Post your Hunting/Fishing Pics

Ut, it was a pretty good size, we couldn't decide if it was a boar or sow so we just let it go.

 

10" beard is good sized mature bird IMO...were the spurs curved or straight?

https://www.biggamelogic.com/Articl...leView/articleId/438/Aging-A-Wild-Turkey.aspx

 

After a week of very little action I harvested this jake and was darned happy to do so lol

 

Cut the breast into bite sized pieces and tenderize with meat hammer (one hit usually does it), dredge in flour mixture, deep fry pieces around 4 minutes or until golden brown.

1 cup of all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked paprika

 

Straight spurs right at an inch. That article doesn't hold up with central MO turkeys. We've killed ~20 turkeys in my circle of friends in the 11 days of the season so far. No one shoots jakes, but no one passes on a mature bird, either. Any healthy 2 year old bird here will have a 9"+ beard. Jakes run between 3 and 5" in the spring. I've seen hundreds of dead birds in the 3 or 4 counties we hunt, and I've never seen a 2 yr old bird with a 5" beard as mentioned in the article.

A young bird to me is 2 yrs, and that's mostly what we kill. I saw a dead bird with 1.5" spurs today. That's when we get excited. You're talking 3 yrs old at least, and they're maybe 10 to 15 percent of the kill here. Most are exactly what I shot - 18 to 22 lbs, 9 to 11" beard, 7/8 to 1-1/8" spurs.

 

Cube and rap in bacon then use this to dredge in. bacon makes everything better.

 

Was a good day here in Michigan's Upper Peninsula yesterday. 25" steelhead and a limit of Smelt

 

Good lookin dog...caught him scavenging through our burn pile.

 

Another day of bass'n from the kayak. Overall a good, not great, catch, but the trip also yielded a broken Abu Garcia Veritas baitcast rod -- damn!

 

What kind of lure you using?

 

(edited for more details)
Various crankbaits are my main goto. The bass here are feeding on crawfish right now, and prepping spawning beds. My favorite is a Rapala Clackin Crank square bill in crawfish pattern with a real fast retrieve through submerged trees and along rocky areas adjacent to bedding areas. Other minnow patterns, tubes, spinners, and spoons will also work with the right presentation. I caught a few on a deeper running large-eyed gold minnow pattern.
My main tools are my knowledge of bass behavior, my sonar, a stealthy kayak, and years of practice with various lures. Even then, crap happens -- like snapping the tip of a $100 rod while trying to retrieve a lure snagged on a submerged tree, strong winds (in a kayak on big water -- that sucks) and the battery on my sonar going belly up 1/2 the way through my trip (fortunately, I know the area I was fishing pretty well already).

 

Put in a lot of miles over the last 2 days and the effort was worth the reward this time. Been a good horn year so far

 

Here's some wild hogs we took out over weekend...


They were tearing our fields up pretty bad...
It's crazy how much damage these things will do in a night

 

This is how my bear hunt went yesterday.

 

Im trying to get a bear bait established...we had one good hit and nothing since....about 1 week ago...I didnt have my camera up so I dont know how many hit the bait.

 

We use hounds

 

yeah I dont have access to hounds Spring is flakey out here anyhow...I like fall bear season more.

 

Couple scaled quail back in January.

 

Won a kayak fishing tournament this weekend. My wife stands ready to captain the new Hobie Outback, and more is letting me upgrade mine to the one I want. Great weekend of fishing!

 

Nice 'eye!