Wildlife Field Notes

More work

2009-05-06T11:17:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon,
Its been a while since I have been able to write. I have been busy with my work. I was able to go hunting one day last week. No luck , We heard one bird but once again the weather blew us out!
I have one decent bird to report, my Friend Richard Howald harvested a nice bird last week. With the rain it will probably be next week before I try again.
Till then, I hope you and yours are "just right"!

WORK Work work!

2009-04-17T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I am sad to report work has kept me away from hunting this week and It looks like it will be Next week before I can try again.
I have talked with several hunters and noticed some nice birds in The Chatham Star Tribune that were harvested already this season.
It is shaping up to be a good spring season in spite if the cool days and rain!
I spent part of the day in a tree thinning class today that the Virginia Department of Forestry puts on. They do a great job and are eager to help you manage your forest but they also have great programs to increase your wildlife including deer and wild turkey! Today they were covering Quail habitat. They are a well educated and nice bunch of men and women dedicated to preserving our great woodlands here in Virginia!
That's all the time I have for now, as always I hope you and yours are "just right!"

Round Two!

2009-04-13T18:39:00.001-07:00

Good evening!

I hope this blog finds you in a warm place!

Well let’s get to it! Toady was the second day of Spring Wild Turkey season here in the beautiful state of Virginia. It has been cool or down right cold all spring! On top of that, we have been blessed with a lot of wet “dreary days. “Dreary” is a term my Dear late Grandmother use to use to describe a day like today!

Back to the turkey story.....Bobby and I actually got started with today’s hunt late Sunday afternoon. We drove down to Halifax County in the late afternoon with the hopes of “putting a turkey to bed”. The purpose of such an exercise is to know with in a few hundred yards if a Tom turkey has roosted in the area to increase the chances of hearing and seeing a Gobbler the next day. Male turkeys have the distinct habit of gobbling up in the tree just after roosting; this enables us, the hunter’s slight advantage the next morning!

Well Sunday night we were blessed to hear two or three birds sounding off just before dark! We hastily set up Bobby’s portable blind for the next mornings hunt with great hope of success!

Once again 4:00 am came and I downed my fake rice crispies and quickly got dressed and Bobby and I headed south to Halifax County. We had anticipated a clear morning but the clouds and cool weather had already moved in. We arrived at the farm we scouted the night before only to find a man in a truck near the entrance to our farm. Strike one!

He informed us that he would be hunting the adjacent farm and from what he said it sounded like he might as well come and sit in my lap!

Well Bobby, always the optimistic one said, come on he’s not going to mess up my hunt, so off we went! We gathered up our gear and set off to our new “honey hole!”

It was breaking day light and we had just barely enough time to set out B – Mobile ( with his new “10 beard”) and henny penny and my two feather light decoys.

Bobby climbed into his blind” and I moved quietly into my pre determined place closer to the barb wired fence and the hardwoods next to the field where we had our decoy’s set up.

Daylight came quickly but it wasn’t the bright daylight we had hoped for, it was that dreary thing that we talked about earlier. Strike two; not prime conditions for Tom Turkeys to Gobble on the roost!

Well once again we waited and waited to hear that wonderful sound of a long beard gobbling his presence to the awakening world!

It was 7:AM and I hadn’t heard a peep and this time I knew the Toms were their!

All of a sudden I hear the most awful imitation of a barred owl that can be uttered by a human being! It was our buddy next door trying to entice a Tom to Gobble. Strike three, I thought! Not only that, he was headed in the direction of where we had located the birds the night before! What else could happen?

It was heading on to 7:30 Am a good hour after daylight and we hadn’t heard a bird.

So what did I do? I quietly went to my father in Heaven again and asked for a little help!

A few minutes went by and Tarzan of the jungle faded away and Bobby and I tried some of our best turkey calls to see if we could get anything,and I mean anything to happen!

Way off I heard that beautiful sound....Gobble Gobble Gobble . It was a Tom and he was showing a little interest! Well,we persisted in our serenade and then to our delight we heard another bird and he was closer. Then we heard two jakes (young Toms) sounding off too! It was turkey hunting heaven on earth!

Then way across the field another Tom sounded off and he had a little more respectable gobble than the others.

Now , please excuse me but this next part of the story is a little “hear say” because I could not see the bird from my position. My hunting partner for over 36 years tells me that all of a sudden the huge Tom appeared across the field. He was strutting and gobbling, spinning, putting on a real show,kinda easing up the field toward the decoys and the turkey calls that we were expertly “putting down”. If there is an “American Turkey idol” we would have stole the show! Well the old Tom suddenly noticed a couple of gentlemen escorting the ladies,old b mobile and my Jake decoy!

He started running up the field and just as he stopped and spun around about 25 yards from Bobby’s blind I heard another shot go off!

Well this time we have a little different ending, Bobby and I had fooled a twenty, two pound “hammer Tom” into a deadly love triangle and Bobby had made the perfect shot!

Once again our Heavenly Father had blessed his two sons with a hunt that we will never forget!

