G.R.U.B.

2010 Fowl Language

Alright, I know I’m many months and some change behind on this report and with the season now over, I figured it’s time to talk some turkey. This has probably been the most eventful turkey season I have ever had, with my journeys starting in Nashville, TN. for the NWTF (National Wild Turkey Federation) convention, to Irons, MI. for the 4th Annual TNT (Turkey-N-Trout) season opener trip, to an amazing first bird ever hunt for me and “Pops” Kovak in Lexingtion, MI. I apologize for neglecting the G.R.U.B. blog spot as long as I have, but with all the events I’ve just listed, plus we are now into the Michigan fishing and boating season and the fact that I am the hardest working man in the facility management industry, I am just a wee bit behind. So without further ado, let me update you all on what I consider to be the turkey season that has forever changed my passion for chasing long beards. Yes, it is official that my pursuit of “Tommy” has reached a level of addictive proportions very similar to my already lifelong dependencies of tracking down all that is horny or that will bite my worm. Where does one find the time to do it all? Even finding time to write this article has been a challenge, but I am managing to squeak in some writing time as I gaze out my window seat heading out west for a little R&R in Las Vegas. My life does not suck!

Nashville National Wild Turkey Convention Review

February 18th-20th, 2010

So, Nashville… here is a place I could use too. Fishstick and I teamed up once again for a journey that was nothing shy of,”TURKALICIOUS”. We also had the entire Texico, Illinois hunting crew there, to show us the ropes of how you do one of these here NWTF Conventions Tennessee Style. Let me say, that Tennessee has some of the finest music, food and good ole’ southern hospitality, that I have experienced anywhere. Since our trip, it also should be mentioned, to keep the people from this area in your prayers as they have suffered a devastating blow from the floods that hit there this spring. The city and the people were amazing and my heart goes out to them. If you have never been, make a point to not miss an opportunity to visit. Speaking of which, we will be returning to this gig again in 2011. We had about 20 of us this year and would love to recruit a few more for this next year’s party. In addition to what a fantastic town and party this was, the show was equally a must see. The Grand Ole’ Opry Hotel and Convention center is the perfect setting for this turkey extravaganza. I don’t think you could pick a better,” down home country feel” venue, to compliment what turkey hunting or any hunting is all about. The hotel and the show are both huge and offer something for everyone. Bring the wife, kids, hunting buddies or whomever, cuz this one will not disappoint. I would recommend you give yourself two full days to walk the 4 acre show, some good shoes and a turkey gear slush fund to make the most of it. I would add an extra day just to hit downtown for the chow and entertainment. Trust me! There were so many things to see at this show that I cannot possibly name them all, so I will highlight the best I can. My favorites, FREEBIES & DEALS! All 43,000 attendees, I seen walking out of this place had a bag of goodies and a smile on their face. World-class call makers were on hand with more calls then I have ever seen. And every one of them was happy to give you a few tips, a demonstration and couple of great hunt’in stories to go with it. Prices ranged from very reasonable to is that a call or a piece of art work? Some were even FREE if they liked you. I had several give me call to try out for the season as long as I report back to them with my results. Let’s just say they worked and I will get to that story later… In addition to the pros at the booths, the show had no shortage of industry experts and celebrities. Jeff Foxworthy, Harold Knight & David Hale, Will Primos, Michael Waddell, Lee & Tiffany from the Crush, Ray Eye, host of "Eye on the Outdoors", Mark Drury of Drury Outdoors, Ronnie "Cuz" Strickland of Mossy Oak and many, many, many more. There was tons of gear, new products, firearm and archery manufactures, taxidermists, decoys. So many that I can’t even begin to list them all. Then you had the seminars, call making contests, auctions for all the calls that were made, raffles, kid’s activity areas. And if yer dogs were barking from all that walking, just sit back and watch the Grand National Calling Contest Championship. Now that’s entertainment right there! I cannot say enough great things about this show and trip. If I have not enticed you enough to come along with us next year then you probably just don’t get it. Check out the NWTF web site for more info. www.nwtf.org and I hope to see a few more GRUB’s in the mix next year! Should be posting some pictures of this in the fall once I get together with Illinois crew again.

3rd Annual TNT (Trout-N-Turkey) Trip

April 21st - 25th, 2010

For those of you that don’t know about this TNT gig, its time you did. Three years ago, I got together with GRUB members; Jordan, SalmomSlayer and a good friend “Wild Bill” Walters and headed north for the trout spring opener in the Manistee National Forest. While we were checking out the many excellent trout streams in the area we noticed a ton of long beards strut’in around in the same areas. It then came to my attention that these dirty birds were also in season for the killing at the same time as the trout opener. Well the rest is history. How could a hunting/fishing fanatic possibly pass up on such an opportunity to get back in the woods after a long winter? It’s been a bit of a struggle organizing these the last couple years to get everybody involved, but it’s still alive and becoming a great tradition. We have also changed the locations where we stay the last couple years, which in my opinion has made it that much more interesting, trying new turf.

This year’s trip took me, Jordan, SalmonSlayer and Greedy Smurf to beautiful Irons, Michigan where we rented a small cottage on the Little Manistee River. You can check out Deerwood cottage where we stayed at www.deerwoodcottage.com . It’s a nice little cottage with basic amenities and Barb the owner gave us a good price and a hassle free booking and stay. It’s not quite what the web site makes it out to be, but it makes a great hunting or fishing cabin if you’re in the area.

