Well, that time is almost upon us...a week from today I'll be heading east to my hunting grounds, taking Nick and Ikissmykiss with me.

I have a handful of game cams over there in the hunting zones, and my old man is kind enough to check them for me weekly, and send over any particularly good pics...it's been slow for the last few weeks, but just in time for the opener the good'uns have arrived!

A nice bachelor flock of mature toms...



Probably were a few hens off cam in this one...or he's randy enough to just strut around for the hell of it...



This long legged tom is getting after the pine nuts for dinner time!



This beauty is both big and mature, and has quite a set of feathers on him! He's a dandy.



This is Nick's second go-round, so we'll see how much he learned last year

Ike's first turkey trip, but as a long time archery elk hunter, he's well-equipped...it's more like that than anything else.

Anyone else getting after it for the opener next week?

Fish on...

Todd

I was planning on Goldendale until the birds vanished from the Ranch. Looking at other options.

Doubtful as I’ll probably fish for something, but just returned to the office from a site visit up one of the local canyons between Wenatchee and The Barbarian Village. I exited the pickup at the future work site and thought to myself, “hmmm, should be a big chicken hanging around here”? So I made a couple of loud raven calls, and I was greeted with a Tom gobbling within 150yds. Then another one! So I shut the pickup door and made some hen “puttin” sounds. More gobbles, like a lot. So I just stayed quiet, looked at my watches second hand. 2.5 minutes I saw the first Tom right about 50yds, and within another 15 seconds the 2nd one popped up. They kept milling around the lodge pole and slash piles, and got within maybe 40 yards? Stupid chickens, someone surely will be eating them!

Great story, snit!

Good luck, Carcassman...it seems like all the mating activity just started late last week.

Fish on...

Todd

Can't wait!!!

I'm slammed 24/7 these days, so a few days off in the springtime woods will be a welcomed change. Mid day meadow naps in the warm sunshine are soup for the soul after a long winter.

It was fun watchin' the luv sick chickens lookin' for the local HO. I too have been inundated with work since the first of the year, so getting out of the office and into the foothills was a treat yesterday. Seems the 40hr work week has morphed into the 80hr work week over the last 15 years for me.

Absolutely my favorite, except when you wake up with dozens of ticks crawling on ya.... Bout the only critter in the woods that actually scares me, [Bleeeeep!] ticks....

I've got a SW Oregon spring bear tag that I need to go and fill. Had an local off ifish assist me with some quality walk in spots that he and friends have harvested a share of bears over the years. Intend to find that long range shot and test that 156 Berger...

Keith

K,

Oh my, mass-envy here for you and your spring bear hunt ! Spring Bear Hunting - Walk, stock, spot and shoot, gotta be one of my favorite hunts.

Best of luck to ya !

Have fun guys.
It should be a great opener for you.

Thanks, bud...looks the weather is going to be awfully nice, middle 70s by the weekend.

A couple birds and a few walleye, and being away from my des for a few days...this all sounds pretty good.

Fish on...

Todd

I bet they are gobbling like crazy.

Hunting was pretty scratchy...overall I was pretty disappointed at the bird numbers in my areas.

I shot my first one at 0540 on opening morning, so we literally started out with a bang...my second one filled my spring limit the next afternoon.

That was it for our little group of hunters, Ike and Nick can chime in to share their stories.

You can tell the winters have been rather mild the last couple of years...the amount of deer is amazing.

One story...on Friday afternoon, not long before filling my second tag, had a nice social hen cluck a bit to my left and off behind me...not the "looking for love" chirps, but the "I'm content with my company" cluck...which to me means she and a tom are about to enter my area.

Sure enough, about ten minutes later, she peeked out, saw my decoys, looked over her shoulder and gave the happy cluck again, and walked right into them. When I saw a little movement in the brush behind her I knew that tom #2 was about to meet his maker...and then a whitetail deer walked out behind her. And then another, and another, until 7 deer had walked out in a row behind her, all young does.

They all dawdled around my decoys for a few minutes, picking at the grass. Once she was done looking at the decoys she marched off, and when the deer didn't immediately follow her, she turned back around and gave them an earful...they dutifully got in line and followed her into the brush.

