Turkey time

If a turkey could smell like he sees then you would never kill one, so camo is an essential part of your turkey hunting gear. A long beard can see you move and if he thinks anything is wrong off he will go leaving you bird less for your effort. So lets take a look at how to improve your camo before this season finds you wanting to go out and hunt for turkey. First take out your camo turkey clothes and find some of the fishing net they use for decoration and stitch it onto your clothes and let it drap  and hang in folds. Now you have something to tie on the local vegetation that you find in the area you are hunting in. Get a roll of the jute twine they sell in the hardware store and tie it on the netting and fray it out add some burlap strips and silk leaves you can tie on. By tying on the vegetation that is right in your immediate area you can blend in unseen. Now do not take the vegetation right from where you plan to make your hide but from an area close by. Face camo or a head net is also essential. I find that right after Halloween I can find face cream in green and black for next to nothing an usually pick up a few tubes the day after. Gloves in net or covered in camo cream are next and some netting draped over your gun will help hide it from the keen eyes of ol tom turkey. If you team hunt it is best to have the caller about 15 feet behind you and off to one side by about 30 yds so the turkey travels across your kill zone with his attention on the turkey decoy. When turkey hunting you have to blend in with the surroundings completely and keep your movements down to a min.  this will increase your chances greatly and maybe put a turkey on the cooking spit.

Sly Fox

Now here is a predator that will take many young turkey, rabbit and quail, I have no problem with people shooting these small dogs. They breed  quickly and birth big litters making them quick to populate an area. Delaware is considering opening a fox season and that is encouraging considering the amt. of mange I am seeing in the population. Foxes will also kill your pet with cats being a tasty treat as I speak from experience, having lost our kitty to a predator fox. One reason they are coming on so hard is the fact that the fur brings nothing on the market so they overpopulate and the mange sets in. Spring and Fall are key times for foxes as they are breeding and then kicking out the males from the den so your chances for an encounter increases during this time of year as they are looking for food to feed their litter. Foxes like to roam during the early morning hours and I have not seen many after 9:30 /10:00 AM, but the last hour of the day is also a good time to see one cruising around looking for a rabbit or chicken. If you see a fox acting strange avoid it at all cost it could be rabid so call the Dept. Of Natural Resources to take care of the problem. Believe me they want to avoid you so you do not have to be afraid of them but you should always be aware of them in your area.

Team Turkey

Okay I have been off line for a bit but with getting a break in the weather I just had to get a few things done and finally one of them is figuring out how to get this picture on here! this is a picture of my son and I  after taking our first turkey on our property on Saint Martins Neck. Now my son can call a rock I believe and he called this bird in to us from 250 yds. Now we had chased this bird all morning through the woods, and along the edge of a field, when we finally made our way back up near our cabin. We were working our way up from a creek in the woods when we spotted the bird coming out of the woods at the end of the lane 250 yds distant. The Tom was in full strut and tending a hen but when he turned his tail to us Billy jumped  and put out a foam decoy, before the Tom got fully turned around, I got set in the sitting position wearing my full ghilie I made myself. Billy went to work and the Tom came in not fast but steady. When he got within 30 feet, not yards but feet, I introduced him to the Jelly head and the results were instant. We ate the bird and that was another treat, tasting very much like a domestic turkey with some very stringy and tough legs! We have learned a lot since that first hunt, and look forward to the next upcoming season.

Turkey season is a comming!!!

