12 Turkeys in the Trees

Brought the gun up when I heard heavy wingbeats from 12 big black birds taking off. Lucky made these turkey vultures fly. Couldn't get to what they were feeding on (walking on treetops from logging buried in swamp grass). Suspect it was a deer. Maybe a cow, for that many TV dinners.

Member Invitation

 
Figured out how to make anyone an administrator:
Once they accept the invitation, they will be listed, and you can then convert an author to an admin by selecting the "Admin" option next to their name in the same Permissions section.
Google limits it to 100 total members including authors, administrators, or readers. Then anyone could start another one.

Re: Trusting Red

 One goose Red flushed made a loop back to land near where it started. Should've been goose hunting.

Trusting Red

Red flushed 5 turkeys to the North, next to a black ash swamp. I walked North to see if there were any in the trees, but it was all dead ash trees, they must've landed in the corn, across the road. I wanted Red to come with me to the North, but he went South. He knows what he's doing, trust him, he is 7 y.o. He flushed 3 more turkeys the same direction as the first ones went. That was enough for the day in this heat, at least we went. By the time we got back to the car, it was 77°. You can't see the birds flying, they were 150 yards away, too small in the picture, but you can hear Red barking:

Hunting turkeys in all kinds of weather.

Been twenty degrees warmer since the opener, Sept. 13. Sunny and warm makes for uncomfortable hunting, but the upside is, late hatch poults have more time to add body fat, to help them survive a rough Winter. Soon enough we'll complain it's too cold. Life is short, be like your dog, raring to go in any weather.

Saw some new country with potential today

Turkeys like to be where they can feed and loaf unobserved, not visible from any road. Took Suki to this new place of hidden woods and fields. She did 10.2 miles, I did 2.06. Right near the end, after we went all the way around, Suki flushes 2 big toms 200 yards away. Look quick in the first second of the video, the second bird followed the first one, flying right to left. Anybody that likes to sit and call turkeys could sit there for a week and call. 2 big toms that flew off together will never come to a call this time of year. 

We saw turkeys around here last year?

500 yards into a Stinging Nettle, Devil's Beggartick swamp, tripping over vines and roots, when my 14 y.o. dog goes back to the truck, she's saying there's no turkeys around here! Interesting trees though.

Red Green hunted 3 places today.

No turkeys but talked to two farmers. One showed us a good spot for rabbit hunting next Winter. The other pointed to where the turkeys come out in the field and what time. Not much corn cut yet, but it's starting.

On The Run

 Watching Suki run on the Autumn Equinox, September 22, 2025.

Killing Porcupines, one egg at a time.

Overharvest by Illinois tourists, collecting and drying rare porcupine eggs for floral arrangements, have made Porcupines an Endangered Species in Wisconsin.

Turkeys aren't afraid of dogs they can see.

They can outrun most dogs, or fly away when they can't. Here's proof of their fearlessness, walking right on Lucky, Suki and Red's turf September 9, 2025. Full Screen!