April 28, 2013, last full day of our 2013 turkey hunting trip.

Spent the morning in a small hidden away cornfield surrounded by maples and Cedars. Had heard some birds clucking and making a racket going to roost the nigt before and hoped there would be a tom in the mix.

Setup the blind about 50 yards into the rolling cornfield, amidst one f the depressions in the field and set iut my strutting tom and a couple hens.

I heard some birds calling from the roost and watched a hen in a tree for awhile before she flew down. There ended up being four hens flew down and fed in th cornfield but no guys showed up.

Did a late morning run n gun wander and ended up getting a response from a tom. We setup in some maples on the edge of a field and had him gobbling in to about 60 yards when he snuck away for some reason.

Went back to this field in the evening and had all sorts of action. I ended up moving into the woods for a stalled Tom that would only call but not move. After getting closer to him and setting out a hen he finally closed the gap, came within 10 yards of me, in the wrong side, offering no shot, frustration!

My dad had several strutters in the field but just couldn't quite connect.

What an evening! Most action I've seen on an evening hunt ever.

Spent the third day of the season chasing turkeys with the bow again. The morning I started in a hay field where I got my tom in the first day. The morning was quite windy and rainy. Not a pleasant morning in the field ad apparently the turkeys agreed, cause they weren't there.

Spent the evening in a tilled corn field where I saw the four birds yesterday, saw a raccoon picking through the stubble and with minutes left to hunt had a hen come out and start feeding in the field about 150 yds away. After getting packed up she had me trapped in the blind in the open field for awhile til I could sneak away.

Spent the second day of the 2013 spring turkey season in the blind trying to harvest another turkey with the bow.
After spending a quiet morning in the blind picked up the shotgun and did a bit of exploring, and ended up connecting with a group of 4 turkeys, with atleast one jake in the mix, just inside shotgun range, but I'd really like to get one with the bow. Tucked back in the blind but they wouldn't come in.

Spent the evening in a new field for this trip, in a cornfield surrounded by a big cedar/maple forest, in what appears to e prime turkey habitat. Saw a Hen and a couple horseback riders.

April 25th 2013

Opening day of turkey season.  Made the 1,400 km drive down from Thunder Bay to Grey/Bruce Country, arriving the night before the opener.  Roosted some birds the night before, and had a good idea where they've been spending their time; in the fields feasting on hay shoots, and the remants of a tilled corn field.

I got setup around 5am, with a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, and a full moon.  Well before legal light there were hens making every call in the book, with multiple toms and/or jakes gobbling back, while on the roost.

At about 630, about a half hr in, the first hen flew down, making a bee line for by decoys and landing within 20 yards of me.  Within secods of her landing there was a flood of birds landing, surrounding me, with about 20 turkeys on the ground in about 20 seconds.  Amongst the group were several jakes, and atleast one big longbeard that caught my eye.  He quickly caught sight of my Carry Lite semi strutting jake decoy, and beelined straight for it.  After several tense minutes, and trying to control my racing heartrate, and trying to raise the gun with 20 eagle eyed birds inside 40 yards, and waiting for a clear shot, the 870 roared, and my opening morning was a success, with a mature Tom, with 1 1/4" spurs and a 10" beard. 

Amazing morning, and a great start to the 2013 hunting season.

Got out with a few friends for the last weekend of Lake Trout season here in FMZ 9 around Thunder Bay, for a few short hours between night shifts.  After enduring freezing rain, and the problems rain and warm temps have on equipment, we made it to the lake mid-morning, and fished til early afternoon.  The action was not hot, but after a few misses, and few lost fish, we ended up with a few gorgeous lake trout on the ice.  This is a very small lake trout lake, that doesn't generally produce large fish, but the fish are full of fight, look really cool, and are perfect trout for the bbq.

Spent a spectacular day on lake Superior chasing perch with a large group of friends.  The fishing was steady all day, although the fish were pretty hesitant to bite, and had to be finessed for most of the day.  Weather couldn't have been better for a day on Superior, and we ended up with a nice feed of perch.

Spent a day on Superior today with Corine and a couple friends; targeting whitefish and rainbows.  Unfortunately the whitefish didn't exactly cooperate, and between the four of us we caught a grand total of 0 whitefish, thankfully Gord salvaged the day and caught a beautiful steelhead on a Mighty Mitch & Jungle Joe Jig Fly late in the trip!

Corine and I headed out late in the afternoon to a district Splake today for a bit of a different adventure.  We brought the dogs along, who loved the 3K trail in, and spent a couple hours in the evening on the lake. 

Headed out with a couple fishing partners to Bear Trak Outfitters, on Lake Superior, based out of Dorion, ON.  Again, the perch were a little finicky, but we ended up with around 40 perch between the 3 of us, bringing around 20 home for the fryer, hard to beat fresh perch!