Austin's turn!

Austin and I have been hunting hard. After his miss on opening day of the youth hunt, I was determined to help my youngest boy get a bird. In just a few days of hunting, we logged many hours in the field. I went with Dave on Sunday morning, (April 29th), and filmed him shooting his bird. By 9:30, I was back home waking Austin up to go hunting. We went to a picked corn field on a farm we've hunted for years. We saw some birds in the field and tried to setup on them, but it wasn't happening. After sitting a while, a big tom stepped out of the woods at 100 yards, took one look at the decoys, and fed the other way! I thought to myself, I must have some really ugly decoys! The bird was not interested in the least. After the tom fed over a hill, we decided to try to stalk him. We got within 70 yards, and he finally spooked. This hunt was over.

We then decided to go to Daves Uncle TJ's and hunt. Nobody has hunted there this year. After running off a beagle that was running a rabbit, I decided to setup in a little island of woods in the middle of a hay field. We had the blind tucked under a cedar tree and we were completely hidden. We sat, and sat, and sat. From about 12:00 to 4:30 there was no action. We finally heard one gobble way off in the distance. I called as loud as I could. After a few minutes he gobbled again, and he was definitely closer. I called again, and nothing. We waited for a while again, and suddenly 80 yards from the blind, he gobbled and literally scared the crap out of us! Austin got ready, the camera was rolling, and here he came. To our surprise, there were 2 of them, both longbeards. Austin took aim, and I gave a little cluck to get them to seperate, and BOOM, the big boy went down. The shot was 15 yards and they never knew we were there. The video footage is awesome! Austin more than made up for his miss. The bird was 21 lbs, had a 10-1/2" beard, and 25 mm spurs. 2 birds shot on film in one day, how awesome is that! I'm going for the cameraman of the year award! Ha ha

 I can't thank God enough for allowing me to spend time chasing these turkeys with my boys, and my friends. Austin and I had a great time hunting together like we always do. These memories will last a lifetime. God is Awesome!

I would also like to thank Daves Uncle TJ for allowing us to hunt his beautiful piece of property. We love them landowners!!! I guess I better thank Dave too for calling his uncle and getting us permission to hunt there. (Austin and I really do appreciate the fact that we were allowed to hunt here). Dave said he had seen turkeys here many times before, and he was right!

It's been a great season, and it's only the first weekend! I'm running out of people to take!

Good luck to all!

Opening day MADNESS!!

Well, I'm a little late posting this. I've been hunting every day from dusk to dawn, but I finally found a little time. First day of the Indiana season and I was up to bat. Dave and I went to a farm we recently got permission to hunt. It's a huge cow pasture, and we've seen plenty of birds there. We setup and had 2 gobbling behind us. It didn't take long and they flew into the field. I thought, this is gonna be over really quick. Well, those 2 birds decided to follow their own script. They would gobble at everything, but they didn't want to come to the decoys. After messing with these birds for hours, they finally left the field. We decided to pack up and try the little food plot we put on my Dads property. We arrived at about 12:30. I decided to pop up the blind and wait by the edge of the food plot. While I was putting up the blind, I heard 1 gobble way off in the distance. I finished putting up the blind and putting out the decoys, and then cut loose with the calling. He gobbled hard and was soon on his way. It didn't take him long to close the distance. The bird was really wary and didn't want to step into the food plot. After a tense 10 minutes of watching the bird in the woods, I finally took aim with my old trusty Mossberg 835, and the 3-1/2 number 4's did the rest. A 15 yard shot on another Indiana longbeard. Dave was on the camera. Not an easy hunt to film. Dave did the best he could under the circumstances. He's got an 11" beard, weighed 22 lbs, and had 28 mm spurs.
Thanks yet again to God for a great day in the turkey woods. Glad to have Dave along running the camera. It's been a great season so far!

Good luck to everyone!

