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.
Michael A Sawyers - Outdoors
Thoughts
- Michael A Sawyers - Outdoors
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They have their ways
“Brrrrrrrt! Brrrrrrrt!” my phone vibrates in my shirt pocket. Sometimes when that happens I think that I just burped.“Hello?” -
Md. hunt rules being formed
The Maryland Wildlife & Heritage Service, currently in the early stages of setting hunting regulations for the next two years, envisions no changes to the deer bag limits in Region A (Garrett, Allegany and western Washington counties).On the other hand, substantial changes are being eyeballed for Region B, which is all of Maryland from Clear Spring eastward to the Atlantic Ocean. -
Officers allowed to enter
Is it legal for Maryland Natural Resources Police officers to walk onto your private land?
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Wapiti survey begins
What’s up with this elk stuff anyway?
I’m speaking, of course, about the news announced this past August that some folks are going to look around Garrett and Allegany counties to see if it would be feasible to reintroduce Rocky Mountain elk. Elk used to live here, you know. -
Jury still out on Marcellus shale drilling
Mother Earth, having been around as long as she has, should be given the right to choose elective surgery when needed rather than have exploratory surgery forced upon her.
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Gobblers hunted on Sundays; sun still rises
See. It wasn’t the end of the world.
Well, wait a minute. I better check before I speak too quickly.
Getting on the Internet, hmmmm, hmm! Yahoo now. Hmmmm! Nope, nothing there. Checking Bing. OK. Now MSN. -
2011 was a very (insert adjective) year
As January started, grumbling could be heard on both sides of the North Branch of the Potomac River.
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Progress in eye of beholder
Folks in the state-run hunting and fishing industry are always looking for ways to attract new license buyers.
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W.Va. buck kill up
I have always thought that the wildlife biologists for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources were brave. Each year, about the middle of November, they predict the buck kill for the upcoming firearms season.
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And then there were...
I want to start this column by assuring you that I don’t begrudge anybody a buck that is taken by legal means.
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