Traditions

It was 7:50 PM on a cool March evening. I had been walking for about an hour, stopping periodically to wipe the sweat from my brow and blow on a crow call. I had been scouting turkey for about 2 weeks, and this was one of my last places to go. Official sunset was 10 minutes ago, and as I dipped below yet another ridge it was getting pretty dark.

I knew where I was in relation to my truck, and also knew if I backtracked it would an hour and a half before I made it back. So I had a few options. Go back the way I came and cover old ground, keep following the fence line I knew would take me to a road over 2 miles away from where I parked, or strike out through the middle of woods I'd never seen, in the dark. Of course I chose option 3.

When I was a kid, my dad had me in the woods every weekend hunting whatever was in season. My dad always said by the time I was eight I had heard more turkey's gobble than most grown men, and he was probably right.Heck, I slept through more turkey's being shot than I can remember. My father and uncle were (and still are) epic turkey hunters. The whole year is spent waiting and obsessing over where the birds are and what they are doing. Even deer season is merely tolerated after a few weeks, just killing time until April. There I was, 7 or 8 years old, walking around behind my dad with him stopping from time to time to tell me "Pick your feet up" or "Don't yell if you see something, just tap my shoulder." At the time I couldn't even touch his shoulder, and was prone to kicking leaves while I walked through them. One time we were spot and stalking deer during bow season, and when I saw one I yelled "There's a deer!" at the top of my lungs. That particular doe nearly turned inside out getting the heck out of there.

One of my dad's favorite things to do was after a few hours in the woods, he'd turn around and tell me to lead us back to the truck. Of course, I was always too busy having fun to keep track of where we were in relation to the truck, but nonetheless he would insist that he was lost and it was up to me to find our way back. Most of the time I would boldly strike out in the wrong direction, but he did it often enough it forced me to start paying attention to my surroundings and making mental notes on how to get back. Something tells me that was the way he learned too, and I can imagine him and the grandfather I barely knew walking around the woods back in the 1950's, with my grandpa telling my dad "Pick your feet up" and "I hope you know where the truck is."

Now here I was some 23 years later standing in the dark all alone, grateful that I had those orienteering skills. Thanks to the skills and traditions my father steeped me in, I was able to cut across the woods, find a few landmarks, and walked directly back to my truck. Didn't even have to use the flashlight I had in my backpack, nor the GPS in my Blackberry. To me, technology is great, but I like to challenge myself.

I'm proud to come from a self-reliant family, and I am eagerly awaiting the day in the next 5 or 6 years when I tell my soon to be born son to pick his feet up while we're walking through the woods, and pass on a few family traditions.

Early Season Turkey Scouting Report

For the past two mornings I've been doing some turkey scouting here in Sulphur, Oklahoma. I'm not sure I'll be doing a ton of hunting here in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, but I'm going to use it as a back up for the days I can't get out of town so I wanted to get a good idea of where the turkeys are.

Saturday I went to an area that is a 7 mile long by 3 mile wide strip of CNRA that runs along the east side of Arbuckle Lake. I was there at 0600 hours that morning and started along the trail. A creek runs along the west side of this strip that is open to public hunting. There are numerous tall trees along the creek, and the further you go east the more uphill it gets. The whole area is basically lots of ridges and some open fields, bordered by the creek to the east. There is a trail that goes from the north end of this strip all the way to the south end. Not many hunters bother with this area because there is no vehicle access and if you kill something, it's a long way back along pretty tough terrain.

I hiked about 1.75 miles south, and around 0740 started hearing some gobbles. It was pretty light out, but they sounded like they were still on roost. About 0745, I heard a call down and assembly call from some hens, along with some light yelping. At one point, I ducked into the woods because I could clearly hear some soft yelps, and expected the birds to top over a little ridge towards me at any time. I stayed hidden for awhile, but didn't hear anything else. I got out and started moving a bit, and blew my owl hooter and my crow call, but didn't hear any other gobbles. Not too surprised however, because when these toms are with hens in the early spring, they aren't going to be too vocal after fly down.

This morning I went to another area of CNRA, that gets pretty heavy deer hunting pressure. My father and I have also hunted nearby for coyote. After walking along a sandy creek bed in the dark for 30 minutes, the sun finally came up. I scouted some of the most promising looking areas today but couldn't buy a gobble. I was pretty windy after daylight, so I don't know if it was the wind or there just weren't any turkeys around.

Tomorrow morning I'm sleeping in, but Tuesday morning my dad and I are heading down to Tishomingo, Oklahoma for some scouting. At the very least I know there are actually turkey in Murray county, and I know where to get at them if I have to.

Took My Son Hunting Today

Yep, the little guy ain't even out of the womb yet, and I had him out in the woods today. Of course I had to drag his mother along too.

Today was actually the first time LaChelle (my wife) has gone hunting with me. We went with my dad out to a place in Northern Murray County, Oklahoma. On the north side of this property is an egg farm with chicken houses and lots of goats. There are tons of predators out here. We saw plentiful sign of coyotes and bobcats.This property has lots of draws and pastures, and is a really neat mix of stock ponds, pastures, and heavy post oak shrubs.

We sat on the east side of the field and had a good north wind blowing at us. Honestly, once we got set up we realized this was not the best place on the property to be set up, but we were there so we decided to call. My dad called for a while with a mouth call, then I launched into a Wally Taber Weems All Call with a cotton tail reed in it. After calling for awhile, I saw what looked to be like ears up a ridge. Now, looking through my Bushnells, this didn't look like more than 200 yards. I confirmed my target through my rifle scope, and once I determined it was a coyote and not something else, then decided to shoot. I aimed about 3 inches high, squeezed the trigger, and watched as my bullet fell some 30 feet below the coyote on the ridge. Yes, I shot that low... I wasn't very proud of myself as I watched those ears and face disappear into the brush.

After I dropped my scope, I realized why I had missed. I had misjudged the distance by about 300 yards. I was so excited to take a shot in front of my wife, that between my binoculars and scope I forgot to pull back and make sure it was a shot I could make.

Well at least we got out of the house, and LaChelle was happy to be out hunting. I asked her if she had a good time, and she said the only thing she was upset about is that we didn't kill something. I knew I married her for a reason.

Inaugural Post

I always seem to want a blog but then I almost never have time to keep one updated. We'll give it a try though.

Right now I am working hard at getting RDO up and going. I'm about to start working on getting some shirts and window stickers made up and available for purchase.

Turkey season is rapidly approaching and I've been working on my calls and finding good spots to hunt.