The 2019 NJ Spring Turkey Season ended this past Friday on a very windy day. Weather-wise, it was the coldest Spring Gobbler season that I`ve experienced. Usually by the third week in(“C” week), I`m wearing thin coveralls and a very light shirt, as the Springtime air warms up. Not this past season. I wore long-johns on quite a few mornings and my insulated pants right up until last Friday.
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I always try to learn or teach myself something new and this Turkey season, lo and behold, I finally figured out how to use a diaphragm mouth call. Definitely adding a different dimension to my Turkey Calling “Repertoire” – Matter of fact that first morning, I “talked a little Tom” then that `ol Gobbler talked to my Browning.
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And my beautiful girlfriend kindly prepared a meal fit for a King that very next evening. I have to tell you all, that was the moistest, tender Turkey that I have ever had in my entire life. I could literally cut it with just a fork! *Figured if any of you wanted to know how Sharon prepared it it, I`d let her tell you right here;
This is Sharon, ” I marinated it in lemon and garlic marinade. I used basting oil from Wegmans(where I work) to coat it. I let it marinate for about 1 1/2 hours then I let it sit out for an hour at room temperature. Next I use foil on a pan and wrap the turkey in the foil, keeping the turkey in the marinade with the foil wrapped around it loosely.(this helps keep the moisture in) – Then I cook the breasts in a convention oven at 360 for 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Then things took a turn….and things got a little tough hunting-wise as I only heard two gobbles over a period of two and a half weeks. I tried numerous places that had always had birds in the past…….nothing.
Between the cold, rainy weather and little to no gobbling, things were rather bleak, to say the least –
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But it`s Turkey hunting……. and your obsession continues to push you to get up morning after morning at 4am in your quest for `ol Tom Gobbler. And regardless of what your weather app is forecasting, you`re still going. You can`t help it. You just have too.
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In the third week(“C)” I planned on calling for my buddy Jeff, who was just trying his hand at turkey hunting for the first time. That was an exciting morning as I called in a huge Coyote! I got a little too hasty and rolled the `Dawg in the dirt at about twenty-five yards, rather than let him walk in closer whereas we could`ve put two guns on him. We searched for him for a good hour and a half, but the brush was way too thick and green. But I`m quite sure `ol Wile E. Coyote did indeed take a dirt nap that morning.
It really seemed like there were fewer and fewer birds as compared to the last several Turkey Seasons. Perhaps it was a combination of the elements…..cold, rainy ……. maybe this disturbed the hen nesting process? Maybe there is an over abundance of Coyotes and other predators? Whatever the reason, definitely heard the least amount of birds in recent years.
Did manage to “croon” in a Gobbler later that week with a few tunes on my Pot-Calls…….
The Last Week……..Thunderstorms and Tom Turkey.
The thunderstorms were absurd that last morning that I hunted in “D” week! At one point, I actually ran out of the blind to sit in the 4Runner, that`s how bad it was. But later in the morning the storms blew out and I worked my 1958 Lynch 102 Box Call and fired up a Gobbler way down the hill. Within an hour, I worked him into my area……. then it was lights out as he met the Browning.
That ended my Turkey Season on a fine note………. Well…….actually Sharon ended it with another fabulous Wild Turkey Supper that night!
With Turkey season right around the corner, I`ve received several emails asking questions about the Wing-bone Turkey Call. First off, you do not necessarily need an actual Wing-bone to make a great sounding Turkey call. So that being said, I thought I`d share a little video to give you a few ideas as to what I use to make an “Alternative”, cheap yet very effective Wing-bone call.
Hope you like it!
*If you have any questions, you can email me at kenabeam@gmail.com
Thought you all might enjoy seeing my latest creations that I finished up this past week. That turkey that I got with my good friend Nick Dalasio and his amazing turkey dog Maizy last Fall, turned into several fun little Winter Projects. Just to refresh you a bit, this was how my idea started back in November.
So after drying out the tail and legs for a few months, I began my plan to mount the tail. I went to Home Depot to look at some wood to get some ideas to make a backboard with. Found some awesome relic-looking wood and was right on the verge of getting it until I happened to come upon this nice looking, roundish, little table-top sort of, pine piece. And it was only $9.95…… “What the heck” I thought, “can`t go wrong for 10 bucks” so I grabbed it. It was just a simple, round piece of pine.
