Morning

Cold and silent, Morning stirs

Eyes still closed, beginning to think about opening

A cold wind blows down the hill and then fades.

In the stillness a deeper chill sets in, her eyes begin to open/

The big pines cut through the dim sky,

dark, still, black sentinals silently suggest she is near.

An owl speaks to the night asking that dark mistress to stay.

A woodpecker shatters the owls plea and all the forest knows she will soon come./

Then she opens her eyes.

A coyote rushes to find a dark hole to crowd into.

A chipmunk chirps again and again in his impatience for her embrace.

Her fiery gaze lights the tops of the tall pines on fire./

All the creatures of the day come to meet her.

An elk barges through the forest following his harem

His crown lit with orange flame.

Aloof in his glorious realm ./

Then she kisses me.

Warm at first on my cheek and then on my lips.

She cozies up to me and whispers coyly,"I want to show you something".

And then she kisses me again./

Then she is passed

and day appears

Morning is gone./

Cooking My Wild Turkey

So once I had everything in the freezer, I was able to think about what I wanted to do with my bird. I had already decided to cook the bird without disguising it too much. When I butchered him it was pretty clear to me that it was fine meat that would taste good. I had left the meat in the freezer for a couple of months waiting for an opportunity to share my bird with the family. My mother in law was very interested in trying it out, since she'd never had wild turkey before. I defrosted the turkey in the fridge over a couple of days. The first dish that I wanted to make was a boned drumstick wrapped in bacon and stuffed with turkey stuffing. This effort turned out to be a disaster. Here's what I did. I cut the meat of the drumstick down at the tendons and then worked the meat off of the bone so that I had a small rectangular slab of meat. Then using a knife I picked out all the tendons and fine bones in the meat. This job was very time consuming and I missed one of the tendons while doing this. I whipped up a little turkey stuffing from a pre-seasoned box that I bought at the store. Then laying some of the stuffing on the meat, I rolled up the meat with the stuffing inside. After that, I took some turkey bacon and wrapped the whole thing in bacon. Once it was all wrapped up, I secured the roll with toothpicks. I took the two wraps and put them in the oven. When it came out, the turkey meat was gray and dry and shriveled, the bacon wasn't crispy, the toothpicks had popped out and the stuffing had squirted out of the rolls. Needless to say, I wasn't very happy with this result. I'm not sure I will do this again, but if I do, I'll pre-cook the bacon some so that it ends up crispier. Also, I used turkey bacon for my bacon, which was a mistake. Next time I will use real bacon. Second I would use butcher's string to tie my rolls shut instead of the tooth picks. In addition, I might use a higher temperature in the oven to sear the bacon on the outside without over-cooking the turkey meat. After this failed experiment I was a little worried about cooking the rest of the bird. I loaded the rest of the meat in a cooler and went over to the in laws to cook the rest of it. I decided to cut everything into strips coat it in seasoned breading and fry it in olive oil. The thighs felt a little tough from the freezing so I de-boned them and pounded them with a meat hammer before cutting them into strips. I took a couple of strips along with the wings and put them on the BBQ to see what would happen. The wings turned out very tough and the strips on the BBQ were dry. The rest of the bird was fried up and the result was very good. My niece had never had wild game food before and is a very picky eater. She ate more than I've ever seen her eat, without complaining. It always really pleases me to see how the kids go after the game meat I bring home. It is a special treat for them, as it should be, and it makes me proud to bring it home and share it with them. There is no ick factor like with a lot of adults that have never had game meat. There was plenty for everyone with four adults and four kids. The thigh meat was a little tougher, but not bad. Also, I think the thigh meat had a fuller flavor, which was very nice. The breast meat was very tender and tasty. I had left overs to share with some of my co-workers who expressed an interest in trying it. They weren't as receptive as the family, but none of them failed to finish what they took. I asked a guy I work with what he thought of it just now and he said it was ok, but that he was surprised and a little let down by the ordinariness of it.

Funny Map

I like looking at maps and think that its funny when someone messes up. Of all things maps should be as accurate as possible. Here's a funny one that I found online recently.

