Turkey Hunting Tomorrow :)

The days have been going by agonizingly slow. I still haven't been called back to work, which kind of sucks since the extra money would be great to have.

I finally broke down and spend most of my life savings on two turkey permits. (Not really, but I have no idea WHY the permits cost so much??!!) As I was standing in line in Wal-Mart waiting to have the permits printed, I realized: this is most likely going to be the last time I ever buy a NJ Permit. Well, no sadness there. Not surprisingly, Ohio hunting license/permits are much cheaper.

So, tomorrow morning is my first day of NJ turkey hunting this year. I can't wait to get out there!!! Hopefully I get something this year, I haven't shot a turkey in two years I think??? I lost track...But the owner of the property I hunt told me that there are two gobblers in his front field every morning, so it may not be so hard this year.

Tuesday I'm heading out hunting with my sister Sarah, and my dad. I generally feel like my dad is a good luck charm when it comes to turkey hunting since he's a much better caller than I am, and has been hunting a lot more than I have!!!

Hopefully I don't forget anything, I already packed my gun, camo, calls, camera, tripod, and everything else I thought I might possible need in my truck. I'm not sure how I'm going to carry it all really. I need Sarah or Mike here to help me carry it all :D

Mike actually went back to Nebraska and Kansas last week, and finally killed his Merriam and Rio...without me!!! But I am happy he finally did get some turkeys.

So, I guess I'll be up at 5 tomorrow, got to get in the woods early since I haven't been out at all yet this year. Can hunt til noon, then its time for some bowfishing :) I'm hoping this will be the start of an awesome fun week!!!

And maybe I'll be able to put some new pictures up with ME with a turkey this week!!!!

~May~

The past few days in Jersey have been excessively boring. I haven’t really done much of anything that could be considered interesting. I haven’t even been called back to work at the farm yet, so mostly I’ve just been hanging out, doing random stuff, and missing Mike

The other day I actually got around to taking the last of my deer stands down. It’s only been, what…about four months since the last day of deer season??? I guess I could say I’ve had other things on my mind. If I was planning on hunting there this deer season I would have just left them up since deer season is only a few months away.

I kind of hate taking stands down by myself. It IS easier than putting them up by myself, but I always seem to run into some sort of problem or another. Last year the stand fell when I was still in the tree so I had to figure out how to get out of the tree without a stand there to help.

This year I had to take down a ladder stand and a lock on stand that was hung above it for filming. The lock on was easy enough, and the ladder stand was easy enough to unstrap and climb down. But then I had a tough time pulling it away from the tree since it was pretty embedded into the bark after having been there for nearly a year. Then I couldn’t get the sections apart to break the stand down and put it in the back of my truck. I ended up hooking it around a tree and yanking it, which worked just fine.

Camera arms down, treesteps out, looks like I have everything out of the woods for once in my life. It’s weird. I haven’t even put my trail camera up, and not even sure if I’m going to put it up in Jersey this year.

I returned my dads one stand, climbing sticks, feeder, and my brothers deer target that I used as a decoy. Unfortunately that was only on afternoon.

I talked to the owner of the land where I deer hunt and he told me that there are several gobblers strutting in the field below his house every morning, the same field I deer hunt. Looks like I’ll have to get a turkey permit soon. I was going to buy one for next week, but I just looked at the forecast and it’s supposed to rain all week. So, I’m going to wait and see what the week after will be like. No one else is hunting there anyway, its not like the turkeys are going to go anywhere.

I’ve been racking my brain for other things to do now that I’m home and no working yet. I’ve cleaned my whole house, folded my clothes, paid my bills, visited my family. I even decided to grow my nails out instead of biting them everytime they get long. That only lasted for about two days. I’m running out of things to do. I wish I WAS back to work!!!

Next week I’m going to take a trip down the Paulinskill River and see if the grass carp are in the shallows yet. Might was well get some bowfishing in!!! Last year I didn’t have a ton of luck, but I didn’t have a ton of time either. So, that will give me something fun to do!!! Time to get out my Silverhawk bow and set it up for bowfishing again.

