Late Spring Update

Well, turkey season is over where I'm at and I'm wishing I could have a do-over. On my last post I

The property hen

detailed my plans for this turkey season and although they sounded good, they just kind of fell apart. I hunted Richloam WMA on opening morning and started near a main road where I saw a ton of tracks while scouting. I got there really early, set up in my ground blind on the edge of a Cyprus Swamp and as soon as I started calling I was mimicked by the worst sounding box call I have ever heard. After realizing the guy kept getting closer to me, I got up and moved a few hundred yards along the edge of the swamp, he followed me. I spent all morning trying to shake this guy off my trail. I gave up about 11:30 a.m. and decided to check out the area I had hunted last season before I called it a day.

I arrived at the area a little before Noon and walked back to where I had found a freshly killed

Does at property feeder

raccoon surrounded by panther tracks while scouting a week earlier, that's the main reason I didn't choose to hunt there again this year. As soon as I hit my call I was cut off by a gobbler that was close! I dropped down against a tree and readied my gun with my heart beating out of my chest! He continued to gobble but I could soon tell that he was moving across to the left in front of me. I only had about 30 minutes of shooting time left so I decided to sneak over and try to get closer. I never was able to get a look at him before 1 p.m. came so I had to leave him to his gobbling.

I returned to that area a couple more times without hearing or seeing a thing. I consoled myself with the thought of going to Georgia where I could get my fill of heart racing gobbles in the turkey woods. My brother and I planned two trips, both of which fell through last minute because of his work schedule. This just wasn't the year of the turkey for me. Oh well, maybe next year.

My turkey-less depression has been remedied a little by how the fishing on the flats has been

heating up. last Monday morning I fished Tampa Bay and had a great time poling the flats and catching reds and big trout. it was really fun seeing schools of redfish swimming the shallow grass flats again, and even more fun fighting them.

Besides that I have been checking on my property in Brooksville about once a week; maintaining

Doe on the food plot

the feeder and checking the trail cameras, food plot and the various fruit trees I've planted around the food plot (apple, peach and plum). I also brought up three beehives last week to help pollinate the fruit trees and hopefully get some honey. The deer have been tearing up the food plot which is a mixture of sunflowers, clovers and brassica. The deer don't seem to mind the bee hives as I have a picture of a doe standing in the food plot looking at the bee boxes. They have also been hitting my feeder multiple times every evening and morning. With quite a few daytime visits I'm excited about what this Fall might hold. I also have a hen turkey hitting the feeder now pretty regularly and we actually saw her this morning on the property next to us. I have seen a couple gobblers across the street as well but have yet to see one on my property. I'm hoping that by keeping the feeder going all Summer and maintaining the food plot, I can recruit more wildlife on my small 6.3 acre property over time. But for now I'm not complaining with 3 bucks and 3 does coming every day.

I'm going to have to take advantage of hunting locally more this Fall as my wife and I are expecting our 5th child in November. So that is going to mean less Georgia hunts and more short morning or evening hunts locally. I am looking forward to planning some weekend camp-outs on the property to archery hunt Chassahowitzka and Citrus with some friends. But before that we have to endure the long, hot days of summer.