Bunny Season Opener

After being skunked on the July 1st cottontail rabbit opener here I thought I'd try my luck once more tonight. As I was loading up the .22 WMR Marlin rifle and slinging the Badlands hydration pack on at the truck on I noticed rabbits and "squeaks", (ground squirrels), running across the road about 150 yards down from where I was. There was a small dirt levee to the right of the road and I love peeking over them since animals on the other side can't hear or see your approach.

Peek-a-boo time.

I wish I would have had a camcorder rolling because as soon as I poked my head over about 15 rabbits that were right out in the open exploded like a quail flush. They went everywhere and I all could do was sweep back and forth with the .22 and hope one would stop for a shot. Finally one did stop for just a second and I shot and missed a bit left. Curses. The rabbits continued to run everywhere and another one screeched to a halt just short of the brush and I shot him in the head at about 50 yards. I'm not sure what all the bunnies were doing together, might have been the evening hootenany I guess. Tracks were everywhere like it was some kind of dance.

Walking out I saw another rabbit way down the end of a clearing but he hightailed as soon as he saw me. The last rabbit I saw crawled up on that same levee, he must have heard me coming as his ears were twitching back and forth as he attempted to pinppoint where I was. I had a clear shot at him but it would have been shooting up toward the road so I let him go.

It was a good stretch of the legs and an awesome sunset over the San Gabriel Mountains as usual. It has been over 100F the past couple days but some monsoonal weather blowing up from Baja Norte cooled the temps off today and that may have explained why more animals were out this evening.

Did anyone else make it out for the bunny opener? How'd you do?

Bad Day For A Mr. Muley in Mexico

Just WOW!! video of a big cat taking down a big muley in Mexico. Reminds me of the pic I saw years ago from a CA DFG biologist in northern CA that showed some fresh racing stripes on a big bucks backs. The racing strips were from where it appeared a cougar had jumped on this buck's back and the buck tore off and threw the cat off leaving the scrape marks in the hide all the way down to flesh from the cat's claws.

Bad motorscooters in my book. The way the cat constricts the deer and wears him out is like what a boa constrictor and wrestler do to their opponents. To me the buck doesn't seen to fight that hard or use them nice pointy antlers he's sporting. This was shot during the rut so the cat may have caught this buck when he was zapped from all his carousing.

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.

Pushing Kids Too Fast.

I finally got to watch some hunting shows and Pig Man was one I've been hearing about so I tune in to the Cotton Mesa TX hog episode. Everything's fine until the dad wheels out the lil 6 year old and says he's gonna be using what appears to be an adult size high powered rifle. They don't show either shot the boy takes at a hog, probably because the little guy can't handle the rifle himself. Later when they find a hog they think is the one he shot at Dad is carrying the rifle.

Why do some dads insist on starting kids WAY to early with big guns? It's unsafe since the kid can't handle the weight and length of the rifle nor the recoil. Pushing a kid into a gun too big for their little bodies is also a great way to develop a flinch in a new shooter. I was tall for my age and wasn't allowed to carry a rifle other than a .22 until I was almost 10 years old. I can't imagine handing a small child a rifle and expect him to be able to control the muzzle like he should.

One recent instance of this nonsense I witnessed was at the trap range. One dad was insisting junior shoot dad's older shotgun and the poor kid couldn't even shoulder the gun correctly. Even when it was pointed out to dad that it was teaching the kid poor gun handling and shooting skills and also how unsafe it was for the kid to fumble around the shotgun, pop insisted on continuing their practice. Grrrr, sometimes you just want to shake people.

In many states youth hunters can't hunt big game until they are 12 years old like here in CA. I'd say that's about the right age but each kid develops at their own pace. When a young hunter should be trusted with a firearm should be up to the parent to make the right call, and PLEASE, leave all the macho BS out. Make the safe decision.

Between the gun safety nonsense I've seen on 3 "Wild Within" TV shows already and this it's gonna drive me back to Oprah and The View.

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

Predicting Winter

The folks back home in MO predict the winter by looking at the wooly catepillars and persimmon seeds.

 
Upon cracking the persimmon seeds open, you will find one of the three pieces of "silverware" shapes.

KNIFE: means you'll have a cold icy winter (where wind will slice through you like a knife winter).

SPOON: means you'll need to shovel out of snow.

FORK: means you'll have mild winter.

Here's an example of a spoon and knife seed:

 

Pic from http://www.lauderdaleschools.net

So whatever you find the most shape of in the seeds, is the winter prediction. Most say you have to sample 10 seeds to get an accurate reading on how harsh the coming winter will be.

What's your winter prediction in your neck of the woods? My friends in MO say it's a "spoon" winter coming. They've already had one blizzard last week. We don't have persimmon trees here in SoCal so I can't do any predicting. Next year I'll be sure and grab some persimmon seeds in MO to check.