So, my goal for the month of May: kill a turkey and some carp!!!

Kansas/Nebraska

I will say one thing: the trip went by wayyy too fast. I feel like so much went by in such  short period of time, and now I’m back in New Jersey. It kind of feels like it was all a dream (a good one!).

Neither Mike nor I got a turkey, but we got some awesome footage of turkeys, a pheasant, some ducks and some other random stuff. We came so close to getting a turkey nearly every day that it was a little frustrating.

A few days in Kansas, where our first morning I froze my butt off. It was about 35 degrees but the wind cut right through my clothes. It was so windy that it took several tries for us to get our ground blind set up without it blowing away. We were only in the blind a few minutes when we heard birds gobbling, then a tom turkey came in at about 60 yards and walked right past us, staying at the same distance so we couldn’t get a shot. twenty minutes later we had some Jakes come in at about 40 yards or so. At the last minute Mike decided to try to shoot one but they spooked and left before he could get off a shot.

Several other close calls in the next few days, then we left for Nebraska. The first morning it was pouring rain so we ended up going out a little later, and had three gobblers at 40 yards, but out of sight. The second morning we snuck into the woods while it was still dark out and set up our ground blind. A few minutes after we were situated, a loud gobble made me almost fall off my chair in the blind. Turned out there were two gobblers roosted about 10 feet from our blind. They continued to gobble until it was light out, then they flew down in the opposite direction and disappeared.

We had several other close calls in Nebraska, before deciding to make the 3 hour trip back to Kansas to try again. Two hunters from Wisconsin who were also hunting with Woodland guides had killed three birds while we were in Kansas, and our guide Dave killed one that morning. Maybe our luck would turn.

It was our last morning in Kansas and we set up our ground blind in the same spot we had it the first morning. It wasn’t long before a hen came in, and then left, not paying any mind to our decoys. A few minutes later we had three huge toms come in. If we had been gun hunting we could have shot all three of them. They were all within shooting distance, all three puffed up and strutting. Mike pulled his bow back and held it at full draw while the first Tom made his way in front of our blind.

But, we had a situation. The window of the blind wasn’t open far enough for Mike to shoot where the turkey had stopped. The turkey needed to take a few more steps to the right…which of course he refused to do. He stayed in the same spot, less than 20 yards in front of our blind, just strutting for about five minutes. Then, the hen returned and all three gobblers turned and left.

All I can say is that luck was not with us on our trip. But, I cant remember a time when I have ever had more fun that I have on that trip. Despite the fact that we didn’t kill our turkeys, I had an amazing time and a lot of memories were made.  I got to see Rio, Osceola, and Merriams turkeys for the first time, got to hunt Florida Kansas and Nebraska all for the first time, met some awesome people, got to visit the Ross archery shop and shoot their women’s bow…and have been dating Mike since the trip to Florida :). Really, how could I not be happy???

I spent Easter in Ohio with Mike and his family, and we went out turkey hunting, but luck still wasn’t with us. Now I’m back in NJ for a while, and thinking about getting my NJ turkey tags for this year so it will give me something to do until I go back to work and/or return to Ohio…turkey season isn’t over yet!!!

One more random piece of information for all the girls who read my blog…I bought the She Safari C2 camo for this turkey season, and though I love how it fits, and it’s very comfortable and works great for walking a lot, its LOUD. The fabric just doesn’t work for walking quietly through the woods, or moving in a ground blind, which made it frustrating for me. Just thought I’d throw that out there for any of you who might be thinking of buying it!!!

Florida

I'm having the time of my life on this trip!!!

I made it to ohio in 5 and a half hours...not too bad considering my gps said it would take 6 hours and fifteen minutes, and I ran into a bad storm in West Virginia. It was a pretty good ride. The good thing was, the rain held off in NJ and PA and the mountians and scenery were beautiful. On the bad side, I hate going through those tunnels through the mountains, they make me feel claustrophobic. And the fact that I felt like my ex should be in the truck with me. Fortunately he was not.

