Hey Mills I need a hunting partner!!! And he comes with his own Gun!! That's great...
I can't wait till next Sat. when my season starts.

What is all that green stuff? For months now its been a black and white world around here.

Those are old pictures. No green around here yet

For my first 14 years my family lived in New York State. For 5 years in Westchester County. Good hunting. LOTS of poison ivy. Then my folks moved to Northern Calif and we had lots of poison oak. They are very different. One a vine the other a bush. The bushes can be 10' tall and cover acres! If you catch the stuff, as I do, you just cannot go into those bushes. If a quail falls into them, and you don't have a dog...well, it is a loss. Most of them fall into those bushes. Deer too. Little tiny black tail deer. Lots of them. Trouble is, in Northern Calif deer season is in September. The hottest month of the year. Shoot it, gut it, immediately bag it.

Step into the woods in Northern Calif and you are assaulted by divisions of ticks. They drop onto you from overhanging brush and cling to the tall grass. They like to hide and feed in warm wet places on your bod. Lime disease lurks. Lots of people have it. I no longer live in California and I love being shut of that state...still own some land tho.

I envy you gents in the east. Seems to me that the shooting/hunting/woods are better there that out west. There is some good hunting out here, but generally you have to pay for it. You pay through the nose. Most of my hunting is sage rat shooting, often free, and no, I do not eat them. It is fun tho.

Steve,
Here in the eastern woods we have plenty of poison ivy and oak, deer ticks and brown ticks. You are not alone.:eek:

Yes, remember that Lyme Disease started in Lyme, CT and it is rampant in the East.
Better hope you never get it - it is totally debilitating and its complications can easily cause or contribute to death. I have a number of friends - mostly bowhunters - who have had Lyme Disease for many years. The problem when they originally contracted it was incorrect diagnoses for a long time.

I have a good friend who has it. He doesn't seem the worse for wear, but even if he did he wouldn't talk about it.

Here, if you get a red ring around the tick bite they load you up with antibiotics. I never go into the woods wearing shots anymore. It's jeans, sometimes with my cuff tucked into my socks. We also spray ourselves with bug dope. After we return from an outing my wife and I give each other "tick" checks. Not all that bad.

The worst tick season here is April and May. When I look into the woods, I can almost hear them gnashing their jaws just waiting to get a piece of me. I turn to my wife says say, "Damn the ticks, full speed ahead." When you return you'll always find a few here and there. Usually we find'em before they've had a chance to sink their teeth into me, but not always. Found one in my scrotum once. Told Pat she had to remove it with her teeth. She refused.

set my clock this morning to see what time to get up this comeing saturday..i f a fellow wants to be in the woods before daylight in my neck of the woods you need to be tn the woods by 5.45 a m it will start getting daylight at 6.45...now as the season goes on we will have to adjust the clocks some...now as for what time you need to get up your on your on..me i need a hour or so to do my wakeing up and get stirring mode...one thing for sure i wish they would leave this time alone... i m ready for saturday are you...charlie

Our season starts Saturday and you can bet I will be in the woods, hopefully with my new gun.

Charlie, I did the same thing this morning for my hunt next Saturday. I'll get up at 4am, leave the house by 4:45 to meet my guide at 6am. We should be in the woods and set up by 7am, Gods willing!!!

Hope everyone has good luck. Turkeys are sneaky.

them turkey s are smart but maybe ther s adumb one waiting for me some where...this will be my 55 season to hunt this grand bird and aint found a dumb one yet... charlie

They get lots of training dodging my dad and brother. I am getting in early this year before they get educated. They also have figured out how to hang up and strut around just outside of 12 gauge range. Little do they know . . .

yep them turkeys gona get a surprise when they hang up on mills this year for sure..i hope it hurry up and warms up a little more.they aint gobbling in my neck of the woods yet...but heh i m paycent when it comes to turkey hunting... charlie

the temperture really dropped here today this will effect them old gobblers for sure.bet they dont gobble at all...but heh it want be the first time...only trouble i m haveing now is which gun to take saturday morning...charlie

Temperature is warm here. Warm enough for snakes. Charlie, if we average our two temperatures together it should be perfect

I now have some shells for my new secret weapon, courtesy of my friend, Charlie Cleveland. Wish UPS would hurry up and deliver the secret weapon now.

Mills, what shot size?

2, 4 and 6

All in the same shell?

No, not in the same shell. I think 2 each of no. 2, 4, and 6 and then 4 others. They look deadly.

Yup, 'Deadly' is a good description.

The BIG one is a U.M.C. Co. No. 8 with #4 shot (sorry, no oz. shown)
The small one is a Winchester Ranger No. 12 with 1 1/8 os of #4 shot




.

From my antique shell collection . . . l-r : 8, 10, 12, 16, 20

Mills Check and make sure Charlie didn't throw a pumpkin ball in there. Ups is sure making me nervous . How about you Mills.

No punkin balls, but I need turkey loads now anyway. Any shipping service makes me nervous, but they usually come through.

Out for delivery as of about 40 minutes ago. Of course, it goes to my FFL first

Warm your camera up. Cant wait to see it.

well in the morning will be the big day...no more waiting...it s suppose to be pouring rain but i got my rain suit laid out got the decoys in the truck gun standing in the corner and shells in the hunting pocket...yep got a full tank of gas..callers laid out...oh yeah got the clock set for 4 am all i need now is to get a coupla hours sleep and hope a turkey comes my way tommorrow...like to have never decided which gun to take for the first day i m nearly scared to tell its my dads old smith and wesson 3 inch mag auto matic.. i chose it because my dad gave it to me and wanted me to try it...oh well...got to get up early...charlie

Knock 'em dead Charlie!!

well no turkeys to pluck tonight..got up at 4 am cooked some bacon and eggs and was in the woods listening for turkeys to gobble but never heard a sound.as daylight came i went and set up on a big green field..about 9.00 i seen something i got the bino s out and took a good look it was 2 hound dogs they left thank goodness..i then went back to the house and cooked up some biscuits and ham..shoulda cooked something else i craved water all evening long and only had a part of a cola that i had carried with me this morning...the after noon hunt was really good i changed locations and hunted a large soybean field..only trouble the turkeys were already on the field there was about 15 turkeys in this field but not in a flock they were scattered over this 80 acre field...there was 2 really good gobblers in the field so i snuck around the far end of the field and set up my blind..i must have set up on the wrong end of the field for nary a turkey came my way..but while i sat there i seen 6 wood ducks 1 large hawk and about 500 crows andabout 300 doves.it was strange a lot of doves were cooing and most were still in 2 ;arge flocks.then 6 big helicopters came by with in shotgun range..the same helicopters run a big gobbler off in this same field last year..well i stayed till 6.00 pm and came home it was a good start to hope fully a good season..will be back in that field monday before daylight i hope..and maybe them helicopters will break down for a few weeks...charlie

Boy I am envious of you guys. Did not get drawn for a turkey tag in Arizona, but New Mexico opens up 1 month from today. My 8 gauge Parker is back together and I am really looking forward to tying to call in a big old Tom.

My 8 arrived at my FFL Friday, but after I had to leave for my folks' place in SC. SO hunted with the Triple X Full PH 12. Went DARK and early Saturday and heard one but he did not come in. Went again Sunday with my youngest son and heard one again that would not come in.

We did have some hog hunters come Saturday afternoon to work on Dad's wild pig population and that was fun enough. My sons were all over that.