That’s all for tonight! We will try again Thursday! Till then , as always, I hope this blog finds you and yours “Just right”!

Opening day

2009-04-11T14:33:00.000-07:00

Good afternoon
Well, the big day came and went.... I remember getting up at 4:30 AM and jamming down a big bowl of fake rice crispy's, then to my surprise their was a knock at the door at 4:45 AM! My hunting partner was 15 minutes early!
Well thank goodness I had prepared the night before so all I had top do was spray down with bug spray and jump into my Camo! I love Camo, I love to say camo....
back to the story , we took off and traveled through the cool darkness to our pre determined hunting location. We knew exactly where we wanted to set up because we had hunted this farm the year before. I must mention that we had been fooled by two different Long Beards at this same location, so we were determined to not allow such a embarrassing thing to happen again!
We arrived before sunrise and walked through darkness to our site. We set up the decoys , my two feather lites and Bobby's "B Mobile" and real turkey feather hen decoy! ( by the way, she looks a little used, if you know what I mean!)
Then we waited ....the sun came up as we anticipated the hair raising on the neck sound of a male Tom Gobbling his location and intentions for all the rest of the woods to hear , and I might add take note of!
We then waited some more....and some more until after all of our sure fire methods of getting a Tom to gobble failed! We did not hear one single bird gobble on the roost! Well, we being the resourceful hunters that we are ....we did NOT take our decoys and go home. No ,we made all the excuses we could think of to help those poor non gobbling Tom turkeys out and then changed locations!
Then we changed locations again and again and by this time the winds had increased to what seems like ( to two guys Turkey hunting anyway) Hurricane force winds!
Once again we did not take our decoys and go home, we did what any self respecting opening day turkey hunter would do....we changes locations again to a well known " honey hole" of for those not up on turkey lingo , a heavenly populated turkey spot!
By this time the trees were laying over sideways and the time was 11:30AM!!
We proceeded to get out of the Rubicon jeep and do a circle through the hardwoods on the outskirts of a field with more of an scouting outcome in mind than actually calling up a Tom turkey
We had started calling as soon as we exited the jeep and we were just about to complete our short circle through the woods when all of a sudden a bird gobbled only 50 yards from us and he was coming fast!!! We had only time enough to sit down and call a couple of times when.... the bird showed himself way to the right of where we thought he was going to appear.
I heard a shot and like in slow motion a HUGE bird started rising vertically very slowly...I said to myself he is hit!! He continued to rising upward toward the tops of the hardwoods ... a big twenty plus pound Tom ,, so big it seemed as though he would never make it to the top of the tree canopy.
Well he did and the last I saw of him he was safely gliding away... a well educated and a better bird for it!
I am just happy that I could experience another great ." the one that got away story!"
My friend and I were a little sad, but in reality , our Heavenly Father made sure two friends had a day in the woods that neither will ever forget!
Thats all for now! as always I hope you have a wonderful Easter and Passover and everybody you know is" Just right!"

Getting Ready!

2009-04-10T15:18:00.000-07:00

Boy,
This day reminds me of when I was a little kid, waiting for Santa Clause or my birthday. I sure don't wait on my birthday anymore but I am about in a jerk about the opening day of spring gobbler hunting season.
I have my gear all ready to go , the alarm clock set and my hunting partner meeting me @ 5 am in the morning!
Ill let you know how things go!
Till then, I hope you and yours have a "just right" opening day!

Saturday report!

2009-04-06T09:41:00.001-07:00

Good Afternoon everyone!
Today the sun has just come out and its a glorious day! Just a few notes from this past Saturday; A dear friend of mine is an avid Turkey hunter and Va conservation officer.
He said he did some practicing with his new "Phantom"crystal call. He called in two nice birds Saturday between checking the trout streams and the youth Hunter.
He found one man who excitedly reported the first Long Beard turkey kill of his 8 year old son!
He said the father was more excited than his son!
Well thats all for now now, I hope this blog finds you and yours "Just Right"!

Long wet week

2009-04-03T15:43:00.000-07:00

Good evening,
Once again I was kept inside for most of the week because of work and weather! We have been blessed with a lot of rain and I hope that brings an abundant acorn mast crop this fall.
I did see one large long beard in Appomattox County this week. He was cruising along by himself in a field looking for bugs and listening for hens! He was a massive bird!
Don't forget to take a kid hunting tomorrow, its opening day for the youth hunters!
I have to show some farms to a gentleman coming in from Texas! Ill keep and eye out and an ear tuned to turkeys and will report any sightings!
Well, that's all for now. As always I hope this e mail finds you and yours " just right!"

