Dan Andrews Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 Place your official bagged bird pics here. Remember not to wear red, white or blue and report that beard by noon the next day. 1800-288-1155 -its on your tag. After leaving the field, be sure to remove any ticks of your person (they are brutal this year in Fort Erie) and most importantly if your hunting private land, clean up, say thank you and throw them a chunk! What are you hunting? I'll be bringing both the shotgun and the bow. The first trip will be strictly bow though as it is accurate to 50 yards. Of coarse I'd still try to call to 30 yards. Any diaphragm call will do but I have a 3 pack of Quaker Boys and will be pipeing away on all of them. One thing I found out last year while fishing is turkeys like shiny things like chrome so if I'm birdless late May, I may resort to using the deer decoy and a mirror. Ya I'm nuts but thinking outside the box can sometimes prove revolutionary. I can't get out until Saturday morning and I'll be tired but I'll just have to schedule a nap for late afternoon. I'll be good to go on Sunday. So I've said goodbye to my Family, wish me luck if you want to see me before June because I'm not giving up without getting one of those sly rascals in the deep fryer Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 last I been seeing over the last few days there's some good sized birds pretty close to home Dan, a couple big Toms strutting thier stuff...one even was flying across the hwy the other day when me and Bones went to get Cliff and go fishing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted April 25, 2008 Report Share Posted April 25, 2008 There seems to be a few turkeys in Borden. Don't know if you're allowed to hunt on base, but I saw two females outside my barracks at the treeline one morning a few weeks back. And when we were doing PT on the wood trail, we stopped by a small water hole to run hills and I could hear one across the pond last week. There are always a few idle turkeys taking up residence at Borden Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bones Posted April 26, 2008 Report Share Posted April 26, 2008 Good luck Dan, with your determination I'm sure you'll bag your turkey. There are definitely lots of ticks this year, I found that out yesterday Dan what are you using for broadheads? using grapplers? I was thinking about using the crossbow now that I've bagged a bird with the gun. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted April 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 I'm using WASP's. John I should have known to bring the gun today. One of the things Tony Scavo told me was that in my picture of my blind, there seemed to be allot of scrub and I needed to cut more down, preferably right to the ground. I felt the open area and 2 shooting lanes were enough. Well I only brought the crossbow and within 10 minutes I had a gobbler within 20 yards but he was motivated gobbling 3 times for every chirp I gave him. Problem is he was too motivated and skipped across those shooting lanes too quickly. If I shot, the slightest twig would have deflected my arrow. Had I brought the shot gun I would be in your position of going back with the bow. Instead I'm going back with the gun and hopefully he didn't bust me and will be back tomorrow. I did however catch about 300 ticks. I am not exaggerating! BTW Once it got light enough to see the inside of the tent I found out my broad heads were not the only WASP's in the tent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted April 27, 2008 Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 300 ticks ..........I can't imagine 300 of them things on me !!!! That big one you showed me today could make a nice meal on the bbq spit ! Here's the pic I took for you ....this is the actual size !!! And I know the bite is very nasty .......... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted April 27, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 If I found 3 of those crawling on me I'd find another place to hunt! I found a way to control the ticks to some degree. First put on a flannel jacket. They seem to think it's fur and burrow in which means they stay off your skin and on your coat. Secondly, use duct tape to make a Chico leg band but put the tape on backwards (sticky side out) and tack in place with another piece of duct tape. This means anything that came from the leg band on down has to pass over the tape. this is only to get you to your blind and back. Makes too much noise if you leave it on so I kept another one on my chair and as I picked them off, I stuck them to the tape but most of them stayed in my coat. I didn't realize how many were on my coat until I got back to the car! exhibit A A piece of one leg band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted April 27, 2008 Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 holy crap Dan, I see like 50 just in that one shot, that's brutal man. Wonder why the big concentration for sure. Good luck on the quest, I am sure your time in the bush will pay off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted April 27, 2008 Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 holy crap Dan, I see like 50 just in that one shot, that's brutal man. Wonder why the big concentration for sure.Good luck on the quest, I am sure your time in the bush will pay off. The more available food , the more ticks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jwl Posted April 27, 2008 Report Share Posted April 27, 2008 hey just wondering if anyone has the recipe for Wild Turkey Ballentine that I posted a long time ago, tis the season and some may want to try it out Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bones Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 If I found 3 of those crawling on me I'd find another place to hunt!I found a way to control the ticks to some degree. First put on a flannel jacket. They seem to think it's fur and burrow in which means they stay off your