A Turkey story

Ok here’s the story. These turkeys were shot on one of our hunting trips to Tennessee. This year we took Alma and Angie and the kids. The night before we (I say we because it was a team effort) shot these two fine birds, Alma made some carne guisada and some Spanish rice. Malissa and the kids and Joan and John and our families ate until we just about passed out. The next morning the girls and the kids (except Marcus) went sight seeing. Mark and I and Marcus decided since we had 4 deer hanging already it would be a rest day, so we got out the carne guisada and tortillas and nuked them and it was great.

We finished the first tacos and Mark was in the kitchen nuking another taco when he ran into the living room saying there were turkeys in the back yard. Marcus was still in his pj’s and none of us had shoes on and Mark and I had tacos in our mouth. I went into the kitchen and thru the window could see about 15 turkeys in the back yard on and around the cellar. What a sight, they were everywhere. These were real turkeys with feathers, not the ones with plastic wrapped round them. These were turkeys that ate whatever wild turkeys eat to make them that big, not turkeys raised on some farm. These were turkey that were getting ready to be shot thru the kitchen window.

At this point we were in our tactical mode. The tacos were placed in a safe place so as not to drop them. I had low crawled to the kitchen window and was already unlocking it. Mark had the weapon of choice and was low crawling to the window, trying to position himself in a manner as not to surprise the turkeys. The element of surprise was surely going to be on our side. My fear was that opening the window would spook the turkeys and they would run off, but that wasn’t the case.

As I lifted the window (this is the team effort part) Mark had one in his sights. As soon as the window cleared the barrel, Mark fired and one went down. I was startled by the shot but held onto the window. Mark was reloading and we could see turkeys flying and running everywhere. They looked like cockroaches when you turn on the lights. They were scattering everywhere. Except the one that started to run up the hill. Kind of reminded me of a story in the bible. The one where Lot and his family were told to leave the city and not turn back. His wife turned back to look and was turned into a pillar of salt.

Well one turkey started to run up the hill and then stopped and looked back. Things happen fast, and Mark is saying there’s one more, and at the same time I see the bird and am yelling shoot the bird, shoot the bird. That’s when Mark shoots again and gets the second bird. My mouth just about hits the floor as I say “you got both birds”. So we get our shoes on and go outside and get the two birds before marine (the dog) gets them.

That’s when I noticed something different about these turkeys. They don’t have butterball stamped on them, and the neck and giblets are in the wrong place!! They’re usually in the chest cavity of all the turkeys I’ve ever seen. Then we plucked the turkeys and notice they don’t have that plastic popup thingy that tells you they are done.
So Joan made one turkey and put it in the dressing, and Malissa smoked the other turkey. One weighed 18 lbs and the other 18.5 lbs. Alma and I had never eaten wild turkey but after eating these birds we love it even if the parts were in the wrong place.

I'll try to get pictures from Mark of the ninja squirrel we came across that afternoon. I'm lucky I didn't break anything. There was some fast and furious hand to hand or should I say foot to tail combat. It was close but I was the winning warrior. After the battle Angie noticed his eyes were blue. One blue left and one blue right.

Destructive little critters

These guys are some destructive little critters. Alma took this picture while traveling back from Kingsville Tx.. We watched these guys for about 30 minutes, and they sure can do some damage to a field. They are on the King Ranch, that's the property fence line in the pictures.

Dove hunting with Marcus

I was going to take it easy today, just laying around the house and relaxing. Trying to heal from some scrapes and bruises I received at work this last week. But my brother in law Mark Johnson talked me into going dove hunting. His son was going also and a good friend (Ron Prater) was also going. So I took some tylenol and we went out and had a good time. I'm glad I went since Marcus, my nephew, got to shoot his first dove in flight. If you've never been dove hunting, believe me it's hard to do. The wind was out of the west blowing real good, and the doves were coming in at a pretty fast pace. What I'm trying to say is we missed more birds than we ended up with. We shot a lot and we missed a lot. But it was fun since Marcus got his first dove as it raced through the sky. At one point there were so many doves flying we couldn't reload fast enough.