Butchering My Bird

Once I got my turkey to my dad’s house, I had already planned on skinning and butchering the bird into manageable pieces. I had originally planned enchiladas because reports from more than one source said wild turkeys were gamey and dry. When I pulled the breasts off the bone, after skinning the turkey, it became obvious to me that the meat was far too tender and succulent to hide it in enchiladas. I hung my bird up by its feet at my folks house and cut the second joint of the wings off and saved the wings for the feathers, since I like to tie flies for fly-fishing. Then I removed the beard by pulling on it and cutting off the skin to which it was attached. I put the beard in with the wings. Then I skinned it, starting at the knee joint and peeling the skin away from the leg. I put a relief cut on the inner leg to get the skin away from the drum sticks. Once I got past the legs the skin became easier to remove because there was a gelatinous fatty layer under the skin. I pulled the skin over the drum stick like portion of the wing and then down over the head. At that point the neck was exposed and I cut the neck off. After the skin was off I cut the tail feathers off and put the meaty parts of the tail fan in a box with borax along with the beard and wings. I left the box at my folks house for my dad to ship to me later. Once the bird was skinned I cut the legs off at the knees and put the legs in with the feathers I'd saved. I then took the carcass and washed it well in the sink, picking off some of the fatty tissue and getting all the down off that floated onto the meat while skinning it. I carved the breasts off the body and cut the thighs and drumsticks off as well. I cut the wings off the back. Then I put the wings and the back in a one gallon zip lock bag, the breasts in another and the thighs and drum sticks in a third. I stowed the zip lock bags in my mom's freezer and bought a small cooler from Wal-Mart. The next day I took the frozen meat, packed it with some blue ice packs and lined the cooler with newspaper. I strapped duct tape around the cooler and checked it for my flight home. When I got to the other end the cooler came off the luggage carousel and broke open the duct tape, spilling my frozen meat all over. I re-packed it and was on my way home. Next time I’ll strap more duct tape around the cooler. Next installment cooking my wild turkey.

Field Dressing a Wild Turkey

So after all your hard work learning how to hunt the birds, you've just shot your wild turkey. What now? I'm not sure what the right way to do it is, but I can tell you how I did it. After killing my bird I carried it out to the truck over my shoulder like you see in the books. I think there must be an easier way to do it since my grip was cramping halfway back and the wings spread out making the bird very awkward to carry. In addition I got blood all over my backpack as it dribble out the holes in the bird’s neck. Next time I might try something different to carry the bird back to the truck, although I'm not sure what that is yet. On the other hand maybe I just need to cowboy up and carry that bird out the way God intended. Anyway, I didn't expect that much blood. I put down my game bag and a tarp to protect my dad’s truck from the turkey blood. Later, he said I shouldn't have done that because game blood in the bed of his truck would be an improvement. When I got back to camp I pulled out the camp trash can and plucked the feathers around the vent area of the bird. I was surprised by how much dandruff my bird had in its feathers. I cut the abdomen open from the vent about two inches towards the breast and then using that opening tried to carefully cut all the way around the vent. I remember this was very difficult at the time and I ended up nicking the large intestine while cutting around the vent. I was very careful to not get any of the green gunk from the intestine on anything and then after carving out the vent and starting to pull out the guts the intestine along with the gunk came out of the bird and didn't really get on anything but the guts. Next time I'll be more careful. Once that first set of digestive organs were out, I cut along the original two inch slit another two inches or so up so I could get my hand inside the body cavity. I was struck by how hot it was inside the bird. Once I could get my hand in, I started pulling out the rest of the organs. I would carefully work something loose by feeling around in there and pull out what ever I could get my hands on. I tossed the liver in the trash and my dad was really disappointed. He wanted to cook up liver and onions on the spot and have a little mini feast. Since I had tossed it in the trash it had feathers all over it and I was afraid that the other stuff in there may have contaminated it. Next time I'll save it. I was a sizable piece of meat and I'm sure it would have been very good with onions. The reason I had tossed it in the first place was that the bile duct looked like it would be hard to get off without getting bile all over the liver. In retrospect I don't think it would have been that hard. Someone hard warned me that while cleaning the bird it would smell awful. With my bird this couldn't have been further from the truth. Most of the time I didn't really smell anything, since I was expecting a horrible smell this surprised me and I really opened up and took a good whiff right in the body cavity. The smell was very faint, far less odor than a regular store bought turkey. The smell was rather pleasant like butter. After digging out all the organs I really felt around and got a couple more things from near the spine that where hiding up in there I think they were the lungs. I took some paper towels and sopped up the blood that had pooled in the body cavity and tossed the towels in the trash. Then I put some ice in there and shook it up and then dumped the ice and repeated. Then I took some more paper towels and dried it out in there again and tossed the paper towels in the trash. Then I stuffed as much ice as I could into the body cavity wrapped the whole bird in my game bag and let it sit in the shade while I waited for my dad to come back from his hunt. The air temperature that morning was probably around 40 degrees F. When my dad got back about an hour and a half later, I drained the water from body cavity and stuffed in more ice. Then I wrapped it up again in the game bag and put the package into a trash bag. We drove to the nearest town about 45 minutes away and bought a foam cooler and some ice. We put our camp food in the foam cooler and then put the bird in the big cooler with ice for the trip home. I think putting ice in the bird’s body cavity was a good idea, but if you’re going to have your bird mounted, you'll want to remove it and dry out the cavity with towels after the bird cools off because when the ice melted the feathers got wet and would have not looked good on a mount. I hadn't planned to have my bird mounted because my wife wouldn't have liked a mount on display as it doesn't fit the decor of our home. Once the bird was in the cooler I felt good about the 3 hour trip back to my parent’s house. Don't miss my next post "cleaning and butchering the turkey". I'll try to get the pictures from my mom.

From the Sound of the Shot to the Table

One of my biggest worries before I began my first hunt was what to do once I finally killed a wild turkey. I had no idea then that I'd have a long time to think about it. For those of you who may be just beginning, I'll relate in a series of posts my experience with the wild turkey I killed from the time I shot it to when my family ate it. Of the different animals that I've hunting since beginning this journey into becoming a hunter, I have been able to kill two other game species. My first kill was a pheasant in South Dakota. That trip was a wonderful beginning to my experience with preparing and eating game birds. I had no idea at all what to do and I got a lot of practice during that afternoon. All of my cousin Hobart's family and extended family from South Dakota converge on his three section farm that he hobby farms specifically for rasing game. That year was the best year for pheasant in 10 or 15 years and everyone limited out. We set up an assembly line operation cleaning the birds. With 8 dedicated people on the line and everyone else supporting the operation it took us about an hour to clean all the birds. I was lucky enough to get to participate in all aspects of cleaning the animals and after going through that many birds any feelings of grossness had turned into weariness. The other game animal that I've had the pleasure of cooking is mourning doves here in Arizona. After doing the pheasants the doves were fairly easy to figure out. Having these experiences before I finally got my bird really helped me. In my next post I'll talk about after the kill and field dressing my bird. Keep in mind these posts will address what I did with my bird. I can't tell anyone what is the best thing to do since I have only had this one experience. Hopefully, I will be able to experiment and come up with new and better ways of cleaning and cooking future wild turkeys.

