Today, I had an awesome turkey hunt. I reached my hunting spot...a field near home... flushing a hen from her hiding place as I entered the area. I set up my blind and a jake decoy. I was ready and hunting by 3:30pm. I had given a few hen calls....purrs and some clucks when I heard an owl sound off down in a creek bottom....wow, a gobbler fired right back...and sounded pretty close. I guessed maybe 150 yards.

In a minute or two, I had a hen appear from no where and begin feeding only 20 yards in front of me. In a while, another hen joined the first. In the meantime, every time there was a loud noise in the area the gobbler would hammer back..... even when I heard someone crank a 4 wheeler....the bird gobbled.

I continued watching the hens and doing some easy calling...imitating the sounds they were making between themselves. After about 20 minutes the bird gobbled again...this time he was not in the creek....he was in the field with me!

The tom crossed a narrow part of the field...and the hens began moving towards him. He stood for nearly a minute watching my jake decoy....then he came running across the ground towards Jake. When 20 yards from the decoy, he blew up in full strut...not slowing down he ran into the decoy. Next, he did a couple laps around Jake, in full strut.

I could not stand anymore of this torture....on his second lap I put my red dot on his head and squeezed off. He sported a 9 & 5/8 in beard, 1 inch spurs, and pulled the scales to 20#.

Man, I am one happy hunter this afternoon. This bird was my 3rd and last Georgia bird for the 2010 season...Not getting any video of this hunt was disappointing, but the rest of the hunt was of the finest kind. I have learned thru the years that these memories should be protected and preserved....that's why I have a Beard Box.....the beard, spurs, and shotshell empty go right inside. Please visit 5 Notch Woods and find out how to get a Cedar Beard Box of your own.

Thanks for huntin today! Glad to have you along.

Jeff

Mr. Bob's Chuckwagon

www.mrbobschuckwagon.com

www.5notchwoods.blogspot.com

2010 Turkeys On the Ground

This year turkey season has been terrific. My nephew Ethan arrived from Vermont in time to hunt the 2nd week of our Georgia season. Let's get to the hunts.

The first afternoon, we hunted a field where I had scouted and had been seeing a small flock of birds daily. Of course, when we got there, the birds were already in the field. We had to sneak thru a creek bottom to avoid the flock to get to our blind. For the next 3 hours or so, the birds fed around the field...hundreds of yards from our position. Eventually, one tom began working towards our decoys. We thought we were golden....the bird though, stopped 100 yards out and returned to the flock....and began chasing several Jakes around the field. Not a bad start to our hunt, though.

The next morning, we hunted another property on a small field. For this hunt, Ethan was running the gun and I the video. Right off we heard gobbling from the roost. Ethan gave some tree calls and a couple of "fly downs". Wow, the birds really fired off then. Soon the woods were quiet....making us think the gobblers were headed towards us. We were not disappointed. There were 2 gobblers coming down the field right to our decoys. One gobbler was strutting on the way in, and he strutted around the decoys. I was only on camera and I could hardly breathe...this was awesome. I told Ethan to shoot when he was ready...but I was not....the birds had moved out of frame. I slid the camera around just in time to capture Ethan's one shot that killed both the above birds. Each bird carried an 8 & 1/2 in beard that is now a special memory.....and stored in our 5 Notch Woods, signature, Cedar Beard Box

These birds have already been great on the table...both grilled and fried and accompanied by our signature Grillin & Dippin Sauce.

Stay with our hunts, there is more to come from this week alone.

Jeff

On the Ground Outdoors

onthegroundoutdoors@gmail.com

Makers of Mr. Bob's Chuckwagon Grillin & Dippin Sauce

Do you own a gun?

Glad to post again. Been real busy lately with Mr. Bob's Chuckwagon Sauce & Spice . I got this message in an email this morning. Thought the best way for me to send this out is to post it here. Please read the info and decide for yourself how dangerous this could possibly be...for everyone.

"Do you own a gun?

Very Important that you read this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

JP

To read more about this, go to SNOPES and put in "gun cotrol bills".

Federal law requiring disclosure of all guns on your tax forms

Below is a back-door federal approach to national gun registration. It will be passed administratively and won't even require a vote by Congress.

Remember, the socialist takeover CANNOT succeed without disarming the public. This is step one; a national list of who has what guns.

Subject: senate bill SB-2099 / amendment to internal revenue act of 1986


Senate Bill SB-2099 will require us to put on our 2009 1040 federal tax form all guns that you have or own.. It may require fingerprints and a tax of $50 per gun.

This bill was introduced on Feb. 24. This bill will become public knowledge 30 days after it is voted into law. This is an amendment to the Internal Revenue Act of 1986. This means that the Finance Committee can pass this without the Senate voting on it at all..

The full text of the proposed amendment is on the U.S. Senate homepage, http://www.senate.gov/ You can find the bill by doing a search by the bill number, SB-2099.

You know who to call; I strongly suggest you do. Please send a copy of this e-mail to every gun owner you know.

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/text

Congress is now starting on the firearms confiscation bill. If it passes, gun owners will become criminals if you don't fully comply.

It has started.

Very Important for you to be aware of a new bill HR 45 introduced into the House. This is the Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sale Act of 2009.

Even gun shop owners didn't know about this because the government is trying to fly it under the radar.

To find out about this - go to any government website and type in HR 45 or Google HR 45 Blair Holt Firearm Licensing & Record of Sales Act of 2009. You will get all the information.