Mike, his dad Terry and I flew into Florida early that Tuesday, got settled in at the lodge at Woodland Guides Outdoors, and got everything ready to hunt the next morning. We got up at five every morning and I have to say I was pretty darn tired by the end of the week...though it was partly my own fault since we stayed up late every night.

We were pretty excited to get in the woods since just the week before three people hunting the property we were going to be hunting had all shot turkeys on the first day.

The first morning in the blind with Mike using a bow, me a shotgun, we saw several turkeys out of range, and some cows and water buffalo. Terry and our guide Dave also saw some turkeys but no shots.

The day we moved the blind and again almost got a Tom to come in close enough for a shot. By the third morning we had it figured out where he was going to come out so set up two different blinds, one for Mike and I and one for Terry and Dave. Mike and I had barely got settled in our blind when we heard a shot. Sure enough, a few seconds later we got a text message with a picture of Terry with his turkey!!!

That night we sat in a blind on another piece of property to turkey hunt. We had hog hunted the past few nights, but had no shots.

I actually can't remember if we saw a hen that night or night, I feel like I have a bad memory since it wasn't even a week ago!!!

I do remember clearly what happened the next morning!!!

Mike and I got situated in our blind, him with his Ross bow and me with a shotgun and running the camera. It was still pretty dark so I ended up falling asleep for an hour or so until the sun started coming up.

Then, Mike decided to take a nap and I started playing around on facebook. I was pretty engrossed in my phone for awhile!!! Then for some reason I glanced up and saw movement in the palmettos in front of the blind. Sure enough there was a hen headed our way. By the time I reached over and woke Mike up I had caught sight of a Tom making his way up behind the hen.

Bow ready and camera running we watched as the turkeys made their way closer and closer to the blind. At about 40 yards they stopped in the middle of the path that ran past our blind...and then turned and walked in the other direction.

That was a little disappointing. We had one day left to hunt before we flew back to ohio.

The next morning we set up in the same spot, the same turkey came in and yet again he turned away at the last minute, though this time he stayed nearly completely out of sight so even with a gun we had no shot.

That night we tried moving in on some jakes in one of the fields, only to have them scared away but a couple of kids trespassing.

Though it doesn't seem like we had much luck, we sure had a lot of fun!!! We went to a Lee Brice concert, ate good food, got a tan, and hunted every day. Doesn't get better than that!!!

I'm super excited to see how our trip to Kansas and Nebraska work out!!!

Woodland Guides Outdoors
Phone: 352-302-0604

Website:
http://woodlandguidesoutdoors.com

Two Days!!!

Well, only two days left before I leave this little New Jersey town and start the six hour drive to Ohio. I'm so excited that I'm getting butterflies in my stomach thinking about it. Or maybe that's from nervousness that I might get lost on the way??? Luckily my blackberry comes with several free GPS apps, three of which I downloaded this week, just to be safe.

This morning I woke up to a fresh blanket of snow covering everything. A few hours ago it changed to rain, but I'm more than ready for the warm weather in Florida!!!

I finally started packing. I've been putting it off for days, but yesterday I realized I might want to get on it since I'm leaving on Monday!!! I decided to start with my hunting stuff, since I figured that should be fairly easy and only take a few minutes: fold it all up, stuff it in the bag and be done with it. A half hour later I was sitting on the floor in my bedroom trying to decide how many pairs of camo pants I should bring and how was I going to fit it all in the bag??? I'd forgotten what a complicated process packing hunting clothing is for me. Usually I look at all of my camo and wish I had more to choose from. When I'm getting ready to go somewhere I realize I have to choose between various sets of camo, and it suddenly seems like I have too much to choose from.

I finally managed to decide on what camo to bring, and took a break to sew a rip in my favorite Realtree Girl pants, a result of crossing a barbed wire fence in missouri this past November.

Next step in packing was to pack my 12 gauge Benelli Nova and my Hoyt. I unearthed my bow case, which was still covered in Missouri dust, and made sure my bow, arrows, broadheads, release, armguard, and quiver were all safely inside and locked in. I had a slight problem with my shotgun since the barrel was too long to fit in the case. I ended up taking the turkey choke tube out, which shortened it nearly two inches.

