Wayne, it' s looking like May 8-12. The last weekend, just like last year. People weren' t happy with the way the birds did last year, but I gotta tell ya, it doesn' t get much better than chasing vocal toms every day. Sure makes life a lot easier, and makes it easier to roll out at 4am for that morning hike when you can hear ' em hammerin at daylight.

My scouting trip was a COMPLETE waste of time, except that I got some great exercise and learned the lay of the land a little more. I even had a brief encounter with a doe this morning. I logged 10+ miles today, and didn' t see the first turd, track, or feather. I had about 8 guys come riding past me on a pipeline on quads and bikes in the Vail Tree Farm though. Pissed me off. They did acknowledge the fact that they screwed me up, but I didn' t even get into it with them. Now I don' t have anything against riding quads and bikes. I grew up riding ATVs on our hunting place. But everybody knows that you can' t ride ATVs and dirt bikes on Weyerhaeuser land. It says so on every gate around, but I guess these guys couldn' t read. I even left there and went to another spot up the road, and had guys riding in there too. I didn' t even bother hiking further in to a spot that I really wanted to check out because I could hear the quads over there too. So much for actually seeing birds mid day in grass patches and clearings. Wayne, I hope you won' t be like that when you start riding yours around. As my hunting partner and I always say about bad fishing and hunting trips, I just weeded out a few more spots today.[:@]