Fall Turkey 2014

This year of hunting has been really good to me so far. I have filled every tag I have purchased and hope my good fortune continues throughout deer season.

Fall turkey hunting is much different than Spring. Some hunters cut it out all together due to bowhunting season being open for deer. However, since I have started hunting I have always enjoyed going after turkeys. The same place where I tagged my first Tom in the Spring had 4 males coming regularly. There were also a lot of hens, but I really had my hopes on hunting another Tom. 

There's a turnip food plot planted for the deer between the woods where the turkeys spend most of their time and a field where they come and feed. Luckily for me, the blind was already set up on the turnips and as long as I could catch the turkeys crossing the woods to the filed I knew I had a good chance of tagging another wild turkey. I went out on this hunt by myself because Matt (my boyfriend) wanted to go hunting for deer. With the turnips planted I had high hopes that if a turkey didn't show maybe a deer would before dark. The first half hour of my hunt was pretty uneventful. Turkeys don't make a lot of noise in the Fall and the Toms are no longer chasing the hens around, so it can be pretty quiet. By figuring out the traveling paths of the birds you really increase your chances for success. I was hunting a small area versus a large field which made things a lot easier for me. 

After the first 30 minutes had passed I noticed a turkey in the woods. I put my binoculars on the turkey to see if it was a hen and it looked like it had a beard, but it was very hard to tell. The turkey was cleaning it's feathers. I had a hen decoy set out about 15 yards from my blind and began to do some soft calling to see if it would peek the birds attention. It looked up and noticed my calls, but immediately went back to cleaning it's feathers. I probably sat there staring at that bird for another 15 minutes when I heard noise in front of the blind. A hen came running across the turnips from the field and went in the woods. Suddenly, I noticed the male get up from cleaning it's feathers and start walking through the woods. I lost sight of him but noticed another bird or two followed behind him which I could not see earlier. 

I waited and began giving soft calls hoping they would soon cross to the field to feed. I waited probably another 20 minutes when finally 4 beautiful red headed turkeys came out of the woods. 2 Toms and 2 Jakes with silky dark feathers and shining red heads. My heart had started pounding faster and faster and I remembered why Fall turkey hunting can be so exciting. The two Toms stared into the blind at me and dropped their heads again walking towards my hen decoy. I chose the Tom I wanted to take and shot. He flew up in the air so I shot again. He dropped and the other birds took off flying.

I later realized I forgot to adjust the choke on my gun after goose hunting in the morning. My first shot hit high, but not as good as I would have liked. Thankfully, I hit him dead on with the second shot. I called Matt and was very excited. I got very nervous during the shot of this hunt, which I never had previously. I think it is because this was my first harvest on my own.

My second Tom of 2014 weighed 20.5 lbs with a 9 1/4 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. The cool thing about this turkey is it has 4 shorter feathers in the middle of it's tail. I later read if a turkey is attacked by a predator the feathers may not grow back fully or at least they hadn't before I hunted him. 

It was an exciting hunt and I am very grateful to Wing-ding for letting me harvest 2 amazing trophies in his fields this year. I now hope deer hunting will be good to me and will soon tag my first buck with my bow. I drew a doe tag this year, so by late season I hope to earn my first deer. 

I rattled in my first buck last night - a little fork horn, on the last evening of rifle in my area. I passed on him, but am hoping to see more deer in late bow season. Good luck to everyone hunting deer this season and thanks for reading my story. 

Summer Hunting

Although hunting season doesn't start for another month and a half, it doesn't mean we haven't started hunting. By now Matt and I have had our trail cams up for a couple months. We have checked them 3 times and last night received some really nice pictures that has me slowly getting the itch for Bow Season.

We have quite a few smaller bucks at the area Matt wanted to scout. Multiple daylight photos of them and the bucks seem to be coming steady. 

I was pretty excited to see this photo of this larger buck that Matt and I believe to be the same buck we have photos of from the past two seasons. We are hoping to pattern where they are coming from and to capture more daylight photos. This way we can figure out if it is for sure the same buck. 

