That box call really does work

I took a day off from work on friday and went to Elliott's place. He has a few acres just north of Boerne. Elliott kept telling me about the turkeys he has on his place so I decided to go out and see if I could call some in. I had no idea what I was doing since I've never hunted turkeys, so I bought a box call from Knight & Hale and grabbed my gound blind and a Big Red and Sonic footlong submarine sandwich. As I sat in the blind I could see quite a few turkeys on the property next door about 200 yards away.I had thrown a bag of corn out since I was wanting to get some pictures of some deer also. Alma and I had been there in January when we saw a really nice 8 pointer come out with 12 does. So I started calling with the box call, not really knowing what I was doing or what to expect. I had seen some videos on calling but this was the real thing now. As I started calling the turkeys looked my way and started walking to my call. Hey this thing really does work!!!!! I thought to myself as the turkeys started walking to me. I had taken my camcorder and camera, and a pair of Bushnell digital camera binocular, so I started snapping pictures and videotaping. They parked themselves underneath some cedar trees, and from where I was sitting it looked like they were taking a nap. After about an hour they got up and left, so I decided to eat half my sandwich and have some Big Red soda. When I finished, eating I decided to give it another try with the box call.As I worked that box call, another group of about 25 turkeys came in. It looked like some of them were running. It wasn't long before they were all around my blind. As I was videotaping I looked to the right and noticed 6 does had walked out into the open and were eating the corn I had thrown out. The turkeys also were eating some of the corn. Too bad deer season was over since the does were only 10 to 15 yards in front of me. The turkeys were even closer but it wasn't turkey season yet. The turkeys were so close I could have taken a swing at some of them with my Cold Steel machete and taken a couple of them home. I'll try to load the mpeg on the turkeys on this page but if it doesn't work, then I'll just load the pictures.
The video didn't work so here are some pictures of the turkeys and also a doe that was very protective of her young. The young doe on the right apparently is the offspring of the doe that is on it's hind quarters. I watched them for about an hour. They would eat and the mother would stay close and when the other deer would get close to her doe, it would get aggressive and rear up on it's hind legs and kick with it's front legs.
Here are some Toms that snuck by me. I didn't see them until the last minute so I had to take a quick picture. The would sure look good in my oven. Hopefully in April one or two of them will be joining us for supper.
I did notice that none of the turkeys I saw had pilgrim pride, or Butterball tattooed on them. I wonder if they have that little thermometer that pops up when they are ready to eat.

An early trip

It's my wife's 25th anniversary and guess where she wants to go. TENNESSEE!!!!!!!! If there's anyone that deserves some type of medal it's my wife. Putting up with 25 years of marriage and 2 years before that of dating. That surely deserves some type of medal. Like the many times I didn't come home because the fish were biting really good. I can relate to Brad Paisleys song. I think I'll get her a new rifle with her initials on it.

Really though, we are going to Tennesse to celebrate our anniversary. I told her I'd take her anywhere she wanted to go and since she loves Joan and Malissa and the kids so much we made plans since February 2006 to go to Tennessee. Of course that can only be a win, win situation for me since I love Tennessee also. She has even said I can take John hunting to get some squirrels. Of course he can do the shooting since I don't have a license and I can do the eating. And even if we don't get to squirrel hunt, there's always that good cooking. So we will be taking some pictures and I'll get them posted on here. My wife is actually wanting it to snow so we can stay longer. We'll see how that goes.