A few habitat pics I thought you might enjoy
- Thread starter Native Hunter
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Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
That's the name of the game, Native! Glad you had a good season.
Jordan Selsor
5 year old buck +
Made a post with some family harvest pics! These boys drag my bucks for me and love it:)
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
The coyote thinning I did during deer season may have helped the turkeys a little this spring.
What was your preferred method? Traps? snares? Thermal? Other?
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Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I killed 4 yotes with my deer rifle while deer hunting last fall. I was letting them walk at first, but on the second day after I had one run a fawn by me at 40 mph I’d had enough and started blasting.
Ever so often I bring a trapper in who does an excellent job. One year I had 6 in a pack and he caught 5 of them. The last one then left and I was coyote free for 2 years. I’m not into thermal yet, but that seems to be the ultimate way to go. However, I do have concerns about thermal in the hands of poachers.
PS - look back at page 58 of this thread and you can see the double I got one morning.
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T-Max
5 year old buck +
You guys with your big bearded Eastern turkeys... Jealous!
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
This morning was our turkey opener, and my cousin and I doubled on two nice birds. We decided to hunt from my deer box blind, because I had been getting as many pictures there as anywhere else. The morning started with one of the heaviest fogs I've seen in a while. At daylight I could barely see 50 yards in the field. We set up decoys 30 yards from the blind and did some calling every few minutes.
There were some gobbles but none really close. A hen was cutting not far away, but that was the only turkey we heard nearby. Two does came within 30 yards of us and eventually moved on. As the morning went on, we heard one gobble in a new direction, but it was still over 100 yards away. We just kept on calling softly but the bird remained silent. A few minutes before 9 AM we spotted two birds cross one of my deer shooting lanes about 85 yards away, and they eventually worked their way to the field. When they entered the field, they were 75 yards away and one of them gobbled. We got set up, because we knew they could see the decoys at that time. I would make some soft "chirps" with my call and they walked directly to the decoys. When they were 39 yards away we shot and both had our bird.
My bird weighed 24.1 lbs, 11 inch beard, and 1.25 spurs.
His bird weighed 21.2 lbs and had similar other features.
He is on the left in the pic and I am on the right.
There were some gobbles but none really close. A hen was cutting not far away, but that was the only turkey we heard nearby. Two does came within 30 yards of us and eventually moved on. As the morning went on, we heard one gobble in a new direction, but it was still over 100 yards away. We just kept on calling softly but the bird remained silent. A few minutes before 9 AM we spotted two birds cross one of my deer shooting lanes about 85 yards away, and they eventually worked their way to the field. When they entered the field, they were 75 yards away and one of them gobbled. We got set up, because we knew they could see the decoys at that time. I would make some soft "chirps" with my call and they walked directly to the decoys. When they were 39 yards away we shot and both had our bird.
My bird weighed 24.1 lbs, 11 inch beard, and 1.25 spurs.
His bird weighed 21.2 lbs and had similar other features.
He is on the left in the pic and I am on the right.
Jordan Selsor
5 year old buck +
Great birds! An cool you got to enjoy the hunt with your cousin!
I'm out with my boys as i type this (Mo youth)! Hope they can sit more still than this morning
I'm out with my boys as i type this (Mo youth)! Hope they can sit more still than this morning
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Jordan, Good luck to you and the boys. I may go back out Monday for a while.Great birds! An cool you got to enjoy the hunt with your cousin!
I'm out with my boys as i type this (Mo youth)! Hope they can sit more still than this morning
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
Thanks Mort. A few years ago I bought an electric smoker, and I enjoy them cooked that way. But, I also enjoy sliced, rolled in flour and pan fried. Really, they are good several different ways.
Bowsnbucks
5 year old buck +
Nice heavy gobblers. Congrats on the pair!! Nothing quite like hearing the gobbling and know they're on the way in.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
I'm considering making a change next year at my 100-acre farm where I have the 60-acre NWSG prairie, and I would like your opinions on this. My CREP contract has now expired, and I am no longer making any money for growing NWSGs. About 1/2 (or 30 acres) of the prairie is good farmland, and the other half is marginal (slope wise). I have talked to a farmer who is willing to farm the good 30 acres, and I would leave the rest in NWSGs. Below are the details:
1. The crops would be rotated between corn and soybeans. Likely corn the first few years.
2. He is willing to not remove the crops until sometime after our gun season is over (Late November).
3. He carries crop insurance, so even with an unlikely crop failure, I still get paid.
4. This cuts my prairie maintenance in half, and I still have lots of cover (roughly 30 acres and NWSG and 40 acres of trees).
5. My current shooting lanes in the NWSGs change very little. I can leave out whatever I desire, and he is okay with it.
6. I would likely have the only crop fields in the areas that were not harvested by gun season.
7. None of this would affect my tree planting and fruit trees.
I can't see how this should negatively affect my hunting, but I would like to hear other's thoughts. I mow shooting lanes mid-August each year and then stay out until after hunting season. The farmer would be out of there a long time before that and wouldn't be back in until after season was over. Let me know what you think.
1. The crops would be rotated between corn and soybeans. Likely corn the first few years.
2. He is willing to not remove the crops until sometime after our gun season is over (Late November).
3. He carries crop insurance, so even with an unlikely crop failure, I still get paid.
4. This cuts my prairie maintenance in half, and I still have lots of cover (roughly 30 acres and NWSG and 40 acres of trees).
5. My current shooting lanes in the NWSGs change very little. I can leave out whatever I desire, and he is okay with it.
6. I would likely have the only crop fields in the areas that were not harvested by gun season.
7. None of this would affect my tree planting and fruit trees.
I can't see how this should negatively affect my hunting, but I would like to hear other's thoughts. I mow shooting lanes mid-August each year and then stay out until after hunting season. The farmer would be out of there a long time before that and wouldn't be back in until after season was over. Let me know what you think.
omicron1792
5 year old buck +
Sounds like a win for an already great situation. I would do it.
BenA
5 year old buck +
That's a tough one Steve. You have an awesome setup, and it's hard to mess with success like you've had. It seems like what you have now is a hunting setup where you can take advantage of a reliable bed to food transition. I don't know for certain, but it seems like you're in an area that's more food rich than cover, and you have the best cover. Eliminating some of that could spread the deer out more across the landscape. On corn years, it wouldn't be as bad from a holding standpoint because of the food/cover it offers. You'd definitely draw a lot of deer from the surrounding area. I just don't know if they'd increase densities in your cover or not. They may pile in there, and your shooting lanes looking over the remaining cover could be even better than it is now. Or, they could spread out more to the available cover on your neighbors and come to you to feed. That could hurt the predictability patterns you have now. I really don't have a strong leaning either way, but I'd be leery of changing a good thing.
Native Hunter
5 year old buck +
You have brought up some good point to consider Ben. Thanks.
