Opa's place -Where an old rooster visits with friends

[rnrterp]

Fairybee, the weather is cool and wind here in MI. The temp is 38 now.

 

[blb]

Ranchhand, I love the picture of the wren babies!!

I hope Granny gets better, I hate colds.

We are getting the cold, rainy weather here too. Was beautiful yesterday but now windy and hopefully some rain. It is suppost to be in the 50's all weekend. I guess the chicks will have to stay in the brooder all day.

 

[Opa]

Well according to the clock night is over but I feel as if it has barely started. This racking cough is starting to get real old. With each one you feel as if a lung has torn loose and you expect to see it laying in your handkerchief. Granny's cough has worsened and she was awake most of the night coughing as well. If I don't see a lessening in her condition today I will get her in to see the doctor.

I need to go out and check on the birds and see how they have all faired with this drop in temperatures. Currently its 36 degrees and it will probably drop a few more degrees before the sun finally rises. It's quite cloudy but looking at the weather map shows we should soon be out of it. The temperature however doesn't look to go up much as the forecast only calls for a high of 48. Typical Michigan spring weather. Warm and sunny one day and snow the next.

While I don't really feel up to working on that downed tree it will not cut itself up so after a couple of cups coffee I will head out and get some more of it done. Based on my current rate of progress I should have it cleaned up by August. Once I have all the limbs gathered up I'll run those through the chipper and stockpile the chips to use as mulch on the flower beds. While not as attractive as the commercially available cypress mulch, the cost is more attractive. I can mulch with several inches of this and then maybe top dress the top with the more attractive mulch.

Turkey season opens on Monday and inspite of having fed turkeys all winter, they have as in previous years disappeared. It's amazing to have so many birds in the yard on a daily basis, sometimes for several hours, and then have them completely vanish. I'm hoping that I will be able to get a turkey on the first day. The farm I hunt is a thirty minute drive from here. To sit up my decoys and position my blind takes another thirty minutes. To improve ones chances of success you need to be in your blind at least thirty minutes before the birds fly down for their roost and that usually occurs shortly after sunrise. Opening day I can get up at 5am and get to the woods but every day that I am unsuccessful requires that I get up earlier than the day before to allow for sunrise coming earlier and earlier. With deer hunting in the fall the opposite is true. If I hunt from fly down to fly up by the end of the season I would be in the woods for 16 hours.

Last year I killed a tom on opening day at 630am, had it dressed and I was home drinking coffee by 8am. The year before it was about the 12th day and I was starting to get so tired that I was just about to give up. The exciting thing about turkey hunting is how long the anticipation and excitement last. When deer hunting I may see a deer, feel my heart jump into my throat, wait for the optimum shot, and have the animal down in normally under 5 minutes. With turkey hunting you try to position your blind near where the birds have gone to roost the night before. If the morning is quiet you hear them fly down and then you start with plaintive calling hope to entice a tom to respond. When you hear that first gobble your pulse begins to race. You call, he answers. This duel may go on for an hour. Your excitement builds with every response. Finally you see him coming through the woods, and normally his head it the first thing you see. The bright colors of his head contrast so dramatically with his surroundings. As he nears you try to call only enough to keep him coming closer. Many times I will spot him at over a hundred yards away and I need to draw him closer than forty yards to insure a clean kill. Occasionally a bird will come in at a run, so times so quick that you don't have time to get your gun in position. Normally they will come slow to your call. Pausing often to gobble hoping to make what they perceive to be a hen come to them. Head and neck outstretched, gobble and them start to display. Head and snood engorged with blood, changing color from red to blue to white. Tail fanned wide, wings splayed and tips touching the ground, his feathers quivering iridescent in the morning sun. This alluring dance may be repeated several times before he finally reaches your self imposed kill zone. I know of no other species hunted bird or mammal that excitement builds to such heights.

 

[speckledhen]

Awwwww, how sweet! I love wrens. Folks think roosters are loud, but they have nothing on a Carolina wren male! I have a wren's nest actually on the back of the main coop under the eaves. Not pleased about that, but the bird seems very healthy so decided to let it stay.

