Turkey Season 2015 - Shot Video and Pictures

Turkeys were coming in well until at about 25 yards the two young jakes become alerted when I draw my bow. While I attempt to center on the rapidly departing twosome the yards quickly add up and my brain attempts to calculate arrow drop and lead. In the end, I have to admit that sometimes luck is a huge component of success and in this case lady luck shined. The jake still ran about 200 yards before collapsing, despite a devastating blow delivered by a RAGE broad head. Enjoy!

Jake Turkey take with PSE Stinger Bow

Jake Turkey but taken with a Bow a TRUE Trophy

Love the Color

Practice Make Perfect

Brook Trout and Turkey Down East

The month of May presents the last chance anglers have to chase brook trout before the waters warm by months end, making this species nearly impossible to catch. Two spectacular locations to pursue this endeavor are Simpson and Norse Ponds. Not only are these ponds regularly stocked with brook trout but they also both boast spectacular scenery sure to impress even the biggest curmudgeon.

Fishing Brook Trout
Simpson Pond (Delorme’s The Maine Atlas and Gazetteer (MAG), Map 26, D-3), located in Roque Bluffs State Park, sits just a few hundred yards from the Atlantic Ocean. The location is stunning so be sure to bring a camera as the park’s beautiful landscape is further enhanced by its abundant wildlife. During the early spring, Great Blue Herons, Bald eagles, Hooded Mergansers, Barrow's Goldeneye, Eiders, Surf Scooters, Blacks and Mallard ducks are plentiful.

While the fishing prospects may at first not look like much, this miniscule 21 acre pond regularly offers up brook trout and brown trout weighing between two and three pounds. Stocked by Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) every fall with brown trout and every spring with brook trout, the pond is a favorite fishing destination for shore-anglers using a worm and bobber. While the small pond can be effectively fished from shore, a canoe or kayak (motorboats are prohibited) provides anglers with the added flexibility to explore some of the harder to fish areas, frequently holding second season brook trout that sometimes attain lengths of 13-15 in. On calm evenings, it is an absolute joy to fly fish by wading the ponds shallow waters (5 ft maximum), tempting trout with small caddis and mayfly patterns. Anglers with kids will be pleased to know that the park is a wonderful area for families with easy hiking trails, a sandy ocean beach and a pond side picnic tables, fireplaces for cookouts, and swings for children.

Norse Pond (Map 27, C-2) exists as part of the 1,775-acre Bog Brook Cove preserve located in the heart of Maine’s Bold Coast. The 10 acre pond located east of the scenic fishing village of Cutler was stocked in the fall of 2013 with 350 brook trout measuring about 8 inches. Norse is a unique fishing location, as reaching the pond is only possible by hiking approximately one-mile on the Moose Cove trail. Access is further hampered by the ponds boggy shoreline that makes fishing from shore difficult. Anglers who overcome these obstacles by carrying in small kayaks or float tubes are usually richly rewarded with brook trout ranging from 11 to 15 inches. Legend states that Norse Pond was created by Norsemen as a water supply for one of their coastal Maine encampments. While these claims have been refuted by experts, it is still fun to walk the impressive bold cost trails and imagine that these ancient adventurers once walked these trails and gazed upon these same magnificent shores. To access the Norse Pond trailhead travel 18.5 miles north on Route 191, from the junction of Route 1 and Route 191 in East Machias. A small parking area and sign exists at the trail head.

Turkey Hunting 
Turkey hunters Down East were surprised during the spring 2014 turkey hunt by a last minute decision by Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (IFW) to suspend the previously scheduled opening of spring turkey hunting across all of Washington County. This change happened so rapidly, that last year my published May column still had mention that turkey hunting throughout Washington County would be open. While I understand that IFW made this choice because it was worried about the number of turkeys that managed to survive during the harsh winter, it was ultimately a poor choice that added unnecessary confusion among sportsmen. One less year of turkey hunting is not going to magically ensure turkeys are permanent Down East residents. As long as IFW doesn’t again change its mind; turkey season is scheduled to run May 4, 2015 through June 6, 2015 with youth day for both residents and nonresidents occurring on May 2, 2015. According to IFW’s website, ALL Wildlife Management Districts (WMD) are open to hunting spring turkeys with bag limits per WMD as follows: WMD's 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27 , 28 and 29 with two (2) bearded wild turkey bag limit and WMD’s 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8, with a one (1) bearded wild turkey bag limit.