Nothing is cuter than a fawn with spots and her Mom. 

Trying to strategize for October this early can be difficult, but with this many photos of deer in velvet I am pretty sure that we're on the right track. My strategy for early Bow Season is to hunt near a water hole hoping bucks will be traveling in to drink. There are a lot of paths and tracks, but just having this early on is hard to tell if the bucks will still be there come October. I set out another trail camera so hopefully we will have some photos in another 3 weeks. September will be spent hanging my stand, which I would like to sit untouched for the month and hopefully we will have a good idea about deer patterns so Matt and I can finally fill a tag this year. 

Both Matt & I drew doe tags this year. He hunts up North at the Hunting Camp for two weeks of rifle, so for home he only has buck tag, but I drew a doe tag for our region and will consider shooting a doe at the end of season if no luck has come our way. 

Summer can be filled with a lot of hunting activities and most importantly getting our bows sited so that if we do get the opportunity to shoot a deer we will be ready. Matt and I need to go down to South Nation Archery soon and start shooting everyday. 

Hopefully everyone is enjoying this Summer and getting as excited for the next hunting season as we are. 

Spring Turkey 2014: Part III

Matt was back from Toronto and we decided to try some more hunting at Darcy's. His Dad had them pick up a Jake decoy from Bass Pro while up there for my to try. He agreed that the Tom decoy may have been scaring him off. 

We decided to sit out in the open on a sand hill with a bit of brush coverage. There is a path they tend to walk on so we set the decoys right across from it. We called and saw a hen early on. She crossed right in front of us probably 5 yards away without any idea we were there. We called some more and there was no gobbling from anywhere. All of a sudden, I saw red out of the corner of my eye and poked Matt. The tom had just come out where the hen came from. We sat quiet and Matt called a little bit. He looked towards the hen but was uninterested and left in the opposite direction. After that we had no luck and turkey hunting was coming close to an end.

My last chance to go hunting was May 30, the night before end of season. I finished work and had to work early in the morning. I didn't really feel like going out, but I wanted to spend some time with Matt, so texted him to see if he wanted to go back out. He asked me where. All season I spent hunting at Darcy's but his good friend Roger (Wing-Ding), said I could hunt at his property. I told Matt we should try Wing-Ding's. I had hunted there in the Fall and he told us some Toms and a Jake were out in the fields when he was discing his fields. Matt agreed and we were headed to Wing-Ding's for my final hunt of the season.

We had an old box call that Wing-Ding had left in the blind and a mouth call. His son had shot a Tom earlier in the season at the same spot. The grass was high where we were hunting but the field was all turned up from discing. We put our decoys out right in the dirt in a sunny spot across from the blind. Matt was tired too, he was resting beside me in the blind. I started calling with my mouth call. It was maybe a half hour and we heard a gobble really close by. Matt was excited when he heard it and started to call more with the box call. He gobbled back. It was to the right of me and I had a lot of bush concealing the blind we were sitting in, I couldn't even see the hen decoy well from where I was sitting. We decided to stop calling to see if he made himself visible. Matt said he could see him and he locked on to the decoys and was beginning to come in. I got my gun ready, safety off, and a really nice Tom came charging in full-strut. He passed the hen decoy and did a lap around the Jake. He circled him like he was ready to beat the decoy to the ground. It reminded me of something I've seen on Wild TV. I waited for him to clear the decoy and face towards me and as soon as he was just about the kick the Jake decoy I shot him and laid him out flat. It was a good shot and I finally got my first turkey. Matt was just as excited as I was and I couldn't believe after all the hard work I put out this Spring it finally happened. 

Once we knew he was good and dead I approached my trophy and couldn't be more happy with my first Turkey and first animal I have successfully harvested. 

My first Ontario Tom weighed 20.5 lbs with a 8.5 inch beard and 7/8 inch spurs.

Definitely a great first trophy.

Thanks to Darcy, Matt, Cory and Wing-Ding

 Benelli, Zink Avianx Decoys, Primos and Badlands Packs for making my Spring Turkey hunt.

