Sorry fellas....I know a couple have even started threads asking about the turkey season Cade and I had.....I even responded that I thought I'd get one started during the auction.....but......
We have been terribly busy with baseball and life....so little by little I have been getting pix ready....so I think I can get it started and add the progression of the season as it happened.
I would like to say that for the first time I took more video than pix. I tried to take video of about every hunt. Some really cool stuff captured too. Some great hen talk, great gobbling mornings, gobblers walking by before the season, some passed up birds...But my problem is that they are all clips of various lengths and I don't know how to edit them. I really would like to get them all together as one sometime....but don't have the means. I suppose I could just add some clips to Youtube and add a link....we'll see....
The Pre-season...
As usual, this season started long before the opener, scouting every single morning....some of these pix you've seen before....
First pix are an early flock that had 3 bearded hens among the other hens, gobblers and jakes...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts001.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts002.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts003.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts004.JPG)
Another area...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts005.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13ts006.JPG)
a couple more random pix from early scouting....
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread001.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread002.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread003.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread004.JPG)
Of course this season would be more about getting Cade ready for his first spring season than anything else. We started early and often with his preparation. Hows that for his 1st shot at our new turkey cut-out...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread005.JPG)
A boy and his dog...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread006.JPG)
Some days we shot out of the blind...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread007.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread008.JPG)
Well, it's about dang time!! :D
:bigsmyl:
QuoteOriginally posted by Charlie Lamb:
Well, it's about dang time!! :D
Such a slacker I am!!!
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread009.JPG)
This day we practiced in the company of some decoys to make it a bit more realistic...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread010.JPG)
And another day.....her you can see the hole growing in the target right in the 'sweet spot"...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread011.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread012.JPG)
Scouting another spot that was loaded! 4 jakes...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread013.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread014.JPG)
Then a close-up hen...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread015.JPG)
Looks like good times for sure.
Then the gobblers that had been gobbling like crazy since daybreak showed up...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread016.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread017.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread018.JPG)
There were actually 2 more that I didn't get pix of....great morning scout!
Yet another scouting morning...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread019.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread020.JPG)
Another day, another spot...a rainy morning that had the birds loaded up in this field...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread021.JPG)
Of course there were some beautiful sunrises...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread022.JPG)
Just a pic I found interesting...can you tell what's in the pic?
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread023.JPG)
Great to see this one come up Curt :campfire:
Cool pics! Can't wait to see the rest!
Been waiting on this one. Tighten up!!RC
:campfire:
Yep, I almost forgot about it!! :campfire: :coffee:
:campfire:
Hey this is what ive been waiting for!
Thanx to CJ at Montana Decoys, I was getting the chance to try out a new Strutting Decoy (Papa Strut) that they had developed. He sent them to me and said have at it....
After talking to him on the phone I was excited to have the option of a full strutter that packed up small and weighed next to nothing.
He had mentioned how he bent the tail wire to transform the deke into a jake....I also removed the long beard and added a lightweight yarn jake beard.
Here it is next to "Floyd", my tried and true Primos B-Mobile...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread024.JPG)
Papa Strut was lookin' good...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread025.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread026.JPG)
We continued to practice daily...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread027.JPG)
As you can see, Papa Strut has a good silhouette and looks realistic enough to fool gobblers....we were excited to use it...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread028.JPG)
A perfect shot...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread029.JPG)
On this evening we practiced back shots...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread030.JPG)
I wanted to raise the head a bit and get the front to fill out a bit to stick the beard out, so I tied a string from the base of the beard to the base of the neck...then ran a tight string from the top of the head, to the back of the body piece. I liked what I saw...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread031.JPG)
By the way, Papa Strut is a 2 piece decoy(tail/body). Check out Montana Decoys....they are Trad Gang sponsors...
The scouting continued every day...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread032.JPG)
Oh yeah....as you can see in some pix....we were also practicing head shots...
I continued to scout hard, and compile some cool video. We practiced every day and I had no doubt Cade would be up to the task if given an opportunity.
The big day was approaching....
A nice summertime treat. :campfire:
:campfire:
This is getting good.
Jack
:campfire:
The Dream Hunt...
In this interview from a few years back, there was a question about my dream hunt...
http://tradgang.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=51;t=000055
Although this past fall, we did share a deer recovery of Cade's with my Dad.....this was the hunt I was really looking forward to.....