When attempting to locate turkeys, it pays to slowly walk or drive Washington Counties thousands of miles of logging roads and snowmobile / ATV paths. This method of “running and gunning” allows turkey hunters to be mobile, locate early morning gobblers and setup quickly for a chance at harvesting one of these impressive and beautiful birds. Prime turkey hunting locations exist throughout Washington County, with a fun and exciting hunt starting in Northfield (Map 26, B-2) and driving logging roads into Smith Landing, the beautiful Great Falls (Map 26, B-2) and continuing south following the Machias River into Whitneyville. For a coastal hunters searching for a WMA to explore, I suggest the 649-acre Jonesboro WMA (Map 26, C-2). For more specifics on the spring turkey hunt, see the IFW website at: www.maine.gov/ifw.

Turkey Carry Lanyard

Have you ever had to hike a couple miles out of the woods carrying a big Tom turkey over your shoulder? By the time you get back to the truck with your poultry prize, your wrist can feel like it was gnawed upon by rabid gray squirrels. Rather than suffer the wrath of carpal tunnel syndrome, this simple device can be constructed in minutes and greatly assist in transporting your turkey out of the woods.

Please see the short video below, detailing how with a short piece of 550 paracord and a piece of dowel or pcv pipe one can early transform these simple items into a handy turkey carry lanyard.

Find Your Own Nest!

This video depicts a couple hen turkeys apparently confused as to who should sit on the nest. I found this nest while scouting for turkeys and thought it would be fun to put a game camera on it and watch the comings and goings and various antics that would occur. Continue to monitor the blog for video updates. Maybe with continued effort I can get the hatching of the chicks on camera!

Big Boy Tom Lurks the Maine Woods

This photo depicts "Big Boy", a Tom turkey who has been lurking about my favorite hunting spot for the past several years. He is very smart and will immediately run the other way with the slightest off tune calling or upon seeing a decoy. Though many classify him as an mythic animal of legend, I know that he is only a turkey with the brain the size of a pea. Prepare to match wits with me "Big Boy", we will soon see who has the last laugh!

*Please ignore date, I apparently do not have the cranial capacity to correctly set a game camera! Hmmm, perhaps this battle of wits may no go as I had originally planned . . . stay tuned!

Youth Day Turkey Hunt - Part 2

My junior client impressed me by confidently raising his 20 gauge Remington 870, slowly pulling the trigger and managing perfect shot placement from a free hand position aimed at a tom walking past the blind at 40 yards. The 15 lb 4 oz bird instantly dropped like a sack full of hammers slapped it. Nerves allowed the bird to haphazardly thrash on the ground, before the youth managed to exit the blind and pin it to the ground with a well placed foot. The youths 20 gauge had delivered a punishing payload of 3 inch #4 lead shot to the birds neck and head, instantly dispatching the animal. Sportsmen carrying 12 and 10 gauge firearms are often prone to missed shots at the same ranges, so the youth ability to know his shotguns limits and capabilities showed well his practice and skill with the firearm.

With both youth and adult hunters, new to hunting, there is always a question in my mind related to how they will handle the after the shot workload. It is one thing to shoot an animal from a distance, it is an entirely different thing to butcher and process any critter. I remember even my own reservations about this process, arising despite years of experience butchering deer, bear, hogs and other large game animals. It happened after shooting my first moose and the act of having to fit almost my entire head into the body cavity to complete some of the more involved field dressing left even this “practiced” outdoorsman slightly queasy. Considering that even the most hardened stomachs can sometimes falter during these endeavors, it is not surprising that other less proficient sportsman might struggle with certain parts of the butchering process. I am therefore always thoughtful and careful to judge how much clients wish to be involved in this process, always playing to their level of interest and skill.

In this particular scenario and with these young fellows, I quickly left any reservations at rest and watched in amazement as the youngest boy un-sheathed a knife that would make Rambo salivate and tore into the turkey like it was a science experiment. His every knife stroke carefully dissecting every organ, feather and muscle group like he was trying to obtain a noble prize in biology. I was surprised but also impressed by his vigor. All that was eventually discarded from the harvested bird were a few feathers, 10 feet of small intestine and the remains of a carefully examined gizzard. The boy was intoxicated with the prospects of "turkey" and wasn't willing to waste a single edible morsel or souvenir. Meat to eat deep fat fried, in turkey salad sandwiches and wings, tail feathers, spurs, beard, expended shell, tag and even wish bone all to be part of a permanent display in the recesses of his adolescent bedroom.