skin and on your coat. Secondly, use duct tape to make a Chico leg band but put the tape on backwards (sticky side out) and tack in place with another piece of duct tape. This means anything that came from the leg band on down has to pass over the tape. this is only to get you to your blind and back. Makes too much noise if you leave it on so I kept another one on my chair and as I picked them off, I stuck them to the tape but most of them stayed in my coat. I didn't realize how many were on my coat until I got back to the car! exhibit A A piece of one leg band. WOW !!! That is incredible Dan. I've never seen so many ticks in 8 years of hunting turkey. Do you have a long walk in with long grass? Just wondering what the conditions are that are so favourable to ticks where you hunt. I like nothing better than turkey hunting, but that would scare me off. I hope in the future you find other places to hunt because you shouldn't have to put up with that insane amount of ticks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigugli Posted April 28, 2008 Report Share Posted April 28, 2008 Last year the ticks were really bad at Grassie Brook. Even got the darned things in my beard. There was a good deer population there as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted April 29, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Bigugli hit it on the head. Too many deer and I let one walk last fall. If the ticks feed they reproduce! One of the problems is I'm using the deer trails to get in and out. I only walk for about 5 minutes to get to my stand but I'm learning that 500 yards equals 50 ticks or more. Fort Erie was really bad last year too. I can see why the turkey/deer population is so good here. No one wants to hunt here Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smerchly Posted April 29, 2008 Report Share Posted April 29, 2008 Gather up a big jar full of those blood sucking ticks and open the jar at the next city council meeting .....when they start jumping into their underwear , you might get some action to do something about this whole "tic-lish" situation . It's not healthy to have an infestation of disease carrying ticks in such huge numbers . They will eventually show up in your homes and crawling in bed with you ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan Andrews Posted May 3, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 3, 2008 Summary so far. 3 days of hunting turkey. 1st day blind is set up close to hardwoods. The brush I cut down 2 weeks prior has resurrected enough that I couldn't see the beard 20 yards away on the gobbler who came straight to me within 10 minutes of arrival. I have a bow and can't take the shot. He never came closer or back. He kept going. Had I had a decoy he may have came into a shooting lane. When I leave I travel 2 fields over where I target shoot and get busted by a bird checking out my deer decoy. Day two. I've moved to the field where my deer decoy is and plant two turkey decoys nearby. Twice I've seen a ring of turkeys with a frolicking deer in the middle. Every call I make gets answered by a gobbler on the other side of the hedgerow but he won't come through. He has several hens and I can see him walking back and forth with another Tom. 6:55 pm and I have 5 minutes left and decide to pack it up. It's been awhile since I heard or seen them. I lean over two grab my gun sock and spot something moving. 2 toms and nearly a dozen hens come through the hedgerow. 100 yards and moving towards their roosting area. I cluck softly and every time they stop to see what my decoys are doing. I can't get them to come in. They've already committed to their roost. Finally at 7pm they dissapear and I unload. Day 3. Got home from work at 3:30 pm to find 2 deer approaching my turkey decoys in my back yard right here in town! Good omen. 5:30pm in the field. I erect my decoys exactly the same but go to their exit point of the field instead and fall asleep against a tree. Wake up crawling with ticks. Screw this I'm going back to my chair and duct tape in my blind. I've forgotten my mouth calls. I sit until 6:30 pm and figure what's the use? Go to pack up again. Look through my peephole to my left and there's a turkey 10 yards and closing! Sloooowly reach for the gun. My knees, elbow, wrist and everything else crack loudly in the tent. I carefully disengage the safety on my shotgun. Another peep reveals the bird preening it's feathers while checking out my decoys. Looks kind of brown but it's looking right at me and I have a small hole to look through. As it turns it's obvious there is no beard. It's a lonely hen. Watch until 6:55 until she disappears but no Tom. As I walk with gun in sock I can hear the ruckus as they fly to their roost early. Ticks or no ticks I'm looking forward to day 4. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tony Scavo Posted May 3, 2008 Report Share Posted May 3, 2008 Chilli You are doing everything right. And it's just a matter of time before everything comes together for you. They say it's hard to beat the real thing. The tom's have several hen's around and they won't leave them. If the gobbler's answer your calls they are letting you know there location, and they want the hen's to go to them. So i would like you to try these couple of strategies that have worked for me in the past. You have cut down some shooting lanes, place a single hen decoy at the end of a shooting lane closest to your blind. Use soft purr's (hen calls). Wait 15 minits then use hard cluck calls repeat look and listen. Try this first with a decoy then without. Hope this helps. I have tagged out from this year's hunt. But I'm going out calling for the boy's. GOOD LUCK! T>Scavo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FRANKROY Posted May 6, 2008 Report Share Posted May 6, 2008 wow chilli those ticks are crazy I have never seen them that bad ! blood = ticks and any blood wiil do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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