Last weekend was a great time for the Mains boys. My Dad, three brothers and I head down to our hunting farms for 2 days to attempt to kill some turkeys. We had been planning the trip for approximately 6 months. One of my brothers (Ben) had never hunted turkeys before so this was a new experience for him. I also wanted to help my Dad harvest his first thunder chicken.
The first morning rained on us and the birds were not cooperative. So we hung a few deer stands during the middle of the day then headed out in the evening to put some birds to bed. We located a few toms in the back of a field which made a great ambush spot for the next morning. After that we all went out to dinner and strategized for the next day.
The next morning was also frustrating. We had 4 gobblers roosted within 200 yards of us at day break but they flew down to another field and worked away from us. For the afternoon hunt we split up into 3 groups to cover more ground. I saw 5 hens that afternoon but no toms. Dustin and Dad saw a couple of toms but they wouldn't come close enough to the ground blind for a shot.
Ben and Jeff headed to a field edge where I had witnessed numerous toms visiting before heading to their nightly roost. Around 7 pm they called in a huge tom into their Primos decoy set and Ben shot him. The bird had good spurs, a 10" + main beard , with a total of 4 separate beards. WOW!! I have never heard of such a thing. Ben was really excited and told me that he finally understands why we like to hunt so much. He talked about the camaraderie, adrenaline rush, hard work, team work, and sense of accomplishment. Congratulations Ben and welcome to the hunting club. That truly is a remarkable bird.
Ben plans to have a full body mount of the turkey. Sorry, it was too dark for pictures.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Wednesday, April 13, 2011
(P) Planting for 2011
Well, Dad and I successfully finished planting our food plots for this year. It is such a great feeling to be done! This year, with the assistance of the land owner, we burned off our old food plots (except for established clover) from last year to add nutrients to the soil and kill weeds. Then we spayed our fields with round up to kill any remaining weeds. This process eliminated the need for plowing our fields, saving a lot of time and work. The burning and spraying was necessary because our fields were full of weeds from our wet year last season.
This year we have 5 fields that will committed to food plots. The first one was planted with 1.5 acres of corn next to 1.5 acres of established Whitetail Clover. This field is located between two bedding areas.
The second field is planted with 3 acres of soybeans and one acre of corn on the north end. The 3 acres of soybeans are also surrounded by 4 rows of corn to break up the field. This was necessary because this field has CRP grass fields to the east and west making it relatively open without security cover. Last year the deer usually stayed off this field until after dark. There are also small fingers of woods to the north and south. The northeast and southeast corners of the field have small established clover food plots too.
The third field is located in the middle of the woods. We built it four years ago with a bulldozer. It is planted with 1.5 acres of new Imperial Whitetail Institutes Chicory Plus Clover. This is a great chicory and clover mix that provided us with success last season in other locations.
The forth field consists of 3 acres of corn and two small established clover plots on the south edge of them. Woods lines the west and south edges of this field.
The last field is made up of 2.5 acres of established clover and chicory. There is a thick bedding area to the east and south. The stand locations are in the woods to the north for easy ambushing.
We disced the fields, drug them, fertilized them, drug them again and planted them all in two days. We obtained a newer disc this year that worked great. We had better seed beds in our fields than ever. As long as the weeds don't cause us a problem later, our food plots should be experiencing the best year to date. Hopefully that means our deer hunting will also be the best this fall!!!! All we have to do is mow the clover periodically and spray for weeds as needed. I can't wait for deer season.
This year we have 5 fields that will committed to food plots. The first one was planted with 1.5 acres of corn next to 1.5 acres of established Whitetail Clover. This field is located between two bedding areas.
The second field is planted with 3 acres of soybeans and one acre of corn on the north end. The 3 acres of soybeans are also surrounded by 4 rows of corn to break up the field. This was necessary because this field has CRP grass fields to the east and west making it relatively open without security cover. Last year the deer usually stayed off this field until after dark. There are also small fingers of woods to the north and south. The northeast and southeast corners of the field have small established clover food plots too.
The third field is located in the middle of the woods. We built it four years ago with a bulldozer. It is planted with 1.5 acres of new Imperial Whitetail Institutes Chicory Plus Clover. This is a great chicory and clover mix that provided us with success last season in other locations.
The forth field consists of 3 acres of corn and two small established clover plots on the south edge of them. Woods lines the west and south edges of this field.
The last field is made up of 2.5 acres of established clover and chicory. There is a thick bedding area to the east and south. The stand locations are in the woods to the north for easy ambushing.
