The (updated) rundown

[anthonyjhallen]

Hey men, I have been on them hot and heavy even though there have been alot of sleepless nights.  The baby is doing fine.  We had our first appointment the other day and she gained almost two pounds during the first week when most babies lose weight, so thats great.

The turkeys here are still hened up pretty bad.  Most times that doesnt bother me too much because I have never had any problems calling hens up, but this year the gobblers have been hangin up just outta sight.

I have two different places to hunt here in MD.  On post where I work and off post on public land.  On post has tons of birds where we run a draw system that lets you pick ten areas where you think there may be birds.  Then you will be drawn for an area to hunt.  Being that the state only lets us hunt until noon the first two weeks and you are not allowed in the areas when you are not hunting, it is not possible to know exactly where the birds will roost.  That is already setting me up for failure from the start but its the rules.  Off post you can roost but it has all the problems most all of us that hunt public land run into.

Day 1 - Opening moring public land.  I decided to hunt a place where I could go and roost a bird but due to high winds the evening prior was unable to do so.  So I went into an area blind that I saw some birds from the road.  At daylight I heard a couple of gobbles but none within the boundries of my hunting area.  After every hunter within hearing distance gave every call in their vest a good solid beating with no answers, I decided to start my routine.  Within 30 minutes I had a hen come and check me out and am pretty sure that she had a gobbler with her but he just wouldnt show his face.  Then around 0900 or so I did a little run and gun where I called 2 more hen and a jake to me, but no long beards.  It was a good moring in all seeing as I saw a few birds and had a few come to the call.

Day 2 - On post .  When we hunt on post you have to have 2 people per area and one of them has to be a HIC (hunter in charge.)  In order to obtain HIC status you have to have hunted on post the year prior so you are familar with the areas and draw process.  What that means for me is I go out with people that I have never meet before, much less hunted with.  When we got to our area and left the truck we busted 5-6 birds off the roost and that set the standard for the rest of the day.  There was alot of running and gunning but no dead birds.  Also I learnd about the deer tics and gnats that I had heard about.  I will not be going to the woods without my thermacell and permethrine again....

Day 3 - Me and my HIC drew a good area that I had deer hunted in this past fall, so I knew the lay of the land a little more that the day proir.  We had birds all around us but as soon as they hit the ground the contracted lock jaw.  Its a deadly daiesease that turkeys get and it kills them after a long and happy life.  Around 0900 we ran into a bird that gobble to our calls  but he had hens with him that came to recon what was trying to take away her honey.  Long story short we got busted by the advance party and left once again empty handed.

Day 4 - Slept in due to a relentless night of crying and feeding by my dearest daughter Sarah.

Tomorrow will be another day and we shall see what it will bring.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and Sarah will be a little easier on her daddy tonight.

In the words of the great Paul Harvey, "Stand by for....News"

[BOFF]

Great update and news.


Prayers for peaceful sleep for all.


God Bless,
David B.

[Woodsman4God]

Tomorrow will be another day and we shall see what it will bring.  Hopefully the weather will cooperate and Sarah will be a little easier on her daddy tonight.

In the words of the great Paul Harvey, "Stand by for....News"

Hopefully your daughter sleeps better for you , however the first few months sleep is a usually futile thing, Good luck on the birds sounds like its just a matter of time now.

[hookedspur]

Great update stay after them.

[anthonyjhallen]

I was back in hot pursuit this morning.  I ran into a bird that was hung up in the worst kind of way.  He must have gobbled 100 times in one spot.  We even pulled the old fall back and call routine with no avail. 

Oh well I will give him a rest in the morning.  We are going into an area that hasnt been hunted yet this year, so it should be another great morning.

[MDbowman]

Anthony

Good hunt this morning, pleasure meeting and hunting with you. Sorry we didn't get it done.

Good luck in the morning!

[BOFF]

Keep at it. It's only a hunt away!!


God Bless,
David B.

[anthonyjhallen]

Gotter Done!!!!



A nice 3 year old.  I will post up stats/story when I get a minute.

[hookedspur]

YES !!!!!!!

[BOFF]

Gotter Done!!!!



A nice 3 year old.  I will post up stats/story when I get a minute.

YEEEHAW!!!!! Way to go!!!

I'll bet momma is gonna get even more help now, with a  a big ol' grin.

Amazing how getting a turkey can make us more helpful around the house. 


God Bless,
David B.

[anthonyjhallen]

I am not even sure how many day I have been hunting.  Its took me a little longer to kill a bird this year but with the circumstances I think I am doing ok.  

So the story and stats as promised.  

We got an earlier start than usuall for some reason and it ended up paying off.  The birds have been gobbling on the roost at around 0600 but for some reason this morning they where early.  At 0515 the first bird fired off and that woke up all the others, and there where plenty.  We where hunting on post in an area that had not been hunted in a while but the birds where roosted across the road in another area that is shut sown due to our large Bald Eagle population.  With no birds in our sector and lots of action across the road we set up in the treeline with about 70-80 yards of open space between us and them.  After 30 minutes of non-stop gobbling from every bird within hearing distance this one decided he could not take the madness any more and stopped the morning traffic to come across the road and into the trees where we where waiting with a upright hen decoy.  As soon as he came within eyesight of the decoy he did something I have never seen or heard.  I have asked other veterans and they all has the same verdict.  He gobbled at least 8 time without taking a breath.  I have heard them gobble for hours it seems like but never like this.  The last syllable of his gobble started another gobble until he was literally out of breath making the 8th or so gobble weak and almost jake sounding.  I am sure this is not the first turkey to make this racket but it was the first time I heard it.  And to have the bead on his head while he was doing it made it even better.  As soon as he was done I smoked him at 20 yards with a payload of nitro 7s.

Sorry for the substandard pictures but this was the first time I had to take them without the help of someone.  Also I forgot to put the beard length on the plate.  It was 10 1/4.

Total score 63.625

[MDbowman]

Anthony,

Great spurs on that one! How did you guys do today?

[anthonyjhallen]

Anthony,

Great spurs on that one! How did you guys do today?

306 today.  We had one dead to rights for about 30 minutes, then he got a better, more breathing offer. 

[BOFF]

Great bird and addendum to the Crusaders score card!!!


Congrats!!!

God Bless,
David B.

[hookedspur]

Great spurs way to go