Spring Turkey 2014: Part II

I have put a lot of time and effort into tagging a turkey this Spring. I have hunted Darcy's field hard. When Matt was away for work I went out a lot on my own. We moved the blind to a location where the birds were constantly crossing and left it there for several days for them to adapt to it. Several things I have learned after many close encounters. 

The first thing I noticed is that it is really hard to split the Tom up from the hens once he finds them. Almost immediately after hearing that gobble in the morning and him entering the field, he locates the hens and is stuck to them like glue the entire time. The Jake was different. He didn't really care about the other turkeys. Sometimes he would go near them, but majority of the time I saw him on his own or feeding with deer, which I found funny. 

The second thing I noticed is the hens don't care about the decoys. Only one crazy hen put a show on for me where she ran across the field almost in a zig-zag motion. She ended up nesting in sand right next to my hen decoy and sunbathing. She drew the other hens in on this particular hunt. The Jake was with the Tom and approaching my decoys. This is the closest I came to shooting a Tom at Darcy's field. I almost had him come in, but he was cautious of my Tom decoy. I think he was a little intimidated by it. Him and the Jake began crossing and was coming into range. As my luck goes weather changed and it began to downpour rain as soon as they started to move. Instead of continuing into shooting range the ran off where they came from and I lost any chance I had. After this hunt I decided that was it and it was time to put the Tom decoy away. 


I completed a few hunts with just a hen and I called the Tom in close a few times, but he never quite made it to range. One early morning just after sunrise I had a Jake gobble back at me. It was really exciting he was responding to me really well and I saw him come out from the far side of the field. He was probably 500 yards away and he heard me and came running. I had my safety off and gun ready, but he came around the side of my blind. I had the windows up (of course!), but tried to stand and sneak to see if I could open the window and get a shot. He was still on the move and ended up behind the blind. Later he came back out from the left of my blind and still never gave me a shot. 

After this hunt I figured I was finished. I knew I just came as close as I would to getting a shot at a bird and all I could do was hope that Matt would shoot one this Spring so one of us would fill a tag. 

Spring Turkey 2014: Part I

This Spring Turkey hunt was the most challenging hunting I have experienced since beginning the sport. Tons of turkeys have been coming to Darcy's field over the last few months and we knew there were several Toms and some Jakes in the area. With the scouting finished, I knew we would have a good chance of tagging a turkey, but after opening night I knew right away it would not be as easy as I hoped.

First night out was pretty exciting. Matt and I sat in a blind we had set up at Darcy's. There isn't a lot of coverage in the field so a ground blind works really well for us. It was pretty windy and we had a Tom decoy set up and a hen. The wind was so bad it blew the Tom over so Matt decided to try sneak out and set the decoy up before any birds entered the field. Of course as soon as he leaves the blind a Jake appears straight across in the bushes. Matt was busted and he ran away. I figured that was all we would see for the night.

Soon after some hens came out and were feeding, we watched them with no sign of any beards. After calling for awhile longer we finally heard a gobble. A Tom came out and headed for the hens. These turkeys were about 75 yards from our decoys. The Jake appeared again a little scared of the Tom he didn't get too close to the hens. Matt got a neat video where you can see the Tom kick the Jake out of his way. We tried to call the birds in, but there was no separating them and the hens definitely weren't interested in our decoys. That was it for our first night of Spring Turkey hunting in Ontario. 

Spring Turkey Setup - What is in your Turkey Vest this Spring?

Spring Turkey is coming up fast and I couldn't be more excited. My Blog post this week is talking about what type of gear you are using for your Turkey Hunt this Spring. 

This winter has been really hard in Ontario but finally some warm weather is in the forecast and snow is beginning to melt; the idea of Shed Hunting and Spring Turkey is real and I cannot wait. 25 more days until opening day for Spring Turkey in Ontario. 

I have not tagged a Turkey as of yet, and have been reading a lot of blog posts and articles through Twitter to help prepare a game plan and strategy for this Spring. I went out with Matt a bit last Spring and had a great time, I also did a bit of hunting this Fall and had no luck. 

