back at this time with my box caller in hand this time. I Found an old dead fallen tree that had left a natural dead-leaf-filled indentation in the ground and since I'm strictly a Crossbow hunter now since my bad right shoulder injury that gets worse every year prevents me from hunting with vertical Compound Bows anymore I decide to use this spot like a fox hole and hunt from a lying down prone position.
I struck out again but like you said any day out in the Woods is better than a day at home etc... Had a Great Day and cleared my head of all the BS I have to endure back home in my overcrowded town just 15 min drive from NYC here in a way that no drink or drug can ever provide. Love The Woods, Love Hunting and Fishing :) It's like being alone with God for the day to me :) Anyway my day turned out to be The-Best-Day-Ever

Top pic is my Turkey setup I used. Decoys are in top right of pic.
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Second pic is my Muskrat-Trapping-Canoe I finally painted with spray paint and stencils.Then took for a test run while fishing for carp and catfish in the local meadows.
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Bottom pic is a GIFT my Friend who's land I hunt off of.
He GAVE THIS to me to take home. I've wanted one of these for 20 Years Now!!! Best gift Ever. Thank You God and Thank you to my Good Friend :)
It's like my dream come true. And No Boat Trailer Required!!!! Fits snugly between the wheel wells of my 6 foot bed and when flipped over and strapped down is super aerodynamic and allows me to achieve top speed All The Way Home with it LOL or was that just the huge smile on my face making me drive so fast that day ;)http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/x...psbrje0qdr.jpg

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All I need now is an electric trolling motor as 90% of our lakes in NJ Don't allow gas motors boats anyway and I'm all set to fish for Bass and Pike etc... from my very own freshwater boat like I've wanted to wanted for over 20 years now :)

Oh and Yes a Bear Does "Blank" in the woods. In-fact I found 2 piles of black bears scat like this one around the foxhole type setup I was lying-in-wait in all day Friday and I suspect it may be a Bears bedding area in the winter months but I was feeling brave I guess with my 2 inch cutting diameter Rage Mechanical Broadhead and 350 FPS Barnett Brotherhood Bone Collector Crossbow that day I guess :)

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Oh and here's two outdoors vids and a couple of pics from the past to weeks. I owe all the gas money etc.. that enabled me to do these things to scrapping btw :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVkp3uwBqsE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IUL3W3TBi2Q

And some pics from the past week or two of the fish I've caught. In this first he one with me on a friends boat out on the the Saltwater down the shore theirs no fish to show because cause I had a big Bluefish but we were rigged for Fluke and my buddy refused to use the net saying it would have ruined it so as he tried to pull it into the boat by the gabbing the monofilament leader Naturally the leader snapped from the sharp teeth these Bluefish have. It had to be 10 pounder at least, and I lost my Bluefish that I fought and played out for ten mins just to get him boat-side. I'm bringing my own Gaff next time;) Still a great day though :)
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This was my first Largemouth Bass in like 4 years. Not huge but not a bad size for a public lake in North East NJ though.Caught him on my long time favorite. A Zoom Super-Fluke Plastic Jerkbait.
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Here's the First fish I caught in my newly Camo Painted Trapping Canoe on her maiden voyage in the swamps nearby my house. Its a a tiny brown bullhead catfish I believe.
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And Finally this decent sized Channel Cat? not sure that I got on a live worm with a bell sinker from a boat launch dock in the Passaic River on the other side of town recently.
http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/x...psdwzu7ife.jpg

Oh and here's my nice coon pelt I got with the newly NJ Fur-Trapping approved Dog-proof Trap (other states have allowed these traps for years)
Yes I'm Licensed Fur-trapper BTW
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Thanks for sharing your outdoor adventures Jersey D. I dig that canoe of yours!!! Your various fish look good. One of the success stories of federal and state efforts on cleaning up our rivers over the past 40 years is that fisheries have improved greatly. Now, I don't know if I would eat fish from the Passiac River every week on a regular basis but that's a fine looking channel cat.

I hope you getting your share of old a/cs people are getting rid of in your area. FreonJoe just had a nice thread about his coolant recovery and finding a new buyer a good distance away from him. You probably have a number of options for selling the recovered coolant in the Gotham metro area. Good luck!!!

Thx DakotaRog, Heres a pick from afew hours ago at our towns Very Small Pond.http://i740.photobucket.com/albums/x...psm5wehkj0.jpg
Im back in full swing fishing wish Had a slump for acouple years but I'm hauling them in again like old times now Thank God :)

I'm sitting on quite a few pounds of R-12 and R22 but still having trouble finding local buyers. My thought was to do what an old Florida Friend who moved to Tennessee does now and recharge AC's for small stores for a fee Sound feasible?

P.S. I Would Never Eat Anything that came out of our part of the Passiac. Its the very spot were there dumped all the Dioxin from the Agent Orange plants during the Vietnam War Amazingly though theirs still a few local High School Rowing/Crew teams that compete on this waterway daily. Amazing. I'd never let my kid row here It's like asking for Cancer. We Always throw these Passaic River fish back. BUT WAY UPSTREAM where its starts and is clean there are huge Pike and Musky ;) that's my next adventure.