Im going to change what I do with my fan/beard. Based on my post about mounting a fan without the beard, I will definetly keep the fan and beard out of a cats reach.

Also, to be honest, I will probably bring toilet paper. Sometimes, you just cant hold it...And dont say you've never had to.

So did you become a member of the sleeve-less camo t-shirt club?

I'm a proud member myself.... a roll of two ply in a gallon zip lock bag tucked in the game bag of your vest makes a decent back support too you know....

Hide my truck better.

Have a back-up for my back-up plans...

The plan this year was to go to Eastern OR and hunt Merriam's with a friend. Because of our work schedules, neither of us could work out a big enough chunk of time to go...

The back-up plan was to go to SouthWest OR and hunt on some private land. Because of my work/family schedule, I could never get 3 days to myself.

I really needed something closer, and neglected to try and locate birds within an hour of my house. Hence, now I've got 3 days before I leave for a conference, with basically no chance of getting a bird.

I'll have properties lined up THIS fall for next spring, and will then only have the turkeys to blame

PS> diaper wipes work much better than TP. The wipes will not break down over time, and you can store them in a ziplock. In addition to the unexpected "ritual", they also work great for cleaning up after gutting the bird or for wiping off dirt, bugspray, etcetera...

Do more early morning and evening listing....

Hopefully kill a long beard instead of a jake! I have my plans all set for next year and can relate to "guiding" others instead of hunting myself. I will be hunting with a person much more experienced than myself next year and will not have to worry about him getting his bird and can focus on getting mine. I'll probably even learn a few things from him.