 

[ranchhand]

Hi Cyn, it has been so fun watching these 5 birdlets develop. I don't want to take too many pics for fear of scaring the parents away. But they have gatten used to me sitting by the chicken and duck pens a lot. Both parents are now hunting/gathering to feed the chicks since the mother no longer needs to incubate. Really has been amazing.

I think we have another pair nesting in the garage/shop. The male likes to arrive on our bedroom windowsill with the sun. And yes, he is LOUD. Many a morning I have thought evil things to him, but he never gets the message!

Another beautiful day, we have been very fortunate so far. Lots of outside chores to do, mostly related to chickens and ducks. just wish it wasn't going to 84F yet!

Sam, keep an eye on Granny - get her in if it gets any worse, and there would be no harm to you getting checked as well..........................

 

[Fairybee]

Quote:
i never really thought of a turkey as a game animal pheasants, deer, pigeon ad so on yes we shoot rabbits and pheasant where we keep the horses but ive never heard of turkey shooting till now i wanna com over and try it sounds great

people in england can be really weird about the whole hunting thing but i see it as nature you kill to eat or kill to sell to gain money to eat i dont see the big deal my friend of many years came round the other day and was repulsed as i had 8 braces of pheasants and 3 braces of rabbits hanging as we alway hang em 5-7 days to mature and then i pluck, skin or fur em for me and my family to eat and freeze.
though i will say its getting rare for people of my age 22 to know how to do things like skinning and plucking unless they live in the country and have parents grandparents who will teach em one of my moms oldest friends taught me how to do it him and his wife are like grandparents too me and now he has bad arthritus in his hands from running his farms and stables i do all his game animals for him though ive never prepared a deer i would be willing to try anything, and i will be making sure my daughter knows how to do it when she's older too gotta keep the traditions alive if no one else will

 

[Opa]

Fairybee, you have definitely came to the right thread. Wild game constitutes a major p;ortion of my diet. Wild turkeys, while resembling the domesticated turkey, are almost like a completely different bird. The are 2 species of turkeys, the North American wild turkey of which there a 5 subspecies, and the Ocellated turkey of Central American. The North American wild turkey subspecies are Eastern, Merriam's, Rio Grande, Gould's, and Osceola. They differ slightly by size, and coloration.

Wild turkey are very wary, and with their exceptional eyesight (8 to 10X better than ours) they are able to detect the slightest movement thereby making stalking them exceedingly difficult. The best method is to set out decoys near your blind or hide and then mimic a wide range of turkey vocalizations to get them to come to you. The purpose of the decoy is to give them something upon which to fix their vision and allow you to go undetected. You need to coax them to come to less than forty yards to insure that they are in the effective range of a shot gun.

 

[blb]

I am one of those people who don't like hunting but would stop someone else from hunting. I love eating turkey so it would be hypocratical of me to say not to hunt, lol. I grew up in Michigan Opa, in Grosse Pointe. We also had ( have , I now own it with my 5 brothers and sisters) in canada where we would see wild life. I am only going to have 3 chickens but am already thinking of how I will pluck and get the chicken ready when it dies (or I have to kill it). I wonder if they have classes on that??? lol


Today has turned into a good day. Walked the dogs to the dog park (minus bear the akita who thinks he should own the park). The dogs are nice are tired now, snoring around me, even Bear. Hubby is going to bring pizza home so I don't have to cook dinner. I get to relax and enjoy the rest of the day.

 

[incubatingisfun]

hello everyone

 

[Fairybee]

Quote:
there are acctually video's on youtube that teach you how to pluck skin and dress game just type in what you want.

so opa its completely diffrent to england then with the pheasants we use beaters and dogs to drive up the pheasants and shoot them in flight and then send dogs to retreive the fallen birds i know they use hides when they are shooting goose and ducks in certain places on the flats i know they use hides but ive never used on myself as ive only hunted rabbits and pheasants

hello incubatingisfun