April 27

Day 3 of Indiana Hammerhead season. Steve Summers and I picked up a new place to hunt last night, being that he lost some hunting land the opening day of season. So we're going in blind. We get the truck parked ahead across the field in the dark and wait in the tree line for the sun to rise. The morning was a little slow to wake up, but when it did we could here 4 birds from where we were standing. So we make a move down the field and find a grass lane cutting thru the woods towards the sound of a big ol' long beard. About 50 yards in the woods on this lane we stop and set up and just wait. After a few minutes and a couple calls he was on the ground and headed our way. Now at the end of this lane was another field but it didn't take him long to get across it and up the lane right to us . Steve made a 24 yard shot and dropped him in his tracks. I had to hold him off so I could get him on video and it's AWESOME!!!!  Thanks for letting me tag along and catch it all on video!!

Evan Judy score's his first Hammerhead

Evan and I entered ourselves in a biggest Tom contest that the Odon Christian Church puts on for youth season only. Around 100 kids joined the fun of chasing those hammerheads around the woods.  Thanks to all the land owners who allowed us and all the other kids to chase turkeys on their property.  Evan came in 12th out of 22 birds that were killed on youth weekend.  Evan put in the time and scouted this turkey a week before season, so it made it obvious where to set up the blind. When day break came, we could hear the bird roosted behind us just as he had done in the past week.  As he flew down into the field we made a few calls and he was on his way.  He spotted the decoy as he came around the fence and he went to full strut and at 22 yards Evan had laid down his 1st turkey.  Congratulations Evan on a job well done!!!  Oh...and we got some good video!!!

Opening of Youth Turkey, Indiana, A Day to Remember

 What a great day we had here in southern Indiana on the opening weekend of the youth turkey season !! Five out of the six pictured below are on video!! We had fathers and sons, fathers and daughters, we even had a father and son with papaw along on his first turkey hunt....awesome stuff! I believe several combination of factors determined the success. First of all good weather, secondly the fact that we've had an early spring so most of the hens are on nests, and thirdly everyone had scouted their area and had a good game plan. Congratulations to everyone involved in these hunts. There is nothing like turkey hunting, and to get to share these memories with family and friends is a true blessing. I think I speak for all of us dads on the barebones crew when I say our favorite hunts are those with our children. Thanks to all the land owners, thanks to the cameraman, thanks to these young hunters for letting us old men tag along, and  thanks to God for all things....especially for wild turkeys.

Kurt got 'r done in Indiana!

Well, we FINALLY got to get out in the turkey woods! It seemed like it took forever for the season to get here! My oldest boy Kurt would be up first. He didn't get one last year because of baseball, but this year he had youth weekend off, and we were gonna hit it hard! We decided to go to a piece of property my Dad owns in Crawford county. Dave and I spent some time, (and money), putting in a clover food plot on this property. My thought was, because there was a chance for rain, we would hunt out of a blind in the morning next to the food plot, and just see what happened. Kurt was really tired and was nodding off quite a bit. We could hear some gobbling way off in the distance, but nothing close. I would call about every 20 minutes or so, but still nothing close. Suddenly, all the way across the food plot, a big strutter stepped out into the open. As soon as he saw my three decoys, he puffed up and put on a show. He never gobbled, just came in silent. He slowly made his way across the food plot, and at about 35 yards, Kurt filled his neck and head with a load of number 4's! I was able to get it all on film. Awesome footage. This one will look great on the video. I'm so proud of my boy. He's a great kid and I thank God for allowing us to spend this time together. I am certainly blessed!

Now later that afternoon, I took my youngest boy Austin. Dave was the cameraman and I was the guide. We sat for quite a while, and after one calling sequence we heard one gobble way off in the distance. Well, I threw every call I could think of at this bird. (I even made some sounds that some turkeys have probably never heard)! We could tell after a while that the tom was closing the distance. He was gobbling a lot and seemed pretty hot. He made his way next to our blind at 20 yards! He strutted right past us focused on the decoys in front of our blind. Austin took aim, and missed him completely at 25 yards! He tried another shot as it was running off and missed again! I couldn't believe it. Austin has taken many turkeys, but this was the easiest shot he has ever had. I think he caught a little of that turkey fever! He was upset, but I told him not to worry about it, there would be other days. We tried to review the footage, but it was so blurry, we couldn't really make out what happened. That's the BareBones crew, we got one guy that forgets to hit the red button, and another guy that forgets to focus the camera! Ha ha. Good thing Austin didn't kill that bird. Oh well, there will be other days.