The story for these boys ends for the spring turkey season but they have already vowed to return for next spring season!

Youth Day Turkey Hunt - Part 1

In total, five distinctly different gobbles echoed across the open cornfield, seemingly from all points of the compass. This wild crescendo of fowl vocalization excited the kiddos and made me increasingly positive about our choice of location. The gobbling commenced at 5:50 AM and continued in heated non-stop eruptions until about 6:30 AM when suddenly, not a single gobble, cluck, yelp or putt. Almost like the hand of God had slapped down onto his turkey alarm clock to cease its annoying squawking and cackling.

This transformation of once vocal to now silent birds seems to be a relatively new but increasing more frequent occurrence in the Maine hunting woods. Once on the ground, the New England turkeys really have been limiting their gobbling in recent years. I suppose it could be higher concentrations of coyotes, bobcats and turkey hunters or the arrival of yet another early spring season cutting into the breeding cycle. Whatever the cause, if you are running and gunning and want to set-up on a roosted bird you better put him to bed or arrive well before daylight.

For the boys, instead of chasing gobbling birds, we chose to hunt well know travel corridors and cut off their entry and exit into the fields where they were feeding. This tactic, to intercept them on their travels to and from roosting and feeding areas, provided a chance to set-up and wait for a turkey much like one would do when deer hunting. Though not as exciting as a spot and stalk, it does provide an added element of safety for first time hunters, by sitting them in a braced and secure location where the firearm is always pointed in a specific direction. While this may not be necessary for all young hunters, any kid that does not display a background of practiced shooting or responsible handling of their firearm should be placed in a pop-up blind and provided additional instruction in this safe environment. (I have to mention that both of the boys I guided, possessed an impressive level of skill in both shooting and handling their respective firearms a fact that always sets me at ease. A big high five to their Dad who taught them early and continued to enforce these valuable skills throughout the hunt.)

Hunting turkeys with kids is sometimes tough business. Sitting near motionless for hours without even seeing or hearing a turkey is a difficult task for even the most seasoned outdoorsman. Now throw into this mix, an excited preteen, hopped up on doughnuts and you have a bundle of convulsive, trembling action that would rival a one year old Labrador in a duck blind. Pop-up blinds increase the probability of success, by shielding movement and allowing kids to be . . . well kids. It is a common misconception that a youth is better equipped with their strong backs, stamina and vigor to have more ability to sit then an adult. Do your kid a favor and bring them a comfortable seat to sit on, after all they have less padding on their posteriors than us adults!

This posting is a continuation of the Youth Day Turkey Hunting Success Picture posted on May 3rd. Part two of the Youth Day Turkey Hunt will be posted next week.

Turkey Hunt 2011

In preparation of the start of Maine’s Turkey Hunting Season, scheduled for youth hunters to begin Saturday 4/30/11, I wanted to re-publish a few of the various articles I have written regarding turkey hunting in Maine. This season promises to be yet again an exciting experience, as I have several family and friends joining me for what promises to be loads of fun. Added to this years mix, I will be guiding two junior hunters and their Dad on youth day!  I am sure that by months end I will have many new and exciting tales to tell! Good luck in bagging that long beard!

• Game Camera Photo - Turkey 
• Game Camera Video – Gobbler 
• 2009 Turkey Hunt
• Bow Hunting Turkeys 
• 2010 Turkey Hunt – UPDATE 
• 2010 Turkey Hunt – Turkey Number 1 
• 2010 Turkey Hunt – Turkey Number 2
• Oh Crap!

Spring Turkey Season Wall of Fame . . .

Diesel's Bird . . . 4/28/08
My brother draws first blood during this Spring's Turkey Season with this 19 lb bird having an 8 inch beard and 3/4 inch spurs. He shot the GOBBLER from a dog house blind in Augusta with his Benelli Nova loaded with lead number 4's at 7:30 AM on April 28th, 2008! Congrats Bro . . . job well done!