For turkey hunting we started out by returning to a spot that we had hunted the year prior just north of Evart. Vortex had success after a 30 minute hunt at the 2nd annual trip, in a sweet little honey hole I knew from hunting deer in the area and since we didn’t have a lot of time to scout the Manistee National Forest we chose to take the hour ride to the Pere Marquette State Forest for a hopeful repeat. Sure enough, I sent Jordan and SalmonSlayer into the bush and about 20 minutes later Greedy and I heard the shot followed by a big Tom flying across the pond we were hunting. Sorry Salmon, first time Turk Fever! The lessoned learned is you got to see Jordan do a picture perfect stalk and call set up that you won’t soon forget. That’s really about all the luck we had on Turkeys for the trip. We spent many hours and miles scouting the Manistee National Forest with not a single bird talking. I’m convinced that the turkeys in the Irons, Michigan area love to hang out within the 400’ no shoot zone of the local roads. Or they were all trying to hitchhike out of the area because they knew the GRUBS were in town. The fishing was not much better, but we did not hit it that hard. Saw some Steelies and caught a couple Browns and Rainbows. The true highlight of my trip had to be seeing Greedy and SalmonSlayer have their first real experience with good ole’ Michigan deer ticks. We laid up in some long grass by a swamp the one day watching some deer and calling turks and when we got back to the truck we were covered. They don’t bother me much, since I’ve been to S.Illinois in the summer and nothing compares! But watching these guys dig and scratch every time the wind blew the next couple days…Well, that’s entertainment right there! My opinion of the area and the trip would have to be, “Irons, it’s a beautiful place to HIKE and bring your DEET!” Good Times!!!!

“POPS” Kovcj First Bird

May 2010

With my turkey license expired, it was off to Lexington to team up with my dad and do some calling to see if I could get one in close for him to get a poke at. We had seen plenty of birds there over deer season in the fall and since we hunt a relatively small piece of land not much scouting would be in order. I showed up at dad’s place a few days after my trip to Irons and arrived in the evening, prime time to put some birds to sleep. We headed out to the property with a couple hours of daylight left and set up by a small watering hole that if figured the birds would be roosting near. We watched a couple Toms in a field with a mess of deer and come dark could hear birds coming to the roost nearby. Once it was dark we moved out of the woods and hit the hoot owl call which got an immediate response from several gobbles. Back to the house we went for a little rest and the latest episode of “Pacific” on HBO. Nothing like war flicks to prep you for morning combat. We got up early and got settled up back in the area we heard the birds about a 75 yards away. They were already talking to the hens when we set up. Not good! They came down and immediately got henned up and headed for the field. We waited a short time for them to get comfy out in the field and made a stalk down a hedge row to see if we could get ahead of them for a shot from the cover. Upon our arrival, we saw nearly 60 birds with 12 Toms in full strut on the field to one side and a group of 10 jakes on our other side. Too many eyeballs for me! We did have one Tom pass about 65 yards to us, but chose to sit tight and quiet for a better shot. About an hour or two later the birds moved off the field and back to the woods. This seemed like a good time to grab lunch and come back out in a couple hours once the hens break away from the Toms for the afternoon. We returned at 3:30 and set up some decoys about 25 yards inside a wood line on the edge of a field where a small trail is cut out for a decent open shot. We got comfortable back to back under a big pine and I started into my first set of clucks for the day on my mouth call. Immediately we got a big response from a few Toms that sounded about 200 yards off. I paused about 10 minutes and did a couple clucks and a purr on the slate and again got an immediate response now closing in at less than a hundred yards. I said, “There on us pops!” He asked,” Where? Can you see em’? “ “Not yet, but they know where we are.” Next thing I see is three red heads working through some high grass and searching hard. I gave one light purr and they gobbled and started B-lining right out in front of dad toward the decoys. I told him to get ready and right about that time the turkeys saw the decoys, I heard the safety click and I gave one cluck for good measure. When that bird stuck his head out to belt out what would be his final gobble, dad dropped that long beard where he stood. We jumped up hoot‘in and hollar’in, hugging each other and noticed the other two Toms were still standing there checking out there old buddy and those decoys. Why didn’t I get a permit for Lexington???? Check out the pictures of dad’s bird in the photo’s on the site. The smiles are worth more than I could ever write.

The Wild Turkey hunt is a great way to start out every season. Especially if you’re like me and don’t do the ice fishing thing. Ice is for cocktails! I will look forward to the fall hunt and the years of chasing limb hangers to come. Big thanks to the following for making my turkey season all it could be; Fishstick (You are a saint for all the time you allow me to do what I love and I loved having you by my side for the convention.), The TNT Crew (Nothing better than hanging with GRUBS), The Illinois Crew (Thanks for the invite to the show. Looking forward to the next one. See you in the fall!), Dad (That’s the stuff memories are made of.), The Folks at Keystone Calls and Woodswise Calls (Keystone Calls gave me a mouth piece called the Seducer and this sexy little number does what it says. I bought a slate from Woodwise calls which works great in wet conditions and has three surfaces to work off. Nice products! www.keystonecalls.com & www.woodswise.com )

Bring on the Fishing!!!!