Getting into the Sticks

Bush whacking through forest even when it’s not that dense is really slow and difficult. It’s tough to get into thick woods away from the roads. According to some of the stuff I've read online, that is where the birds are. It would stand to reason that turkeys, as twitchy as they are, would like to be away from the hustle and bustle of the dirt roads and in the back country. The issue with that, especially in the areas that I hunt is the lack of water in the back country. The mountains of New Mexico can be pretty dry in drought years. Creeks will sometimes completely cease to flow much of the summer. What is left for the forest animals are muddy cattle tanks. Even some of these sources of water can go dry during bad years. Much of the national forest in New Mexico is leased for cattle grazing so cattle tanks with water will often have cattle near them. Generally the better tanks will be near roads and those roads will be maintained for the cattle leases. In addition, cattle tanks that don't hold water still had to have been built with heavy machinery, so at some time there had to be a road to it. Once a road is built people often find other uses for it so they are often maintained even if the cattle tank doesn't hold water. The result is that everywhere there is reliable water there are almost always roads as well. My dad and I have done our fair share of bushwhacking through thick woods as much as 3 miles from passable roads, but haven't found much in the way turkeys due to (I think) the lack of water. In places that I've been where there is plentiful water everywhere it seems like the turkeys are hard to find and I don't see much sign. Maybe this is due to the turkeys spreading out over a wider area, but it seems more like they just aren't around to me. Needless to say, it is really hard to hunt turkeys that you can't find. I bet if I could find a forgotten cattle tank that holds water, with its road un-maintained and 2 miles from the nearest good road, the place would be crawling with turkeys. Cattle tanks that hold water are important resources for ranchers in the dry country I hunt, so I don't think it’s likely I'll find such a place with out looking long and hard.

My Biological Grandfather Died

I never met my bio grandfather. My mother was adopted by my "actual" grandfather who died last year. It does make me wonder though, what gifts and curses I was given through my genes by my biological grandfather. My mom's half sister contacted her ten years ago or so and wanted to meet my mom and have her visit my bio grandfather. I saw a picture of him fishing. I think someone told me he liked to fish. The man was for sure not well thought of in my family. His new family, that my mother met, seemed to have thought better of him. It always seems like there are two sides to a person, but I have a hard time over looking certain things, like fathers (or mothers for that matter) leaving their children and wives to fend for themselves. I sure hope he didn't leave me the leave your family gene. I hope that I got the straighten up your act and stay with your family gene from my dad. So far it seems like that's the one I got. Anyway, if you can see me now Grandfather, next time I tie one on, it'll be for you.

Strange Smells at the Latrine

I know what you’re thinking. There's a lot of smells at the latrine and most aren't "strange". On the drive up to our campsite my dad had thrown a fresh roll of TP in the dry goods box. During the trip the soy sauce had leaked all over the toilet paper. The next day, while out for my constitutional, I caught the unexpected and clearly identifiable smell of the soy sauce. It was very surreal until I figured out what was going on. I told my dad the story and he took it a step further, by suggesting that the attendant at high end restaurant bathrooms should offer soy sauce. "Excuse me sir, can I offer you some soy sauce." It struck me as really funny and for the rest of the trip we offered each other soy sauce before heading out with the shovel. So the year passes and the fall hunt comes. After the hunt I stopped by my folks to take a shower before heading home. I noticed that a bottle of soy sauce had been placed on the bathroom counter with a towel discreetly wrapped around the base. At first I was confused, but then I remembered. They about had to take me away in a stretcher I laughed so hard.

Archery Vs. Shotgun

Before I begin this post I want to make it clear that I respect other peoples sport and as long as it’s legal and ethical I wish everybody a happy hunt. We all make personal choices about the style in which we hunt. With that said, here is my take on bow hunting for turkey. Before my first hunt most of the information I had came from a book called "Some Turkey Scratchings" by Dwain Bland. It’s a good book with a lot of interesting stories and information. In the book Dwain talks about Archery hunting for turkeys. He doesn't say very favorable things about it. He like me isn't against bow hunting for turkey per se. The reason there is any question is that the turkey has a very small vitals area. Combine this with the fact that the vitals are in an unusual place and you have a very difficult shot to make. I have been to the archery range many times and am sad to say that William Tell or Robin Hood would not be proud. That’s not to say that there aren't many very good archers hunting, but the majority of people that I've seen shoot don't have the ability to make an ethical shot on a turkey under reasonable circumstances, myself included. If you are one of the few people that can make the shot, well ok, have at it. Even amongst the folks who think they can make the shot, there are some that probably can not perform when put to the test. There are several reasons why people bow hunt. One reason is it opens opportunities. Here in Arizona the fall turkey season has over the counter licenses for bow hunting turkey. Another reason people bow hunt is to practice a stronger fair chase ethic. Third, people sometimes bow hunt because it is a more pure form. Ethically, I would submit that the shotgun is a better choice because you are more likely to make a clean kill. As far aesthetics, I think the shotgun is again a better choice because it is difficult to draw a bow while turkey hunting without the use of a ground blind. While I have nothing against blinds from an ethical standpoint, I think they contradict the pure form that archery brings to hunting. There is a special broadhead that can be used to make headshots. It is two rasor blades configured in a three inch wide "X". Either you hit the turkey and it is decapitated or you miss, making for a much cleaner kill, thus a more ethical shot. The problem with this broadhead in my opinion is again aesthetics. This broadhead seems practical, but not pretty.