But I had some ideas……
I was going to modify it a bit in order to add a “Barn wood” effect to it. So I began the process by scarring the pine with a heavy wire brush and several little files. Adding gouges and scrapes throughout the pine.
Next I made up my “Barn Wood” stain. A concoction of steel wool and white vinegar sitting in a can for two weeks. It`s the coolest mixture to because when you apply it, nothing happens……then in about fifteen minutes, the tone and color of the wood start changing right in front of your eyes. Note: The longer that you leave the stain concoction in the can, the stronger and more effective the stain becomes. Once the stain saturates the wood, the scarring becomes very prominent, giving it a very nice rustic look.
After a good bit of shopping around on-line, I eventually bought a painted, freeze-dried turkey head from a guy in Idaho. Told him I was looking for something a little wild looking, almost like the turkey was yelling. He said “I happen to have one right now” and then gave me a deal that I couldn`t refuse!
I mounted the neck and head through a small piece of PVC and this became my main anchor for the entire mount.
Using a small, rusty piece of barbed-wire, I tied the legs up and mounted them along with the actually empty shell casing that I shot the turkey with. I then added the four little wooden turkey feet prints. Ohhhhhh I ought to explain the meaning of “A Jersey Bird” – Well…… I did shoot the turkey in New Jersey…….. but there is one other subtle reason for this name…….
Notice how I mounted the feet……. hence “aJersey Bird!”
My next project was Chief Turkey Wing. Yep, you guessed it…… that is one of the wings from that same turkey. I actually found a taxidermy kit on-line one night and thought, “Wow, that looks really cool” but it was kind of expensive. So I had an idea…….
I sort of made my own “kit” – I bought a similar head on-line, then carefully used a Dremel Tool to cut the synthetic compound out perfectly. Once I had it shaped the way I wanted it, I slid the wing inside and simply wedged a half-inch thick, six-by-six inch piece of pine, against the wing and screwed it into the backing. Turned out awesome!
So there ya go!~ Thanks for reading about my Winter Projects, hope you enjoyed it.
Last August, on one of my adventures down into South Jersey, I stumbled upon this little Musk Turtle that I surmised had apparently became the failed “dining-attempt” of a Cormorant or some other aquatic bird.
The little turtle is missing his right leg, so more than likely, a bird had this little fella in the air and dropped it. Hence ending up on his back, wedged between stump and rock, this became his final destination in life.
I was rather amazed at how intact this little creature was or as my friend Jason Beck put it, “Mummified” –
So I decided to take the little guy back home with me to Port Murray………as I had an idea.
Figured this would be a nice one to add to my list of “Winter Projects” – The little Musk Turtle.
As you can see, he had become sort of “bleached-out” from basking in the sun over time, so the first thing was to attempt to add color back to the shell. But I didn`t just want it to look like it was just painted black and lose all of it`s character. So the I actually gave it a coat of shellac, rather than add color first. Once dried, I carefully stripped the coating of shellac down to almost nothing. Normally you would stain something, then shellac it, but I knew this would give me a nice, sort of translucent effect that I wanted.
Next I took a urethane-oil based Expresso stain and submerged the entire turtle in it for two days. The idea of using an oil-based stain was because it would “hold” or set better as compared to a water-based one. After it`s two-day bath in stain, I sat the turtle on bamboo shoots to partially dry. The trick here was to not let the stain fully dry.
After three hours, I took the stripper again, and very gently worked away the oil stain, exposing the detail of the shell. After I got it to a point where I liked it, I then took an Expresso water-based stain and gently colored in the shell simply using my fingers while wearing rubber gloves.
My idea worked and I restored a very nice hue back to the little Musk Turtle! Then in my travels, I found a nice piece of driftwood while out and about fishing out on Spruce Run one afternoon.