To have my dad in the blind with us on Cade's 1st turkey hunt.....well.... it was about to happen!
The NY youth hunt weekend was here. Friday evening I had plan to sit in a particular spot and try to roost a couple gobblers I'd been keeping track of. But a 3 fisherman that were fishing in the pond in the middle of the orchard foiled that plan...no worries....I'd been scouting ;)
I kicked into "plan b", and headed for another spot....
I parked, and before I even entered the orchard and exposed myself, I stopped to owl hoot with my voice...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread033.JPG)
I got an immediate gobble....and only 100yds. away....in a part of the orchard that would be a real easy walk for dad....the dream hunt was on!!
:campfire: This is good Curt, keep it coming.
:campfire: Can't wait for the rest of the adventure!!!
:coffee:
Love all the preparation that always goes into your hunts. :campfire:
:readit:
:thumbsup:
The Dream Hunt....
I went to bed that night knowing that we would be in a great spot with at least one gobbler nearby after roosting that gobble a few hrs. prior...but..
I also knew that is was going to be raining to some degree when we woke up! The forecast was for heavy rain pretty much all night, but getting lighter and stopping a little after sunrise.
I knew we'd be dry in the Double Bull, but setting up and not getting soaked while doing so would be tough.
We picked up grandpa at 4:00am and although it was raining, it was light....he thought we were crazy, but he was in for whatever we had ahead of us.
During the 10 min. ride to the spot we'd hunt I tried to cover how we'd setup and how we'd sit in the blind so we'd all be on the same page.
We parked and the rain was still light. In the pitch black I set up the blind and got it arranged so dad and Cade could get out of the rain, and stayed out to set up the decoys...
Once I got settled in....it started to pour!!!
It poured for a good 20 minutes, but just as we could barely tell the sky was starting to lighten up the rain just about stopped and not seconds later the monotonous sound of dripping trees was broken by a booming gobble....game on!!
********** I have all this on video and will share when I can get it all together ***********
Cade was getting fired up with every gobble, I was nervous beyond belief!
Soon we could tell there were at least 2 gobblers in the trees behind us and and it seemed like it was taking forever to get light.
Then we heard some hens....
I called lightly to let them know a willing hen was close by and to see if I could get them coming my way right off the roost....
Soon they were on the ground, but they had flown down the hill, but I figured I could call them up to us...
I called and they gobbled...back and forth we went...
We could tell they were getting closer when I saw movement out in the orchard on the crest of the hill....they were coming!!
We could see at least 2 gobblers and at least one jake, but the hens didn't want to play and the gobblers seemed reluctant and were in a out of sight on the crest of the hill. Just when it seemed the a jake was going to break off and come in, he froze up...then disappeared back over the hill....I shut the camera off and just figured we'd wait them out.
We were sitting talking excitedly about what we'd just seen when we could barely hear a commotion over the hill and I saw flash of movement out in the orchard again...It was something dark and moving fast and my heart skipped a beat thinking a gobbler was charging in....
I was just about to tell Cade to grab his bow when I realized the fast moving ,dark critter was a big, dark colored, soaking wet coyote!
Game over!!!
We waited a half hr or so without hearing a peep. Cade had a baseball game that we had to get to, so time was short. But I wanted to move to another part of the orchard to kill the last 45 mins. we had left to hunt....
Dad and Cade...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread034.JPG)
We moved to a nice open area in the middle of the orchard...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread035.JPG)
Soon afterward we started to hear some gobbling again. I called but time was getting short.
Three generations in the blind...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread036.JPG)
With turkeys gobbling in the distance, I figured we'd better get out while we had the chance...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread037.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread038.JPG)
A morning I'll cherish forever....
FANTASTIC stuff as always! It's been a real pleasure watching him grow up on this site.
So, Sunday morning, the last day of the youth weekend we were up early again and went to one of my favorite all time spots to hunt turks.
Scouting had proven that there were a few gobbling birds and if I had to pick one spot to go to when the chips were down and I wanted to get into some action....this spot would be it!
We set up with plenty of time in with the sky behind us to the east just barely starting to lighten the horizon.
We got everything set up and waited for the show to begin....
We waited, and it got a little lighter.....we waited some more just knowing any second the morning stillness would be shattered...we waited some more....
