April 18th, 2008
By Arthur

I’m honestly excited about this weekend.  It is the first one in awhile that just makes me stir with the anticipation of the hunt.  After the long nasty winter, and all of the cold and rain that we had, even just recently, I have been waiting for a weekend like this for quite some time.

Saturday, barring some rain that we might get, I am more than likely going to accompany Jeff while he helps to insure that our dad is sighted in for next week’s turkey opener.  It is his first time going after a gobbler so Jeff is going to aide in helping him get sighted in.  I’m sure it will not be that difficult.

On Sunday I am going back out once again to check the trail cam and see if another promising turkey spot produced any results.  I am also going to be setting up my pop-up blind in preparation for my opening morning turkey hunt that will be happening on Monday.

I can’t wait to see an early morning sunrise, be able to smell the fresh aroma of the woods again, and listen intently for the sound of a curious Tom piercing the silence with a big ‘ole gobble.  Then hopefully he will fall deeply in love with my calling, as well as my hen decoy, and let me have the honor of falling in love with the way he tastes.

Man I love the last few days before an opening morning of hunting.  There is just such anticipation.  I can not wait!

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April 14th, 2008
By Arthur

I wasn’t quite sure if Spring was ever going to get here.  I know that it officially arrived a few weeks back, but here in Michigan it has been awfully hard to tell that fact.  Crazy weather, snow in April, and it still being a bit chilly made it feel more like Winter then Spring and now suddenly this week that is all changing.

The wife, my cousin from South Carolina, and myself all went out to the property that the wife and I can hunt to check the trail cam I put up about a week and a half ago and low and behold we actually had the quarry we were looking for on cam…….a turkey.

Granted that it was only one turkey, but hey that is better than nothing.  It is hard to tell in the picture, but I think that it is a jake.  I don’t see any evidence of a beard, but that red head is giving him up as a male of the species.  Since I haven’t shot my first turkey yet I will be the first to tell you that a jake is not safe anywhere near me.  I just have to get the first one under my belt and then I can be picky after that.

We also walked around the back side of the property, and as we did this at 2 in the afternoon, there was a gobbler on a property adjacent to us gobbling his head off.  He couldn’t of been 100yds away, but the property is so thick we wouldn’t be able to see him unless he was right on top of us. 

 After hearing that commotion I decided to drive around to the backside of the property and this is what we witnessed in a field.  The wife was steady and quick enough to take a picture, but you’ll have to forgive the quality.  She did an excellent job with the picture, but our older camera is not made to zoom that far.  It is evidence that they are in the area though and I am pumped for next Monday.

So I am starting to believe that Spring is really here and I can’t wait to get back in the woods next week.  It has been a long, nasty winter and I am soooo ready to hit the woods.

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April 01st, 2008
By Arthur

On Saturday this past weekend I finally got to do something I have been dreaming of for quite a few weeks now.  I finally got to head outdoors, do some scouting, and put up the trail cam.  It was a beautiful day and one I had been dying to have finally arrive.

The wife and I went and walked the property for a good hour or so.  We checked quite a few different spots out and got a good feel of where the turkey’s are spending part of their time.  This one particular area, in fact the spot where I put the trail cam, has very obvious turkey sign and a ton of it.  At first I honestly thought my eyes were deceiving me, but after closer inspection, we did determine that all of it was in fact turkey sign.  The wife and I were pretty excited and she helped me pick a good spot to put the cam up so that maybe we would have a chance at capturing some red heads.  I know they roost close by, so hopefully we’ll get a few on the cam.  We could possibly get some deer on cam from that area as well.

We did do some deer scouting too, and I just basically solidified what I knew about the property.  The areas that held deer last year are still holding deer at this time of year.  It is just a matter of finding the right spot and keeping on eye on the deer activity throughout the year.  I also have to get to the other side of the property and get that area scouted pretty soon as well.  Jeff and I found a very nice little buck sanctuary last year that we want to investigate further.

We also found a nice little scrape back in an area where one of my stands was last year.  I knew it was there, but it appeared to get much bigger than the last time I remembered it.  I don’t think this area is a huge “hot” spot, but it is definitely put in the memory bank for when I might need it.

All in all it was an awesome day, I had a great time hanging out with the wife, and I can’t wait to go back out in a week or so and check for pictures. 

It was also the very first scouting trip for the little one.  Very cool!

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March 25th, 2008
By Arthur

Last week we had a very nice melt off and I started to think to myself that on Sunday I was going to head out before Easter activities and try and get some scouting in. I was mainly looking to do some turkey scouting, but with turkey scouting comes some excellent deer scouting as well. That thought didn’t last long.

On Friday Spring welcomed us with a nice blast of about 8 or more inches of snow. Towards the southern part of the state that figure was even higher, and thus there went my scouting on Sunday morning. I have been waiting for a good melt off for quite some time and of course mother nature just teases me with it, and then come the time I’m actually going to head out, and we get hit with another Winter storm. What a bummer.

I think I might have to invest in some snow shoes for next year if Winter keeps doing this to me. I just wasn’t going to scout when you can’t even really see what is on the ground around you because of all the snow. Plus you have to factor in, that with this large amount of snow, that the animals are going to severely alter their patterns which doesn’t make for a very accurate scouting trip.

It is looking like the weather this week might actually allow for another big melt off so hopefully this weekend I will be able to venture out and do some scouting. I want to get the trail cam up too, but I do live in Michigan, so I’m not going to hold my breath.

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March 04th, 2008
By Arthur

Finally the day has arrived when all of us Michigan turkey hunters can check to see if we were successful with our Spring turkey hunt applications. It has seemed that this day took forever to get here.

I am happy to report that I was successful in obtaining a permit and that my season will run from April 21st-May 4th. Those were the days that I picked and I was lucky enough to get the dates I chose. I couldn’t be happier.

Jeff and I are planning on sighting in our guns this weekend and Jeff just bought a new gun for turkey hunting this year that he is excited about. It is the gun you see at the beginning of this post. It’s a Westernfield 12 gauge which was made by Mossberg and sold by Montgomery Wards. He added a red dot scope, some camo tape, a vent ribbed barrel, and a undertaker screw-in turkey choke to complete the setup. He hasn’t had the best gun the last two years so we will see how well this one shoots. Hopefully he can at least compete with my Remington 870, and the Remington Extra Full turkey choke that is in it. We shall see about that.

Needless to say both of us are looking forward to the season and I just have a feeling that this is our year for turkeys. I think that not only one of us, but probably both of us, will be knocking one down. Our off season preparation is going to be the ticket. Only a couple months away and we’re stoked.

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