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.

Last Call For Our 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest

All aboard!!! Last Call For Our 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest.

If you have pics you want to enter into the contest you need to do it ASAP, the contest will close Monday April 18th.

Here are some of the pics so far.

Best Bird category, a ruffed grouse from Willy4003.



Best Buck category, buck from goatman.



This one in the Funny Pic category from Terrific Tom cracked me up. Dang young bears always getting into trouble.



Plenty more pics in the contest to admire so head on over to 7th Annual Game Cam Pic Contest.

P.S. We're always looking for sponsors for the contest. If you'd like to become a sponsor and donate a prize for the contest please send me an email or call 951-314-5837. Thank you.

YouTube/Google & Their Family Safe Content BS

YouTube, which is now owned by Google, allows you to run ads now on your videos, something that helps pay for the cameras and other recording gear used by JHO. Google recently rejected two JHO videos from their ad program. One is a ground squirrel shooting video which I admit can get a bit gory. This latest rejection of our turkey skinning video has me scratching my head. Google/YouTube is known as anti hunter leaning and this video rejection supports that notion.

Imagine a child or non hunter being subjected to actually learning how to clean and prepare their own food? The horror. Here's the YouTube rejection email.

Thanks for submitting your video How To Skin A Turkey (Breasts & Legs) for revenue sharing. We have disabled revenue sharing on this video for one of the following reasons:

* You have not provided adequate documentation that you have the necessary rights to commercially use all the video material and music
* Advertisers on YouTube are currently looking to advertise next to family safe content

Please note that we reserve the right to make the final determination on whether to enable revenue sharing for a video.

Thanks for your understanding,

The YouTube Team

What's also indicative of how this company operates is you cannot reply to the rejection email, it has one of those "noreply" email addresses. If you want to really waste some precious time I guess you could wade through YouTube's Help menus trying to find out who to appeal to, if they even allow that.

Thanks for your understanding? Ha! What kind of mamby pambies do they have running this company? Looks like the time has come to shift off Google, there are other video hosts to use like Vimeo, BrightCove and our own JHO Photo/Video Gallery . I'm also looking for another way to lose the Google ads on our website. Enough is enough. Heck, even this blog is run on Google's Blogger which means I need to find a new blog host. Feel free to let me know any blog alternatives that are gun and turkey skinning friendly.

As one of our forum members pointed out recently, how can we be in bed with Google by running their Google Ads on our forum when Google is a well known anti gun company? Looking around the other hunting and fishing websites I see Google Ads on many of them, it's hard not to jump on their gravy train. Google is the shizzle if you want higher search engine ranking and to make money off ads, no one is even close to them. Yahoo just shut down their Publisher Network web ad program that was comparable to Google's AdSense because Google kicked their tail.

Google also gave us crap over submitting feeds from our store for their Froogle listing because we sold ammo and knives, oh my! We finally pulled those items from sale to get the feed working but I really regret caving in to the PC crowd BS.

What are your experiences with YouTube/Google? Any nightmares or PC tales to relate? Hopefully this huge 100 ton gorilla will collapse from their own weight and someone with some common sense will take over. In the meantime I'm hoping the Chinese wreak havoc on them, Google needs a wake up call.

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?

Honest Officer, It's Legal to Hunt and Shoot Here

The last thing I need is to stop a hunt or target shoot to haggle with the gendarmes over the tangled morass we know as the county shooting regulations in SoCal. We have NF, BLM, DFG, county, city and private land that have different regulations covering target shooting and hunting. San Bernardino and Los Angeles Counties both published an official county shoot map years ago but they are so outdated they are useless today. The only way to stay legal is to have current maps at your fingertips and http://www.firearmsmaps.com/ has filled that huge void.



Netcomp, the company that makes the maps, is based out of Colton CA and owned by Ken who's a hunter. Ken had the same desire as most of us who wanted to stay legal when hunting or shooting. These maps are a godsend since may sheriffs and law enforcement personnel do not know the boundaries or regulations.

I recently stopped by for a peek at the latest editions of the maps. That's what really cook about these maps, Ken is constantly updating the maps when new regulations or boundaries are announced by government departments. The BLM just recently had some major changes in their land boundaries and the new Netcomp map edition has those changes already. What timely service.

I also got a peek at a Verizon Smart Phone running the maps on it. Too slick. You just start the application, the map overview comes up and you tap the screen to zoom into where you want. The regs for the area you are looking at pop up on the screen for instant knowledge of what is legal to shoot, say a rifle & shotgun zone or a no shoot zone. Netcomp also has CD software so you can run the maps on your computer.




The maps are so popular they were swiping them off our table at our booth at the recent Fred Hall Show in Long Beach.

Run, don't walk to Netcomp http://www.firearmsmaps.com/ now and get your maps ordered. A trespassing ticket, even if you're found innocent, is going to cost you a day off from work to fight and win. You also don't have to stop your hunt and leave, just show the cop where you are and you should be left alone to finish your hunt or target shooting. I recently had Riverside Sheriff contact me while crow hunting and my map allowed me to show them I was perfectly legal doing what I was there. I also recommend you carry the DFG regs if any questions arise about hunting regulations.

I can't thank Ken and Netcomp enough.

Far Out, Heimo's Artic Refuge

Every once in awhile I stumble on to a good video and this one put the grip on me today. We've all read about ANWR (Artic National Wildlife Refuge) and how the government wants to drill for oil there but no one I know has ever been there. I know it's way the hell out in the boonies in northern Alaska,I mean way out too. This is Heimo's story about his life living in ANWR.

From the intro:

In 1980, Jimmy Carter established the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in the Alaskan Interior, cutting off 19 million acres of prime boreal wilderness from the mitts of fur trappers, oil tycoons, and would-be lodge owners alike. Only six families of white settlers were grandfathered in and allowed to keep cabins in the refuge—of them, only one still stays there year-round living off the land. His name is Heimo Korth, and he is basically the Omega Man of America’s Final Frontier.

Raised in suburban Wisconsin, Heimo set off in his teens to the Alaskan Bush to pursue the Davy Crockett lifestyle in more or less the only place it was still possible. Amid numerous setbacks and misadventures, Heimo gradually learned how to master his terrain, provide for his Eskimo wife, and rear children in one of the most inhospitable environments in North America.

In this premiere edition of Far Out, we take a bush plane to the middle of nowhere, Alaska, to catch up with Heimo and his wife, Edna—now reaching their golden years. Over the course of our ten-day stay, the Korths show us everything you need to know about fur-trapping, caribou-hunting, caribou-eating, river-crossing, boredom-staving, bear-avoidance, and bear-defense to live happily over 100 miles from the nearest neighbors. Vegans, you have been warned.

Far Out video

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt Raffle For Oregon

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt raffle for charity for Zumwalt Prairie in NE OR. $99 per ticket. Mar 31 deadline. More info at link.

Trophy Mule Deer Hunt raffle