My cameras and batteries, chargers, tripod, laptop, etc are safely packed. I started packing everyday clothing, but I'm sure its going to be an ongoing process until the day I actually leave. Luckily I made myself a checklist, which I'm sure I will need. Who knew packing could be so complicated??? Or maybe its just me???

I should probably be finishing up packing right now instead of laying in bed writing this blog on my blackberry. I could have written this three times over if I was on a real computer I'm sure. But I figure I better get used to it so I can update my blog from the road!!!

Hopefully by the middle of next week I'll be able to post some pictures of me with some dead creatures that I've killed in Florida!!! Then on to Kansas and Nebraska :)

One Week :)

Well, several good things have happened in my life since the last time I wrote a blog…and I believe its been awhile!

Number one: I’m going to have an article published in the May/June issue of Turkey Country, the National Wild Turkey Federation Magazine…so for those of you who get the magazine, be sure to read my article and let me know what you think!

Number two: I met a hot young Mountain Man, who is as into hunting as I am, and he asked me out. Pretty much exactly what I wanted for Valentine’s Day, only a little late…but better late than never!

And of course, Number three: In one short week I will be leaving for Ohio to start the first leg of my trip for my 2011 Turkey Grand Slam. The past month has gone by agonizingly slow! I started a long list of the things I need to pack and cram into my truck. I have yet to start packing…I think its going to end up being an all day thing. Besides packing all my stuff for hunting (gun, bow, ammo, arrows, camo, cameras, hats, boots, etc) I need to pack all the everyday stuff and everyday clothes, for both warm weather (Florida) and colder weather (Kansas and Nebraska). I just know I’m going to forget something!

Besides the fact that I’m really really excited about the possibility of a grand slam, I’ve never been to any of the three states I’m going to be in, much less hunted them. Its all I talk about lately, I’m pretty sure my friends and family are already tired of hearing about it, and I haven’t even left yet.

At least I’ll have something to blog about again! I feel as if my life is very boring when its not hunting season. Last month I got a blackberry phone, so I can update my facebook status from the road, and upload pictures, and am going to try to update my blog as often as possible...it will be like I’m hunting “live” online.

Considering that fact that I haven’t gotten a turkey in a few years, this is going to be pretty exciting! I even get to spend my birthday (April 13^th) turkey hunting, which seems like a darn good birthday right there. 

One week....I sure am excited!!

The Ides of March

March is a very depressing month, everything’s brown and muddy and there’s just not that much to do. Which is why I waited until March to order my new camo for turkey season, figuring it would cheer me up a little.

The idea of it certainly cheered me up. Spend a few minutes on the computer, pick out some new camo and be done.

Well, it wasn’t that simple.

First, I looked at the clothes online at Gander Mountain, since they have free shipping. Not impressed with anything that I saw, I went to Cabelas website. Then, to Bass Pro. I went back and forth between all three of those websites, and browsed a few more, but it really wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. Besides the fact that I kept getting sidetracked whenever I spotted a cute bikini or tanktop.

I generally get by on my brothers and dads old camo, and a set of cold weather camo I had won in a contest. I’d never really ordered a good set of women’s hunting clothing before, with the exception of my beloved Realtree Girl Cargo pants and a pair of She Safari lightweight pants.

I knew exactly what I wanted: something that fit right, would last a long time, and something that looked at least halfway cute, and pants that didn’t have a waistband that came up to my collarbone.  And of course something affordable. Too much to ask? Yup.

The cheap clothes were just that, cheap. They didn’t look like they would hold up for more than one year of hunting, and most of them didn’t look like they would fit how I wanted them to.

Then, there was the other side of the spectrum: exceptionally made clothing that looked like it would hold up, and looked pretty cute. Problem was, I would have to take out a loan to pay for it.

After an hour or so, after I was really starting to get sick of searching, I finally found what (I hope) I was looking for. She Safari C2 Jacket and Pants, without the scentlok. Good quality, and looked pretty cute on the girl in the picture, and at a good price.

Well, I ordered a set, I should be getting it sometime next week, and I have my fingers crossed that I’ll like it!