Congrats to all the kids, it was a great weekend. Now it's the Daddy's turn!

Good luck to everyone. Remember to shoot straight, focus the camera, and hit the little red button!

Katlyn Takes a Big Indiana Gobbler!!

 Story told by crew member, Brian Eagan:

 I asked my boy who is 15 years old if he wanted to go the first day of youth season and he said that he already had commitments that weekend with his mom.  I was in awe that he would turn down the first weekend, and I did not know who I was going to take.  I asked my 14 year old daughter, Katlyn, who has been in the past at 9 years old. When she killed one then she commented that she was afraid of the gun kicking.....I told her she needs to face her fears and decided to try shooting the gun again.  After shooting the gun, she looked at me and smiled and said 'let's go turkey hunting'!!  As we was sitting in the car waiting for day light that morning, I asked her if she wanted to say a prayer, so we did, ask and you shall receive!!  The first birds I called in for her were 3 long beards at around 8:30 am. The first one came in for 'I thought a total neck/head shot' and I told her to take him.  After the shot went off, she said the only part she could see was the head....I told her that next time I would let her decide when to shoot.  I asked her if she wanted to go home or keep at it, she looked at me and said 'I want a bird!!'  That's what I wanted to hear!  At 1:00 pm we got on another bird and she put the smack down on this long beard at a 10 yard shot.....I probably would have taken him if I was the shooter at 35-40yard out......but, I told her earlier that she could decide when to shoot.  Proud of her for sticking it out!!  The Lord blessed my little girl today!  God is awesome!!!

Drake Gets It Done In Indiana!!

 

 Drake drops his 2nd bird of the season!! He shot one two weeks ago in Ky on the first day of their youth season and on the first day of Indiana's youth season at 0730 he knocks down a big strutter at 32 yards in the hardwood hills. This bird flew the wrong way off roost and strutted and gobbled for a while before he made his move to come to the calls. He surprised us and made a half circle around us, coming up to a logging road to our left. Drake made a quick move to adjust and when ol tom showed up and came out of strut, Drake squeezed the trigger on the 12 gauge, 3 1/2", and his 2nd gobbler of the season was down!  His bird was 22 lbs and had 32mm spurs. I was lucky enough to get it on film too! I actually pressed the red button! Drake has turned in to a pretty good hunter. He is only 10 but has six years of turkey hunting experience and this year I can tell he knows what he is doing out in the woods. I'm proud of his hunting abilities and who he is. I'm lucky to be his dad. Thanks to God for another great day in the turkey woods.