We disced the fields, drug them, fertilized them, drug them again and planted them all in two days. We obtained a newer disc this year that worked great. We had better seed beds in our fields than ever. As long as the weeds don't cause us a problem later, our food plots should be experiencing the best year to date. Hopefully that means our deer hunting will also be the best this fall!!!! All we have to do is mow the clover periodically and spray for weeds as needed. I can't wait for deer season.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
(P) Turkey hunting with the kido's!
I finally had the opportunity to take Ryder and Ashlynn turkey hunting today. They wanted to wake up in the morning and be in the ground blind by day break. I had been up late the night before completing water rescue night drills until midnight. So the last thing I wanted to do was wake up at 4 am. My plan was to sleep in until 7 and try to be in the ground blind by 9am. Ashlynn had other ideas though and proved to be more motivated than I was. I heard my bedroom door open at exactly 4am. It was Ashlynn asking if I was ready to get up and go turkey hunting. I was shocked! I asked her how she happened to wake up at exactly 4 am. She replied, " I don't know, I just knew it was time." I managed to talk her into another hour of sleep but that was it. Ashlynn and I woke Ryder up at 5 (with no problems by the way) and drove down to the farm.
We arrived in the ground blind shortly after daybreak. We sat in the ground blind for about an hour and a half with no sightings of a turkey. We were hunting on the point of a clover field where I often see turkeys around 9 am. I had a Primos decoy out (Killer B) with a string tied to the tail of the pretend Tom. The kids had a great time making the decoy move in different directions. While they were making the decoy dance, I started to fall asleep. All of a sudden the kids woke me up saying that there were lots of turkeys in the field. I thought they were playing off of their imagination but when I opened my eyes I saw approximately 15 birds headed our way. In the group were 3 Toms. Unfortunately when the first hen saw our decoy she turned and walked away from us. All the other birds followed giving us no shot with the bow. My calls brought no interest to the Toms that were secure with their group of hens.
We decided to take a break mid-day and helped my Dad work on our farming equipment. Around 4:30 we headed back out to the woods and set the ground blind up in a natural travel route that the turkeys use to get to a nightly roosting sight. I decided not to use the decoy this time so I didn't scare away any hens that may have a trailing Tom. The afternoon was filled with excitement. I called in over 15 hens from every direction, sometimes 4 at a time. However, we did not see our first Tom until about 20 minutes before dark. For some reason most of the Toms stayed just out of shooting range as they headed for another group of hens that were located about 80 yards away from us. I only had one shot opportunity at a very large Tom. He actually came in behind us and caught us by surprise. I had to reposition the kids in the ground blind to get the shot off before he was out of range and I rushed my shot. I shot too low and missed out on the opportunity. Truth be told, I was a little too excited which also could have played a role in my poor shot. I was very disappointed not to be successful with the kids but they didn't seem to mind much. In fact, on the drive home that night they said, "Dad, this will be one of the best days we ever had." The day was obviously a success even without the thunder chicken!
We arrived in the ground blind shortly after daybreak. We sat in the ground blind for about an hour and a half with no sightings of a turkey. We were hunting on the point of a clover field where I often see turkeys around 9 am. I had a Primos decoy out (Killer B) with a string tied to the tail of the pretend Tom. The kids had a great time making the decoy move in different directions. While they were making the decoy dance, I started to fall asleep. All of a sudden the kids woke me up saying that there were lots of turkeys in the field. I thought they were playing off of their imagination but when I opened my eyes I saw approximately 15 birds headed our way. In the group were 3 Toms. Unfortunately when the first hen saw our decoy she turned and walked away from us. All the other birds followed giving us no shot with the bow. My calls brought no interest to the Toms that were secure with their group of hens.
We decided to take a break mid-day and helped my Dad work on our farming equipment. Around 4:30 we headed back out to the woods and set the ground blind up in a natural travel route that the turkeys use to get to a nightly roosting sight. I decided not to use the decoy this time so I didn't scare away any hens that may have a trailing Tom. The afternoon was filled with excitement. I called in over 15 hens from every direction, sometimes 4 at a time. However, we did not see our first Tom until about 20 minutes before dark. For some reason most of the Toms stayed just out of shooting range as they headed for another group of hens that were located about 80 yards away from us. I only had one shot opportunity at a very large Tom. He actually came in behind us and caught us by surprise. I had to reposition the kids in the ground blind to get the shot off before he was out of range and I rushed my shot. I shot too low and missed out on the opportunity. Truth be told, I was a little too excited which also could have played a role in my poor shot. I was very disappointed not to be successful with the kids but they didn't seem to mind much. In fact, on the drive home that night they said, "Dad, this will be one of the best days we ever had." The day was obviously a success even without the thunder chicken!
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