Saturday

2009-03-28T12:41:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone!
Today started early! I drove south from Lynchburg through a cold misting rain to Gretna and then on to Leesville Lake to pick up my Polaris Ranger. I had a land tour scheduled to show some riverfront property in Halifax county. The day was dreary and I was not looking forward to showing land in such miserable conditions.
I picked up the Ranger crew and said a prayer asking My Heavenly Father to "please stop the rain, at least until I got through showing the property I had planned to show.
I continued on watching fields for strutting Tom's and deer and arrived at the place I was to meet my customers.
It was still spitting rain when my two gentleman showed up so I did my usual pre tour under the car wash next door to the meeting spot to protect us from the weather.
I finished and we continued on to the property.
When I pulled up to the tract of land I was to show the rain stopped! I unloaded the Ranger off its trailer and we proceeded to have a wonderful tour on some spectacular river front property in South Central Va.
The Lord had answered my prayer!
We spent about two hours exploring the property and saw about 5 to 8 White Tailed deer running out in front of us along the river front! They were beautiful!
We rode some more and stopped by a swing at the River, Looking over the river bottom My Heavenly Father gave me and my new friends a bonus, as my new friend looked around the frontage on the river he discovered a White Tailed Buck shed, then I spotted the other side.
My new friend had a treasure to take home as he is a deer hunter.
Well, That was it, I saw no Tom turkeys today, but I did witness our Heavenly Father be kind to one of his sons!
Thats all for now, as always I hope this blog finds yo and your's JUST RIGHT"!

Rain Rain go away

2009-03-26T12:01:00.000-07:00

Good Afternoon if you are a duck, not so good if you are a turkey or a man!
The weather has driven me inside for the most part for today. I will be headed down to Pittsylvania county this afternoon, Ill check out the fields and see if any Toms are escorting the ladies as they feed. ill let you know what if anything I see!
Till later, I hope you and yours are " Just Right"!

Virginia Wildlife notes

2009-03-25T18:25:00.001-07:00

Here are some notes from our friends @ Virginia Wildlife!
With the upcoming Spring Gobbler season, it's a great time to introduce a youngster or new adult hunter to the sport by getting an Apprentice Hunting License. Also, the special Youth Spring Turkey Hunt Day scheduled for April 4, 2009, is only 10 days away. An apprentice license can be purchased by a new hunter before successfully completing the Department's hunter education course. However, apprentice hunters are reminded they still have to comply with this education requirement before legally purchasing a state resident or nonresident basic hunting license. Be sure to check out the new Apprentice Hunting License video VDGIF has posted to its website. The video is an overview of how the new Apprentice Hunter program works. Watch the video and consider becoming a mentor to a friend or family member who's always wanted to try hunting.
I agree with our friends @ Va Wildlife, lets try and share our knowledge and love of Turkey Hunting with a son or daughter and or Friends kid! After all thats who taught me the love of the outdoors!
As always, I hope this blog finds you and yours "just right"!

Sentinel!

2009-03-24T19:03:00.000-07:00

Good day!
It has been a few great days of cool spring weather! I have observed a big Gobbler standing sentential over a huge gang of hens. I did not see him strutting BUT he looked like he was willing!
Two of my friends have reported seeing Toms strutting their stuff!
With Spring season only a few weeks away I will keep you posted!
Till then I hope you and yours are 'just right"!

Spring Time Coming

2009-02-09T14:20:00.000-08:00

Hello Everyone,
We have had a short spurt of Spring Time and my Thoughts turn to Spring Gobbler Season. I have not been able to spend a lot of time in the field due to lots of paperwork.
I will be giving up dates of visual and audible Turkey sightings! Stay tuned!.....

2008-11-04T09:59:00.001-08:00

Hello Everyone,
This week has been another beautiful one here in central Virginia. The Bucks are starting to start their single life and have for the most part left the Bachelor groups and are on the move looking for a new girlfriend!
It is still not PRIME chasing but the bucks here are moving looking for does and starting and maintaining scrapes and rub lines.
I was fortunate to harvest a nice 7 point buck Monday with the trusty White in line I have used for years!
Please let me know what you are seeing!
Until next time may your life be blessed with sunny days and the wind in your face!

What Im seeing

2008-10-24T17:46:00.000-07:00

Well, I have been blessed to spend several days in the woods this week. I have noticed that the bucks are still in Bachelor groups and the Rut looks to be a week or so off. I has noticed a couple of scrapes that have gone cold with no activity.
I have not witnessed any rub lines to speak of. My travels have been limited to central Va .
If you are seeing anything different please share it with me! The Virginia woods are a beautiful site to behold this time of year! I am thankful to a gracious Heavenly Father to be blessed to live and hunt in such a special place!

2008-10-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

Hello!

My name is James Davis. I have been in love with the outdoors since I was a small boy. I am blessed to spend a lot of my days in Virginia's beautiful country side working as a recreational land and farm Real Estate Agent and my free time hunting white tailed deer and Eastern wild turkey.

The purpose of this blog is to share with others my observations of the wildlife activity in the areas I visit to help sportsmen stuck in an office every day to have a feel for what stages the deer are in during the fall rut and turkeys mating stages in the spring.

I encourage others from other areas of Virginia to share what they are observing as well. If we pool this knowledge it will help all of us anticipate the games movement on our next hike or hunt.