Jackson's Owen County Bird

It was a real challenge getting Jackson up Saturday morning.  I set my alarm for 4:00am and Jackson set his for 4:15am and when I went down to start loading the truck he was still asleep at 4:39am. He knew we were leaving at 5:00am to go to John Hunter's farm in Spencer.  The farm we were hunting was on the edge of the east fork of the White  river bordering McCormick's Creek state park.  We had 2 fields to choose from.  Myself and his papaw scouted the field 2 times prior to going over on opening youth weekend. We had aerial photos of the property and after talking to Brian Huber about the way the fields set and we had a game plan.  In between the 2 fields the was a levee and we decided to set the ground blind up on the levee and give it a try.  Once we got everything loaded in the truck we headed over and Jackson started complaining about being hungry so we had to make a stop at McDonalds so he would quit whining.  We finally made to the farm and starting walking to the field about 6:15am and made it to the levee and had everything set up at 6:30am.  The birds started gobbling around 6:45am.  This was the first time Jackson had ever heard wild birds in their environment. Sometime around 7:00am I was noticing something off in the distance and zoomed the camera and could see 2 toms in the field. About 15 minutes later we noticed 2 hens in between us and the toms making there way towards the toms.  I was beginning to think I set us up in the wrong place because nothing was heading our way.  We just kept waiting and watching.  Finally after about 20 minutes I saw one of the hens heading our way and I told Jackson not to move.  The hen came in around the decoys and started to feed around and hang out.  The toms still were in the other end of the field about 200yards away not paying any attention to us or the hens.  The hen right in front of us paced back and forth for about 15 minutes starring right in the blind at times for what seemed like an eternity. While Jackson and his papaw was watching the hen I noticed the toms were making there way closer to us.  some where along the way the toms picked up 2 jakes.  The jakes made there way in first and the toms were not happy and came running in to chase the jakes off.  Once they made it to the decoys they started strutting.  The toms were close together and I told Jackson to wait until they separated.  Once they split I told Jackson that I make a soft call and which ever tom stuck his neck out shoot.  I no more made the call and Jackson shot.  The tom dropped on the spot.   Jackson's papaw took off trying to get out of the blind and just about fell down.  When he made it the bird he grabbed it held it down.  This was papaw;s first time going turkey hunting.. I hope I can get him hooked and get him interested in turkey hunting.  Jackson's official weight was 19 lbs 4ozs had a 10 inch beard and 30 mm spurs. I would really like to thank John for the use of the farm. We are guessing that the bird was at least a 3 year old.  Now it is my turn to hunt and I'm going to try to bow hunt a bird.  Good luck to everyone this coming season.


Mack

Hannah's first longbeard!!!!!!!

  Let me start out by thanking the land owner that lets Hannah hunt his farm.This place is full of turkeys!!It's one of those places that you dream of owning yourself.The alarm kicked off at 5:00 for Hannah and myself and we were on our way.After a stop at McDonald's we were on our way to Washington county.It was a short walk to the blind but it took awhile before the birds started sounding off.Birds were gobbling all around us but there was one right behind us that seemed more interested than the others.He gobbled 3 times on the roost and once he hit the ground he gobbled 1 time and was already within 50 yards.After we finally seen him to our right,it took him forever to come to the decoys.First off the decoys we were using are the inflatable ones.What happen next was amazing.This ol longbeard come in at 20 steps,struttin the whole way and mounted the decoy and started his thing and popped the decoy!!!!Finally i told Hannah to hold steady on his neck and squeeze that trigger.She smoked him and her first longbeard was in the books.We got it all on film and needless to say i was once again a proud papa.This was her second bird.She killed a jake last year in KY.Her bird weighed 20lbs,10 inch beard,and had 32mm spurs.Yesterday the barebones crew knocked down 3 longbeards, it was a awesome day.Congrats to Kurt.and Drake on their kills yesterday.

Indiana Youth Turkey Season

Well, the season is finally here. This Saturday, (April 21st), we finally get to chase turkeys around here in Indiana. Brian and Drake are on the board with their Kentucky birds, so congratulations to them. Great job guys! Now it's time for the rest of us. I'll be taking my oldest boy Kurtis first. He didn't get one last year because of his baseball schedule. He's a great baseball player and the coaches just don't like it when he's not there. He caught a break this year and there is no baseball for the youth turkey weekend! So we're hunting from sun up til sun down! I can't wait. Kurt is a great kid and I couldn't be prouder of him. This is his last year he will be able to youth hunt here in Indiana because he is 17. I can't wait to spend some quality time hunting with him. Hopefully he gets to pull the trigger on another longbeard, and hopefully 'ol Dad hits the little red button on the camera! They're calling for rain Saturday morning, so we may be in a pop-up blind to start things out. Either way, it will be a great weekend because I get to spend it with my son. My plan is to take my youngest boy Austin during the regular season, and hopefully he gets one too. I really can't wait!

