The other spur was broken off about an inch is so out from the base. He must of gave that coyote a lashing before I did!

That’s a fine old longbeard Cory!





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Nice old mature bird there Cory,
You showed some great patience on that bird, what area of the country are you in, the birds here in Pa showed no interest in my calls?

It was probably my awful calling but it seemed to me they were past the mating season, no gobbling or strutting.

Except for a small jake that was intent on breeding my hen decoy, he kept on her till he had knocked her off the stake in the ground and then when she was laying/sitting on the ground, he had his way with her:whistle:

Stan

I’m in Wisconsin. It depended on what day I was out. Some days I heard zero gobbling and the next day they gobbled all day. It’s like they turned on and off like a light switch. Seems like right after a rain or on a day with zero wind was when they were most active. Today is the last day of of our sixth and of our season here. It rained all night and the wind was blowing 30/40 mph. I’m waiting to see it the wind dies down a bit before I head out. I did hear one yesterday with 20 plus mph wind but it stayed out in an open field on the neighbor’s property. I have one day left and another tag to fill. I’m sure I won’t get lucky enough to fill it but will at least get out some time today for a while and enjoy nature. I called in a lot of birds this season. Some I couldn’t get clear shots at and some wouldn’t close the distance. I had three different birds so close I could feel the ground shake when they drummed but couldn’t see them because the new growth and brush in my woods is so thick. I finally got smart and left my DSD decoys in the truck. I had four different Toms and hens lock up and wouldn’t come in because of them. They would stop out of range and lock up staring at them and eventually walk away or spook from the decoys for some reason. As soon as I stopped using my decoys birds were walking right up to me. I just checked our forecast currently the wind is 16 miles an hour and it’s supposed to get up to 18 miles an hour so I believe my hunting for spring turkey 2022 is probably done. All my property is wooded so the birds definitely will not be coming in with the trees and leaves whipping today. They roost on my property and fly over to the neighbors field. Normally between nine and 11 they’ll come walking back in after they breed when all goes well.

Edited…I did go out for the last day of our 6th and final week for about five hours. The forecast said the wind was 18 mph plus. It had to be closer to 25 to 30 mph like yesterday by the time I called it quits. Didn’t see or hear and birds today. I did have a red tailed hawk take a swoop at me and come within about 10’ before I flinched and it veered off. Close one!

Finally got around to mounting my fan today. Used a fallen cedar tree on my property.

Two days working on and off trying to fabricate a fan mount. I cut up a few downed cedar trees blocking my trail last winter. Plan was to was to use them for firewood and smoking. Started with three pieces a coupe of days ago and broke all of them trying to open up the inside to insert a photo. I glued this one back together and started sanding. Finished it off with minwax antique finish left over from my 1873 Charles Daly stock set. Left the mount on the table to dry over night. I’ll hang up it by my other fans tomorrow.


https://i.imgur.com/BkPYRim.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/niivYAZ.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/oKhSUfO.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/th5l9vz.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/aYlMVjM.jpg

If anyone is interested I used fiberglass bondo on the tail fan to set it. I first cleaned all the meat and fat off around the tail feathers and applied borax. The fan was pretty beat up and lost a lot of feathers so I was pretty pleased it turned out as nice as it did. Saved a few extra feathers to add to the fan but I think I’m going to leave it the way it is.

really nice the way you have fixed the fans...charlie