BiG Boar
05-21-2010, 01:51 PM
Continued from Barbarian Saga III
With the open road before us, Open-Sights and myself were heading east. At 7am we were at Tim Horton’s grabbing our usual coffee and snack and with the sun in our eyes we were headed towards the Kootneys. It was going to be a short trip, just a few days, pretty much a self made long weekend. Sometimes those are all you need to get away from it all.
We were heading for Turkeys. OS being somewhat of a turkey expert, with all the calls and decoys needed, had arranged this trip for us, and we had been planning it for some time. This was the guy who taught me how to shoot a bow at some distance. Originally we were planning on using our bows, however I had only gotten my bow back with a new string on it just a week prior and had not spent enough time sighting it in and getting the string set up to justify the morality of a possibly wounded bird. Plus I figured get one the easy way, and next year try for one the hard way. Little did I know the hard way comes with all forms of projectiles thrown at these wide-eyed velocoraptors.
I had borrowed a turkey gun from Brew. Ported and with some turkey loads, pure camo paint, she is a beautiful gun, capable of shooting the biggest loads. Brew and I have known each other only a while, and yet have become good friends. The bear that was shot in part one of the saga was so helpfully butchered with his hands. Sausage making is a long and tedious process and I was very thankful when he was able to come and help last minute.
I had thought turkeys, how hard could this be? It surly can’t be that hard. I mean I have hunted grouse, so what could be tricky about these big dumb birds? In a word….Everything.
Arriving in a small west kootney town we booked our hotel rooms and loaded what we needed into OS’s Blazer. We each had a gear bag, and we had several rifles. Apparently there are other open animals in the area, and we wanted to be prepared for anything. In the battery we had, 1 compound bow, 1 shotgun, 1 17HMR, 1 22, 2 300win mags, and one 30-378 Weatherby. A friend of OS’s had mentioned there were some beautiful color phase bears in the area and we were ready for anything. On the way there we saw bears, and many deer and the thoughts of a bears swirled again in my mind. However bears in the Kootneys don’t get as big as coastal black bears and I had just come off of 8 days hunting them. However a decent color phase bear would be wicked.
Into the forested hills we went. Within 2 minutes of getting to the spot we were to hunt we were seeing birds. They are fast and they are wily. With eyesight better than eagles, they are a crafty bird. They are definitely not even a remote relative to grouse. This would prove trickier than I had originally thought. That evening we saw probably 8 turkeys and got set up on a hill overlooking a nicely cleared valley. Nothing but the pestilent white tail showed up, one of which was developing a massive rack already.
The next morning came early; within 5 minutes we spotted birds right from the truck. One thing I remembered hearing about turkeys is that they are people smart, but truck stupid. On rounding a bend in the truck we spotted a flock of 10 birds. At 60 yards up to the flock of jakes, we angled the truck so I could get out un detected, and glassed quickly for beards. With 10 turkeys running for their lives and milling about it is very hard to tell which are bearded. Especially so with no scope. I was using Brew’s turkey gun and with my spotter calling which had a beard I let loose the turkey load at 60 yards when the largest bird had separated from the group. Boom! I was amazed at the power of the load. The gun jumped up and hit me in the nose! As the turkey did the funky chicken dance I handed the gun to OS who was able to get into position for a shot in time, and as I was calling which had a beard he had one shot at the last bearded bird and let fly to just miss as the turkey swooped over the edge of the mountain and down to the valley below. It was almost a double header 10 minutes into the day of turkey hunting.
We took lots of pictures and I admired the beauty of this gobbler. Somehow totally ugly, and yet somehow magnificent I gazed in wonder of my first turkey. The colors were iridescent and the beard was very cool. What a cool and different creature. I couldn’t wait to see what they tasted like!
The next few hours we spent cruising around, looking for bears and birds. We saw a total of 10 bears that day. I couldn’t believe just how many were out and about. Most were with cubs though, and nothing was close to being a shooter. I wasn’t going to shoot less than the one I previously had in the season and there just simply isn’t a 6 footer behind every tree. I did see my first color phase bear though which in and of itself was quite a treat. We would have to head to our lookout and wait out the turkey’s.
We arrived at our spot where we had a marvelous view and got set up again. Spotting scope, binos, beverages, and cold pizza from the night before came out and we spent the day watching and waiting. Lots of deer came through the clearing again, and at about 3pm we decided to roast up some of the turkey. Basting and turning the bird away from the open flames we had brought some mild chicken bbq sauce with us to baste this delectable bird.
Peering through the binos I caught sight of a vulture down below, about 700 yards away. Wait a second, that’s a turkey! Alone! Is it a tom? Calling and decoys weren’t working, so we had to spot and stalk them this late in the season. Did he have a beard is the question? With the spotting scope from this distance I just couldn’t make a for sure call. We had to get closer. I stayed and signaled on the hill as OS went for the gobbler. Well at about 650 yards away from the bird I realized what we were up against. This thing had seen us and was running like the gingerbread man! OS looked back for a signal of which direction and weather or not there was a beard. He then used his stalking and concealment skills to get within 150 yards. With the 17 HMR in hand the shot was doable. However there was no beard. In the spring it is bearded only so we would have to wait for more birds. Luckily we still had some time on our side. OS walked back up to the lookout as I continued to turn and baste the turkey. This bird was going to be delicious. I have never tasted wild turkey before, but this gobbler was looking a lot better than coyote.
