Coach

Great pictures and story - I have to agree that the pose is a great way to photograph turkeys - absolutely beautiful. Nicely done!

Very cool write-up. Congrats on some great turkey hunting! Thanks for posting the pix and story.

Those were a couple of the best vids I've seen in a long time. Great job! Thanks for sharing them here. You guys definately have a good plan for finding sheds. I don't know how many hours I've spent looking for horns, but for some reason, the only time I find any is when I'm out turkey hunting and just stumble on to them. Thx again for the great videos of your horn hunts. Jason

That was some really cool footage - and that tom is definately haggard! Great vid, thanks for sharing.

Thanks to all of you for your positive responses. I'll keep trying to get Nick out there, but man, the weather has been nasty up here. Super windy, and even snow the last couple days. Good luck to all you youth hunters. I hope you get a turkey. Be sure to carry a camera and take some pictures to post on CWT!

Been a little tricky of a Jr. hunt this year. Got close once last weekend in 1 with a jake hanging around some hens, but generally hearing a few gobbles on the roost then nothing. I took my oldest boy, Matt out again this morning to an area we heard a lot of birds in opening weekend but couldn't get them to come to us. This morning it was looking really good. Several birds were gobbling very aggressively on the roost and well into the morning. I thought for sure they were going to come right in. No such luck, they actually started moving away as the morning wore on, so we left the blind and started going after them. We were able to get a glimpse of the birds higher up toward where they were roosting working up a little knoll, so the race was on. If we couldn't get them to come to us, we'd have to get in front of them. We looped around them and crested over the hilltop we had seen them heading toward. Inching forward, Matt caught a movement ahead and saw that big red head and beard. He clicked the safety off and took a couple steps to his right and as the bird stepped out only 15 yards away he let the old Mossberg loose and it was all over for the gobbler. Thanks to all the CWT members who have been really supportive with suggestions for the youth hunt - still have one more to go. Nick was just too tired after a full day of baseball to go out this morning, but we've got until May 20, so I'm sure we'll get him a good crack at a bird. Up on top of the hill, minutes after the shot (taken with a cell phone) Down the hill where I left my camera when we went after them: Here's a cool snake we found on the S. side of 3c right in the road. Played with him a little and moved him to a safer spot. I think it's a gopher snake - (bull snake??, corn snake???) Anyway it was a really good tempered snake, and seemed a little glad we kept him from getting squished on the Pinedale road.

Do you reload? If so, you might consider a .270 WSM. You can handload some very low recoil rounds for practice, moderate ones for deer/antelope and hot ones for elk. That's what my boys will be using for their cow elk hunts this fall.

LOL - good one.

Outstanding!!! Congrats!

"I bet I dont get one member to apply. MY POINT EXACTLY." Exactly why your point is so stupid. You come on here bragging that you are a criminal and directly responsible for not only the destruction of coues habitat along the border, but our safety - so YOU can "earn a very nice living" and have more time to hunt than us. Are you so stupid that you can't see that the reason you are swimming in the gravy boat is because those of us living and working WITHIN the law are paying for YOUR cheap labor. Are you supplying them with medical insurance, of course not - they just use the emergency room and their costs are passed on to all of us. And when your labor pool bankrupts our state, destroys the effectiveness of our schools, we're somehow supposed to think you are a good guy because you make money off of it. You really need your head checked. And you think that because nobody on here would respond to your "offer for work" that you are somehow right? For starters, I would guess that the majority of folks on here are already gainfully, legally employed. The rest don't want to work for a criminal who puts his own needs above his neighbors. You may as well have come on here and bragged that you were making a really good living reselling the marijuana that comes across the border to our schoolkids.

Awesome job, Doug and an excellent write-up/photo essay. My wife was passing by as I was reading it and she commented, "Whoever that guy is, he is one heck of a photographer!" Thanks again for sharing here.

Thanks Brian, Matt is really good with animals, and very "hands-on". Somehow they know to trust him. This snake barely missed getting run over by a car coming from the opposite direction. Matt cooled him down really well and pulled him up by the tail giving him support (snakes hate to dangle), and the snake went from being agressive/defensive to really docile and almost "clingy". It was a really cool break at a point when the hunting got slow. Thanks again for your pointers. With some luck we'll get Nick on a bird in the next couple of weeks. He's definately spoiled since last year we went out one afternoon after school and within 15 minutes of his first ever turkey setup, he had a strutting tom 25 yards away from the blind, and made a good shot on his first turkey. He likes to hunt, but is more focused on sports - especially baseball. For some reason all of his hunts so far have been, well, easier than normal. Not sure what it is about that kid, but it seems whenever we go out looking for something it just shows up and makes his old man sound silly talking about how hard it "can be". LOL. I sure do hope I can get him on a bird this spring just to keep it fun for him.

Interesting stuff. I like the cow blind/decoys. My buddy tried one of those older-style-fold-in-half foam antelope jobs a couple years back, and I watched as he emerged into sight - they were having NOTHING of it. The colors were all wrong - too reddish. They bolted immediately. Just don't use an antelope-looking decoy to hide behind during a rifle hunt. You might find yourself dodging bullets.

I'm no expert, in fact I really don't do well in treestands - I prefer blinds whenever possible. Maybe I'm ADHD or something but I have a hard time sitting still up in a tree that long. When I used to sit in treestands, the main things I looked for were: 1: Sun to your back - means facing North. 2: Natural backdrop - look at the area from where you expect game to approach and see if you are skylined, or if there are branches or some other natrural backdrop that obscures your outline an masks movements. 3: Height - The higher you can get the better. Deer are looking for ground-level predators. The higher up you can get without being sky-lined the better. 4: Distance: I don't like to be too close to the area I expect the deer to be. I like to pick a tree at least 30 yards away. In an ideal situation, you are located uphill from the trail/salt lick, saddle in a heavy tree with a good amount of limbs around the same level you want to sit. The sun rises behind you to the right, and stays behind you all day, preferably behind a hill or heavy timber so movement will not cast shadows on the target area and the natural updraft will carry you scent up and away from where you expect the deer to be moving.

Went out with my oldest today focusing on 3C N. of 260. Had a couple good talkers, but they went totally silent after leaving the roost. Hit all the tanks in the area and most had no tracks and a couple had some but very few. I'm not sure if they are higher following the snowline, or if it's just a little early - anyone have any suggestions? I'm planning on moving to unit 1 tomorrow via Vernon and trying to get closer to the snow line, but aside from that I'm drawing a blank. I did go into an area in 3C closer to the rim off of the Pinedale road (one of the few that is open) but found very little sign. Anyone else finding more agressive birds?

That is awesome! Love that huge smile. Congrats!

Awesome job, Brian! I love to see those youth hunters tagging birds. Took my oldest out Friday to 3C. Had some gobbling early on and it really sounded like they were going to come in but they never showed up. In the evening we went to the same general area and tried to set up closer to the roost. Heard one gobble as we were hiking in but after setting up - nada. I have to wonder if we got busted setting the deeks and blind 'cause the gobble was really close and we had to hurry to set up. I can just picture the bird watching us scramble around wondering what in the heck we were doing under "his" tree. Had baseball obligations Saturday, but got out again today - this time in Unit 1, mostly trying to find where the snow line was and what areas were accessible. First setup was a good location with some tracks and a decent roost tree, but the snow runoff had an absolute river boiling through the area, so calling was limited by the noise. Moved over to the Poncho Spring area and took a little hike, and all 5 of us stuffed into the double bull again. This time I was able to bring in a group of hens with two small jakes but there was some confusion as to which son's turn it was for a shot. After quite a bit of "whispering" debate the birds got real nervous and started moving out fast. Close, but no dice. Hopefully I'll get them out one more day this week and maybe one or both can seal the deal. It's tough this year because all of 3C S. of 260 is still closed to vehicles, which I can't understand - the roads seem very dry - especially on the Eastern portion. On the N. side of 260, there just aren't many birds in places I've always found them before and the ones that are in there are not vocal at all once they leave the roost.

I'm glad this is being vetted out on this forum. I was under the impression that the adult who signed over the tag had to be within 50 yards of the youth huhter. Obviously, in many circumstances this is not possible. Nice detective work.

WHooo Hooo! Awesome job, Daniel! That is one SMOKIN' gobbler you bagged! Way to get it done bud! Congratulations on a great turkey! Thanks a bunch for sharing your story with us! Now time for some good eatin'!

Absolutely amazing. Having fished the Black River for decades, I know the WMAT lands N. of the river hold some of the biggest coues bucks anywhere. Unfortunately, for those of us that are not tribal members, we can only dream of the monster bucks roaming those hills. Thanks for the pix that illustrate just how big those bucks can grow.

Congrats on filling two tags! Great job. Got some good youth pix to share? How receptive were the birds to calling?

Well, I started another thread on this subject, but I should probably post my results here as well.... "Went out with my oldest today focusing on 3C N. of 260. Had a couple good talkers, but they went totally silent after leaving the roost. Hit all the tanks in the area and most had no tracks on most and a couple had some but very few. I'm not sure if they are higher following the snowline, or if it's just a little early - anyone have any suggestions? I'm planning on moving to unit 1 tomorrow via Vernon and trying to get closer to the snow line, but aside from that I'm drawing a blank. I did go into an area in 3C closer to the rim off of the Pinedale road (one of the few that is open) but found very little sign. Anyone else finding more agressive birds? " Last Spring, both of my sons with tags filled out on the first day we got out (individually, different days, within a mile of eachother, and days after the opening weekend of the youth hunt). I don't know whether there are fewer turkeys this year due to snowfall, or if they are just acting "differently" this year. The road closures in 3C are a factor, but I haven't seen anything to suggest it's really "ON" along the rim either. My hope is that they are a little slow to get love-struck this year, but my fear is that a lot of birds didn't make it through the winter. I'd love to hear how other youth hunters did this weekend - especially in 3c or 1.

Don't know the particulars, but it looks like a good thing for us without the usual political baggage. Along-side with the new laws regarding illegal immigration, it looks like AZ is leading the way for Constitutional reform. Let's keep our fingers crossed that this mindset will spread.

Now that is just WRONG! I got totally skunked on my first two trips out this year, but finally on trip #3 I scored my first elk shed while actually shed hunting! You ready for this? I'm glad I have other hobbies...

Speaking of encouraging legislation, check this out. http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/14...nors-signature/