wild turkey – The Outdoors Guy

April 21, 2016April 12, 2018

Turkey hunters out in full force

My Pembroke column is out in today’s paper for readers up the valley, or online for everyone else:

http://www.thedailyobserver.ca/2016/04/20/ontario-wild-turkey-hunters-prepare-for-lift-off

Daily Observer columnist Jeff Morrison offers up his take on the great outdoors.

Daily Observer columnist Jeff Morrison offers up his take on the great outdoors.

With Monday’s kick-off to the province’s wild turkey season, gobbler enthusiasts across the Ottawa Valley will be in hot pursuit of beards and spurs.

For thousands of wild turkey hunters next Monday (April 25th) marks the beginning of another coveted spring gobbler season. Thanks to successful reintroduction programs dating back 30 years ago, wild turkey populations across the province have reached sustainable levels. As we have witnessed over the past few years, there are more bird sightings than ever in the valley and around eastern Ontario, and the hunt is improving each spring. The glorious gobbler has evolved into one of the most prolific and tastiest games species around, so you had better get used to them!

Remember that it is illegal to pursue turkeys within 400 meters of any place where bait has been deposited, unless the place has been bait-free for at least one week. Bait is described as corn, wheat, oats or any other feed that may attract wild turkey or any imitation of such feed. Standing crops, crops stacked in accordance with normal farming practices and grain scattered as a result of normal farming operations are not considered bait. Following the rules is part of the game and it would be a shame to ruin a great hunt by pushing your luck.

Good luck to all the gobbler gurus’ out there and feel free to drop me a line with news from your area.

Fish, Hunt & Ride Mag, spring issue coming

Hunters, anglers and all-terrain enthusiasts await the arrival of the region’s favourite new magazine with baited breath. The spring issue of Fish, Hunt & Ride is just around the corner and, trust me; it’s bigger and better than ever. Now available at over 130 outlets across Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec FREE of charge, our exciting new issue features black bear, spring trout, steelhead, turkey filming, ATV events, shed antler hunting, fly-fishing tips, an informative interview with Ted Nugent and much more. By the end of the month you can pick up your copy of FHR in such towns as Barry’s Bay, Killaloe, Forrester’s Falls, Golden Lake and Madawaska up the Ottawa Valley, and across in the Pontiac, Fort Colounge, Gracefield, Low and all points in-between. For more information on where to find an outlet near you, check out our newly revamped website: http://www.fishhuntandride.ca.

Sportsmen Bragging Board

For truly patient sportsmen there is nothing more gratifying than a fulfilled adventure afield. Whether enjoying time in the woods or on the water with family and friends or out on your own, hunting and fishing adventures are among our most cherished memories. (Mine anyway.) One thing I’ve noticed all hunters and fishermen have in common is the excitement of sharing photographs – be they a traditional ‘grip and grin’ image of a big fish or a prized game animal, or more obscure items of interest in the ‘Great Outdoors.’ One time I snapped a photo of a mink, just as it ran across my hunting boot! I am looking for some of the best and most original photos captured a during hunting or fishing trip, for two Sportsmen Bragging Boards I’m working on: one here in the Pembroke Daily Observer and another one for FHR Mag. If you have some neat images you wish to share with thousands of like-minded individuals, please send them to me by email <[email protected]> along with a caption.

Being bear safe

When travelling in bear country this spring, be sure to keep your wits about you. When portaging up north during the trout season I always carry a can of bear spray and, although I’ve never used it, it is always at the ready! Statistics show there are a dozen or so bear attack attacks in North America each year, and some of them don’t end well. Bear spray can be purchased at local hunting and fishing stores and, keep in mind, that there may be some paperwork to fill-out. Bear spray will provide a bit of extra insurance when travelling in bear country this spring.

April 4, 2016

Trout or turkey, what be your pleasure?

Its Fins or feathers, folks???

Early Spring generally falls into two main categories for area sportsmen:

1) Trout

2) Or turkey

What be your pleasure? They’re both mere weeks away(even though it doesn’t feel like it)!!

Outdoorsguy

April 15, 2015

Ontario beards & spurs on the way!

With only 10 days left until Ontario’s 2015 spring wild turkey season gets under way, its a time that many hunters have been waiting for with baited breath!

Although I’ve been promising myself(& Keebler) that this year would be my year for turkey hunting, it didn’t quite happen, but next year for sure..I did take my turkey seminar almost 25 years ago, so I guess I’m due!

Every morning and evening I am taunted by ‘gobbler talk’ all over the place! I predict some good calling conditions ahead if this spring-like weather continues into late April.