To help baste OS went to a pine tree and clipped a small basting branch. Just then, something huge crawled into the valley floor catching my eye……TBC
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/P5130002.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2635.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2643.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2640.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2651.jpg
With the open road before us, Open-Sights and myself were heading east. At 7am we were at Tim Horton’s grabbing our usual coffee and snack and with the sun in our eyes we were headed towards the Kootneys. It was going to be a short trip, just a few days, pretty much a self made long weekend. Sometimes those are all you need to get away from it all.
We were heading for Turkeys. OS being somewhat of a turkey expert, with all the calls and decoys needed, had arranged this trip for us, and we had been planning it for some time. This was the guy who taught me how to shoot a bow at some distance. Originally we were planning on using our bows, however I had only gotten my bow back with a new string on it just a week prior and had not spent enough time sighting it in and getting the string set up to justify the morality of a possibly wounded bird. Plus I figured get one the easy way, and next year try for one the hard way. Little did I know the hard way comes with all forms of projectiles thrown at these wide-eyed velocoraptors.
I had borrowed a turkey gun from Brew. Ported and with some turkey loads, pure camo paint, she is a beautiful gun, capable of shooting the biggest loads. Brew and I have known each other only a while, and yet have become good friends. The bear that was shot in part one of the saga was so helpfully butchered with his hands. Sausage making is a long and tedious process and I was very thankful when he was able to come and help last minute.
I had thought turkeys, how hard could this be? It surly can’t be that hard. I mean I have hunted grouse, so what could be tricky about these big dumb birds? In a word….Everything.
Arriving in a small west kootney town we booked our hotel rooms and loaded what we needed into OS’s Blazer. We each had a gear bag, and we had several rifles. Apparently there are other open animals in the area, and we wanted to be prepared for anything. In the battery we had, 1 compound bow, 1 shotgun, 1 17HMR, 1 22, 2 300win mags, and one 30-378 Weatherby. A friend of OS’s had mentioned there were some beautiful color phase bears in the area and we were ready for anything. On the way there we saw bears, and many deer and the thoughts of a bears swirled again in my mind. However bears in the Kootneys don’t get as big as coastal black bears and I had just come off of 8 days hunting them. However a decent color phase bear would be wicked.
Into the forested hills we went. Within 2 minutes of getting to the spot we were to hunt we were seeing birds. They are fast and they are wily. With eyesight better than eagles, they are a crafty bird. They are definitely not even a remote relative to grouse. This would prove trickier than I had originally thought. That evening we saw probably 8 turkeys and got set up on a hill overlooking a nicely cleared valley. Nothing but the pestilent white tail showed up, one of which was developing a massive rack already.
The next morning came early; within 5 minutes we spotted birds right from the truck. One thing I remembered hearing about turkeys is that they are people smart, but truck stupid. On rounding a bend in the truck we spotted a flock of 10 birds. At 60 yards up to the flock of jakes, we angled the truck so I could get out un detected, and glassed quickly for beards. With 10 turkeys running for their lives and milling about it is very hard to tell which are bearded. Especially so with no scope. I was using Brew’s turkey gun and with my spotter calling which had a beard I let loose the turkey load at 60 yards when the largest bird had separated from the group. Boom! I was amazed at the power of the load. The gun jumped up and hit me in the nose! As the turkey did the funky chicken dance I handed the gun to OS who was able to get into position for a shot in time, and as I was calling which had a beard he had one shot at the last bearded bird and let fly to just miss as the turkey swooped over the edge of the mountain and down to the valley below. It was almost a double header 10 minutes into the day of turkey hunting.
We took lots of pictures and I admired the beauty of this gobbler. Somehow totally ugly, and yet somehow magnificent I gazed in wonder of my first turkey. The colors were iridescent and the beard was very cool. What a cool and different creature. I couldn’t wait to see what they tasted like!
The next few hours we spent cruising around, looking for bears and birds. We saw a total of 10 bears that day. I couldn’t believe just how many were out and about. Most were with cubs though, and nothing was close to being a shooter. I wasn’t going to shoot less than the one I previously had in the season and there just simply isn’t a 6 footer behind every tree. I did see my first color phase bear though which in and of itself was quite a treat. We would have to head to our lookout and wait out the turkey’s.
We arrived at our spot where we had a marvelous view and got set up again. Spotting scope, binos, beverages, and cold pizza from the night before came out and we spent the day watching and waiting. Lots of deer came through the clearing again, and at about 3pm we decided to roast up some of the turkey. Basting and turning the bird away from the open flames we had brought some mild chicken bbq sauce with us to baste this delectable bird.
Peering through the binos I caught sight of a vulture down below, about 700 yards away. Wait a second, that’s a turkey! Alone! Is it a tom? Calling and decoys weren’t working, so we had to spot and stalk them this late in the season. Did he have a beard is the question? With the spotting scope from this distance I just couldn’t make a for sure call. We had to get closer. I stayed and signaled on the hill as OS went for the gobbler. Well at about 650 yards away from the bird I realized what we were up against. This thing had seen us and was running like the gingerbread man! OS looked back for a signal of which direction and weather or not there was a beard. He then used his stalking and concealment skills to get within 150 yards. With the 17 HMR in hand the shot was doable. However there was no beard. In the spring it is bearded only so we would have to wait for more birds. Luckily we still had some time on our side. OS walked back up to the lookout as I continued to turn and baste the turkey. This bird was going to be delicious. I have never tasted wild turkey before, but this gobbler was looking a lot better than coyote.
To help baste OS went to a pine tree and clipped a small basting branch. Just then, something huge crawled into the valley floor catching my eye……TBC
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/P5130002.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2635.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2643.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2640.jpg
http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn5/bigbore14/IMG_2651.jpg