2015. What a year. As I sit here typing this, I can't help but remember back to when I was knee high to a grass hopper, sitting at a camp fire in South Carolina, surrounded by old master turkey hunters. I was in heaven listening to all the turkey talk. As everyone eventually went off to bed, I was left sitting by the fire with one of the guys from camp, a friend of my fathers. I remember him saying, "Son, I can see youre like your father. You got it bad" "Got what?" I asked. "You've been hooked", he smiled letting me know the pun was intentional. I most certainly have been "hooked". I can honestly say I've never burned the candles at both ends, more then I did this year. There was a stretch of 2 weeks where I only saw my house for 20 hours each week, and slept about the same. In a month and a half I put over 7000 miles on my truck. I had a really good but tough season. Lady luck seemed to either be all over me, or throwing all her anger at me. When the birds worked, they did it right. I was on birds all season, but like Derek, they seemed to be really hened up. Unlike Derek, I shot more 2 year olds this year then I have in a long time. I tried some new tricks, saw some new places and got to see quite a few sunrises with my back to a tree. What more is there to ask for?
Heres my first bird of the year, the one I scored
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150411_080643_376.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150411_080643_376.jpg.html)
This bird was pretty special. It was shot on my family's farm in Va. A farm my great grandfather owned. To my knowledge, this is one of the first birds ever shot on this property. The lake in the background is a lake my great grandfather built.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150415_072651_424.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150415_072651_424.jpg.html)
A cool looking piece of property I'll be spending more time at in future years, also in VA.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150415_114618_931.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150415_114618_931.jpg.html)
This guy had some cool looking wings and tail fan. These pics don't do it justice showing just how yellow they are. I found this bird earlier in the year and finally got him about half way through the year.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150508_071737_762.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150508_071737_762.jpg.html)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150508_071750_687.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150508_071750_687.jpg.html)
This poor guy almost got saved by the tree limb in the pic, but not quite. Hevishot is nasty stuff at 15 yards.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150509_074343_985.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150509_074343_985.jpg.html)
Finally my first good set of hooks for the year!
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150515_102434_276.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150515_102434_276.jpg.html)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150515_102630_909.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150515_102630_909.jpg.html)
Ended the season with a double beard. Had this guy at about 8 steps that morning. Awesome hunt.
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150522_083756_060.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150522_083756_060.jpg.html)
(http://i94.photobucket.com/albums/l96/whitelightning87/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150522_081041_750.jpg) (http://s94.photobucket.com/user/whitelightning87/media/Hunting/14-15%20Season/IMG_20150522_081041_750.jpg.html)
Who's ready for the 2016 season??
Awesome job..... :happy0064:
2016 will be here before you know it....
Congrats on a great season. Come on 16...
Yeah man, you had a killer year for sure. I believe we're all ready for 2016 !
Sent by this stupid phone
That's my boy! Literally! ;D
Glad you were paying attention all those miles you and your brother trudged behind me.
You are the real deal, and as always, I'm proud of you!
Good looking birds and it sounds like you had a great season..Congrats.. Doug.
Congrats on another great one brother. But you need to do something bout that job cuttin' into all your turkey time ;)
It always cracks me up how competitive (in a good way) we can be and how similar our seasons typically end up. i.e., if you miss, I'll miss.. I kill one, you follow me up, etc etc etc. It's odd. lol. But great season. Can't wait to do it again.
It was another great year for sure. The results don't show it, but we all had to work hard for the birds we found, and that made us all a little more "protective" of the spots we found :character0029: