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Thursday, March 11, 2010

A few days a go as I was day dreaming about turkey hunting I asked myself what would turkey hunting be like with out a decoy. After pondering it for a while I realized how difficult would be to actually get a Tom in close enough to shoot with out a decoy. With that said I am going to discuss why a decoy can be very important to turkey hunters.

As you may already know turkeys can see very well, so by placing a decoy out in front of you it brings the attention of the turkey to the decoy and away from you (the hunter). This will typically allow a hunter to bring their gun up into shooting position with out being noticed.

Turkeys also will be looking to associate something with hunter’s turkey calls. If a Tom is responding to a turkey call and coming in closer to your location and you don’t have a decoy he may get confused or suspicious. When a Tom becomes,  confused or suspicious he will either just stay put and wait for the hen or just simply turn around and walk away looking for other hens.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 10:05 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Thursday, March 11, 2010

How To Use Turkey Calls.

Slate calls are one of the easiest calls to learn to use, and picked up quickly by beginners.  Simply pull the striker across the surface of the call for a variety of turkey vocals. A yelp is made by making small circles with the striker. Another very effective call obtained with a slate call is the purr, obtained by dragging the striker slowly across the slate. The cluck can be made by making a quick and sharp pull of the striker on the slate.

Many beginners prefer the box call. The sound is produced by sliding a wooden lid across an open box in a rhythmic motion, thus the caulk, caulk, caulk. The box call also makes an excellent purr by dragging the lid across the open box in a slower, more drawn out motion.

Mouth calls are harder to learn to use, but there are many DVDs and websites available to help with this technique. The advantage of the mouth call is the hands-free calling and the
reduction of movement likely to alert the turkeys.

The push box or modified box call is another great call for beginning callers. It can be held and operated with one hand. Simply press the end of the striker sticking out of the end of the box in long strokes to get the purr sound, shorter strokes for the yelp call.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 08:00 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Thursday, March 11, 2010

NEWTOWN, Conn. With more than 120 stations (and counting) committed to broadcasting the show, the National Shooting Sports Foundation today launched its new daily radio program for all gun owners called Insights.

Also available as a podcast on the iTunes Web site, Insights will reach a large audience that will enjoy the shows lineup of stories about the history, excitement and value of hunting and the shooting sports.

Insights, a 90-second program, is sponsored by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and produced by the Walker Agency of Scottdale, Ariz.

"We're thrilled with the high level of interest by station managers in NSSF's Insights radio show," said Dave Miles, NSSF's director of electronic media. It's really a win-win for them, and we're glad they're immediately seeing this. The stations receive high-quality content, and the shooting sports receive additional exposure that we hope will encourage sportsmen, lapsed participants and newcomers to fully enjoy these activities.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 03:00 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Thursday, March 11, 2010

With turkey season fast approaching, hunters across the land are picking up their calls and are yelping away. It is no secret that turkey hunting takes dedication, and most of all experience. In my recent article I discussed the importance of decoy setup location. Location and calling go hand in hand; both can make or break a hunt. With this concept in mind, I urge you to get on your calling sooner rather than later, preparation is key when it comes to any sort of hunting. I have been lucky enough to test some great mouth calls from Hoosier Hunter Custom Calls this year. These calls are a great add to my collection, and they most certainly will be in my vest come spring.

The Real Big Hoosier Hen-
The Real Big Hoosier Hen mouth call is super call designed for the seasoned caller who has technique and control. The deep inverted V cut makes the Real Big Hoosier Hen a good call for hard clucks, cuts and cackles, and overall aggressive, loud calling. If you have a good grab on mouth calls, and most of all are confident in your calling, Hoosier Hunter Custom calls has the call for you. While the Real Big Hoosier Hen is not the most forgiving call that Hoosier Hunter Custom Calls provides, it produces one of the most realistic turkey sounds available in mouth calls today.

The Big Indy
The Big Indy series is designed for both novice and seasoned callers alike. The Big Indy is composed of 2.5 reeds with a top reed of orange latex (.003) with the Fang cut. This call is a forgiving call that produces loud and soft pure sounding rasps, purring, cackling, cutting, clucking, and of course yelping. My favorite part about this call was the ease of transition. Going from loud aggressive calling to soft calling was extremely smooth, and both levels sound spectacular. This call is great for any hunter in any situation.

Hoosier Hunter Custom Calls also specializes in custom box and slate calls. The best part about these calls is they sound as beautiful as they look! Check out Hoosier Hunter Custom Calls today at http://www.hoosierhuntercustomcalls.com/

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 02:49 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Thursday, March 11, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska --  Trout Unlimited and a group of partner organizations today nominated the Koktuli River in Southwest Alaska as an Outstanding National Resource Water, a designation that affords the highest protection to the river’s pristine water quality and highly productive fish habitat.

An Outstanding National Resources Water (ONRW) is a designation under the Clean Water Act that aims to protect high-quality waters for existing uses. By designating a river or stream as an ONRW, no new or increased pollution discharges can occur within that body of water. Additionally, no new or increased discharges can occur in a tributary if it results in lower water quality to the ONRW river or stream.
 
ONRW designations are enacted under the anti-degradation provisions of the Clean Water Act. Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) is charged with overseeing Alaska’s anti-degradation policies, including identifying ONRWs with help from the public.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 00:13 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

The lusty tom was gobbling his fool head off in the pre-dawn woods hoping to let every lady in the vicinity know that he was big, bad and available. I was guiding James Sr. as we scrambled up the rocky hill to be in position to attract our boys' attention before the sun peaked its bright head over the horizon. We reached an even level with the hot gobbler and I placed James a few yards in front of me as the morning began to brighten. I couldn't help but marvel at how his Ghillie Suit blended so well into the forest floor. At 5 yards, I was having a hard time making him out, maybe this isn't a gimmick after all; though I sure snickered at 4am when he first modeled the new camo for me. From that day forward he would be forever know as "Swamp Thing". I wish there was a more exciting story to tell, but two yelps of the diaphragm later, the big tom glided off the roost to land 20 yards from swamp thing. Bang and time for breakfast! We actually went out after breakfast and called another long beard in for James's brother-in-law Mike, nice opening day.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:28 PM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Whether you are looking for a beautifully hand crafted friction call, or very versatile and excellent sounding diaphragm, Bills Custom Calls has you covered. Every Friction call is hand made and tuned by Bill himself. I tested three different diaphragms, all three reed calls but each had a different cut.

The first call was the #9 diaphragm; this call is very easy to get used to. The Batwing cut along with two side notches sounds great and you can do just about anything you want with it. I went through all the calls that I can do, and not one of them sounded bad. This call has a raspy tone, but not to deep. This is the sound I look for in a turkey call, semi deep, raspy and very versatile.

The next call I tried was the #13 diaphragm; this is a cutter call. With the Check cut, It had a higher pitched tone, but you can really get into some serious cuts and cackles with it. Once you start playing around with it you find that everything rolls off it very fluently. Even though I like the sound of an old mature hen, I found myself going back to this call time and time again to go through some intense cuts and fly down cackles.

Finally I had the privilege of using the #4; I have used a lot of big name calls and have gone through a lot of different cuts, but the #4 competes with the best of them. It has the batwing cut along with the side notches as well. This call was my favorite out of the bunch; it has a nice deep, rasp tone, but what I like about it is you can cut, purr, yelp, and kee kee without hesitation. The way the sounds roll off is amazing, I highly recommend Bills Custom Calls to any turkey hunter whether it be for competition or getting that bird hot off the roost.

Bill also does custom laser engraving, so if you want your name or company name or logo, for a small fee you can have this displayed on your call. Take a look at the variety of friction calls as well as some of the diaphragms that I have reviewed, you will not be disappointed http://billscustomturkeycalls.com.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 11:16 PM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Bruce Billington sent me some links in regards to Project New Hope in Minnesota.  I am a tremendous fan of what this group is doing for soldiers and thier families in small group settings.  Project New Hope takes families and mixes the outdoors as well as some group discussions for returning soldiers and thier work could not be more valuable.

Please check out some of these great links and if you can donate some money or time to these great folks.  They are working really hard to bring Project New Hope out nationally and we are going to continue to support them in every way possible.
 
Below are some recent articles and interviews about Project New Hope.  Check them out when you have some free time.  With the help of the MN Dept of Veterans Affairs, we are working on lining up interviews/stories with Minnesota Bound, KARE11, WCCO, and hopefully a National TV show.  The MN Dept of Veterans Affairs has some lofty goals in this regard.

• Project New Hope Website
• Minnesota Public Radio  http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/12/29/vet-reintegration/
• Radio interview on KRJM http://www.krjmradio.com/?page=access_health&story=26
• Brainerd Dispatch  http://www.brainerddispatch.com/stories/022310/new_20100223027.shtml
• Aitkin newspaper article http://www.aitkinage.com/main.asp?SectionID=3&SubSectionID=75&ArticleID=33705
• You will see that Project New Hope is on the home page of the Lions Clubs International website  http://www.lionsclubs.org/EN/index.php

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 05:32 PM 2 COMMENTS LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Have you ever gone out to buy a turkey call and became overwhelmed by the multitude and varieties of calls available? 

Turkeys are extremely vocal. Their vocabulary consists of clucks, yelps, purrs, the gobble of mature males, and the kee kee whistle of the young birds. There are hundreds of calls on the market that are excellent in imitating these vocals.

When turkey hunting, one of the most important calls is the locator call. An exceptional locator call is an owl hooter. It’s a very user-friendly call, and does a great job mimicking the owls, which seem to take great pleasure in taunting the roosting gobblers. Simply blow into the call as if speaking the word “who.” After practicing this, fine-tune the call, putting more emphasis by blowing harder at the beginning of the call and then trailing off. 

If there are toms in the area, this call will most usually aggravate them and cause them to gobble, revealing their whereabouts in the treetops. If they sound close by, very quietly and cautiously get set up for them. Remember, the wild turkeys’ eyesight is many times greater than the human, so minimal movement is essential. Some hunters prefer to hunt out of a blind, particularly for freedom of movement without being detected by the birds.

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 00:02 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

Monday, March 8, 2010

CHARLESTON, S.C. March 8, 2010 – Ducks Unlimited recently achieved another milestone by conserving its 250,000th acre in the South Atlantic Flyway. Public and private lands projects in North and South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are providing crucial habitat for migrating and wintering waterfowl in the region.

Ducks Unlimited is conserving habitats like this across the South Atlantic.
 
DU has completed 185 wetland restoration and enhancement projects across the four states totaling over 151,000 acres, with the majority of these projects occurring on public lands. DU has also protected an additional 128,000 acres of private lands through our conservation easement program. Through both public lands restoration projects and private lands protection, DU is leading the way for wetlands conservation in the South Atlantic.

“Our on-the-ground conservation delivery programs have protected, restored and/or enhanced over 250,000 acres to date in the South Atlantic for waterfowl and other wetland dependant species,” said Craig LeSchack, Ducks Unlimited director of conservation programs for the South Atlantic Flyway. “Our state, federal, and private partnerships contributed tremendously to our successes in the region, and we look forward to continuing these valued partnerships well into the future. At a total cost of over $66 million for all projects, we were able to match every DU dollar with over $7 in partner contributions.”

POSTED BY KEVIN C PAULSON AT 09:22 AM 0 COMMENT LINKS TO THIS POST READ MORE »

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