Published: May 16, 2009 09:38 pm      

Thoughts

Cell phones

Not counting medical advances, I believe that a most important invention of my lifetime has been the cell phone. Not only does it save lives and stop crime, it can be used for less serious situations as well.

I was in a ground blind on the morning of April 30 when my cell phone vibrated. My hunting companion, Sam Eash of Johnstown, Pa., had sent a text message saying he was having no luck and inquiring about mine. Because I could move in the blind, I sent him a message. “Gobbler in field now,” I wrote.

Five minutes later I shot and sent another message saying “Got him.” That was cool.



Shooting hours

It wouldn’t hurt the turkey populations a bit if hunters were allowed to hunt from dawn to dusk during the spring season, but it sure would make a lot of hunters comatose.



Gobbler camp agenda

Get out of bed at an ungodly hour.

Eat breakfast and talk about women.

Go sit in the woods for six or seven hours.

Return to camp, get something to eat and talk about women.

Take a nap.

Wake up and it is happy hour.

Repeat.

Where do I sign up?



Dead gobbler I

A dead gobbler doesn’t care with what it was shot. I have never used a rifle for spring gobblers, which is legal in West Virginia, but I’m not saying I never will.



Dead gobbler II

My Montana turkey decoys are imprinted with the message “Use of this item could result in death.” I certainly hope so. That’s why I bought them.



Montana decoys

Wow!! I have had Montana decoys for a couple years. One is a full-strut gobbler and the other what the company calls a semi-feeding hen. They are two dimensional. I hadn’t used them much. In March, while on a bear den visit with the Maryland Wildlife Service, Wildlife Technician Ben Smith encouraged me to use them, especially the full-strutter. I did and drew in two W.Va. longbeards that I tagged.

The first bird was a subordinate 2-year-old, 18-pounder with 8-inch beard that came in sheepishly so as not to get his feathered butt kicked.

The second was an almost 22-pounder with 10-inch beard and 1-inch spurs that strutted right in along with another strutter of similar size.

No intimidation here.

Thanks, Ben.



Spring flowers

There are a lot of pretty flowers in the woods during spring gobbler season, but none prettier than the four-petal shotgun wad that lies on the ground between where you pull the trigger and where the gobbler was standing.

Contact Outdoor Editor Mike Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.