What are your plans for turkey season and where are you headed?

For more on the 2015 wild turkey season, check out my Outdoors Guy column in this week’s Pembroke Daily Observer!

Gobble gobble!!

Outdoorsguy

June 19, 2013

Ottawa – treehuggingest City in the world!!

I have come to the conclusion that our once fair City has become nothing but a bunch of animal rights tree huggers and dicky-birders.

First it was the Barrhaven wild turkeys earlier this spring, and the whole City was abuzz. OMG, these irate wild birds are going to peck our eyes out!

And chaos ensued!

Then it was the Westboro squirrels, and the whole City was in an uproar. Evidently residents of this trendy, small-mammal hating part of town were live trapping squirrels and relocating them across the river to Quebec. (Because, of course, squirrels are considered ‘fur bearers’ and you cannot legally shoot them)

And chaos ensued! (They even started a bloody Twitter feed over it…)

And NOW, City of Ottawa naturalists are up in arms about a group of Jockvale Bridge barn swallows! What, a lowly bug loving barn swallow has thrown the proverbial wrench in a multi-million dollar bridge project??

That’s right, and you guessed it chaos ensued once again!!

For gawd’s sake people, I have barn swallows nesting in my trailer up in Cobden but HERE in the tree-huggingest City in the world, the barn swallow is considered Threatened??

How did the barn swallow make it on the threatened list now, you ask? (I was scratching my head over this one too) I mean, they’re not killing the swallows they’re simply removing the nests. There are plenty of other overhangs and clay left in the region to construct new ones.

As I explained during a chat this am on CHEZ 106 FM’s Doc & Woody Show, nowhere in the world is the barn swallow considered threatened except here in the tree-huggingest Province of Ontario..and being exemplified right here in the treehuggingest City of Ottawa!

My guess is that some Ottawa tree hugging Naturalist has confused Barn Owl with Barn Swallow…and placed them on an threatened list by accident. The Barn owl does, of course, appear on the Canadian Species at Risk list but nowhere did I find Barn Swallow.

Perhaps if I were to go outside and hug a tree reallllly hard, it would all come to me; in a flurry of emotion and clarity and this nonsense would somehow finally make sense!

Until then, think I’ll just crawl inside one of those Westboro live traps and get relocated to the QC side…

Outdoorsguy

April 30, 2013

Keebler's Wild Turkey Hunt

Our buddy Keebler enjoyed a nice start to his 2013 Wild Turkey season…check out the story of his hunt:

So my buddy’s land is in between 2 farms. The turkeys travel back and forth throughout the day, but don’t roost there so I opted for a late opening day hunt.

I set myself up and gave one hen assembly call. Normally I make a call, wait a minute or 2 so I can hear any responses then set up my camcorder.

That didn’t work this time. I was just reaching for my camcorder when I heard something walking. A bearded hen came out! I let her go – no sense shooting the poult breeder. She looked for turkeys, but didn’t see any (I didn’t use decoys) and she left.

I waited 3 minutes and assembly called again. Waited 5 more minutes and gave 1 gobble. Nothing in response whatsoever. Since I knew there was at least 1 turkey in the area, I didn’t set my camcorder on. No sense getting busted because I couldn’t see how far she had walked away.

Then I heard more walking coming from the direction in which the hen left. I turned my head cam on and waited.

And out stepped this beauty of a tom. I saw the beard, the redhead, my safety was off and I slowly moved my 12 gauge for a shot. He wasn’t fanned out…just walking with his head pivoting looking for the gobbler (which was me!) He stood there and took a few steps back the way he came, his head was up the entire time looking around. Bang, he was down instantly. 22 lbs 8″ beard 1.25″ spurs. Great colour to him.

Not bad for a 20 minute hunt…

Keebler

April 24, 2013

Ladies and gentlemen start your gobbling!

This Thursday marks the beginning of Ontario’s 2013 Spring wild turkey season – a week that many hunters have been waiting for with baited breath.

I predict some good calling weather ahead for the weekend.

What are your plans and where are you headed?

Drop me a line, and be sure to check-out this Thursday’s Ottawa SUN and Pembroke Daily Observer(now online) Outdoors Columns dedicated to the pursuit of this province’s favourite fowl!

Outdoorsguy

March 12, 2013

Barrhaven wild turkey mayhem

The soon-to-be viral video of two wild turkey ‘Jakes’ pursuing a woman in Barrhaven, reminds us all how well our transplanted residents are doing.

