Wavefan

The best thing to plant for turkeys is chufa. What comes in second is far behind. Unfortunately chufa is expensive and unless you plant a lot of it the birds will eat it out. As will pigs if they are present.

Sounds like you may be south of the red hills but on the Alabama or Tombigbee River. Get one before the bugs get too fierce!

Don’t know the terrain our newbie is hunting but I’ll add that if it is like the places where tuthill and I hunt in lower Alabama, don’t expect the birds to flock in the spring into the green patches planted for deer near as much as they do in the fall. I hunt hilly terrain with pine tops and hardwood bottoms and most of the green patches are on the ridges. Spring turkeys, gobblers in particular, seem to do most of their strutting and relations with hens in the oak bottoms or along little streams. Sometimes they come out into the deer green patches, but setting up for that to happen lowers the overall odds at least where I hunt. Exception is if you plant chufa. They come into those patches. But not so much in the spring into the wheat/oats/rye green patches on deer hunting grounds. If you find an obvious strut zone with wing drag marks and feathers that’s where you need to be and occasionally that might be in a deer green patch but it’s usually not.

I’ve been doing it for 25 years and each passing season I realize more than the season before that turkey hunting is hard and I am not nearly as good at it as I used to think I was. The best advice I can give is figure out where the turkeys are and get in a spot nearby where you can see but you are hidden. Go out right at dusk and carefully walk woods roads or trails and use an owl hoot. Sometimes this will get a gobbler to gobble back on the roost. Once he does, figure out the best you can where he is and shut up and quietly leave. Most of the time all you will do is get real owls to hoot. When you figure out the spot you need to be in, get there quietly and with no white flashlight well before dawn. Hide. I think camo and a headnet are important but being against a tree and with something in front of you that breaks your outline is more important. And being perfectly still and silent is even more important. Being comfortable like on one of those padded or webbed turkey seats will help you be still longer. As a beginner you probably don’t want to call at all unless you hear a gobble. When you do call use a pot or slate call and keep it to a simple three note yelp. Then shut up. Sometimes they come in gobbling. Sometimes they come in silent. Usually they don’t come at all or stop too far away to shoot. Accept that even the best turkey hunters fail more often than succeed. Do not yelp every time he gobbles if he gobbles. Maybe yelp 15 minutes apart for a bird that seems interested and is gobbling but doesn’t seem to be getting closer. If and when you know a Tom is coming, shut up, don’t call. He knows where the yelp came from. All you will probably do by continuing to call is spook the bird by movement or by making a bad sound. Try to have your gun in a ready position across a knee before the bird gets within sight. You don’t want it leaning against the tree or laying on the ground. And realize that even if he comes within range he is just as likely to sneak up behind you. That’s just how it is. Final words- be where the turkeys are and be still. The rest is subordinate.

Decent fly casting. Used to be deadly accurate with a bait caster but don’t do it enough anymore. Streaky wing shooter. Good with a rifle. Atrocious duck caller. Know my limitations with turkey calls so I do ok. Good at starting projects but can’t seem to

Biggest trout I ever caught was in Ingram’s. Just inside the four pilings. March 17. Just a hair under seven pounds. On a chartreuse stingray grub.

In 1974. ??

Slidell has to be viewed in parcels. If you want a home in a subdivision (and NHS/Honey Island/Cypress Cove school district) The Bluffs and Turtle Creek are good choices. Lake Village and Crossgates are still OK. Some nice waterfront places over on the west side but school gets dicier (unless you pick parochial or private) and chances of home still being there after a hurricane of course decrease.

In 1972 when I was 12 years old I got a Remington model 870 wingmaster 12 gauge. Killed many ducks and doves and squirrels and rabbits and one deer (shot by my brother’s friend). Still have it and will pass it on.

TigrrDad - We share a passion for herping, but I have not reached the point (may not ever) where I handle the venomous ones other than with a snake hook. I envy your confidence in sensing the "mood" of a snake. Hope someday we cross paths, maybe on the Honey Island roads, though I don't get out there as much as I used to.

For those that don't understand, you either have a fascination with snakes or not. No real explanation. If you do, you want to learn about them and be where they are to see what they do. My childhood dream was to be a herpetologist, but like being a cowboy or a fireman, life goes in directions you may not see when you're 10 years old. At least it can be an avocation.

Get the good old red ambassador 4500. Put the two biggest brake blocks on the spool. Begin casting 1/4 to 1/3 ounce lures. Adjust the end cap so that the lure barely drops when put in free spool with rod horizontal. Teach them to lob cast side arm with slight upward arc. Not too hard just easy motion. After they get the feel you can go to smaller brake blocks and let them start casting overhand. Patience. And start with 20 lb test line