Hmmmmm....something was wrong....it was way past time for a bird to start gobbling and it just wasn't happening...dang it!
For whatever reason, the birds just weren't there this morning....but we gave it an hour to see if anything would reveal itself....nothing....we packed up and headed for the spot we hunted the morning before...
As we were pulling into the orchard, just past the last house on the road leading in I look up ahead and see a gobbler with 2 hens!
They had already seen us and were heading up on a knob in the front part of the orchard that I usually don't hunt because I've never seen them up there.
We drove right on by, parked, and headed into the orchard to a spot that I thought we could get to without them seeing us.
The plan was to set up, get everything ready except put our black gear on, then get out of the blind closer to where the birds were over the hill and call to them to let them know a willing hen was ready for some love....then retreat back to the blind.
We gave it some time then got out and slowly walked closer using the rise of the hill to our advantage, when we were as close as I dared get, I called...cluck, cluck...yelp, yelp, yelp, yelp...
We instantly got a response from the bird we'd driven past!!!
Although he had hens, I was still confident we might persuade him to us.....now we headed back to the blind.
We got in and were both putting our back gear on....I mean we weren't back in the blind for 20 seconds when I looked out a side window of the blind and see a bird come into view not 5 yds from the blind!
I tell Cade not to move as it was a hen, but then I see it's a bearded hen!
I asked Cade if he wanted to try for her and he quickly whispered....YES!!!!!!
But the problem was he had his black jacket only half on, no face mask, and he didn't have his bow in his hand!!
She was mad at the intuders and was headed directly for the hen deke in front of the strutter jake deke(Papa Strut), but she was so close to the blind now, probably 3-4yds, that when Cade reached for his bow she noticed it and started to angle away from us and by the time got in position to shoot she had gotten about 20yds away and was just too far and still walking....he had to pass.....
Just then I noticed out of the same window a Jake come into view, and then another behind him...but they were angling toward the bearded hen that was now about 30yds away....so the jakes passed at about 20yds....again, just a little too far for Cade...dang it!
Not 10 seconds later in walks another hen, and of course she walks by totally oblivious to us 7-8yds away....but she has no beard, so she's not a legal bird....what excitement!!!
The worse part is that it happened so quick I never got anything on video!
I called to try to get them back, and also after a while tried to call the big gobbler over the hill....we got some responses...but nothing was coming in.
Cade yawning, doing some schoolwork...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread039.JPG)
Cade's set-up... My Kempf Raven "Bonita" blacked out with athletic tape, CX Predator .700 arrow, and 250 gr. 2 blade VPA Penetrators, Selway slide-on with string tracker attached...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread040.JPG)
Packing for two...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread041.JPG)
My boy...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread042.JPG)
By next year he'll be as tall as me!
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread043.JPG)
We got to the car and started out and what do we see...but all the birds were right back where they were when we drove in....including this big gobbler!!!
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread044.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread045.JPG)
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread046.JPG)
Those pix were taken right from the truck!
Off to his baseball game...
Good stuff Curt. Keep it coming!
I am sure that this not over yet.
Jack
Loving it buddy,Cade is really growing up fast. :wavey:
Tracy
Curt this is turning into a great thread! Just curious my little cousin is going to be 12 next month and likes shooting my bows now that he can pull them to his draw. What poundage is your bow at Cades draw?
I am loving this Curt! Keep it coming. :campfire: :coffee:
Great stuff, Curt and Cade!
I'll be waiting for more!
Bisch
Well done bud!!
So where were we.....
Ok, with the youth weekend over, we had 10days till the regular season opened up. I continued to scout every morning, mostly video taping things....but I did manage to remember to take a few pictures...
This was a birds that I got on video...he had a terrible limp. I've seen plenty of limping turkeys, but this one was by far the worse.Never did get a good look at his legs with the high grass...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread047.JPG)
This was a gobbler that was walking into a fight that was going on between two other big gobblers(on video)...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread048.JPG)
"Turkey" buzzard...no idea why he was sitting up there...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread049.JPG)
This was something I saw while heading back home in the truck... this hen was walking right toward a red fox...strange...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread050.JPG)
Another nice gobbler...
• (http://www.tradgang.com/upload/curt/13tthread051.JPG)
more later...
Sounds like we might finally be gettin' close to a...
...SCORE!!!