Wild turkey numbers continue to flourish in Eastern Ontario and so too does the hunting opportunities for North America’s largest feathered foul.

When April 25th arrives, turkey hunting enthusiasts will be out in full force in search of a bearded gobbler. Since only the male wild turkey is fair game during the spring season, Jakes (young males) and Toms (adult male) are the birds of choice for local hunters.

The problem with Barrhaven, of course, is the dreaded firearms “No Discharge Zone” which prohibits the use of any firearm; thus eliminating any opportunity of controlling bird numbers through a controlled harvest.

(City of Ottawa – firearms “No Discharge” Zone Barrhaven-area)

Ok, so you can’t hunt these Barrhaven birds. What then can you do to protect yourself from a wild turkey attack?

First off I would suggest, if confronted by an irate gobbler, be sure to protect your groin-area from an aggressive ‘peck’ or ‘ spur poke.’ Male gobblers have spurs they us a defense mechanism and to fight rival males during the spring mating season.

These spurs can be dangerous if you’re poked with one, although it certainly doesn’t happen very often. So, what is the likelihood of being jabbed in the groin or receiving a spur to some other part of your body?

Just about nil…you are much more likely to be attacked by the dog next door!

Let’s keep it in perspective here people. These are only birds, they are NOT western cougars, black bears or grizzlies. No one has ever been killed by a wild turkey according to my extensive research (Google)

Sure these birds may be a pain, but in all honestly are not really a threat to life or personal property. I know my neighbour’s complain that gobblers make a mess of their vegetable garden, but unfortunately if you live within the firearms ‘No discharge’ zone, there is little you can do to control them.

My neighbours put-up a ‘scare turkey’ which is basically a scarecrow for wild turkeys. From what I have seen, though, it does little to rid their property of wayward gobblers.

I say we just get used to them. I personally find them to be rather intriguing and neat to watch. (And they’re also darn good eating)

Perhaps a can of bear spray might come in handy for Barrhaven people who live in fear. Keep in mind that shops who sell Bear Spray may have you fill-out paperwork and you will probably be asked your intentions with regards to the product.

In the meantime, keep a hand over your groin and try to avoid these feathered bandits on residential streets.

And hey, don’t feel bad it could be worse. The town of Churchill, Manitoba has to deal with Polar Bears strolling into town each year!

WANT TO HEAR MORE?

Here is the segment from CHEZ 106 FM’s Doc & Woody Show: [esplayer url=”http://storage.ottawasun.com/v1/blogs-prod-media/151/37291/1363279819/JeffMTurkey2-1.mp3″ width=”250″ height=”25″]

Outdoorsguy

For a full appreciation of the size some gobbler’s spurs can get, check out the image Iggy sent me:

June 22, 2012

Early Summer a time of rebirth in the Great Outdoors

It sure is nice to see the Great Outdoors in a cycle of rebirth, and there is no better time to witness this transformation than during early summer.

Spring is often referred to as the time of rebirth and rejuvenation in the animal world, but this isn’t entirely true. The actual fruits of labour tend to come to fruition during late June – the early summer period.

The Wild Turkey, for example, is one of those creatures with a birthing period which falls around this time of year. Sure, the breading is carried during the spring, but following a 28-days gestation period the poults are born (all within 24 hours) and join the hen on a great new adventure.

This year, I was very fortunate to capture some images of new-born poults on my property no more than a couple of days following birth.

In this trail-cam image the newborn poults are barely recognizable scattered around the ground below her feet. If you zoom-in, you get a better appreciation of their size and appearance.

I find the newborn poults look like small woodcocks, actually, with a dull light brown-grey mottled appearance.

Wild turkeys are not the only animals having babies at this time of year. Although I am not a huge fan of raccoons, I did capture these night-time trailcam images of mom coon and her two young ones.

The below images of a doe and fawn in my back field were taken about 4 years ago, and remain some of the nicest wildlife pics I have taken personally. Unless you’re a full-time wildlife photog who spends days on end in the field, capturing images of a nursing fawn is a rarity indeed.

Although I have not captured any images this spring/summer of does’ and newborn fawns, I have seen a couple. One on my way to Cornwall a couple of weeks back, and the other morning I spotted a doe feeding on a nearby property, and as I watched her through the binoculars; her posture and mannerisms seem to indicate she may have a fawn hidden nearby( I will be watching her more closely over the next few days)

Without going into another long drawn sermon on the merits of trail cameras, I honestly don’t think I could live without them! Keep an eye on the Outdoors Guy Blog as the summer progresses; I will be testing out some new Bushnell Trail cameras. One revolutionary new model has all the features of the top surveillance cams, but retails for just over $100 from what I understand.

