Pre-Season Scouting By Gary Howey
To be successful at turkey hunting there are several to things that need to come together.
The most important of these is knowing the area the birds are using.
In order to find out this information, it will require pre season scouting as this allows you to have a plan put together ahead of time, so you’ll know the who, what, when and where before opening day.
By doing your pre-season scouting you’ll be able to figure out the bird patterns, where they’re roosting, where they’re coming out of the roost, their travel routes to and from feeding areas and how they get back to their roost just before dark.
Don’t make the mistake that some spring hunters do and use a turkey call while doing your scouting.
Once a bird hears the hen call, he may come running in and catch you out in the open, which is a good way to educate the bird.
When scouting, use a call that makes the Tom gobble, but not come your direction.
You’ll want to use a call that will cause the bird to shock gobble as these loud calls startle or shock the bird causing it to gobble.
Good shock calls can be a predator, owl or crow call as these are sounds that the birds have heard before that won’t make them come running in your direction.
These calls can be used during pre-season scouting and during the regular season.
Locating the tree the birds are using as a roost will be a big help, giving you a place to start on opening morning.
Roost trees are generally some of the tallest trees in the woods. Look for trees with an accumulation of droppings and feathers under them, which is a pretty good indicator that the birds have used the trees as a roost.… Continue reading
Morels the Fungus Among Us! By Gary Howey
Well, I do believe its spring, temperatures are warming up, the snow geese have moved through and the turkeys are strutting.
It’s also that time of the year when an infectious disease attacks avid outdoorsmen and women that live throughout the upper Midwest.
It can infect men, women, children and it doesn’t make any difference if you’re young or old!
What causes this infectious disease is a fungi that’s will soon be among us, it’s the morel mushroom and once they start poking their heads out of the ground, men and women will leave their home, family and job heading for the river bottoms, island and hills on mushroom hunting excursions.
Morels are found throughout the upper Midwest, are easy to recognize and delicious, making them the most sought after wild mushroom.
Identifying them from other mushrooms is easy. Morels are elongated with an off white stem and a crown that is made up of white with dark brown pits or indentations.
They vary from off-white to gray in color. The simplest way to explain what a morel looks like is to look for a mushroom growing on the ground that resembles a cone shaped brain.
They start to appear in the spring when temperatures reach around 50-60 degrees.
When’s the best time to start looking for morels? Well, according to some of those experienced old timers, you’re just wasting your time hunting mushroom until the oak leaves are the size of a mouse or squirrel’s ear.
Honestly, I’ve never known anyone who’s measured a squirrel or mouse ear, but I’ve been told that they are about half the size of your smallest fingernail.
There are several indicators that tell you it’s time to head out and start looking for morels.
If you have a lilac bush in the neighborhood, keep an eye on it and when it starts to bloom, it’s a good sign that the morels will be out.
You’ll also want to watch the crab apple trees as about the time, they start to bloom which is generally the week of Mother’s Day as this is when the morels should be the thickest.