Although I haven't been out Scouting the property where Matt tagged his bird last Spring, I know there are at least 8 Toms in the area, and we have seen a ton of hen groups out throughout winter. Darcy texted me this photo of 8 long beards eating at his deer feeders.

When I get back from Mexico my plan is to walk to the bush to figure out where these birds are roosting and decide where to set up a blind and decoys for my first hunt. 

Decoys:

The decoys I am using this Spring are the ZinkAvianX Strutter decoy along side the Widow Maker by Hardcore Brands. I hope that this combo will help bring in some turkeys, if no luck I may try go down to a Half strut Jake decoy instead of the Strutter, although we will probably be placing a Jake tail on the Strutter decoy. 

Weapon:

Since I haven't had much practice with my bow over winter I am going to purchase my first tag and plan to use a Benelli M2 20 gauge shotgun, which Darcy has just bought and graciously offered me to borrow. I have shot this gun once and it is very light with little recoil. I really like this shotgun and am happy to try it out in April

If I tag my first bird my plan is to purchase a second tag and get practicing on my bow to hopefully take one with it. I shoot a 2013 Quest Bliss and love this bow. It is small, light and perfect for a beginner hunter like myself. I shoot a carbon express arrow with a mechanical broad head which I think will work well for turkey.

Calls: 

I have a great beginner call from Primos. It's the mini sonic dome triple with bat cut. This call fits in my mouth really well and with practice am beginning to produce some pretty good turkey sounds. Matt and I also use a variety of striking calls generally when turkey hunting as well.

Packs/Vests:

I am on a budget when it comes to hunting due to student loans and everything else in life, therefor most of my gear has been bought for me as gifts or borrowed from friends, but Matt got me a great pack from Badlands for Christmas which I am planning to have act as my turkey vest this Spring. My pack is the Badlands Super Day pack and I love it. It has a ton of space, I will be able to fit my decoys in as well as all my calls. This bag is extremely durable and lightweight. It has space to attach my shotgun or bow and I am able to attach a seat to the bottom so I can convert it into a turkey vest.

With the season less than a month away Matt and I soon need to get out and pattern our shotguns as well as line up my bow. Hopefully we will have some good stories after this Spring's Turkey Hunts and maybe even some trophies to mount on the wall.   

Spring Turkey 2013

This blog post was featured on thehuntblog.com this week. 

When I started going hunting with Matt it was mainly for whitetail deer. His brother is big into waterfowl hunting and Matt was more interested in deer and moose hunting. 

Turkey is the reason why I wanted to get my hunting license. I don't know what it is about them that I'm drawn to, they definitely aren't the prettiest bird. I guess it’s their character that makes them so interesting. I can't wait until I see a Tom puff it's feathers out in full strut only to attack the decoy during  a Spring Turkey Hunt.

Last Spring I asked Matt to take me with him turkey hunting. He had never harvested a turkey and had only been a few times, but he bought his tags and set up a blind in his Dad’s field where we knew a few Toms and some Jakes were roosting near. The first afternoon hunting we had bad weather. We sat in the blind and had a Strutter and a Hen decoy set out. The sky was dark so we prayed the rain would hold off and began practicing a few calls. Matt taught me how to strike a pot call and he had a mouth call he was using. We also had the gauntlet gobble call by Turkey Thugs, which was neat to use. After calling for awhile, it started to thunderstorm. We had sat for a little while with no sign of turkey's and now rain, we thought that was it and texted Matt’s brother, Cory, to come get us. After about ten minutes the rain stopped so we told Cory to hold off, that we would wait. Not five minutes passed after the sky cleared and we noticed a single jake appear straight ahead in the field. He was headed for us so we sat tight and continued to do some light calling. Out of the corner of my eye 4 more turkeys, a couple Jakes and 2 Hens, appeared from the right out of the bushes. I told Matt and he got his shotgun ready.

He harvested one of the Jakes and we were both excited. Not only did I share a first experience with Matt, but my first time out turkey hunting was a success. I asked Matt if he would take me again to fill the second tag on another day. 

Here’s a photo of Matt with his first turkey.

