Fall turkeys

It's fuckin hot out here. Spent the morning with a few young whitetails, but no turkeys for me yet.

Fish on...

Todd

I'd never hunted fall birds until last year. Did it up on FDR during the smoke pole season. Was fun wing shooting for the boy and me. Didn't take us too long once we found a couple of flocks, and we piled up our 2 apiece. It's going to get hotter...gick!

Nick was supposed to be here, but isn't...and already saw the pics of my 6pm triple ;-)

One more to go, and 3 1/2 days to do it? I told my old man (0-1 today) that I would do an O-Dark-Thirty with him tomorrow, but I see some sleeping past 4am in the rest of my weekend after that!

Fish on...

Todd

Rounded out my year with another tom at sunrise this morning. I am not getting up that early again until deer season :-)

Fish on...

Todd

Nice !

Watch out for the TLM flash mob.

It's called a "gang"....


Congrats on the future Thanksgiving dinner main course!

Fall season wrap up...banged out my 4 bird limit in a few days, my old man got one, and my college buddy's first hunting trip in decades bagged him a bird, too.

Fall turkey hunting is a LOT different than spring hunting...I almost never called, and heard very little in the woods coming from the birds, too. Not surprised by that, but it is the exact opposite of springtime.

Birds were really flocked up, entirely by sex...except for one lone tom in a big flock of hens who ended up being #4.

In the spring I move around a lot, both daily and immediately when out in the field, trying to bring toms to me...it is so loud in the woods in the fall, and the birds are generally so unresponsive to calling, that sitting tight was the preferred method.

There are four things that I took into account...roosting areas (so loud in the woods I did a lot of guessing here rather than significant locating), water, pine nuts, and grassy areas.

Turns out the grassy areas were the key...any remotely green grass was food, and this time of year the grass was loaded with grasshoppers, a favored turkey snack...find that within a few hundred yards of water, in between said water and a set of likely roosting trees, and you were in the game.

I have never hunted turkeys out of a blind, but I set a few up last week and of the 6 we bagged, 4 came from blinds. My attempts at spot/stalk worked out one time, just too loud to be able to get close enough consistently...and even that one success was much more prefaced on guessing where they were going and getting myself in front of them, and still waiting for them to come to me.

There are enough turkey and deer in the area I hunt, and they frequently use the same trails, so finding an active trail, setting up, and waiting was the most successful.

I had a couple of conversations with hens in the woods, but when it comes to talking to them, they are far more discerning than are randy toms in the spring...worked well enough once, but I quieted them right down the other few times after a few back and forth calls...they busted me rather easily.

It was a little strange to target hens; I had never hunted where they were legal to harvest before. In my unit the fall limit is 4 birds, two must be beardless, and the other two can be either sex.

On that note, the hens were far easier...I could have harvested a dozen of them...the toms are just as wary in the fall, and less blinded by lust...but I was still able to harvest two of each.

Saw a few nice bucks, whitetail and mulies, one if which I hope to shake hands with in a few months ;-)

Went walleye fishing on Sunday for a few hours and caught enough for a good dinner, so the turkey/walleye cast and blast was a solid win.

Fish on...

Todd

Sounds like fun. I think.

Maybe minus the early rising and hot temps. Oh, and ending up with a turkey to deal with.

Once you've eaten a brined and smoked wild turkey, you don't ever need to eat another one again.

Kinda like a duck or goose. Fun to shoot. Bad to eat.

Come to think of it, don't really care for deer either.

I do miss the armed nature hikes, though.

Had lots and lots of Goose/Duck Pepperoni sticks on the boat this weekend while hammering on URB's. Strongly disagree.


Great job on the Turkey Todd. Even cooler having your Dad along with you.

Thanks

I like to eat wild turkey, and I think mallards are one of the tastiest critters on the planet...and if you don't like well-prepared venison, well...you probably haven't had it well-prepared

Geese make good sausage, and I had some sort of pepper crusted smoked goose thing once that was pretty good...otherwise I have found it to be a bit on the disappointing side.

It's been fun doing this with my old man...his first turkey hunting trip ever was last May, at age 70, and he went from being pretty lukewarm about doing it, to really excited now to do it every year.

50 years ago he got me started fishing, and a little into hunting...and now that he's retired and bought himself a new boat, I get to spend a lot of time teaching him how to hunt, how to run a boat, and how to fish for things in the lake he lives on...it is very rewarding, and gratifying, to get to spend this time with him.

Fish on...

Todd

Sounds like a great weekend! I agree that Fall turkeys are WAY different to hunt than Spring birds.

Glad your dad gets to enjoy his retirement where he wants, doing what he wants, when he wants! Embrace these times spent with him, as those older guys don't last forever.

Fixed it for you. Mulies are straight butt.

I just had family in from Colorado over Labor day. They only get to eat high country Mulies. I properly prepared some Blacktail steaks for dinner one night and they couldn't believe it was deer. Insisted it must be Elk. That being said, they want to come out here to hunt now.

Gotta disagree about the generic muley statement Knick...

Rutting or mountain mule deer, then yes (mule deer comes in a distant 3rd out of 3).

General season deer harvested in Central/Eastern Wa, taken on CRP/cultivated ground or Shrub Steppe Habitat taste the same whether they're Whitetail or Mule deer, IMO. A older/larger buck's meat can be "tougher" than that of a younger buck (of course), and that texture can be construed as less desireable by some folks. Of course the many variables of after-harvest care contribute greatly to the overall finished product.

On 3 occasions I've been a part of a "blind taste meal" when the whitey/muley samples were killed on the same weekend, on the same dirt, and processed/prepared by the same folks. Excluding the size of the critters (toughness), the sampling party was just guessing at the origin of the meat samples, with no significant results indicating that whitetails tasted any better than mule deer for the habitat mentioned above, pre-rut. (pan-fried samples, HOT and fast!..how venison should be eaten IMO)

Feel free to drop off all the mule deer you turn your nose up to at my house.
My favorite part is the tongue.

You guys make your own "deer does/n't taste like butt" thread...this one's for turkeys, you turkeys!



Fish on...

Todd

P.S. I have eaten enough deer to know that the well-cared-for blacktail we harvest on Whidbey Island are the tastiest I have ever eaten, and it's not even close.

I'd debate further, but apparently this thread can only be about jive turkeys.