RE: Tough turkeys
 

i dont know germain, i know i sometimes see guys calling before the season and i never see them again once season starts.. maybe they are out to screw my hunting...lol.. w/ the shooting doe in areas where the deer pop. is so low i dont understand that also..

RE: Tough turkeys
 

I call birds before the season! I do it at a local colleges bird sanctuary and a local nature area,where no hunting is allowed.

RE: Tough turkeys
 

Charlie it's getting deep

RE: Tough turkeys
 

I take my daughter. Suny Binghamton

here's some info.

The Nature Preserve. The University has set aside 200 acres of mixed forest, stream, pond and wetland habitat as a Nature Preserve. This on-campus area contains a wide variety of local plants and animals and is available for the university community. It contains a hemlock forest and oak woodlands, many species of invertebrates, a diverse population of amphibians and reptiles, many mammals including deer, beaver, fox, mink, muskrat, porcupines and small rodents. Over 172 species of birds have been sighted in the Preserve. The proximity and variety of habitats and organisms makes the Preserve a particularly valuable resource for our field-oriented graduate students and faculty.


The Nuthatch Hollow Preserve is a privately-owned, 96 acre private bird sanctuary and nature preserve less than one mile from Binghamton University. The site has a natural stream system, various regeneration and old growth woodlands, an established pond with a resident beaver and fish population, and a newly-constructed pond without fish but with a rapidly expanding amphibian community. The Department also has exclusive access to Nuthatch Hollow. Current research includes studies of resident amphibian and bird communities


The other place I go is Waterman conservation area's.

The Waterman Conservation Education Center in Apalachin, NY is dedicated to increasing environmental awareness and outdoor recreation. Waterman operates four wildlife refuges that are open everyday during daylight hours. Waterman's main site on Hilton Road, is open weekdays from 10 to 4, Saturday from 10 to 4, and Sunday from 12 to 4 for the public.
This is a picture of Suny Binghamton's Bird sanctuary

RE: Tough turkeys
 

Actully going to these places was a real confidence booster. Especially the first season I started. I had already called a few Toms in by the time the season started.

RE: Tough turkeys
 

The biggest problem that I run into is not calling in the birds I have been calling since I was about 10. My dad and I make our own - Box calls using a piece of polished slate and a wooden bow - works great - even had an article wrote up once by an editor for quaker boy that we ran into while he was field testing equipment. He told us he wasn't having an luck and was going to try a new location. My dad leaned out the window of the truck gave a few yelps on his call and got a gobble right off the bat - the guy was impressed and we gave him a call and he sent us a copy of the publication.

Anyway back to what I was starting to say - the biggest problem I run into are the people who hear you calling in a bird and set up between the bird and you and don't even try to call. I had two birds picked off on opening day 2004 season like this and it realy torque me the wrong way. After that I called in another bird that was almost in range when a coyote came to see what all the racket was about. That was the end of that day - I got a nice Tom on the first Saturday of the season but there was 2 birds opening day that I should have been carrying out and someone else did with no effort on their part besides watching for a car on the side of the road then listening to see if there were any birds gobbling.

I am still thinking of a solution to this problem - but short of finding different hunting grounds I am not really sure what will have to be done.

ETHICS - the backbone of our sport -