Basically this would make it illegal to own a firearm - any rifle with a clip or ANY pistol unless:

-It is registered

-You are fingerprinted

-You supply a current Driver's License

-You supply your Social Security #

-You will submit to a physical & mental evaluation at any time of their choosing

- Each update - change or ownership through private or public sale must be reported and costs $25 - Failure to do so you automatically lose the right to own a firearm and are subject up to a year in jail.

- There is a child provision clause on page 16 section 305 stating a child-access provision. Gun must be locked and inaccessible to any child under 18.

-They would have the right to come and inspect that you are storing your gun safely away from accessibility to children and fine is punishable for up to 5 yrs. in prison.

If you think this is a joke - go to the website and take your pick of many options to read this. It is long and lengthy. But, more and more people are becoming aware of this. Pass the word along.

Any hunters in your family, pass this along.


This is just a "termite" approach to complete confiscation of guns and disarming of our society to the point we have no defense - chip away a little here and there until the goal is accomplished before anyone realizes it.

This is one to act on whether you own a gun or not.

If you take my gun, only the criminal will have one to use against me. HR 45 only makes me/us less safe.

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:H.R.45:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/111-h45/show

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h111-45

Please.... copy and send this out to EVERYONE

I usually do not blog for political reasons, but thought this could be a really big deal. Please come back by when you can...we have started preparing for deer season (archery) and also working on handloads for a fall Montana trip.

Jeff

On the Ground

Whitetail Woods: Savory Sunday's - #25

Good day! Rick Kratzke posted this recipe over at Whtetail Woods and I thought it sounded pretty good. Please enjoy.

Whitetail Woods: Savory Sunday's - #25

Deer season is approaching fast and I am already behind in getting ready. Too hot to scout, and to shoot too much for that matter. It is defintely time to work on my plan of attack though. Whew! So much to do. Gotta get started.

Check back as we begin to at least work on stands and hunting blinds in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for coming by.

Jeff

on the ground outdoors

Sponsored by Mr. Bob's Chuckwagon, Sauce & Spice

New hunting book NOW available!

This past week I had the pleasure of meeting Wm. Hovey Smith, an outdoor writer, near Dublin, Georgia. While at a local gun shop, a friend and I were working on our plans for our upcoming Georgia alligator season. A gentleman approached from the store and jumped right in the conversation, and really seemed to know alot about hunting gators. In fact, Mr. Smith seemed to have a pretty good grip on hunting in general.

Mr. Smith, as I found out, was working his way around announcing his new book, "Backyard Deer Hunting". From the author's website, "Backyard Deer Hunting: Coverting deer to dinner for pennies per pound was written to meet a need to providing information on how to find, kill and ultimately eat deer and other game animals as inexpensively as possible. Rather than being about trophy animals, the object of this book is to shoot and process game for food....". Also, "With the 2008 economic downturn, the need for such a book became increasingly apparent".

Please take a minute and stop by Mr. Smith's website, http://www.hoveysmith.com/ and see what he has to offer. Too, Mr. Smith publishes a blog that may be of interest to you, http://hoveysmith.wordpress.com/ .

Thanks for coming by the blog today. Gator season is fast approaching....and we are really hoping for those gator tags with our names.

Jeff

On the Ground

PS. I am positive that fried gator tail will be a real treat with

Mr. Bob's Chuckwagon Grillin Sauce.

We are what we leave behind.....

I have learned that one of the strongest impacts we can have upon those around us is the legacy we leave behind. Wikipedia defines legacy simple as, "Something someone is remembered as".... that's a lot to take in. If we could breakdown our outdoor lives into one sentence, what would it be.....?

We should recognize that our outdoor/hunting experiences are very precious. The memories of early mornings and late night camp fires....ancient hunting cabins and barbecue pits.......meat poles and deer kill log books. I am thankful for having been invited along from an early age.

Our family recently lost a gentleman that understood these ideas. My wife's Grandfather, Mr. Wood, was a Georgia outdoorsman...always looking for a creek to fish, or a trot line to work. In his younger days, Mr. Wood was known for taking kids fishing. When Mr. Wood passed away, there were flowers delivered, signed only..."from all the little boys you taught to fish". If I could choose one sentence to describe my outdoor legacy, this would be a contender.. Mr. wood left an outdoors legacy all over the county he lived in (for 90 years).

I believe our outdoor future lies in the hands and hearts of the youth....and the youth will only take up outdoors pursuits if they are invited into the "tribe".... Take a kid hunting/fishing and add to that legacy you are leaving.

I thank you for coming by the blog today for a visit. Please stop in again soon.

Jeff

On the Ground

Please visit:

http://georgiawildlife.dnr.state.ga.us/

http://home.nra.org

Mr. Wood with two nice bass!

Frying wild turkey strips

Hey, check out our article on frying wild turkey strips. Everyone is different, so please send us your recipes to onthegroundoutdoors@gmail.com . We'll post them here too!

Thanks for looking today. Here's the link to the article:

http://www.squidoo.com/chuckwagonsauce

Jeff

on the ground

NRA position on Judge Sotomayor

For information regarding the position of the NRA on the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the supreme court, please goto http://home.nra.org/#/home . Check out the full article.

Here's a sample:

"We believe any individual who does not agree that the Second Amendment guarantees a fundamental right and who does not respect our God-given right of self-defense should not serve on any court, much less the highest court in the land. Therefore, the National Rifle Association of America opposes the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the position of associate justice of the United States Supreme Court."

Please, if you are not an NRA member, consider becoming one. Now. Come back by the blog when you can spend more time with us.

Thanks

Jeff

On the Ground Outdoors