Just pictures

Here are a few pictures I took of some property where I go hunting. I think there are some spots that are just beautiful. This first picture is a trail that goes through the middle of the property. There are a lot of red birds flying around. I don't think I've seen so many red birds in one place . I've been going to this property for 2 years now and have yet to see a rattlesnake. I did see a snake one day in April when I was doing some coyote hunting. I don't know what type it was but it was tan or light brown and was about 10 feet from me.

This second and third picture were taken the same day just before the sun went down.

Fishing a private tank

Here is a fish my wife Alma caught as we fished a private tank just outside of Waverly Tennessee. We went on vacation to Tennessee and as usual had a great time. It was a vacation my wife and I will never forget. We caught a lot of catfish that day and Mark's mother fried them and they were very good. The reason I'm holding it and she is not is because she doesn't like holding anything she catches. Except me.












There also were some beautiful horses that Alma took pictures of. I don't know anything about the horse except that were friendly and beautiful.

(picking) Digging Potatos

Here are some pictures of Tennesse in the summer time. This was the weekend we drove up to pick up the deer I had mounted. I've done some crazy things and I think driving 15 hours one way to get a deer mount is one of them. But we had a great time. Here you see my wife Alma and Joan Johnson digging up potatos. Alma had never experienced that and she expressed an interest to Joan in picking some potatos. That's right she thought you picked them. As you can see Mark J., is supervising and Alma and Joan are digging up potatos, and I am taking pictures. Alma had a great time even though she was sweating. Mark and I really had a hard time getting her to come back to San Antonio when it was time to leave. We almost had to put her in a straight jacket. I guess we could have put her with the deer.

Hunting in Tennessee

Here's a picture of a buck I shot in Tennessee. I had a great time and there's nothing like good friends and clean air to clear your mind and soul. I was sitting in a tree that day waiting for any deer to show up. Then this one stepped out and my heart started pounding. I looked through the scope on my rifle and saw the nice horns. At one point he looked right at me for what seemed like a long time but was probably only 10 to 15 seconds. The wind was at my back blowing pretty good right towards the buck. I had put on some scent killer and I guess the stuff works pretty good. The buck looked at me and then kept on eating. I was able to get a good shot off at about 30 yards and hit it. The first picture is with Jay Johnson, my brother in laws brother and it was on his property that I was able to shoot this nice buck. My brother in law Mark Johnson and his brother convinced me that I needed to get it mounted so I did. In the second picture Mark and his son Marcus and my wife and I drove up to Tennesse 6 months later and picked up the mount. We couldn't find a box big enough to stick the deer mount in so we improvised as you can see. Walmart had a good sale on pillows and they really work nice when packing a deer mount. Now it hangs on my wall.
I've been to Tennessee 3 or 4 times and it really gets hard to leave that place. Everytime I leave I am already thinking about how next year will take so long to arrive.

Sun up and it's time to fish

This is another picture my wife took but this time I am not sleeping. I didn't think this picture would come out that good but it did. It's just a straight camera shot right as the sun was coming up. No filters or any special lense just the camera. The wind was blowing slightly out of the northeast, and I knew it was going to be a good day for fishing. The water had settled down and it wasn't the usual sandy brown color. It was slightly green and pleasantly clean with no seaweed or moss.

Hope I get this right

Well hopefully I can get this right. I'm not that computer savvy, I know just enough to screw things up. If I do get this right you will be able to see the pictures I take of the outdoors. I love being outdoors. Unfortunately I have to work in the city, but one day (hopefully real soon), I'll be living in the country and enjoying the outdoors. This seems easy enough, now if I can only figure out how to add pictures. If I did it right, a picture of me relaxing (I love sleeping on the beach) should show. My lovely wife Alma and I went this last weekend with some dear friends of ours Gerald and Cel Smith. Their two kids love the beach also. Of course we did some fishing and some serious napping. Oh I forgot the main part, some serious eating also. Gerald and I did some fishing on the beach. The water was beautiful and really not warm. It was just right so of course as usual I get chest deep in the water to fish. I love it. I caught 3 or 4 Whiting, and Gerald caught about 30.