When the discussion came up a few days before, about the possibility of hitting the “Hard Water”, well let`s just say it was pretty much a one-and-done answer…… Of course! Ice Fishing….this fine Wintertime activity, that I was introduced to by my best friend Curt thirty years ago, has remained one of our favorite things to do even in our mid-fifties. So we made plans to hit the ice after I did a little scouting for safe “hard water” –
I called Curt up the night before and said, “Yep….. looks pretty thick in the lake yet. Come on up to the house at 10am tomorrow morning and we`ll give `er hell” –
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Ahhhhhhh…….I thought it seemed thick. Boy……was I ever “off” on this scouting excursion!
We pulled up to the lake and both got out of the truck. I grabbed my auger and as we walked out, Curt said, “Well….it seems “ok”…….not really sure it`s as thick as you think” – With that, “I replied, Ahhhhhh it`s a good four or five inches” – Him, “Drill a couple holes” – I don`t think I made eight cuts and whooooosh, I was through! – “Wow….. it isn`t that thick at all” I stated. Curt said, “Don`t stand too close to one another or we both might be taking a dip!” – I bent down and stuck my middle finger in the icy water along the edge of the hole I had just cut. “From the tip of my finger to the middle joint, is how thick it is Curt” –
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Curt shaking his head said, “Yea…..we`re on probably two and a half inches of ice ya dummy!” Now me trying to “make lemonade out of lemons” replied, “Well I don`t think it`s too deep if we fall through Curt…..maybe four feet deep or so” – With that he dropped a weight on a line to test my “depth calculations” – “Ummmmmmm more like twelve feet deep Ken!” – Curt said this was the thinnest ice he had ever been on.
Me trying to lighten up the situation said, “Ahhhhhhhhhh the hell with it, let`s cut a bunch of holes and fish buddy-boy!” –
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And that`s exactly what we did. I eagerly cut way too many holes as usual, while Curt set up the tip-ups.
I started jigging as he sat up the last few tip-ups and shortly thereafter, I yelled, “Got one Curt!” as wrangled up the first crappie of the day.
Curt started jigging shortly thereafter and warned again, “Look at the water coming through these holes already. Do not stand too close or as I said, we will be getting a wet ass!”
Minutes later, we had our first flag of the day! Curt yelled, “Go ahead! Take it!” and with that, I hustled along the ice to the tip-up. The fish had ran off just about all of the line, as I bent down to grab the tip-up. As I felt the limp line suddenly shoot to my left, I snapped back and set the hook! Fish on! In a few moments, I landed a nice, Large-mouth Bass on the ice! Snapped a picture and released him to fight another day.
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Then Curt jigged up his first crappie of the day right after that.
We had really solid action for a few hours, landing a some perch, and few more crappies. I had the “hot hand” for the tip-ups that day as I wrangled up a few really nice size “Greenbacks” through the ice.
Then in the late afternoon, it started getting a lot colder and snowing/sleeting really hard and we were about ready to call it a day. One of the flags popped pretty close to the shore-line. Curt said, “Go ahead and take it!” – When I got to the hole, the tip-up was pulled off to the side and all of the line was off the spool! I quickly bent down and carefully raised the tip-up off of the ice……..and the line went slack. By now, Curt was standing near me and I said, “Damn it…… it`s slack…. I think he dropped it”- As I held the line, I felt an ever so light tug…….. then the fish started running wildly in circles! I quickly jerked the line and set the hook! Fish on and a good one at that! As I retrieved the line, again it went limp……..”I might`ve lost him” I said.
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But I was wrong! As the heavy fish dove straight down towards the dark, murky bottom at this point! As I slowly worked the line in closer to the hole, we suddenly saw the football shape flash right under us through the ice! Wow! What a beautiful 21.75 inch Bucketmouth I landed on the ice! What a way to end the day!
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While we may not be as agile and are a lot more cautious on the ice, compared to when we were in our twenties, Curt and I always manage to have a good time. And that`s what good Friends are all about.
Thanks for reading about our Adventure on the Ice. G`nite~
So there I was…….. Playin` in the rain this past Saturday….. not a soul out & about on the water. Figured I`d have a go at some Toothy Critters to start the year off right. I got to the river at noon & decided to try to wait out the rain in my truck……for a friggin` hour & a half!
