Do not wake the bear...

...from his mid-mornin' nap in the turkey woods by runnin' past his head at less than three yards. Might getcha an enema of Remington Premium 5's.

Birthday beer

My girl is gettin' good at birthday presents. Reckon she's been takin' lessons from CenTexTim.

Matt does it again

Saturday was a good day for Matt... He found this ol' longbeard about 100 yards away from where he shot his first spring gobbler several years ago. He took a warm-up shot at a jake earlier in the mornin', so he was good and dialed in when two longbeards showed up a bit later. The bird weighed in at 22lbs with an 8-3/8" beard and 15/16" spurs. Intrepid Bear Track guides Scrawny and TJ keep him in line for a Kodak moment.

Dead turkeys and a rise from dormancy

I can't think of a better reason to bust out of my bloggin' funk than my favorite time of year... Spring Gobbler season. Still, I managed to put off any posts until I opened my e-mail yesterday and saw I got some hate mail from CenTexTim, demandin' to know that I was still alive. Of course, it helps to have a real computer at my fingertips for once, thanks to Jaclyn.

So, here I am... didja miss me?

•••

We're almost through the first week of spring gobbler season, and we've had a blast so far. I took my young buddy Daxton out on the youth hunt the week before, and although we weren't able to put the smack down on an ol' longbeard, we had several close calls and the lad had a good time, which was the overall goal.

Due to the joys of work, I managed to miss last Saturday's opener for the first time in my huntin' career. I gotta say, that was a pretty rough day and my head was definitely not on my work. Thankfully, Joe and Ron picked up the slack with a slammer gobbler and a jake, respectively.

Ron's Jake, no specs given
Joe's slammer longbeard - 22.5lbs, 11.5" beard, 1 3/8" spurs

When I got hired at the new job, I told my boss-to-be (who has turned out to be a first-class prick; more on that later) that I would be unavailable the first week of May. Amazingly, he honored that request, so I rolled into camp Monday evenin' after tendin' to some things around the house that needed done. I hunted two mornings with Wade with some decent action, but no real close calls. Dad and Cousin Danny came up Wednesday mornin', and Danny promptly put the smack-down on a jake.

Danny's Jake - 15lbs, 4.5" beard, 1/2" spurs

Yesterday, I went on a solo mission and was covered up with longbeards all day, and managed to miss a tough shot at a gobbler with the black-powder gun. Had I my regular baby with me, it woulda been a different result, but I'm bound and determined to whack one with that muzzleloader. Overall, we've seen lots of birds, had some pretty good action and heard a shit-ton of gobblin'... not to shabby of a vacation so far.

For the rest of my stay, I'll be behavin' as a guide... the fine folks from Bear Track Outfitters, hosts of our excellent Wyoming trip in October, decided to venture out and try their luck at some Pennsylvania spring gobblers. It'll be a fantastic time for sure, and hopefully I'll get my shit together and get some birds in front of our guests.

Oh, and I took this picture when Wade and I were traipsin' around the mountain yesterday... I thought it was kinda nifty, so I'll throw it on here for ya.

That's enough for now... I'll have access to a computer for the rest of the week, so I won't kill ya with a novel in one fell swoop. Besides, there's beer to be drank, food to be eaten and scoutin' for turkeys to be done.

Winterfest Pictures

Jaclyn and I wreckin' shop in the kitchen

There was a ton more food yet to show up...

One of our landowners, Jeff Smith with Ron.

What was left of my little brother Joe's excellent deer steak.
He might be an airhead, but he can cook.

Ron givin' out some door prizes.

Joe and Spangler followed the splittails all night. Whodathunkit?

Winterfest

Another Winterfest come and gone....

Our annual trek up to Ron's house for his Winterfest party yielded the usual awesome food, ample adult beverages and tons of laughs and good times. This was the 7th official year that he's hosted the party, basically a mid-winter cure for cabin fever. Lemme tell ya, if you go away from Winterfest hungry, sober and angry, it's yer own damn fault. Plenty of good stories told, and we even had time for a low-stakes game of Hold-'em.

Even though some of us were nursin' hangovers this mornin', we spent the afternoon blowin' shit up. A buddy of ours had a clay-bird thrower and figgered we outta burn some gunpowder. It's a damn shame that I wasn't prepared for that kinda thing, or I woulda brought more guns and ammo to play with. As it was, we had five shotguns and four pistols at our disposal, so we made the most of what we had. Wish I'da had the foresight to take some video and pictures, but shit happens. Regardless, we had a damn good time.

A weekend well spent in  food place with good friends... never a bad thing.

Wednesday Grind

As much as I hate to do it, my Wednesday and Friday music segments are gonna have to get tabled for the foreseeable future. Postin' links and video are a bitch to do on this phone, which is currently my only source of internet. I also don't have reception at the new job for the rare occasion of havin' nothin' else to do, and by the time I get home, I have other things that need attention.

I'm just as bummed as the two of you are, trust me. I love me some good heavy shit on a Wednesday.

In the meantime though, the fine folks over at GGDF can sate your metal desires...