watkins 2010 fall season

[SOONER]

hello all: glad to say it is over. we had some tough hunting this fall. hot-dry-to much food in woods-ect. ended up with 17 harvested and way to many missed. i have renamed keekee as (the unit). this dog just amazes me. pete clare always told me he could tell if it was even worth hunting a woods by watching his dog kelly's body language. i see the same thing in keekee and the last day with the puppy cutter. if you walk a woods and keekee spends time smelling stumps and coming back for water you may as well pack up and head for a new location. if you see her head go down and her tail wagging you know to keep going because something is going to happen. we had no trouble finding birds this fall. we may have found the same flock way to many times because the calling back part was the problem. i have never seen so many birds come in quiet or even fly back in as i have this year. it seems to be universal from all the other fall dog folks i talk to. hope it is not the way of the future.
 we had many memorable hunts in between the dry spells. the next to the last day the puppy hunted i took her to my neighbors and as soon as we got off the mule she was gone a hundred miles an hour. we could see some scratching from the morning on our way in and she hit the scent and went the wrong way. i called her back in and she did not even stop to acknowledge me on the way by. down over the hill and across the valley in seconds she was barking 340 yards out in front of us. the break lasted a long time so she must have split the flock on her way to them. after 10 or 15 minutes she came back and we made our way to the break point. on the first calls a bird kee'd and came running in behind tyler who was setting just in front of me. he is the young man on the mule with the puppy. anyway we had an awkward shot and missed this one. i got tyler on the same tree with me so as not to be in the way and soon we had an other bird coming from in front. this one we scored on and tyler's dad gary crossed over and joined us. in a short time a young gobbler came from behind and kee'd and gobbler yelped for a long time. while this was going on we could hear birds up the valley and of course they won out. a little latter her he came again calling his head off from the same spot. this bird did a young gobbler keekee run frontwards-backwards and every thing in between. 20 minutes of nonstop calling. finally gary told me he could see 10 to 15 birds with him. late in the day and not being able to hunt the next morning we let them walk of and called it a day.
 the picture of the man with the two birds on the back of the truck is my friend ray. we broke these birds at 8:00 and set on them till 11:00. think i heard one bird call one time. at 11:00 a young gobbler started calling above us but would not come in. i knew he had to be regrouped so we turned keekee loose and she had them busted in seconds. we set till 11:45 and not a sound so i cut her loose again. we worked our way down this heck hole in front of us and up the other side when i saw her head go down and she was off. 200 yards up she started breaking birds and took them 450 yards up and over before she quit. by the time we got to the top it was after 12:00. i started calling about 12:30 and at 12:45 we had a small group call up the back side and into range for ray to harvest a bird. i ask him for his shotgun and in 13 minutes i killed the other bird which called all the way to the gun. thats 3 breaks and 2 minutes short of 5 hours for these turkeys to call. i do not remember it being this tough in the past. now i have all winter to reflect and ponder and i'm sure i'll be just as excited about opening day next fall. mr. mike is going to post some pictures to go with the stories.

[Porter]

Marlin sounds like a tough but still a great fall season for you!!!  Thanks for sharing the pics and stories!  I wish we could turn back time and start fall all over again 

[letinmfly]

Thanks for sharing Marlin. 

[Bulldogmikey]

Marlin you are in LOVE with that dog! Congratulations! Glad ya'll had a blast!

Mike

[hunter22]

Marlin,

Great stories. Looks like you had some good times. Rough looking bunch in that next-to-last picture.

[Shadetree Callers]

Congratulations on a successful season !!

[Silverspur]

Marlin, Like the others stated before me. Sounds like a fun season for you and for the new puppy.  I believe it started with Tim and Jeff and moved quickly through several states for you.  Time to rest up, regroup and prepare for spring.  It will be here before you know it.  Thanks for sharing the stories and great pictures.

 

[rocfish13]

Congratulations on a successful season !!

  Thanks for the wonderful stories and pics!!! Roc 

[drabndouble]

Congrats Sooner

[Turkeybuster]

Congrats. to ya'll on a great season.
Jon

[turkey stew]

Congratulations on a successful season !!

[longbearded1]

Looks like y'all might have finally got some of that rain you were looking for. Good to see the update, I'll be in touch.
Pee Wee

[jmck]

Awsome stories and thanks for the pictures Marlin.
I still am on the same high thinking about the experiences I had there you you and the dogs.
Sounds like the hard time stayed constant, but as always, you push on through it and make the best of it you can.
You still had a great season....and I am still so thankful for the opportunity you shared with Tim and I. Its still ha hunt ...out of some 40 years of hunting, that I will never forget and I still hold the entire experience in the tops hunts of my lifetime.
Have a great Spring season,,,,and take care of MY dogs man !!! 

[trb136]

Boy I sure miss ole Kee Kee and Cutter   One of the best experiences I have ever had hunting...I think Jeff and I are officially hooked...Congrats and some fine pics there!

[Yankee]

Even if it was tough, congrats on a good season, really like the pictures, especially the one of the girls napping... the puppy with her head laying over the grizzly bear