When I told everyone about killing my first turkey last spring many of my non-hunting friends asked me if I had done it with a bow. When I said, “no I used a shotgun", my friends said, "oh" and the tone suggested that of less achievement. I wonder if my choice of weapon isn't influenced by peer pressure from my non-hunting friends. I've many times heard non-hunters say such and such uncle is a serious hunter because he uses bow only. When it comes to turkey hunting my gut says that the bow is the wrong choice. I really feel like I'm respecting the animal more when I use my shotgun.

Using Decoys

I have never used decoys while hunting wild turkeys. I've mentioned before how important hunting safely is to me. I've always thought that having a decoy around while making turkey sounds was a bad idea. I've read about people blasting decoys. Chances are that if someone shoots your decoy that they aren't going to hit you, but some guy taking a wild snap shot without knowing where I am freaks me out a little. Lately I've been reading blogs and forums about turkey hunting. I notice a lot of people consider it almost cheating to use a decoy. I don't think its cheating, but if I had known that it was effective, I might have tried it. I learned from turkey hunting forums that some guys used them extensively early in their turkey hunting careers. Later they didn't use them due to the bulkiness in carrying them around, hassle of setting them up and general no need to, because their calling and woodsman skills had improved to a point where decoys became obsolete. I still am concerned about the risk associated with hunting over decoys. I probably would try them if I was hunting on private land though.

How to Prepare for Hunting While in the Cubicle at Work

Many of us are not lucky enough to get out to the turkey woods every day. It can be very difficult to prepare for your hunt while working in a cubicle. Here are some tips that can be helpful. 1. Practice soft clucking and purring while typing up reports. If anyone comes into your cube and asks if you heard that noise, sit very still, don't speak or even move your eyes. If the "turkey" leaves shaking her head, you can assume that she didn't bust you. 2. Camouflage isn't just for home use. Wear your gillie suit to the staff meeting and try to blend in with the white board. Don't worry, the 3D nature of a gillie will subdue your outline. If your boss asks your co-workers during the meeting why you're not there, then you have succeeded and may reveal yourself. 3. Stalk a co-worker. Use cubicle aisles and file cabinets as cover. Remember as in the woods, being busted by other "animals" is likely to end your stalk. Use a rubber band to "kill" you're trophy. 4. Stay fit by climbing poles G4-G11, add poles as your fitness level increases. 5. It is also important to hone your camping skills. Be sure to practice for camp farting contests. Length and loudness is what gets you on the scoreboard. Character and odor will only get you bonus points. If you practice these tips you will be sure to bag that trophy longbeard this spring!

Bill Heavey

I get two magazine subscriptions. One is Scientific American, the other is Field and Stream. What a strange thing it is to be friends with someone you don't know. I guess to truelly be "friends" with someone they have to have met you. When it comes to Bill though, if he showed up at my camp in the spring he'd be welcome. His writing is very genuine. Bill is very open about his triumphs as well as his failures. This morning, I read a story in his new book If You didn't Bring Beef Jerky, Then What Did I Just Eat. Yet again I'm almost brought to tears by Bill's writing. Sometimes its tears from laughing so hard, as in the his fly fishing vs. spin casting article. Sometimes its a tragic story like the one I read today about mowing his neighbors lawn. No matter what the story is, it is always real. So Bill, if you are one of the five people who will read my blog (I know, five people seems a stretch) then I'd like to extend to you an invitation to come out and hunt Merriam's in New Mexico with my dad and I. If you accept you will be the only other taker out of about 10 people that I've invited. Hope to hear from you soon.

