Hookspur's 2017 Season

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hookspur
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Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by hookspur »

Wow! That seems like too short of a word to adequately describe how good the 2017 Turkey Season was for me, but anything more couldn't fully capture the glory, either. Things started off on March 18th with a loud "BANG" (actually, it was the combined blast from three shotguns) and the flopping of a trio of Osceolas as we killed an opening day TRIPLE(!!!), and it didn't slow down much until a final trigger pull on May 30 dumped a fine Pennsylvania tom's beak in the dirt. In between those dates there were 69 glorious spring mornings of turkey hunting across 11 states, with an almost incomprehensible 95 gobblers called "into-camp." Of those birds, 45 were shot at, and while 10 misses were enough of a frustrating side-story to warrant concern, the 35 gobblers brought back to camp were the greatest number I had ever seen in a single season.....by a resounding margin of eight! It would not be hard to claim that this was the best season of my life!

Unfortunately, there were a few tales of woe and sadness along the way as well, and two of the most crushing were the deaths of both David and Zane Caudill from Florida this past fall. These two men (father and son) were beyond great friends of mine...they were also integral and beloved members of my hunting camp in The Swamp, and their absence left everyone in my Florida "family" who shares those good times down there feeling rather hollow and lost. But, we made many toasts with amber-colored liquid in their honor, and countless stories with these two "characters" as the central figures were subsequently told by the hunters gathered under our "circus tents" both before and after hunting hours. David and Zane will be profoundly and forever missed, but always remembered.

I left FL anxious to return next year...especially so, since I missed the only gobbler I had a chance to hunt. It was a total boneheaded move on my part, and I just blew it. Here are some of the other reasons that keep me coming back, though.

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Next, I drove out to west TX for some Rio hunting with my ex-girlfriend's brother-in-law and his son on their lease in Brady. We only hunted 3 days there, but Bob and Eric each got a nice bird, and I shot a real arsekicker. We saw a huge TX Rattler, too! After leaving their lease I headed over to east Texas and shot an Eastern on public land before stopping by Louisiana "on the way home" to buy 55 pounds of Boudin from 7 different stores to take home and put in my freezer. I love's me some Boudin!!!

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Maryland's Eastern Shore was my first northeast destination, and it was nothing short of great! Driving back an isolated lane into some public land, I found the entire parking area scratched to pieces, and the next morning I shot a real bruiser of a tom 110 yards from the van. He weighed almost 24 pounds, and had awesome-long daggers! Then, my second tom finished his final flopping just as he's seen in the second picture, and while I don't ordinarily like gory post-kill shots, I started humming tunes from Bob Dylan's "Blood On The Tracks" album as I walked up to wrap my tag around his leg.

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Heading up to MA via I-95 (NEVER again!!!), I hunted with a fella I first met on my initial trip there in 2003. Fred is now 86 years young, but still huffs up those STEEP hills like a man 40 years his junior. It was a joy to hunt with a guy who has such an obvious love of the woods and the turkeys we pursue, and we had lots of fun. Unfortunately, Fred had a hard time hitting what was standing in front of his gun barrel, and while I won't say how many birds he missed, I will say that I'm going to send him a new box of shells for Christmas....and maybe TWO! The second pic is of a statue the landowner's son built and erected on a boulder high above this beautiful farm, in remembrance of his beloved Grandfather.

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Rhode Island is usually my nemesis, but this year she treated me well and I was onto birds every day until killing this dandy of a tom on my forth morning. I got to spend some time in the woods with my two good buddies JP and Mark as well, so the trip was a resounding success.

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On the first day of hunting in Connecticut I found this Civil War Soldier's tombstone out in the woods. There weren't any others around it. Many people had left coins, or rocks, or other mementos atop the grave marker, and later that afternoon I found about 5 acres of fresh turkey scratchings nearby. The next morning I had 9 gobblers (6 jakes) and 3 hens within killing range when I picked out a pair of toms and filled my CT public land quota with one shot. After making a feather tribute to my birds at the spot of the kill, I returned to the tombstone and left my own mementos. I plan to do some research on this war hero's life and death.

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The next tom also has a story. For several years I've been hunting on the farm of a great couple from NH; Vince and Donna. Some of you probably remember when I was jumped-on by a bobcat, and that happened on their farm. When I pulled into the driveway this spring, Donna and her big, loveable St Bernard (Bayley) greeted me at the van, but there was a strange look on Donna's face. She proceeded to tell me that Vince had gotten sick in January and died. Oh. My. God. I had no idea, and I was numb-struck! Vince was a helluva good man, a great carpenter and jack of all trades, and a friend. I didn't even know what to say, but Donna assured me that I was welcome to stay and hunt as long as I wanted. After talking a while, I pulled my van back into Vince's "Sawmill Barn," but my heart wasn't much into hunting. Instead, I spent a couple days working on one of the barns to finish some projects that Vince had started. Then, one evening I saw a tom in the back field that hobbled around like a peg-legged pirate, and when I called him and 5 jakes in the next morning I was surprised to see just how badly he limped, and how much smaller he was than his teenage buddies. I mercifully shot him, and found out that he had a mended broken leg that was practically worthless. He also weighed merely 12.75 pounds, despite a ten inch beard and spurs of nearly an inch in length! When I got ready to leave Donna told me that having me around the farm had given her the first hint since Vince's death that life could one day get back to "normal." I can't even begin to tell you how much it warmed my heart to hear that, and to know that Donna and Bayley will be ok....someday.

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Ah...Maine. She's like a breath of fresh air every year. Unfortunately, I've had a few "incidences" up there in past seasons, and once again I somehow managed to miss the first tom I shot at. I have no idea how I did it, but I suspect that he "bobbed" his head as I squeezed the trigger. The next two toms didn't fair nearly as well as their lucky brethren, and then it was time to once again try to help the beautiful girlfriend of my buddy Henrik to get her first turkey. We came oh-so-close last year, and I was really hoping to get it done this time. In fact, that was the main(e) reason I showed up this year! The first morning we hunted, Marivi did a good imitation of Henrik by burrowing under her "binky" to keep warm, but later that afternoon she performed like a seasoned vet in the clutch and shot her first turkey at 13 yards. She almost decapitated him, too! The following morning we got another one, so now (as if it weren't already a foregone conclusion) I know this girl is hooked on turkey hunting for LIFE! Henrik's a lucky guy to have a gal that loves hunting and being in the outdoors like she does!

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Another state that has become a recent favorite of mine is Vermont. It rained hard enough the first morning there to keep me in bed till ten, but between then and noon I heard 3 toms gobbling in the drizzle that continued to patter upon my roof. The next morning I got on one of 'em, but he fooled me and came in where I least expected...and I subsequently flat-out missed him. I got a "redemption bird" at 11:45 a.m., but that just made me realize how I could've shot both of my birds in the same day and been headed elsewhere. This fact was further driven home each of the next two days as I struggled to find adult toms willing to play the game, and even though the trilliums were going crazy and beautiful to admire, I wasn't there to look at my favorite wildflowers. Then, I switched locations and immediately heard 5 or 6 birds sounding off. Setting up across the road from them, I decided to put out a few dekes and see if I could draw one across to me. I had the ok to hunt over there where they seemed to be congregated....I just wanted to toy around and try it another way. About 8:30 a bird finally crossed over and gobbled on my side of the road before coming right on in, but he was a jake. This young stud absolutely thrashed a jake deke into the ground while ignoring my strutter, and then spent the next half-hour right beside me at about 10-15 yards preening around and occasionally gobbling. Then, I heard a boxcall....CLOSE!!! Oh, no! The jake had wandered off a bit by then, but was still only about 40 yards away. I knew the guy with the box was in a hedgerow on the other side of the jake and could most likely just see his upraised head and not my dekes down lower on the slope, so I laid down myself to get further below the contour....just before a gunshot sent the jake flopping and pellets flying through the grass to the right of me! The shooter then came up the hedge to an opening, and when he saw my flock of fakes from there, he jacked in another round like was gonna take out my strutter, too! If he'd brought the gun up I was gonna yell or fire a shot into the air, but instead, he just stood there for about 3 minutes. Then, he lowered his gun, walked out, picked up his "trophy" jake by the feet, spun on his heels, and walked away without so much as a "sorry," "my bad," or "have a nice day." I was flabbergasted. After he left I stayed right where I was at, and three hours later another bird performed the exact same routine as had the jake, but this new bird weren't no teenager. ;)

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Back to New York. In many ways this state is like a second home to me. I have "family" up there that I've been visiting since my initial hunting trip in 1988, and in fact, the youngest offspring of my buddy Jake is like a protégé of mine. Ever since his toddler days, the one goal in his life has been to be "like Doc," and I must say, the "kid" (now 23) is living that dream to reality...and far beyond! I am super-proud of him, and consider him to be the son I never had. He guides deer, duck, and goose hunters in KS and NY every fall, and then guides turkey hunters most of the spring in the same places, besides traveling around and killing a few toms in other states when he can squeeze in the time. He's either hunting or fishing nearly every day of his life, and in so many regards he has gone FAR beyond what I could've ever hoped to accomplish at that stage in life. "The Weedhopper" is one helluva fine hunter and outdoorsman, and he's gonna make a mark. Keep your eyes and ears peeled in years ahead for the name; Trevor Bays.

Well, I haven't been to NY much in the last few years and I've missed both its fine turkey hunting and my second family. This year Trev and I got to hunt four days together, and we had a fine time of it. In fact, we doubled-up on Day 2, and then I shot a 2nd tom with my little Buddy on Day 4. On the 5th day I went with Trev's girlfriend McKenzie to be an observer while she tried for her first solo tom, and only the most unexplainable bout of bad luck kept her from getting it done. Instead of landing in a stubble field out in front of us as he should have (and as his 6 hens had just done), this tom decided to fly in and land SIX FEET behind us, on a steep downslope, at the edge of a raging creek, and in the middle of thick autumn olives. Even now in hindsight, the only way that I can visualize a tom landing in that spot is if he'd been flying overhead and you pulled up and shot him dead as a wedge and dropped him straight down. THERE WAS NO OTHER WAY FOR HIM TO GET THERE.....and yet, he did. Wow. I thought that I'd seen it all. We hadn't even called a single note, either. Why did he even want to land there??

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Finally, I ventured to PA and spent the first 4 days getting abused by a Devil of a bird. I could've shot him on the fourth morning, but couldn't confirm whether the head sticking up above the ferns was tom, or jake. With only two days of the season remaining, I then decided to abandon this bird and leave him for seed stock, and when I subsequently shot the last gobbler of the year on May 30th, he was in a flock of 4 toms, a jake, and 2 hens. So ended one good hunt, and one helluva fine year of turkey hunting. What a ride!

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That final morning I had noticed a very sore spot on the side of my head, and as I began driving the 7 hours home I felt like I was getting the flu. The further I went, the worse it got. By the next day I felt like death itself, and the same was still true the following day....fever, aches and pains, pressure in my eyeballs, lips that were cracked and painful, and lungs that felt like they were slowly filling up. Plus, that painful spot on my head, which now ached clear down into my jaw. I began to suspect that maybe I'd been bit by a venomous spider, or a cursed, disease-ridden tick, and spent 2 hours Friday unsuccessfully waiting to see a doctor at the walk in clinic before giving up and scheduling an appointment at 9 a.m. the next day. As the afternoon progressed I felt even worse, and internet research pointed to something that needed immediate care, but I sure can't afford emergency room visits so I waited. By 7 a.m. I wasn't sure if I could even live long enough to make my appointment, so I was first in line at the clinic when they opened the doors. They got me in to see the doctor just as soon as I mentioned, "venomous spider," but do you know what was really wrong with me, instead? SHINGLES!! Here I was convinced that I was going to die at any moment of a poisonous spider bite, and it was just a bad case of Senior Chicken Pox!! I guess everyone reacts to them differently, but it's been a very long time since I was that sick.

The medication began working and I once again felt confident that I'd live to see another spring season, but then I started getting a non-stop headache on the opposite side of my head that got worse and worse. It began aching all the way down into my ear, my neck, and my shoulder, and the pain was so intense that otc pain relievers wouldn't touch it and I couldn't get any sleep. Then, three big red, oblong rashes with bruising in the middle of each one also suddenly appeared on my stomach and side. I generally felt like lukewarm cat turds, and was getting worse every day. Went back to the doctor to have blood work done, and finally got a diagnosis that my internet research by then had lead me to believe might be the culprit...Lyme's disease! For the last four years my homemade Permethrin spray has kept me from seeing the first tick attached to my skin, but this spring either an unseen little bastid had found me in a vulnerable or hidden spot and bit me, or else the case of Lyme's I caught back in the '90's had been lying dormant since then and resurfaced. Maybe it had done so because of the Shingles, or perhaps the Shingles had been brought on by the Lyme's? Did I even have Shingles? Lyme's doesn't usually have a scabby, quarter-sized wound, but could it have been the problem all along? Right now I have more questions than answers, but the antibiotics have finally begun to lessen my headache in the last 12 hours, and I'm once again thinking that there's at least a decent chance that I'll live to see another spring turkey season. Of that possibility, I can't wait!

ps here, guys and gals: please take vigilant care regarding ticks! They are discovering all sorts of information about Lyme's and its potential health problems, as well as a number of other tick-borne diseases, and none of the news is good!! We just had a young girl in Indiana die a couple weeks ago from Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, and they just discovered yet another tick-borne disease that's supposed to be even worse than Lyme's. I've now had Lyme's twice and Ehrlichiosis once, and I hate ticks more than anything else on earth; in fact, I wish every single one of them would wither up and die a slow, lingering death. I really can't see any reason whatsoever for them to exist on this earth and share our air. As for what to do to lessen your chances of contracting one of these terrible and potentially lethal diseases? It's cheap and easy to make your own Permethrin spray for your clothes, and the stuff is very effective! Despite this one incident, Permethrin absolutely works...and works well! In the last four years I've watched ticks crawl up my clothing a few inches before starting to stumble around like they're drunk. Then, they roll over on their backs and their little legs curl up. Believe me, it's a wonderful sight to watch them die! So, do some research, make your own spray for pennies on the dollar of what you'd spend on store-bought tick spray, and keep your eyes pealed for ticks on your skin or the first physical signs that you might have been bitten. Early detection is of paramount importance in recovering from these terrible diseases. Good luck.
Last edited by hookspur on June 20th, 2017, 7:08 am, edited 20 times in total.
Fatmo
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by Fatmo »

Awesome season my friend! It was nice seeing you again... Get Well Soon!!! :struttin:
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vaturkey
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by vaturkey »

Awesome stories & pics ! Congrats on an awesome season Doc ! :thumbup:
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soiltester
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by soiltester »

Hey Doc .. don't ferget' to git' yer' shingles shot, when ya' git' a it older, like I did :salute:

Didn't I meet Trevor in Florida on one of my hunts??

How's the roof patch holding up in your ground blind??

Regardless, ya' sure had a great year and made many dreams of others, come true!! :thumbup: :cheers:

Congrats on a great season and may next year be even better and less effortless .. ya' ole' fart :lol: :LMAO: :stir: :stir:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
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hookedspur
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by hookedspur »

Sounds like an awesome season Doc
Congrats
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by MAK »

congrat's what a trip - great stories and birds.

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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by -DIRTNAP- »

awesome season and pics
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GobbleNut
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by GobbleNut »

Great stories and pictures, as always, Doc. Congrats on another fine year of gobbler chasing. Here's to a quick and full recovery from your "ordeal".
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guesswho
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by guesswho »

As always, well done!
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by timbrhuntr »

Always my favourite thread !
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RapscallionVermilion
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by RapscallionVermilion »

Another awesome season with great stories and pictures to tell the tale. Hunting with you and meeting the gang in your FL turkey camp was a blast. Hope you recover quickly.
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by trap4fur »

Great story
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by Shiloh »

Always enjoy your re-cap! Many years ago it kind of gave me the idea of following in your footsteps, but I wasn't too serious about it with a family and all. Now that I am 24 states deep I can't stop and maybe I can be the first guy to do it with a family of 5;) I was fortunate to hit 3 of the smaller states that you did. Wish I would've crossed paths with you in the northeast!! Looking forward to 2018!!
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by hobbes »

Congrats Doc on a great season. I was just looking for this thread yesterday morning. Thanks for posting.
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el diablo
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by el diablo »

Awesome season!!
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by Bigspurs68 »

Great spring!
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by Uncle Nicky »

I always look forward each June to reading your report Doc, looks like a great spring season once again. Congratulations!! :thumbup:
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by bullethead »

Doc, what another incredible season for you. I enjoyed all the stories and pics but the one with the Civil War grave was outstanding. Thanks for sharing.
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hookspur
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by hookspur »

Thank y'all. I would've included even more stories and pictures, but Photobucket totally screws my computer up and it deleted my thread once when the thing was almost done. It took me HOURS and HOURS and HOURS to get the thread finished, and I swear right here and now that I will NEVER go to Photobucket again!!!!!!! What do y'all use as alternatives for photo hosting sites?
Last edited by hookspur on June 6th, 2017, 7:53 pm, edited 1 time in total.
deerhunt1988
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by deerhunt1988 »

Very much enjoyed the stories and pics. Spending a few days working on the barn speaks a lot about your character. Congratulations on an incredible season!

As far as another image hosting site..I use http://imgur.com/
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by swampchicken »

Congratulations on one heck of a spring season!
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by OLE RASPY »

Congrats on some fine hunts. Working on that barn instead of hunting, hey that's great and it speaks of your character. Good deal. Thanks for sharing.
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firedup
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by firedup »

Great read and pics....as always! Another awesome year for sure! I haven't tried it yet but looking to go to this site. Hear that it is free and user friendly. Tired of photobucket as well.

http://tinypic.com/
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by hobbes »

I've used multiple hosting sites. I used to use imageshack, but they've changed and it isn't as functional. I then went to photobucket, but have abandoned them because it's nonstop adds. I've recently used tinypic, but it's similar to photobucket in that every time I try to load from my phone it pops up a "you need to download this app to protect your phone immediately". I use this site to host a lot of photos.
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Re: Hookspur's 2017 Season

Post by Hognutz »

Nicely done, Doc.
May I assume you're not here to inquire about the alcohol or the tobacco?
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