Shawn T's Story . . . 5/5/08
I missed the biggest bird I have ever seen. 30 yards. Misfired twice. Shot clear over him the third time. He flew away. I threw up. My father laughed. 12-14 inch beard. Tail so big he could not hold it up. Easily went 22-23 lbs. He started gobbling at 5:15 and kept gobbling until I started sounding off with the mouth call. He shut right up and I knew he was coming. Took him about a half hour to get to us and he stayed right on the edge of the woods until he got close to the dekes and then he strutted right out about 10 yards from one of the hens. What follows are the exact thoughts running through my head:

Oh man, this is gonna happen, look at the size of that bird.....Oh my God is he beautiful.....Ok, line up...slowly, slowly.....squeeze.....wait for it.....click. CRAP! Misfire! He's getting nervous....slide the forearm back and re-cock...don't eject the shell...too much noise.....Line up....CLICK!!!!! WTF!!! Bird getting edgy now...gonna run at any moment.....Ok, take a breath, slide the forearm half way, recock....oh crap he is gonna run, pull the trigger, PULL THE TRIGGER!!!!!! BOOM! right over his head.....Oh no.....I missed...but how....that can't be right. That bird just flew away....watch him...he's gonna fall at any moment....wait, he is still gaining altitude, looks ok...that can't be right. Blaaaaaaaah, Blaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh. I love Mossberg.....

Shawn T's Story . . . 5/6/08
Well you probably won't believe this but I missed another bird this morning after a significant spot and stalk effort. I literally crawled through a muddy field for over a hundred yards and got within 10 feet of 7 birds. One of the Jakes busted me so I stood up and walked right at them. The big bird had about a 6 inch beard and I ran right through all the other birds and jinked as I fired . . . total miss at 10 feet. Man this is gonna be a long season.......

Shawn T connects! . . . 5/7/08
Last Wednesday I came very close to not getting up. After several 3AM mornings with my father the previous week and a couple of very early morning misses during my season....I was really dreading the alarm clock going off. My excitement had kept sleep at a minimum for well over a week now. My father had called me the previous night to inform me a buddy of his had spotted a big gobbler in a field familiar to both of us that evening. He also informed me he needed a break and would not be accompanying me the next morning. When the clock went off at 3:05, I thought twice...three times even before if finally whipped off the covers, envisioning that gobbler strutting in that field was the only thing that pushed me out of bed.

I hit the field at 4:10AM, the warblers were already sounding off and I could see the morning rising to the east. The temp was warm and everything felt....alive. I made my way to the far corner of the field where at least 4 birds have fallen over the years past. My dad took his first bird here...a jake...5 years ago. I've messed up on a few birds here and a monster 8 point buck.....no matter. I know the Gobbler spotted the night before is near by in one of the huge White Pines surrounding the field and woods. I pitch the 2 hen decoys, cut a few branches for cover, and setup under the familiar dead spruce I've sat at so many times. For the next 40 minutes I cat nap and wait for the black to turn gray and blue. I keep hearing some movement above and behind me...I've had several porcupines walk up on me in this area....I chalk it up to an early rising squirrel and concentrate on the growing bird activity in the woods.

At 4:55 he finally lets out a loud gobble lighting up the woods and my adrenaline level. He's perched in a big pine about a hundred yards from the field and directly behind me. He barks at everything that crosses his
path...woodpeckers, crows, jays, barking squirrels. This bird just won't shut up! At about 5:30 I hit him with a couple of yelps and clucks from my diaghram call...and he does not respond!!!!! I give it 5 minutes and hit it a bit harder....nothing. Just then I hear a hen sound off in a tree near to his location. He lights up every time she hollers out. My heart sinks. My confidence at calling gobblers into range is at an all time high but competing with a live hen that is obviously ready to get it on....oh man...is this going to be day 3 without a bird?

I decide to take an aggressive calling tactic switching between mouth calls every set and hollering out every time that hen speaks up. I figure if I'm more excited than she, he'll eventually come to me and I was right. I hear him fly down at about 6 am and start to walk behind me towards the field away from the hen. About this time, I hear a bird fly down into the field out of the big pine next to the spruce I'm leaning against. She starts calling excited and begins to move away from my location. The position that I'm sitting in does not allow me a view of her but I know she is near by.

As big boy makes his way through the woods, he is yacking the whole way and finally makes it to the field about 30 yards behind me. He is out of my view. By the time I get eyeballs on him, he is 50 yards away and making a b-line for 2 hens that were in the tree above me and are now 200 yards across the field! He doesn't even give my dekes a second look, AHHHHH!!!! I break out the Binoc's and start classing him. He is huge...simply huge. I can see his beard and spikes clearly from 200 yards away. I make the decision to try and sneak out of the field if he doesn't start to show interest in my dekes soon. He'll be here tomorrow and I know where to setup now. But before I sneak out, I decide to use my box call in one last fit of desperation.