Gear

My wife and I each have 40 bucks a week to cover stuff we want. This includes Thirstbusters, lunch at work, guns, and climbing gym membership. The money doesn't go far, so I only buy what I really need. Here are some of the things I have. For me versatility is paramount. The L.L. Bean camo goes over shorts or winter jackets. I can wear it in the heat, cold, rain, or whatever. It hides me like a gillie suit, but is super light and easy to move in. My Browning BPS kills everything I hunt. My Etrex was cheap and gets me anywhere I need to go. The only hunting gear I want right now is a wool black watch cap. Give me some warm cloths, granola bars, boiled eggs, Nalgene water bottles, ammo and a box call and I'm ready to go.

Counterfeit Turkeys Are Being Passed Around

Several years ago in New Mexico a test flock of Rio Grande sub-species turkeys was released near the Rio Grande at a wild life refuge. The flock did really well the first three years or so and then the numbers plummeted. I don't know if those few stragglers made it through, but I don't think that there were any more plans to release any more. I was talking about this with a friend of mine and he told me that his buddy had seen lots of turkey sign and tracks by the Rio Grande in Albuquerque. Thinking that there may be some opportunity to hunt turkeys closer to town I looked into the possibility that the old Rio Grande flock might have made a come back. I went down to the river and after very little poking around found some tracks and sign. Still somewhat sceptical I looked in my New Mexico animal tracks book to see what might be going on. What I found was that a Sandhill Crane and a Wild Turkey have very similar tracks and scat. To make matters worse the "J" shaped tukey sign looks just like crane sign. Here are some pictures that I found on the internet. I couldn't find any pictures of crane scat.

Scouting

I live in Phoenix now. When I started hunting turkeys, I lived in New Mexico. The first place we went that fall in 2001 was part of the Sacramento Mountains range in New Mexico. After moving to Arizona I wanted a place to hunt where I could meet my dad halfway. To get to the Sacramentos from Phoenix is about a 10 hour drive. As it turned out, about a year after getting to Phoenix my Jeep Grand Cherokee started becoming unreliable and I started flying to Albuquerque to meet my dad. The move to find a new spot to hunt was very beneficial to us though. The place where we started hunting in 2001 was not bad, but it wasn't great either. In scouting for a new spot we have looked in a lot of areas. The exercise left us with a better understanding of turkey habitat and reading sign. Here are a couple of things that I've found. An area can be pretty dry, but there must be a source of water that is available every day. The quaility of water is important and turkeys tend to not drink as much from murky water. Old sign doesn't mean that turkeys are in the area. They may like that area for some reason, but probably have vacated it or found greener pastures if there isn't fresh sign. In areas where the geography allows it, Merriams turkeys will migrate from higher altitudes to lower altitudes in the winter. This migration results in an area being great one season and terrible the next. Of course certain spots tend to hold more birds on average, but might be weak some years. Good Merriams habitat contains a couple of things other than a stable water source. First and most important is Ponderosa Pine. There needs to be plenty of Ponderosa. Pole sized Ponderosa is dense and creates a good source of food for Merriams. Medium sized more mature trees are used for roosting. Besides ponderosa I have noticed a lot of live scrub oak. The live scrub oak provides a mast product for turkey during mast years, but there has to be another food source during off years. In the areas that I hunt this is alligator juniper. In dry years I've seen turkey sign that is filled with juniper seeds. You can tell its Alligator Juniper because the scat is purple like the ripe berries. I don't think that one sead juniper is as important, because areas with one sead don't seem to hold as many birds. There also seems to be a kind of holly in areas with a lot of turkeys. I don't know why, but its something I've noticed. These things in my opinion are the main components of turkey habitat in New Mexico. I have seen vast Ponderosa forests that don't seem to have a lot of birds in them. I think that the mixed Juniper and other plant diversity is important.