:pray: :pray: :pray:
Bring it on! Huntin' season is almost here!
:jumper: :jumper: :jumper:
Shoot straight, Shinken
:archer2:
:campfire:
Up!
:thumbsup: :campfire:
:clapper:
Keep it coming Guru, great thread as always
keep it coming Bro :coffee: :coffee: :coffee: :goldtooth:
Tick....Tock :)
Sorry guys.....I kinda let this one fade a bit.....but for good reason.....
Thanx to Ryan Sanpai(S2 Bowstrings), who is working on the video now, we'll be able to make this thread into something pretty cool by adding video clips....thanx again bro!
He sent a sample to me yesterday and what he was able to do with my meager video's was really cool. And believe me I didn't give him much to work with :knothead:
He's very busy....so just hang tight....it'll be much more interesting with Ryan's effort...I promise.
I am loving this. Keep it at top. Turkey is my most favorite quarry, and one can only chronicle this type of stuff through a bow journey. A shotgun ( which I have used for years, and still do),just doesnt leave the thrill of the story or conversation piece that hunting with a bow does. Keep this stuff coming. I wish it were turk season again!!!! :clapper: :clapper:
:campfire: Looking forward to it Curt!
Part one of the videos that Ryan is editing....
This video is about the preparation leading up to Cade's first hunt in NY's Youth Season. Posts with pix about this part are on pg.2 and 3 of this thread.
Enjoy part one...
http://vimeo.com/71950500
Cade is growing up soooo fast!!!!
Staci and I love his commentary... :D
I'll try to get more editing done this weekend!!!
Great Video!, I will be waiting. :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Nicely done.
Ohboy ohboy ohboy :thumbsup:
:coffee:
Enjoy part one...
So there is a part two? Right??? :dunno:
Cannot wait to see the rest. Very nice and nice shooting, both of you.
Right now I have no access to my pix, but when I do I'll get some up to fill in some things....I just thought I'd just get these up.
Not great quality, but not bad for a little point and shoot Panasonic.
Once again all the credit for the editing goes to Ryan(S2 bowstrings), I didn't give him much to work with....but he turned these into something very memorable for me.....
Part 1(updated)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5H1kKjxV4Q&feature=youtu.be
Part 2...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQRsCq9kYTU&feature=youtu.be
more later....
It's gonna take forever to wind all of that string back up! Great stuff so far, can't wait to see the rest!
Great turkey! Congratulations!!
:shaka:
Nice. That string tracker saved me a bunch of time this spring. Best addition to my turkey gear.
Fine looking brid Curt :thumbsup: :thumbsup:
Nice bird and great videos! Those fighting toms were fun to watch too!
Thanx! Working on getting some pix and getting a video edited myself of the bird I refer to that got by us. It wouldn't open for Ryan...so I'm trying to figure it out myself.
good stuff there Mr C!
This is my one of the clips that I sent Ryan that wouldn't open for him and my first feeble attempt at editing a video.
This is the missing clip from the 2nd video posted on pg.4 , the "Cinco de Mayo" hunt in the 2nd vid....this falls between the bird gobbling on the roost...and before the coyote starts barking.
No music for two reasons.... one.... I want you to be able to hear the chatter between Cade and I....and two....I havn't figured how to do it yet :saywhat:
This is a bird that we'd match wits with again ;)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wmJ7w4snwU
Don't know if anyone's paying attention, but I started this...so I'm going to finish it ;)
OK, so now we move on to May 12th....two days after I killed my bird that you saw....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4yqXXnHPVI
Part 2 later....working on it now....
I'm still here Curt! Always love to read about you guys and the inevitable adventures which follow ya.
QuoteOriginally posted by Guru:
Don't know if anyone's paying attention, but I started this...so I'm going to finish it ;)
OK, so now we move on to May 12th....two days after I killed my bird that you saw....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4yqXXnHPVI
Part 2 later....working on it now....
Here's Part 2.....still more to come....this hunt isn't over!
http://youtu.be/Sa5EAOTPzL8
Working on part 3 now...
:thumbsup:
May 12th...Part 3....but the hunt is still not over yet...
http://youtu.be/V2XwDLe3GEs
The finale of May 12th....
http://youtu.be/QOhSGCHYThk
About as good a hunt as you can have without shooting anything!
Still more to share :campfire: