Some Awesome Sauce Here. Pappy's Fine Calls from MO

http://www.exoticwood.biz/boisderose.htmBeing a callmaker I always enjoy seeing other callmaker's work. I recently stumbled upon Pappy's Calls on Missouri Whitetails websight. Pappy writes:

"Fly Reel Purrer...it is going to have the slate mounted under the carriage and when you turn it the striker will run over it...I want it to be like a purr pot...made it from Strawberried Box Elder, Redheart and Ebony with Torquoise button and 1909 Barber dime."

 

 "This is the 2010 Midwest Decorative winner where I got the Outstanding Novice Callmaker of the Year Award. It is made from 120 pieces of Bois De Rose and Birdseye Maple. Didn't sound all that great but it was for the decorative class...."

If you've never heard of Bois De Rose, pronunced bwah duh rose, some consider it the most beautiful of all the exotic woods.

 I'm still waiting on the details on this fine goose call called the Pappy's Delivery Truck

You Made A Turkey Call Out Of What?!!!

I've made turkey calls out of just about everything you can think of. My first turkey call was made from young maple seed leaves that twirled to the ground at our elementary school yard. “Whirlybirds” we called them. You could tear the seed off and use the leafy part like a turkey diaphragm call to make hen yelps. This brought joy to our ears but ended up with hair pulling by our teachers who dragged us by our ears to the principle for blowing the them in class. You could also make them sound like a squeaky fart which is what got us in trouble.

Image from http://smalltownandrurallife.com/

Turtle shells, fence posts, wood from the floors of old cabins we found in the Ozark mountains, wingbone yelpers made from turkey wing bones. You name it, I've tried to coax a yelp from it.  I've been to Nashville for the NWTF callmakers competition and seen all kinds of turkey calls from callmakers all over the world. Well, I thought I had the gamut covered until Eric showed up at the Fred Hall Show last year and told me of his oyster shell friction turkey call.

"No way", I proclaimed, taint happening. The more Eric talked the more it made sense and the more it tripped my "gotta see it" detector.

Fast forward to this past Friday at the Fred Hall Show and who do I spy sneaking down the aisle with his oyster shell in hand but Eric and his buddy.

"Ah ha!" I hollered to get his attention to our NWTF booth.

Being from Mizzurah I told Eric it was time to "Show Me". And show me Eric did, he whipped out the corncob striker and struck up a hen yelp. Kelp, kelp, kelp came the beautiful notes. Eric is a biologist who records all kinds of animal sounds and he loves to hunt turkeys too so it was simple destiny for him to find the oyster shell and make fine turkey music on it.

Eric said the real beauty of the call is with all the ridges and bumps inside the shell you can get all kids of tones and pitches. Kind of like having a bunch of friction pots instead of just the one. Heck, I'm half deaf from all my years flying in the USAF and shooting guns but even I could hear the magic.

One thing Eric mentioned that struck me was he couldn't believe with all the cavemen and Indians running around years ago that none of them hadn't tried scraping something on an oyster shell to make sound. Surely one of them had tried he said. Having grown up around Muscatine Iowa where they were world famous for their pearl buttons made from clam shells we used to play in the piles of discarded shells behind my cousin's house. We never even thought of using a striker on a clam shell so it's possible Eric is the inventor of the Oyster Shell Turkey Call.

No word from Eric yet if he's going to make a few for sale, he's still punching the 9 to 5 clock and he's not sure if he wants to throw another iron in the fire yet. If he does, you'll be the first to know.

Lake Sutherland Spring Turkey Tune Up

LAKE SUTHERLAND SPRING TURKEY TUNE UP

WHEN: Saturday February 26th 2011 from 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Hunt Drawing at 1 p.m.

WHERE: Lake Sutherland, 22850 Sutherland Dam Rd., Ramona, CA

Sponsored by: the City of San Diego Public Utilities Department and the National Wild Turkey Federation, San Diego County Chapter

What is the Turkey Tune Up?

The “Turkey Tune Up” is a yearly educational seminar and recreation event held at Lake Sutherland, San Diego California which provides information to the interested public about the wild turkey its environment, its conservation and the safe legal ethical harvesting of the bird.

The event provides the interested public the opportunity to enter a lottery drawing for the chance at one of many wild turkey hunting opportunities offered by the City of San Diego’s Public Utilities Department “Recreational Program” at the picturesque Lake Sutherland property. 

http://www.sandiegoturkey.com/tuneup.asp

Done Got Turkey Slobbered

I finally got some free time so I went out on some public land Sunday morning for some turkey bird hunting. Birds were tearing it up but since I saw another hunter's truck nearby and didn't know where he was at I decided to go out on the pond levee where I had a good view of the hillside and let him have the honey hole.



Well anyways I went out and set up next to the levee and was listening to a bird and figured the other hunter was on it so I just sat back and listened to the show. The bird flew down and started coming my way and no boom.

Huh?

Pretty soon he was triple gobbling and walking my direction. He got about 100 yards out and was coming straight at me and I'm thinking this bird is going to commit hari kari. Then at 75 yards that darn little light bulb went off inside my head and said if he keeps coming the same way he is gonna be right on top of me.

I tried to ignore it but at 50 yards I laid my shotgun off to the side and a hasty ambush plan was in the works. I started hunkering down, the closer he got to the levee the more I just inched backwards on my side of the levee toward some cover. When I couldn't see him any more but could hear him walking in the leaves I got in my crouched position, pulled my hat down and got ready for the fun.

When his head popped into view about twelve inches away I made my leap from my hide.



It's just a blur now, but remember thinking "I got him" as we rolled down the other side of the levee as we were having some fun. Sometimes he was on top, sometimes I was. There was lot of squawking and wing flopping on his end and some some grunting and cussin' on my end. As we rolled to a stop in the grass he ended up on top and I lost my grip and he was gone.

I swear I watched him run at least a quarter of a mile and he was looking back at me the whole time laughing.



That's why I turkey hunt, for excitement and because if you ain't never been turkey slobbered you don't know what your missing.

A Turkey Tale That'll Make You Smile

Every once in awhile you come across a hunting tale that makes you break out into a wide grin. This here is one of them misty eyed, glad they took the time to tell it stories.

Norm and Sonshine's first turkey



Got any good turkey tales to share?

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

I'd like to wish everyone a safe and happy Thanksgiving. I'm very thankful to have you here to share my ramblings in the field. Please don't drink and drive or let anyone else either.

I usually venture out every Thanksgiving for a quick hunt and this year had no joy in the local San Bernardino National Forest . This was a small Merriam's hen I shot with my shotgun in the Kaibab National Forest AZ in 2001 during a November hunt.



I'll be heading out this weekend one more time to try and lure in a turkey bird. I actually like hunting turkeys almost better in the fall than the spring. There are less hunters out and not quite the pressure. The turkeys are usually bunched up and more vocal than in the spring in my opinion. Plus you can shoot a hen or tom so your chances of potting one are higher.

I like taking small hens, called "Jennies", in the fall so I can make use of their wingbones for making wingbone yelper calls. The smaller hen bones make a higher pitched sound then the bigger tom turkey wingbones. Here's an example of a wingbone yelper made by my buddy Jim Groenier from Wisconsin.



Native Americans have used wingbone yelpers since as early as 6500 B.C. The first wingbone design of the Native Americans used just the radius bone or mouthpiece of today's designs. In the late 1800's, a call maker named Charles Jordon helped the wingbone yelpers gain popularity with hunters by mass producing the yelpers. Hunters later added cane or the humerus or ulna wingbones to make a new style of 2 bone call. At the turn of the 20th century, callmakers started using trumpet-like bells made of cow horns or wood to make the 3 section calls we know today. Some refer to these trumpet wingbone yelpers as "Turpin" calls. If you'd like to learn how to make a wingbone yelper call click here.

If you're headed out, good luck on pulling a sneak on a fall bird. Let us know how you do by dropping by our Turkey Hunting Forum.

P.S. We're also have a Fall Turkey Hunt Pic Contest on the Turkey Forum. It's here
The winner will receive a nice custom JHO glass call made by Gene's Custom Turkey Calls.

CA DFG & NWTF Cuts Us Loose. No Turkey Transplants.

Been awhile since I've had something to good to rant about, something to sink my teeth into. "Brace yourself", as the doc told me on my last prostrate exam.

4 of us were there at the Inland Empire chapter NWTF meeting last Wednesday night at Bass Pro. You can really see how important the turkey transplant issue is to the local turkey hunters by their overwhelming support. /sarcasm.



Not to be a Debbie Downer but the turkey transplants starting back up are not going to happen here in San Bernardino National Forest. NWTF has come out and said they are more worried about banquets and the money generated from them. NWTF regional director Dave Halbrook said they are happy with their local chapters even without any huntable turkeys in SBNF. Tom Dockter, a member on the CA state NWTF board, told Yucaipa Mike and me that the NWTF regional directors biggest and only concern is banquets and generating money. NWTF corporate couldn't care less, they dismissed Yucaipa Mikes plea for help.

Worrying more about lifting as much money as they can out of my pocket and not about local issues was the biggest reason I left the NWTF years back. I'm headed that way again.

Bottom line, we're being told habitat improvement is the only thing we can do now since the turkey transplant EIS (Environmental Impact Statement) was poorly written by DFG and just invites being sued by the Native Plant Society. The same Native Plant Society that stopped the transplants of turkeys into San Bernardino and San Diego back in the late 1990s by filing a lawsuit.

As far as a hunter or a hunting group suing DFG, that's not possible I'm told. Wishful thinking but not something that can be done. I'm being told to just keep the heat on DFG to do the right thing.

I am a bit ticked also in that I was lead to believe the transplants were coming the past couple years. Every year there was a new hurdle for us to get over like prove there were still turkeys in the local forest only to find out there never was any real push to get the transplants going. We only just recently got the California DFG and NWTF to admit it publicly. Well, actually, it's the same line from years back, we just had them restate it to be sure.

Dave Halbrook said they would try and get money to fund another biologist position to help the local DFG biologist (Jeff Villepique) study turkeys and the habitat here but as local outdoor writer Jim Matthews told me, that's BS. Have the local DFG biologist just do his job, that's what he's paid for. Ryan Mathis, the California NWTF biologist, was down here in San Bernardino 2 months ago to meet with Jeff Villepique for a mind meld on what to start doing to help the local turkeys and Jeff Villepique was a no show for some reason. Same ole same ole, nothing getting down and nothing but more excuses.

I'm going to post this on the national NWTF forum, WON (Western Outdoor News) and OldGobbler.com so it's gets even more publicity in the last ditch hope someone will light a fire under the DFG or NWTF to do something. If they refuse to help us out, I'm done with the NWTF. They can bleed other fools for their banquet money to send Regional Directors on grand turkey hunts around the country while we scrap for turkeys on the crowded public land here in San Diego or travel hours north.

In fact, that's how it was put to us by Dave Halbrook. Hey, others are having fun right driving half a day one way to hunt right?

Not me, I'd rather stay local a few weekends to save money and hunt less crowded land, but that's me.

You folks make up your own minds.

Here is the thread on our CA turkey forum with more info. It's a sad tale of betrayal, complete with antis, money grubbers and skunk belly gubmint workers.

Turkey forum post

Gettin Stuck. It Must Be Turkey Season

Ah, tis that time of year for slippin' and slidin' down icy snow covered ridges. Turkey season is about to be unleashed and that means time to explore and tear up some vehicles. Even the local gendarme's SUV is taking a beating rescuing pilgrims who venture out only to find themselves stranded in the dark high a top a mountain.

This was near Green Valley Lake in CA. Don't ever trust a woman for a road condition report. We met this lady on the way in and she said the road was fine. One turn later and we slid sideways to the bottom of a nasty mud and ice hole. 100 shovel scoops later and we were free and up the hill.

Note: Get winch installed.



The good news is Mike and I found some Merriam's turkeys to let the air out of. San Diego is a better hunt for bird numbers but holy mackerel, do they draw a crowd down there.



The bad news was the dumping and crashed gates we found on local forest roads. That and the trash we picked up after some donkeys left it. I pray there is a special room for these folks in Hades where they can live with their trash they dumped on Earth.


This was down at the T6 bridge crossing of Deep Creek by Lake Arrowhead CA. The crik hasn't flowed like this in awhile so I'll be back when it gets hot for a soak in the cold pools. I love hiking and hunting in this drainage.


I don't understand how folks can visit such a beautiful location in the country and then leave their trash. Makes me want to put a boot in their azz. Here's Mike picking up shotgun shells some clown left all over the bridge area. They must have shot almost 3 boxes from all the shells we picked up.

MO Spring Youth Turkey Hunt 2008 Video

This was our hunt we did along with MissouriWhitetails.com. Steve and and our young hunter Kelly joined Dad and me up at our farm near Lewistown MO. It was a cold and snowy weekend and we froze our butts off. We did get a couple toms in to about 60 yards but they just wouldn't commit to give Kelly a chance for a poke at them with his shotgun.

Camcorder was a Canon GL-2.