The season here may be a little weird this year. Everything is way ahead of schedule. We've had way above average temperatures since the beginning of March. All of the trees are completely leafed out, and I believe that many of the hens are already nesting. There may be poults running around when the season starts! I have never seen a year quite like this one. Were gonna hunt regardless of the conditions though. It's almost like we've missed the season and it hasn't even started yet!

My goal is to go hunting every day that I can. I've got a few days off from work, and I can hunt after work. Dave and I will be hunting and filming like always, and we believe we have some good places to hunt. Dave will be taking his daughter Hannah on the youth hunt and he will have a camera too. Some of us still film our hunts there big brother! Ha ha

Anyway, I'm sitting here getting antsy. I'm ready to be in the woods chasing them longbeards! Turkey hunting is certainly in my blood. I live for this time of year. God has blessed me with a great family, great friends, and good health. I never take for granted the time I get to spend in the turkey woods. Good luck to the BareBones crew. Stay safe out there fella's. .........and good luck to everyone else.

Remember, ........shoot straight, and let 'er eat!

2nd Kentucky Gobbler Goes Down!

 Ok, here was the plan..... Glenn and Austin were going to go with Drake and I back down to Kentucky for the opening of their regular turkey season. The boys would be the shooters with the old dads running cameras and calling. Well Glenn and Austin couldn't make it, and when I told Drake that Austin wasn't coming he really didn't want to go either. He didn't want to tell me no, but I could tell he didn't want to go without the other guys. So at around 9pm that night I talked myself in to going down alone. I thought it would be a chance to get to know some more of the land down there and maybe I might get lucky and hear some birds. I pulled in to my parking spot at around 1am and settled in for a few hours of sleep. I was up and ready just before light and before long was hiking slowly down the 4-wheeler trail. I hadn't gone 200 yards when I heard a gobbler sounding off on the ridge ahead of me. There is something magical about the sound of that first distant gobble on beautiful spring morning. I have to agree with my little brother when he says "turkey hunting is in his blood", cause its in mine too! I cant imagine my life without turkey hunting. I worked my way closer as the old tom was making the world know of his presence. I was able to get in to a really good position at about 100 yards from where he was roosted. I set the lone decoy in the middle of the trail and tucked back against a tree in some cover. I gave him a few soft clucks and yelps and I was quickly cut off by a pair of gobbles. There were two birds roosted together! I went silent as they gobbled several more times. It wasn't long and a hen pitched off roost and glided from the ridge, passing me and landing somewhere behind. Perfect. About a minute later I heard the beating of wings as the gobblers left the roost. I gave them some cuts and yelps and they cut me off with loud, close gobbles. I made one more soft yelp with my voice and they answered again. When I saw their brightly colored heads they were coming around a bend in the trail, at about 40 yards, taking turns strutting. What a show. I almost forgot I had the gun in my hands as I was enjoying what I was seeing. I let them get a little closer and a when one of them came out of strut and stretched his head up high, I squeezed the trigger. And at 730am my 1st Ky bird of the season was down! Probably one of the easiest turkey hunts I have ever been on. I'll take it, cause Ive sure had my share of tough ones. Thanks to God. For everything. After I took and sent some pictures, I was on my way back to the truck when I heard another distant gobble. Great place to hunt. I spent most of the rest of the day scouting new areas and think I found some more potentially good spots. Cant wait to try them out. I bet I wont have much trouble getting someone to go next time.  ; )