Thanks for stopping-by and have fun in the Great Outdoors this summer!

Oh yeah, and please feel free to send-in your early summer wildlife photos!

Outdoorsguy

Here’s one of Rick’s pics of a nice Tom turkey strutting his stuff for a nearby hen:

Here’s another one of Rick’s recent pics of some nice ‘twin bucks’. (This image is an exlusive for the Outdoors Guy Blog)

Here’s the photo(& story) of Bobcat Rick saw in NB back in 2008:

Jeff this is the only Bobcat I have been lucky enough to get on film. The picture was taken on July 27 2008 in New Brunswick. I have never seen a Lynx.

Here’s an incredible Lynx image( & caption) sent in by GPG….man, some guys have all the luck!! (Is it me or does that photo look like a classic painting??)

“Here’s a picture of the Lynx which was watching us from shore. We were on our way back from the evening hunt so it was taken at dusk. ”

Here’s another Bobcat pic sent in by Rick. This one was taken in Kemptville-area December, 2009. If I hadn’t known it was a Bobcat, I’d have said it was a Lynx…goes to show how similar they are.

April 26, 2012

Ontario Wild Turkey season feathers or no feathers

(Jaye’s pal Richard on his first successful turkey hunt)

(Jaye with the two gobblers they took this week)

This week marks the beginning of Ontario’s 2012 Spring wild turkey season – a week that many local hunters have been waiting for with baited breath.

Sure, there might be some turkeys out there without feathers, but do you think they really care what others think of them, or their sport?

How has the gobbler season been treating you since it opened yesterday? I predict better calling weather ahead for the weekend.

Drop me a line!

Outdoorsguy

Thanks to sure-shot dave for sending-in this wild turkey ‘success story’:

Turkey season opened last Wednesday. Ryan, Evan and I went out last Sunday morning to set up a ground blind and get things ready. I headed out for opening morning, it was really windy and tough calling conditions. I saw one big tom across the cornfield, but he didn’t pay any attention to my calling. He either didn’t hear me, or I suck at it in his view.

Got out Friday morning, still really windy and I was telling myself I should have just stayed in bed. Not exactly optimum hunting conditions. On my walk in I convinced myself that you can’t kill a turkey from your bed. Who knows what will happen. Set out the decoys and settled in to wait for legal light. Did some calling and didn’t hear any gobbling going on at first light. About 6, I thought I heard a gobble from the wood lot next to me. I did some excited calling, hoping that he would hear me even though he was upwind. A few minutes later I could see a turkey in the cornfield. He was about 100 yards out but slowly heading my way. I called again and he gobbled right away. For the next five minutes he half strutted his way to me. He never went into full strut, just fanned his tail a little and gobbled. He closed the gap to about 30 yards and finally spotted my decoys on the other side of the fence row. As he was making a beeline towards them I raised my gun and clicked off the safety. When he stepped out of the fence row, 1 ¾ oz of no. 6 shot met him there. He didn’t have a chance. 20lbs, 9.5” beard with 1” spurs. My best bird so far.

Saturday I took Evan and Cameron up to the camp to gather the firewood I cut over the winter. We spent a few hours doing that and watching for deer. Evan is always shooting animals when we are out there. He should fit in to the Sure Shot camp well! The winter was fairly easy for the deer, so there should be good numbers again this fall. I put the trail cameras out so soon enough we’ll know what’s out there. I did see a buck with antlers started already on my way home from work last week so I guess they’ve started growing their racks.

Sincerely, sureshot – dave

March 24, 2011

Wild turkey hen sure sign of Spring

(Thanks to Mrs Outdoors Guy for snapping this great photo!)

This morning, a fine-looking wild turkey hen strolled through my backyard in all her feathered glory.

Ahh, God love her, I’ll take it as a sign!

Ok, let’s recap: The Sportsman Show has already come and gone, the sap has started to flow, all the snow is gone from the roof of my house and now a wild turkey hen appears in my back yard….hmmm

Is it just me, or has spring really arrived?

You gotta love this time of year. Next all the snow will melt away, winter tires will come off, ice will soften and break-up on the river and lakes, the trilliums and wild garlic will begin sprouting through the forest floor..

Followed closely by trout and turkey season, one mustn’t forget that..

Next to Fall, Spring has got to be the best season..and hey, it took just one lowly hen turkey to remind me of that.

Outdoorsguy