hello all
well i'm out of the woods and back to real work till spring season. as my friend ron says (living the dream). i guess after 40 years of real work a guy should be entitaled to that.
we had a great fall with the turkey dogs. i was able to be involved in 25 kills some as the major and some as the private. out of the kindness of his heart porter said he would help an old guy post pictures so they will follow as i send them.
our season started very tough. we would break birds in 60 degree not a breath of air days and they refused to call. a week into this i was pulling what little hair i have left out. my good friend pete clare from turkey trot has always told me he hated the biginning with all the folage and very little turkey talk. i had never had this problem till this fall and alway wondered what he was talking about. now i know and it was not much fun.
finnaly the seacond week my good friends steve mann and dennis canupp came to hunt. well steve spent most of his time chasing swamp doneys. this is a bad habbit he has somehow fell into and dennis and i try our best to break him of. somehow ohio deer just get under that boys skin. dennis and i broke a flock of something one afternoon late. maybe i should say keekee broke them and dennis and i got her to the woods. as normal they said nothing so we left at dark thirty. in the morning we were back with gary bunofski and his dog sugar. we set up in the dark and after a little trumpet work by dennis and i we had a bird calling from across the valley. i thought it to be an adult hen and my heart sank but after fly down gobbler yelping and gobbling started down the ridge. a little calling from our end and he stepped up over at 30 yards i watched and he soon went down from a load of what ever dennis had in his turkey gun. nice bird 9" beard 3/4 spurs. the rain started and we got out of there and took some pictures and went to breakfast. on the way back the rain let up for just a few minutes and we caught a flock of gobblers in a field at my farm. we let sugar break them and went back to the house to get our stuff. of course the rain started again but we managed to gobbler yelp and gobble a nice 22 pound bird in and gary got him shot.
my friends zummer and ralph snodgrass came and we killed an adult hen in the morning and a nice gobbler in the afternoon. there were a few more kills before and after but i'll just hit the highlights.
after this we went to turkey trot and had a great hunt with 10 birds killed in 2 1/2 days. on this hunt we had pete and scotty bayshore and steve lecorchick guiding and dog running along with gary and my dogs. we were never an hour without having birds broke to call to. everyone was in retro gear as the picture shows. most had their old doubles or model 12's and harvested birds with them. along with the friendships and stories and great food at the lodge it was a tremendous time.
by the time new york hunt was over the leaves had fallen and we worked them over in ohio. as always when i had one gun we could have killed 6 birds and when i had 2 or 3 guns we struggled to get one killed or several days with nothing but sore feet and backs.
one memorable hunt for me was 12 year old alex on her first fall turkey hunt. her and her father jim came. i had donated the hunt to wemen in the out doors so this was the first we had met. we did a little 1 mile walk first thing and did not come up with anything. on my farm and on our way to a second woods my dog keekee started pulling and snorting on the mule. this dog has the most uncanny nose i've ever seen. at the top of the hill i let her go and for 10 minutes she scattered turkeys. we set up and in two hours should have killed a couple birds but just could not get it done. we rebroke them and almost had another before lunch. after lunch i told alex and jim to get their hiking boots on. we parked the mule and had not walked 200 yards when keekee was breaking birds 150 yards in front of us. we went to the break point and set up. an hour into it a young gobbler started gobbler yelping and clucking to the call. i told alex the bird would walk around a thicket and come in above so hold your gun here. of course you know what happened. he marched right thru the biggest green briar thicket in the county. alex held steady and let him come and we killed her first turkey. i tried to tell them it is not always this easy but what can you say to a father daughter who just had the best fall hunt you could ever experience. it is hard to explain that normally you walk 10 miles plus in a day and some days come home with nothing. fortionately those days are soon forgotten when you have a day like this one.
i'll let some of the pictures tell the rest of the stories.
Here are the pictures!
gary dennis and i with some wet gobblers
turkey trot hunt l to r scott bashore,watkins,gary,pete clare then best dressed terry day then dayrl stubbs ,steve lecorchick and ron bolyard
pete and daryl with nice gobbler last day of new york
terry with nice gobbler
steve hickoff and scott bashore with nice last minute gobbler
ron,watkins,jason erb ohio jenny hens--- jasons bird flew back from the next hill top and ran over him
12 year old alex
my friends ralph snodgrass and dunn zumbrum with zumers gobbler
daryl and i with daryl's ohio bird
12 year old morgan she is just like holding a bobcat
after the break. you may say she's wired
just a little tight.
me-bob anderson-ron ron holding my gobbler and me holding a tired out miss. keekee
pete and i after the break before the calling
gary-joe facco-me-joe jr.