Our second time out hunting wasn't successful we didn't see any birds but knew there were some Toms around, so we decided to go a third time.

We sat one morning in the same field where Matt harvested his Jake. I had received all my licenses and borrowed a 20 gauge shotgun from Cory's friend. It was now my turn to try get a turkey. We set out the decoys and began calling. We sat for awhile with no sign of anything. Finally we heard a gobble from the far right where those turkeys came from on our first hunt. A Tom emerged from the bush in full strut with two Hens behind him. We were excited, this was the first time I had seen a Tom in full strut and I was praying he would see our decoys. He kept walking, still not really noticing the decoys so we called a bit and he kept moving closer. Well just my luck, something out of the ordinary happened..

A whitetail doe appeared out of the bushes and began to walk near the Tom. I've heard that deer and turkey's often feed together, but what a site. It came in a few feet from the Tom and the Tom started gobbling at the deer. Matt and I almost laughed we couldn't believe what was happening. The doe stood there for awhile and the Tom kept gobbling at the deer until she finally ran off back where she came from. After this our hunt was over. Our decoys were in bad position so the Tom never saw them and took off with his two Hens. Although I never tagged a turkey, we had quite the hunt and I am even more excited for this Spring , where I will hopefully tag my first male turkey. 

Here’s a photo taken from my iPhone out of the blind. It is hard to see the doe, but her body is to the left of the strutting Tom. 

#ShedRally

Shed rally was this past weekend with many photos popping up on Twitter, it had me even more excited for Spring.

I've been out with Matt before where we have walked the field but never found any sheds. I found old skulls from deer and beaver in the field but have never set out with the goal to shed hunt.

Ontario has had its share of snow this winter. The week leading up to Shed Rally we reviewed several inches of snow and no sign for it to melt. The weather isn't calling for warm temperatures until May, which has me anxious for not only shed hunting, but spring turkey as well.

With Shed Rally happening South of the border I did some research and here are some tips I found interesting from various hunting blogs and sites:

If the winter has been cold look close to where the deer feed, if a more wild winter the sheds will likely be further away.

The best time to look for sheds is when there is still some snow on the ground but most has melted, it makes it easier for your eyes to focus on the antler itself.

Look for sheds where the deer bed, also if there is snow on the ground look for droppings and tracks. Sheds are going to be where the deer are, if there is no sign of deer activity in the area, likely it will be hard to find sheds.

Pack snacks and lots of water, which I know I will need because that's one of the main reasons I leave the bush early is out of hunger. (I am constantly dreaming of bacon cheeseburgers)

Stay focused and keep your eyes scanning for sheds it's when you quit focusing on the goal you will more likely walk over a shed and miss it entirely.

There were a ton of Shed Hunting Tips from various sources and sites, but these few I found interesting and come end of March early April I hope to get to where I hunted last season and maybe find a shed from some of the deer we encountered last year.

Here is a picture of my Bulldog, Scout, with her favorite chew toy.

This weeks shout out goes to www.wiredtohunt.com and thehuntblog.com for great blog posts and information on hunting. I really enjoy these blogs and encourage you to check them out.

Stix & Stones

I wanted to give a shout-out to an awesome Outdoors Apparel Company. This is Stix & Stones, headquarters located in Toronto, Ontario! They have a great sense of style for any hunting and fishing wardrobe!

I ordered these three women's tees online and received them this week and am absolutely in love with this company and their styles. The customer service was incredible, they kept me posted with e-mails on where my shipment was and when it would arrive. When the shirts came in they fit perfect to the size charts posted on their website. Matt is planning to order some tees for vacation and I am going to definitely be getting more from these guys in the future. 

My favorite tee I got was this "Big Game" pattern for women. There is also a similar design for men. I love purple and always love a v-neck... this shirt fits great.

Check out their stuff on www.stixnstones.ca, or follow them on twitter. I have been given the chance to preview some of the designs planned for women and can't wait for them to be available! 