I like to Turkey hunt I admit almost as much as duck hunting maybe more the older I get! Now there are two camps in the turkey hunting, one sits and never moves and one likes to move three or four times, chasing gobblers around the woods. I like to move around and I don't mind telling you you had best be stealthy in your movement. Just shifting weight can send ol long Tom a running. My son can call a rock I believe if you put feathers on it and he loves to call any kind of bird. Ducks Turkeys, Geese he will bring em in and the rest is up to you, except ducking and you had best be shooting 2 seconds before him because he is fast on the trigger! On one of our first Turkey trips my son was calling and we were moving around our farm chasing long Tom. I had a hen bird come putting and chirping, looking down my gun barrel and walking along the edge of the woods we were sitting on, but tom would not come close enough. Finally they moved on and cut through the woods toward a clearing I knew was just on the other side. We cleared our hide and made our way into position just on the edge of the clearing and true to form here came the hen again putting and chirping, but the ol tom was holding out and moving deeper into the woods away from us. It is now around 10 o'clock and we were hot and tired  from the hunt and made our way toward the cabin. We set up in a corner and called to the bird as he moved parallel to us through the woods, but try as I might I could not get a shot of him and my son was wore slam out from working the mouth call. We move a hundred yards toward the cabin and set up behind some ceder trees we use as a hide during bow season.  God bless him but my boy gave me his best putt and chirp working the call like he owned it giving it his all. After 30 min we were going to cash it in when I glimpsed a Turkey 200 yds down the lane in the exact spot we had bet set in. Now we had some new life seeing the bird we had only heard and he was coming like a freight train toward our calling. The bird never hesitated coming to the fake foam turkey set up not 10 yds from us. The bird goes into full strut and is turning around showing all it's feathers trying to get the foam decoy to respond to his show, when I drew down on his blue/red ugly head. I made my sight picture and squeezed off a shot, the Jelly Head did it's thing and the Turkey was down! We have hunted that spot a few times since but have been foiled by a fox and an Eagle twice now. Get ready, pattern your shotgun, and put a bird on the table.

ducks deer and some turkey!

Seems like we have a busy week coming up first we have turkey day, ducks till Saturday then deer season! What is a man to do? First def. in on the bird, now if your house is like the one I grew up in we always went rabbit hunting first thing in the morn. Had a huge dinner then a serious nap with brief moments of football or something. Then Friday was spent ducking in the morning and hanging stands or going to the range again with the rifle. Sat brought opening day and the chance of a nice deer for the freezer. So whatever your choice be safe, shoot straight, and follow the game laws.

Saturday deer hunt

My Sat hunt began at around 2:15 AM with me being unable to sleep, so I got up and got my gear and headed out to the local WaWa for a coffee. On the drive to my hunting property, about 45 min. I was thinking of my hunt and where I would set up. As a hunter who likes to bow hunt from the ground, I have to be selective as getting within 15 yds. is the goal when bow hunting for whitetail deer. I selected a spot on the edge of a bean field, where I have created a natural blind sorta and on the downwind side of the trail. It is VERY early and I had about an hour before the sun got up, but the moon was in it's glory and lit the field up to where your binoculars, drew in a lot of light and made it so you could glass the field. I had my eye on a break in the marsh grass knowing that was the spot they would come from. Just as the sky showed the very first hint of color here came the first deer, Nose to the ground, and making like a train across the field. Never came close to my blind and it was early enough I could not tell weather it was a buck or doe, but it's body language said Buck! About 10 min later here came another buck deer it's antlers were shined up, and it carried enough body mass to make it a shooter, but like the one earlier it bypassed my spot by about 40 yds. Two more deer came by and I was a little disappointed that I had not placed myself just right for a early morning shoot. At this time it was just light enough to back light a small dirt pile so I took my rattling antlers and proceeded to scrape the ground and trees like a deer staking out some territory. I settled in and nocked an arrow knowing this might be the trick. Sure enough here comes Mr. Big and stands on the hill, 15 yds away looking right at me. I am waiting for the opportunity to pull and release but he just stands there, the sun coming up behind him, a beautiful sight. After a few min. he loses interest and just walks away. Around 10:30 I pack it in and walk down to the marsh and there is a doe laying in the grass, she gets up and walks around some not aware I was standing in the woods not 30 yds away. I did not release an arrow all morning, and saw at least 7 deer, and a ton of ducks, mostly divers, and a pair of blacks that dropped in to a small pond I have by my hunting cabin. I fixed a little lunch and took a nap figuring I would head out around 1:30 to a spot I had just opened up. All went well until a couple of kids, ignoring the no trespassing signs come threw the woods with their dog carrying on the way kids playing in the woods would do. You can imagine their surprise when I hollared from my spot "Hey what you doing here"! I explained how it was hunting season and that the woods were posted, and sent them on their way. After that I kinda lost my steam and packed up and came home. Now I saw many deer and other wildlife, never released an arrow, but for those of us that hunt I had a very successful day.

Welcome Prophets to Delmarva sportsmen blog. I hope you enjoy your stay, and feel free to comment. This is NOT a political blog but you can bet that I will try and keep you updated on NRA news, game seasons and limits, and let us not forget fishing! Maybe we could post pictures of your game harvest, or let the world know your kid got their first deer, duck or turkey. Hope you guys will come around, frost is on the pumpkin, there is a nip in the air, and the coffee is perkin.