My old man was set up about 200 yards away, and 20 minutes later she and her pack of does repeated that same process at his decoys.

I guess she liked having 7 sets of eyes and ears around to take care of her, and while I have frequently seen deer and turkeys hanging out together, I've never seen one so clearly in charge of the other like that.

So that was fun.

We did complete the official cast and blast by going out and catching a walleye for lunch after shooting my first one on opening morning, so that was also fun!

Fish on...

Todd

Translation, Todd sat under roost tree baited with corn, got birds, other dudes got fringe spots, fell asleep and drank beer.....sounds like a good trip. Thanks for posting

Temps dropped 10 degrees over there, and overnight the zones are full of birds again. Apparently they didn't appreciate the bounce from 20F/50F to 38F/80F that happened almost overnight the day before the opener.

Oh, well...back at it in September

Fish on...

Todd

Good to hear you had a little bit of action. Pics?

Didn't take any of dead birds...have a few of the hen leading the deer around by their noses, but they aren't great.

Fish on...

Todd

Took the boat upriver on one of the reservoirs North of town, with a landowner friend. We were surveying some of last year's wildfire damage to his rangeland from the water level, vs his normal mode of transportation from horse/iron-horse. Native grasses and sage are actually sprouting decently on his ranch, but all of Central Wa is in dire need of moisture, or we'll lose the new growth soon with this early heat. He won't turn his cows out for 3 years on his property, so he's calving now at the ranch then will truck the remainder of the herd S. towards Pullman. Over 3 hours away from his ranch to summer pasture his herd...nobody ever said farming/ranching is easy!!!

We chased down calves morning/evening for tagging/nuttin', and when there was a break I suggested to go look for sheds. He was interested, so when I headed out I decided to grab my shotgun. Half a mile into walking along the base of some basalt cliffs along a spring wheat patch I hear a gobble. Then a couple more not too far ahead. Clusters of timber dot the basalt wall, and there are scab patches smattered in the green wheat as well. I didn't bring my call, so I just slowly still-hunt towards the gobbles, and then I hear a group of hens close by.

I was just slipping through a weeded swale when I heard the hens, so I scrambled to the eyebrow and burrowed in. Within a minute, 7 hens cross in front of me from another scab patch about 35 yards away and start milling along the edge of the wheat. The gobbling had picked up as multiple birds were getting louder, and up on the talus slope I could catch glimpses of turkeys moving through the trees. I just sat back and wished I had backup!

So, lots more gobbling, hen talking, fanning, strutting, gobbling, fighting, turkey-hood 101! Nothing got really close, and I didn't honestly know how many Tom's there were, as they were migrating back/forth over a small grade break playing grab with each other/hens. Finally, I figured I better just kill one before something spooks them and I get phucked. This had gone on for a solid 15 minutes, so finally Mr. Unlucky was off to the left by himself (but a dam long poke), his neck s-t-r-a-i-n-e-d straight up, so I blotted out his head and pulled the trigger.."boom-flop", 8.5" beard. Then the turkeys flew around more dazed than a freshman at their first kegger! Hens to the left of me, gobblers to the right! 10 gobblers in all, most coming back to check on their dead homey, and the hens went back to feeding! I just wanted to grab my bird and slide out of there, without blowing them out. So I waited a few minutes and they dispersed up into the talus slope. I grabbed my bird and slipped back to the ranch. Buddy was happy I got one, now he wants us to go get more, as they're not enthused that they're flourishing (they've only been around a couple of years and doing well). Planning on this weekend, depending on the forecasted precipitation.

Super bonus dinners!

Fish on...

Todd

'Bout ran over the biggest tom I have ever seen driving through the canyon today on my drive home from Issaquah. Didn't know turkeys were in the area? Probably an escapee from a local farm. Was very tempted to holler out "he's coming right for us" and swerve at him. Stupid birds!

Was it a Jive?

Anyone go through the effort of making a turkey tail fan (besides me)?

If so, let's see the fans.

I made one out of the first turkey I shot in 1996. No pics. No idea where it even is now.

Fish on...

Todd

Turkey's can regenerate from parts.

It probably flew away several years ago.

Of course.
They collect dust.

Turkeys are the lice of eastern WA.