Kentucky Gobblers

  What a great hunt Drake and I had in Kentucky! One of the best hunts Ive ever been on. The 7th was the first day of a two day youth turkey season in the great state of Kentucky. We decided, kind of at the last moment, to head down there to some public land that I had some success on a few years ago. We arrived as it was getting dark and was able to get one to gobble to an owl hoot pretty close to the truck. So the next morning we waited for this one to start gobbling but he never made a sound, so we started heading back deep in the woods. It wasn't very much later we heard a distant gobble, so after him we went. We were set up good and working him in when some other hunters came in a scared him off. That happened twice to us that day. Welcome to public land.We finally got one to cooperate but had to set up in a thick area. Well when this one showed himself he was inside of 10 yards!!.. and Drake smooth missed him. It was just too close for that tight choke. Drake was a little upset with himself for missing, but I tried to let him know that was a tough shot, even for an experienced hunter. We heard one more later that didn't want to work and it was about 1:00 in the afternoon when we decided to climb the ridge, more like a mountain, and start the 2 mile hike back to the truck. I thought hopefully we could hear one on the way back. We were resting on the "mountain" and I thought I would give one last call to the valley below that we had just left. Wouldn't you know it, a lonesome gobbler answered right where we had just came from about 15 minutes earlier! We waited a little bit to see if this one was worth going back down after. I looked at Drake and said "what do you think?" and he replied with a big "sigh". The tom gobbled a couple more times on his own and that was enough for me....so back down we went. We got set up pretty good and within a few minutes we could hear him spittin n drummin as he work his way to the decoy. When he strutted out from behind a big cedar at 20 yards, Drake filled his head with # 5s! The turkey dropped like a sack of taters! Drake was fired up! He had redeemed himself for the miss from earlier. Drake stuck with me up and down hills and hollows, on a tough hunt where most men wouldn't have been able to. I am very proud of him. He learned a lot that day, not just about turkey hunting. I've learned to appreciate days like these even more as I get older. Thank God for answering our prayers. We plan on probably going back this coming weekend for the regular season to see if Drake can get his second bird of the season. Or maybe I might try to get one, either way it should be fun... and probably a little tougher. I'm tryin to talk little brother in to going with us. I bet I can make him shed a few pounds!!

First for 2012

Drake gets one down!!!! Way to go guys!

Starting in Kentucky!

Can you guess which two boys of bare bones crew are sitting in Kentucky right now? You guessed it ,Brian and Drake Huber! Just got a text from them and they made it down there just fine. Now youth season starts tomorrow, so Drake can get the first turkey kill for bare bones outdoors. Hope Brian pushes the little red button! He also said they roosted one at dark, so they have a good place to start! GOOD LUCK BOYS!!!

It's almost Turkey time!!!!!

Well, the weather has been unbelievably warm. I have never seen things happen this early in the year. Turkeys strutting and gobbling everywhere. By the time the season starts, all of the breeding will be done. I don't know if that will make the hunting better or worse, but we're sure gonna find out!

Dave and I have been working hard putting out food plots and listening for birds. I say "working", but it's all fun. I just love being in the woods this time of year. I love to deer hunt, and fish, but nothing compares to turkey hunting for me. Other than spending time with my family, there is nothing I would rather do. It's in my blood, and as long as the good Lord allows, I will continue to chases them longbeards! There is really nothing that compares to me. I appreciate more and more every single moment I get to spend in the turkey woods. I have been blessed, and all I can do is continue to thank God for all he has given me.
I would also like to thank all of the landowners that allow us to pursue our passion. You are all appreciated more than you know.

I want to second what Dave has said, the people in southern Indiana and Kentucky have endured a lot from these devestating tornados. The little town of Marysville Indiana was blown off the map..............literally! The power of mother nature is unbelievable and should never be ignored. People lost their lives, and many people lost most of their possessions. We all need to pray for these folks. And a big high five goes out to all of the meteorologists in the area. They predicted this storm a day in advance, and their warnings during the storm saved many lives I'm sure. ....................Prayers are with all of these folks.

I also had a chance to take my boy Austin fishing at Patoka lake. We fished for crappie and caught about 30. He caught one that measures over 15", which is huge for us. It was a great day for Father and Son. I won't forget it, and I'm sure he won't either.

.....well, that's all for now. Turkey season is fast approaching which makes it even harder to go to work! I can't wait! Dave and I are gonna have a lot of fun hunting, and taking our kids hunting. It can't get here soon enough!

Remember, if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck,................pretend it's a turkey!

God Bless and shoot straight!