Sunrise

This morning we were blessed with yet another spectacular sunrise!

The view from our back deck.

Casey (the puppy) and I went down to the other end of the subdivision to take a couple shots.

Sure was pretty!

Queen Casey

Casey came to live with us one week ago tomorrow.  She is a 9 1/2 week old English Springer Spaniel full of all the puppy energy one would or would not anticipate!  I think Casey is adjusting OK.....she is gaining a half a pound a day and RARELY does she ever stop.  The name Casey is a Celtic name meaning "watchful" or "Eagle eyed"; I must say, she is very watchful of her food dish, water dish, my toes, my braid - well, you get the idea!  She is already GREAT company and fun to have around.  Bill says I'm spoiling her, but I don't think I spoil her near as much as he does!

Her first day here.  She wasn't quite sure what to think about what was going on.

Adjusting quite well and chewing/tasting everything!

Her favorite color is pink.  How can a puppy be so insistent on a favorite color?!?!?!?!?!??

Perpetual motion............................

Decisions, decisions.....which toy shall it be?

Why, the pink wiener dog, of course!

Not even is her bed safe.

Her latest trick is to wrestle with her bed.  She gets underneath it and tackles it from below.

Casey's a pistol!  We spend most of the day laughing at her new adventures!

Woo Hoo!!!! Turkey #2!

I got my 2nd turkey this morning!!!  Yippee!  You may have guessed, I'm still a little excited.  This hunt wasn't near as exciting as yesterday's, but hey, two turkey's in two days.  How could that NOT be exciting?  This guy was pretty much just feeding in on me; and for once, I had patience, and just waited for a great shot opportunity.  I blasted him at 24 yards!  (Yes, I ranged it after the shootin' was all done.)  I put a second round into him so he would stop flopping around.  Didn't need to, but he wasn't "contained" against the fence like yesterday, so I did.  Wish I wouldn't have......He was a pain to clean.  Since he was coming straight for me, there was some shot to clean out and lost a little meat.  Oh well.  Normal when it comes to huntin' birds.  Had to make my first phone call to our friend Charlie!  He says I just like pulling the trigger on my shot gun.  Probably some truth to that!  LOL  Again, no one around to take pictures, so did the timer and ran............

My bird and my shot gun, what a lovely site! :)

Yes, still a big smile.

This ones colorings are different....

Far more like the Rio's colors than the Merriam's.

OK.....that would make two turkeys, two freak-a-zoid's. 

Leave it to me to shoot freak's!

Kind of hard to tell in the pictures, but he had a blue head.  I had decided (for whatever reason that might be) that I wanted a blue headed one the second time.

I probably had the wrong one mounted.  LOL  This dude's fan just seems BIG.

Only one beard on this guy.

Yes, I measured.........

Pretty dog gone respectable bird, if I do say so myself!

Well, this brings my 2010 Spring Turkey Season to a close.  Both of my tags are now filled.  Bitter-sweet.  :)  Although, I must admit, not getting up at 3:30 everyday is going to be nice for a bit.  Now, the pressure is on Mr. Bill...............  If he gets home before the season ends, I get to "Guide Sir" him!  Wouldn't it just suck if he had to go back to work and tell the guys that he got out hunted by his WIFE?!?!?!?

Hee he, hee he, hee he! :)

2010 Spring Turkey Season

The 2010 Spring Turkey Season is well underway, about half way to be exact.  Getting a turkey hasn't been near as easy as I thought it was going to be, but it has been FUN!  Our friend Charlie came all the way from Nacogoches, TX to teach us the ropes of turkey hunting.  Bill got called back to work early, so it was just me and Charlie.

Here's Charlie the first morning adding to his homemade Gilly Suit (sp).  (I don't think he knows I took this picture, so I might be in trouble right about now!)

Here's me, all camo'd up and waiting for the perfect shot!

Charlie hiding behind the blind he made.

Our decoys.  (All the way from Texas!)

This was the last day Charlie was here.  We saw and/or heard turkey's everyday while he was here and had a GREAT time!  Unfortunately, neither one of us got a bird before he had to leave.  There's always next year though Charlie!

This morning's hunt started out like most every morning has; watching birds on the wrong side of the road - 200+ yards away.  (Yes, I was ranging it.)  I did have a coyote come past me, and I did have a hen milling around with in 50 yards of where I was sitting.  After a while, boredom kicked in so I decided to go for a walk.  Took off up a gully, and then walked the fence line of the ranchette we've been hunting.  Almost smack dab straight east of where I was standing, was several gobblers!  Then I had to figure out how to get down to them without spooking any of them.  It turned into "seek and attack" right quick!  I managed to get down within 40 yards of the birds without them knowing I was there, but I still didn't have a clear shot.  I made another sneak only to realize there was a jake about 10 yards behind me!  I'm not sure who peed more when we both realized how close we were to each other!  He left and settled down, some how with out spooking the other gobblers.  (Never will know how THAT happened!)  While I'm trying to figure out how to get a good clear shot on these birds, wouldn't you know it, they passed with in 10-12 feet of EXACTLY where I had been sitting 45 minutes earlier.  Go figure!  Guess that's why they call it turkey hunting and not turkey shooting!

After all that, though, I got one this morning!  (5-3-10)

I was a little excited!

I didn't have anyone to take pictures for me, so I had to set the timer and run!

The wind caught the tail feathers and fanned them nicely.

Yep, I'm STILL excited!

Just me, my shot gun, and my bird! 

The primary beard was 6" long!  A pretty respectable bird!

This dude had three beards!

As soon as I realized there were three beards, I called Charlie!  He said it's unusual but not unheard of.

I took the tail and the beards to the taxidermist this afternoon to have a fan mount done.  We'll see how it turns out!

Still have one more tag to fill!  This morning's hunt was pretty awesome!  Stay tuned for the next episode of "2010 Spring Turkey Season"!