2013 Season Part 3 of 3

Late November and into December we were starting to have some success. Cory took this 7 pointer at his stand, we had pictures of him previously throughout the season. The neighbor took a nice 9 point and Jordan who works for Matt's Dad (Darcy) shot an 8 point. It was nice to see some deer being tagged finally. Matt hasn't shot a deer in a few years and I was hoping he would get one before the season was over, he was hoping to see me tag one. 

 Christmas day I finally gave my bow some use and shot a cottontail. It was a 34 yard shot and the first thing I have successfully harvested. 

 We had nice deer coming to Darcy's everyday, and I had been spending most of the season hunting a blind here. There were a lot of daylight pictures, lots of does and bucks coming and going. It was really cold now later in December, but I really wanted to sit through til the end of the season. Everyone was trying get me my first buck. 

The very last night of deer season and this buck finally walks infront of me. He had a broken point, but was a pretty nice deer for my first antlered deer tag. I had been seeing does for weeks and finally just past 4 pm this guy walks infront of my blind. There was a doe feeding to the right and I had Darcy's new Ten-Point cross bow up and ready to pull the trigger. (awesome scope on this bow with green and red pins and narrow enough to shoot out of a blind comfortably) I waited what felt like hours (only 15 minutes or so) for this buck to take a few steps into range. My heart started pumping like everyone warned me and I was shaking cold. It had been -20 and colder that week. Unfortunately the doe ran off and this buck did too. I had an amazing hunt on my last night and never tagged a deer in 2013. Matt and his family have officially gotten me addicted to hunting and I cannot wait for next year to hopefully harvest my first Ontario Whitetail

Keep reading my future posts to hear all about my 2013 Turkey Season in Algonquin, Ontario.

2013 Season Part 2

At the end of August into September we had bear activity around Matt's Dads place where we hunt. We set out a barrel full of bait hoping to attract it in, but by the time we set it up cold hit and we didn't get any more photos. A good plan for this August if we see bear is to bait early and hopefully hunt some bear. 

Meet ol "Floppy Ear" She has survived season after season. Matt has come across her during his hunts and if I get a doe tag next year I may try locate her again. We think she is around four years old 

 Early November Matt and I had set up a few areas of trail cameras. We were ecstatic because Matt's deer he hoped to get a photo of showed up, a nice 11 pointer. My favorite deer from last season, previously a 5 x 2 now 5 x 1 showed up, and we got several photos of him throughout the season. However, I never seen him during a hunt. 

 This nice buck showed up at Matt's Dads property when he was hunting another field during the rut. 

 My first encounter with a buck was with this little guy on Matt's grandparents property. I was just sitting along side of a path and he came right in front of me no more than 10 ft away. This didn't get my heart pumping like some people have said it would, but it was one of the coolest things I have experienced. I had my rifle, but didn't shoot. It was early on and I was waiting to see if something more mature showed up. The neighbors shot this young buck later on in the season. 

Later in November we had lots of photos of my favorite buck. I sat out a few times and he never showed during daylight. As far as we know he survived the season, maybe I will get to encounter him next year. 

2013 Season Part 1

I finished my first hunting season and decided to post the whole story. I have been dating Matt for three years and he has been taking me out hunting since 2012. I instantly was interested in hunting, although I only grew up fishing and camping in the outdoors. Early 2013 I took my hunters safety course and began the season with Matt. 

 I purchased my first compound bow in August, a 2013 Quest Bliss, but planned on using a cross bow and rifle until I improved my skills. 

We started scouting early on. Putting up trail cameras, laying out apples and protein to see if any deer would come and feed. The soy bean fields where we hunt on were growing quick and there was a lot of signs of deer (tracks on tracks). We knew there were a few mature bucks who survived the 2012 season and hoped for photos early on. 

Matt's brother Cory hunted with us in the Fall when he got back from guiding goose hunting out West.  The water levels were so high we couldn't get back to some of our stands and Cory had to come tow us out with the Argo after getting stuck.

I did a solo hunt one morning before work during turkey season and took a walk where I found some deer skulls that the Coyotes must have eaten previously. Matt and I have lure out to try keep the coyote numbers down. Hopefully we take some before the season is over.