Loyal blog follower Todd just got a bird. Check out his email below:

Hey T-Bone,

Just wanted to share my hunt I had today which happens to be the final day of the Virginia season. I hadnt had much luck on the small piece of land that i was allowed to hunt on but had seen birds there. Only one gobbler was seen there but a 23lb 11 in bird was taken two fields over and I had seen a few from the truck in the area. I got set up in a pine patch just off a field where actually three fields surrond. I had seen birds traveling through there and was hoping to get one more shot. I set up my decoy and got ready for light to come. about 6:30 I looked to my left and saw an object moving through some grown up grass but couldnt make it out. As it got close I noticed it was a bobcat. I had never seen a live one and there it was. It actually crept up to my decoy and pounced right on it and then ran off about twenty yards. I couldnt believe it and I dont think he could either. He walked off and about 30 mins later four whitetail bucks came cruising right u to me about ten ft away. All four had big velvet nobbs on their heads and i was able to take some pics. One saw my and blew while running off. I felt my mourning was over so i walked back to my truck, pulled out my bow and took some shot at one of my targets. I saw a crow land out in a field and decided to try to seek up and see if i could get a shot at it with my bow. as i got to the field the landowner started shaking a box call to mess with me. After two shakes a gobbler fired up just at the edge of the field i was standing at. I turned ran back to my truck and snuck back to the edge of the field. Just as i got there he came out. I hit my slate call three times and he answered twice to. He walked up to about 15 yards and ate a 3.5 inch magnum helping him take the final dirt nap. What a fun filled day. He had a 9.5inch thin rope and 1.25 inch spirs. No scale but would guess about 19 lbs. Keep up the great blogs.

Your faithful blogger,
Todd-NC

Just wanted to shoot out a quick line and let everyone know that T-Bone said it was okay to enjoy Memorial Day. We have a lot to be thankful for and sometimes it's hard to stay focused on how fortunate we are.

Enjoy the weekend and then come back on Tuesday to see what's happening.
T-Bone

Just received this email and photo from Travis Schultz. Keep the pics coming.

Hey T-Bone, this is Travis Schultz, I'm the kid in the wheelchair that met you in Overland Park, KS, at the convention center. Bass Pro had the outdoor expo. Just sending you a picture of turkey season. I shot a bearded hen with 7 3/4-inch beard and the tom weighed 18 pounds (10 1/8-inch beard) and had no spurs. The picture is of me (on the right)and my buddy. It was our first double. Thanks for you time, travis schultz.

p.s. left the wheelchair out of the picture; didn't look cool.

The Whisker Biscuit has become very popular in the last few years. It certainly has its place. For beginning archers and young hunters, I recommend the whisker biscuit because of its ease of use and dependability. There are just a few disadvantages to the whisker biscuit: I recommend only shooting vanes with it. Because of the friction it is extremely rough on feather fletchings. If you hunt in the northern states from time to time and there is high moisture with low temperatures, then the rest is apt to freeze, thus affecting arrow flight. However, as a whole, I like the whisker biscuit.

Yours in archery,
Travis

Looks like Ronald and his crew are having a pretty good year in the turkey woods. Here's the email I received from him about a week ago.

T-Bone—
This is my dad Ronny Hulsey,57 with his second bird of the year.The bird was killed April 17 on the same farm in hall county georgia that my turkey, titled Record Turkey previously in your blog, came from.This bird had an 11 3/4 inch beard and 1 inch spurs.This makes the fourth bird that we have killed off of the same 100 acre farm and 12th bird in the past three years.

I received this email a few days ago. A great bird and thanks for sharing. Below is info on the bird:

Beard: 9 in

Spurs: 3/4

Weight: 23 lbs



The bird was shot by George Olbert of Northern Cambria in PA it was his first spring gobbler and it sure was a dandy and he is getting a full strut mount of it as well once we get it back we will send a picture of the mount.

Check out this photo I received last week. If anyone has the answer, I'll send them a signed hat. Read the email below to see if you have an answer:


Hey guys...I have been asking around and trying to figure out if anyone has ever
seen a gobbler like this. I killed the bird earlier this week...It appears to be
a two year old bird 9-10inch beard, 3/4 spurs, but his wings are solid
white and the rest of the bird appears to be more colorful than any other bird
i've killed before
...Looks really cool when he is strutting....I killed him in the mountains
of VA on National Forest Land and wasn't around anywhere that had tame birds...I
was kinda maybe thinking cross-breeding but there arent any tame birds around
the area...I have heard of blondes or what people call "smokey grays" but the
whole bird is white or gray in that case...Just wondering if yall have seen on
before and wondering how common it is. Check out the picture i attached.

Thanks,
Ryan

Here is a video blog I shot in Texas a while back. If you can recall, I told you a video was coming where we did a whitetail survey by helicopter. This was a very cool experience. Hope you enjoy the video.
Travis

Thanks for posting about your setups and thoughts on hunting turkeys with a bow. Although I do not claim to be an authority on turkeys with a bow, here are my views. Naturally, I think we should always turn our poundage down to get real comfortable drawing in an awkward position and sitting down and pulling slow. Plus, with a turkey you don’t need the speed or the energy for a kill.

Broadheads—in my opinion there are 2 setups for turkeys and there are pros and cons to each. Let's talk about the body shot. The body shot is the most common shot, mainly cause you are aiming at a bigger target and most folks these days are using expandables (which I endorse) but a lot of folks still use fixed and use an ader point or grass hopper behind the head to slow penetration. The con to the body shot is when aiming at the body and a turkey is so round and 3-D that is hard to line up on and determine where his small vitals are. A lot of birds will get lost this way.

Now shooting the head has some appeal. A lot of folks choose not to because the fear that it is too small to hit. But let's look at the pros: You have a highly visable target, and size wise it is the same size as his internal vital organs. And you either hit it and kill it or you have a clean miss. With these new style Guolitine Bheads, it makes for some great video which I am sure you agree.

Good luck on the turkeys
Travis