Was down a few days with the flu ( either I'm getting softer in my old age ? , or the flu strains are getting wicked , cause it knocked the stuffing out of me for a few days ! ) .... finally got a chance to scout for a few hours after work ..
Randy and I drove North to confirm permission on some previously hunted farms ... We were lucky , they all said yes again for 2009 hunts !
Familiar sights = on the way up , bushlots full of buckets , draining the " liquid harvest " of maple syrup ...
A Mennonite group fill the horse drawn sap wagon ...
They work at a very fast pace and it doesn't take long for them to hussle through the bushlot ..
Familiar sights = the little brown " field grizzlies " are staking out new ground ...
I got pretty close to this one until he sprinted towards the hole ... Pictures are not the best quality cause I had a hard time tracking him thru the veiwfinder during his mad dash !
Familiar sights = Geese pairing up eveywhere !
I saw this scruffy swamp rat away from his home base , eating some tender grasses ...
He eventually bugged out ... I followed him and got 3 quick frames before he sumbmerged and headed for his spruced up winter diggs !
We did finally locate some turkeys ... and decided on a starting farm for the April 27th opener ..
One last tom crossed our path before we headed home ... I managed to get a hurried quick shot of him as he ran for cover ...
Didn't really see any wicked large groups that would cooperate enough for a photo opportunity ...
Rewind back to last March 21st ... here are some cool shots I got then ..
Dull , rainy day , We were just driving to unwind and scope out some country homes . I had my Pentax K100D with the 50-200mm lens on it ....
I saw a flock of turkeys about 1/2 hour into the drive , so we pulled over and I trudged into a cedar fenceline , then into a corn stubble field to get some pictures ... Man did I get a surprise !!
When I got to the edge of the field I saw approx 30 birds feeding at the West end of the field .... in the distance at the north end I saw another 30 birds ! .... and eventually at the east end I came on another group just over the rise ... I figured there were apporx 70-75 birds total with the 3 groups combined ...
Here are a few frames that turned out in the rain ... shooting at 800 ISO setting ...
The 1st flock ... had some mature birds to the right side of the frame ...
Using the hilly corn stubble field as cover I managed to get close enough to get a shot of 4 or 5 mature toms feeding ...
Oops ! ... got busted by some others and they all start to fly ...
I hear gobbling to the east .... I'm back into the fence line and try to sneak up on 4 or 5 jakes strutting for some young hens ....
I tried to belly closer thru the stubble but they caught me before I could get to the top of the rise .... got a couple quick frames and they all bugged out ....
I trudged back to the car .... my wife was laughing when she saw how much mud I'd picked up all over the front of me from " doing the sneak " in the corn stubble .... Hey , thats what washing machines are for !
Good luck this Turkey season.