I've got to back up here and say that he had stopped strutting and was feeding. One of the hens had also started squatting in the dirt and was giving off heavy breeding signals but that didn't matter when I hit that box call. He lit up like the Rockafeller Christmas tree!!!! That bird stood straight up, and gobbled 3 times straight when I sounded off with the box call! He quickly got behind the two hens and started herding them towards my dekes! I couldn't believe it...second chance!

He made his way across the field and headed for the wood line exactly where he came out. The two hens quickly joined my dekes and one of the hens started to get VERY aggressive and vocal....I would almost say jealous...as I responded with the box call. She got about 5 feed from one of the dekes and starting cackling and clucking at my deke.....almost challenging her to a fight! That big Tom was eating it up and kept inching closer, gobbling with every interchange between his hot girl and my foam Dicks Decoy! CAT FIGHT!!!!! No male can resist, human or otherwise. I kept softly calling on the box call and he couldn't resist. He kept creeping from my left blind spot and finally got 20 yards away. I slid old Winchester through a hole in the brush and let Big Boy have it......unreal!

When I went to collect him, another hunter appeared from the woods and explained the he was the vocal hen from early in the morning. He had snuck down to the field from on the hill where Big Boy was roosting. He had taken up a position on the field edge waiting for Big Boy to come closer. Had he not seen my decoys, the other hunter would have been shooting right across the front of me at Big Boy. He saw the whole thing go down. I never saw him. Bird weighed 20 Lbs. with 1 1/4 inch spurs and an 11 inch beard. My best yet!

Hammer's Bird . . . 5/6/08
After sitting in the doghouse blind from 4:30 AM till 11:30 AM yesterday I was prepared to do some runnin and gunnin this morning. The birds were hot between 5:00-5:45 AM but after that the gobbling came to a screaming halt. I had set-up in a small vacant lot a short drive from the house and though the toms were responding to my calls I just couldn't talk them into crossing the road and walking into my ambush. As my watch ticked 6:30 AM I decided to abandon my position, stretch and take a short walk. I heard a gobble quite a distance from where I had heard the birds earlier and could tell that they had moved on to another field. I grabbed my gear, headed across the road and set-up in the location where they had been roosting the previous evening. My thought was to hit them when they worked their way back. At 8:00 AM I was dozing and awoken from my half asleep state when a hen come in from my backside at around 10 yards and let out a cackle. I kept still and she passed without letting out any warning, however, my hope that she was dragging with her a male bird did not materialize.

I waited until about 9:30 AM and then decided to head back to the house get a cup of joe and then head out on the back part of my property for the remaining 2 1/2 hours. Walked back to the truck, unloaded the 10 gauge and threw all my gear in the bed and started to drive back to the house. I barely drive 200 yards and 2 hens and 2 jakes run right across the road in front of the truck. I spin the truck around in my neighbors driveway and drive back past the birds and note that they are heading directly to the north and parallel to the road. Perfect! I quickly park the truck and grab my gun, turkey vest, thermarest seat and THANKFULLY my bug netting and slip into the woods. I quickly find a spot to set-up and then realize as soon as I sit down that I am exposed and in a terrible position. Time is wasting I think to myself and I jump up and set on a small rock ledge with small spruce trees all around me. Ummm, much better . . .

I pull the bug netting over my head and in seconds of sitting am swarmed by hundreds of hungry blackflies. I get on the box call and let out a few yelps but get nothing to reply. After about 20 minutes I hear several gobbles back across the road on the other side. I am almost ready to think I have once again been outsmarted when I hear a cluck directly in front of my position. In just a few minutes I can hear a rustling of leaves on my left and the wary birds circle my position and come in directly from the right. The whole process seems to take an eternity but in reality it was only about 15 minutes. Suddenly I see movement and a turkey (as yet unidentified) begins to sneak in to check out the hen decoy. Through the bug netting I struggle to identify but finally the bird steps out of the shadows and I can see a small beard and red head. I raise the mighty Browning 10 and as I do a spruce branch swings back and hits me square in the face. I reach up and break the twig and the snap pulls the jake to FULL attention. To late however, as at this time he is perfectly within my firing lane and the gun belches forth a lethal dose of number 5s and the bird drops.

The bird ends up being a small jake at around 12 pounds with about a 3 inch beard but it is definitely a trophy for me. I had to invest a significant amount of time scouting strategizing this spring season and that always makes any hunt incredibly enjoyable. Nothing good ever comes easy BUT I have to say that with the early hatch of blackflies I am incredibly grateful to get my bird early and get out of the woods! To the rest of you good luck this turkey season!