I know a lot of people claim dogs and cats are capable of their ancestor's raw diets, but something tells me a French Bulldog wasn't born and bred for hunting and eating barn squirrels.
TLDR: day four of a spot and stalk/ run and gun turkey hunt through the mountains ended in success.
edit: please know I know it’s long, but the circus and cactus I went through for four days felt (in my head) like it needed more context than: “I got one” . And… I guess I don’t know how to upload pictures?
To set the scene: Northern New Mexico public land forest with bands of 200-400 ft finger ridges with pine in the bottoms and rocky pinon-juniper habitat covered in cactus on the tops. Except for the very bottoms in the drainages, it's all rocky, 25-40something degree slopes covered in brush is too thick to consider anything beyond 10-15 yards.
Lots of birds in the area but all toms seemingly had a harem of 8-12 hens and weren't really responding to calling or coming to me, so I went to them. Spent the three days prior playing call/ spot and stalk, humping up and down the ridges and drainages, crawling and scooting across scree and prickly pear. Over the past few days I could only ever get to 20-30 yds and helplessly watch because it's so thick and short of standing up and just walking into flocks of 10+, there was never really an option.
Got pretty brazen and desperate yesterday afternoon, so after an hour long chase while calling back and forth with a tom that would continually hang up just out of range, I needed to close about 20 yards, so I took my decoy and held it close to the ground while I crouched and stalked and called and scratched my way to about 25 yards laterally and 15 yards below them; again too much brush and eventually they scittered off.
Fourth day today, I set up near the roost but they flew down the other direction. Spent the next couple hours trying to close the distance and cussing the weary hens. Eventually I give up for the moment and try to walk over the top of a finger to listen for calls and make a play from there. I get to the top and... low and behold, that shit I'd been needing to take was no longer giving me any options as to not. I dig my hole, cut off my boxers, and handle my business. As I'm pulling up my pants, I hear a hen yelp just on the other side of a roll of the finger ridge. I cover my pile, then scoot far enough downhill to not sit in my own shit just as they come rolling one by one around the edge, gun up, tom clears two pinon trees perfectly at seven-ish yards, I yelp, he stops, shoot. He tumbles vertically down a 150ft in a 45degree scree wash with nothing to stop him but the two inch prickly pears, and I'm after him full speed about to topple head over heels, to find him piled up in at the bottom.
No call nor decoy was used today, just taking shits and taking swings.
It’s that time of year again. I’ve always got poison really bad so I thought I’d ask, what do y’all do to prevent/treat it?
Thoughts on this story....
I go python hunting and will be hunting hog and small game when in season. Live in South Florida and have been looking for some drier public land, as I do not have an airboat or anything of that nature. I will be walking and have waders, but would prefer not to walk in anything above knee deep. Would I be able to do that the holy land / rotenberger area? If not any suggestions from south florida hunters?
I'm interested in hunting but have never hunted before. I have a rifle suitable to the purpose, but it's in .450 bushmaster which is not really appropriate for shooting much beyond 200 yards. Is this sufficient in terms of range for hunting in Oregon? From what I've read on forums, most people recommend glassing clear cuts behind fences, and with this strategy it seems like a the cartridge should be suitable for this. I'm only a bit concerned because the videos of oregon blacktail hunting I've seen generally involve longer range in the more open territory of the eastern cascades.
How can I mitigate the disadvantages and set myself up for success?
Would it be obvious from examining internal organs such as the liver etc?
The main reason I ask is because I live in the suburbs and often shoot/eat squirrels out of my garden. I never thought about it until recently, but a family member asked me if doing so was safe due to the chances of the squirrels eating rat poison somebody may have put out in their garden etc.
Any knowledge y’all could share with me in this regard would be extremely helpful!
Going on a guided turkey hunt next month and used it as an excuse to upgrade my rem870 to a cz 1012 semi. Does anyone else have this gun and use it for hunting? What are your thoughts?
Hey all!
Just picked up a Q Fix in 8.6. For those of you with experience on the round, what scope do you run/recommend. Looking to keep it as light as possible. Currently considering the Trijicon Accupoint 3-9 or 2.5-12.5. Thoughts?
Planning on shooting mostly subs suppressed under 250 yards.