It was a tough year!
For a number of reasons, I knew going into this season that I was going to be quitting early and not hunting until the end of May (like I normally do). For months in advance of turkey season I was dreading such an early entrance back into the "real" world, but I never in my wildest dreams anticipated the variety of climatic conditions that I would encounter this spring, and which always seemed to conspire against me having a hunt that wasn't directly affected by the weather. In between dodging lightening bolts, tornados, hail, and heavy winds, it was a challenging year, to say the least. Plus, I've not seen rains like that in my entire lifetime, and it felt like I was always walking around with wet feet, and in soaked camo clothes! Hunting nearly every day in such "difficult" weather patterns certainly wrecked havoc on the total number of turkeys seen, heard, and killed, but no matter how bad it got, I am proud to say that I maintained a fairly positive attitude throughout; mostly because I knew that what I was doing sure beat the heck out of being at work!
Unfortunately, I lost my primary pocket camera in Florida last year, and never could seem to find the extra bucks needed for a new one. I've got a great Nikon as a backup, but it's big and bulky. Hence, I didn't carry it much, and because of that, I didn't take nearly enough pictures on my journeys. That won't happen again....no matter what, I WILL be toting a camera along on next year's trip!
So, I apologize for this thread being short on photos, but here's what little I've got:
As usual, I started in Florida and guided some fellas on good private lands. A couple of those fine folks came from this very forum, and I believe you've already seen posts and some unbelievably beautiful pictures of their hunts. Fortunately for my reputation (or, maybe in spite of it
) the Texans didn't mention anything about their guide falling asleep, but I believe my actions (or,
inactions, as it were) are direcly related to why that big old Osceola came racing in at the exact moment I dosed off...he sensed when I wasn't "on edge," and hoped that he might sneak off with one of those pretty little DSD hens! At least, that's my story...and I'm sticking to it! :grin:
Anyhoo, here's our own Yoopercaller with his bird and the traveling Grand Slam box call. His Dad, Tom is hidden behind the tail fan on the right, and is holding the feet of his own gobbler, which had been shot right after flydown.
Here are the Texans I referred to (WLRetrievers, and his buddy Scott), with a very wet, but very dead trophy Osceola (1-3/8" spurs). I wish that I'd seen the shot, but there was a moment of inattentiveness referred to earlier.
In between my guiding duties, I managed to shoot a tom of my own. I only killed a single gobbler in FL this year, but he was good enough to make up for it (1-1/2" spur on one leg).
On the public land where I hunt, it was TOUGH! I only heard gobbling on 4 of 14 days, and the closest I came to filling my second tag was this concrete tom. He stood about 5 feet tall, weighted 1100 pounds, and cost $500, but I was sorely tempted to put him in the van.
After Florida, I went to Delaware. The first day there I m...m...m....missed a tom, but that encounter had a highlight; I shot at the tom while a jake was busy raping my DSD hen! Now, when I say that he raped her, I mean he raped her ALL THE WAY! Evidence is plainly apparent in this next photo. I emailed the guys at DSD that they ought to send body condoms with their hen decoys, in order to make clean-up an easier and more pleasant task!
Continued on next thread.........