Finally I said the hell with it and tossed the Yak in the pond. I worked various drop-offs and weedbeds for about two hours……..nothing. Then I decided to mix it up and tied on a jerk-bait as at this point, I really didn`t care what jumped on.
“Whooooooooah! Helluva nice Bass!” I said aloud as I bare-handed the chunky, football-size green-back. As I admired the big Largemouth, I figured the bucket-mouth had to go somewhere between 3-4lbs….
A reeeeeeally nice fish indeed! Especially for it being January and the fact that this was my very 1st fish landed in the New Year! I was pumped up as I sat there in the torrential down pour admiring my big Bass. “Let`s take a few pics and put you back in the pond” I told the Largie. So with that, I brought out my net and carefully laid the beast into the cold water, while I set up the Go PRO for some pictures. I figured I`d let the monsoon blow over a bit, and snap a few pictures.
Then that `ol magic kicked in……..BAM!
Fish on!
After about ten minutes, the rain quieted down…….. As I pull the net into the Yak…….. it was empty!!! My friggin` big greenback, Bucket-mouth had escaped! Through a hole in my net! “Son of a bitch!” I barked out loud. Boy was I pissed…… and laughing at the same time.
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I quickly dismantled a metal stringer that I had on board, and mended my net for the rest of my outing.
Lo and behold, I did manage to nail a decent pickerel shortly thereafter. And my makeshift mended net worked just fine. By the way, if you look closely, you can see the “Snot” runnin` off of him too…. hence the name “Snot-Rocket” –
So I really don`t know what the moral of this story is…..…. Other than…..
Started out the New Year with my Brother and a couple of long-time Friends from Califon, doing something that I had not done since 1991…..Rabbit Hunting! Geez come to think of it, I had not hunted with these guys easily in twenty five years or more.
So when I was leaving Mom`s on Christmas eve, saying good-bye and all, I shook my Brother`s hand and he asked, “Hey bud, if you don`t have any plans on New Year`s Day, Hanky, Pete and me are going rabbit hunting and we wanted to know if you wanted to come along?”
“Well hell, I have plans now! Sure I would love too” I replied, “Just text me what time we`re meeting”
Let me enlighten you a bit, as to whom these fellas are and why they`re special to me. First off, there aren`t very many folks around these parts anymore, that are actually from Califon. But the four of us, Pete Samski, Hank Stillwell, Keith Beam and of course, myself, are true Califon Natives as we all grew up here. As a matter of fact, both Hanky and Pete, being a little older than me and my Brother, played softball and also were members of the Califon Fire company and hunted with our Dad. So that`s why this rabbit hunt was special for me anyways……..to be able to hunt once again, with these gentlemen that also hunted with our Dad. Both of them know what it was like in Califon, in days gone by……a time when hunting was more of a mainstream activity in town.
So we met up at 9am and finally got to the spot around 9:30….when we got there Keith asked, “Well what are the teams?” Pete said, “Ahhhhh I guess I`ll take Kenny….. can you shoot? he asked busting my chops!
I replied laughing, “Hell yea Pete….. I got three shells in the gun!” and Hanky said, “Hey that might get expensive if you miss a lot!” and we all laughed as we trekked down the dirt lane to begin our hunt.
We took turns driving different patches for each other, in other words, Pete and me drove a patch for Keith and Hanky then vice-versa. The first patch I heard Hanky say “Ohhh…there goes one!” then shortly after that I saw Keith put his gun up……. but never shot. When we got to the end of the brush patch they both said they had seen a few rabbits……. but neither shot! I chimed up and said, “Did you guys come here to hunt or what? Keith give me your gun”…… as I pulled my phone out of my pocket I said, “Here shoot some pictures with this, since you don`t want to shoot your gun!” haha! And we all laughed like hell.
They drove the next brush patch for us……. nothing. No bunnies. So we were up again to drive. As I kicked around in a patch of rhododendrons a rabbit tore from the cover as I quickly fired off two shots……missed. Moments later, Pete fired off a round…..missed. Then in less than a minute, he kicked up another one…..and missed. Keith and Hanky were laughing like hell, “Now that shooting is going to cost you boys some money!”
I said, “Damn….. I swore I rolled that rabbit!”…..”I just need to settle down a bit” as we all laughed.
Over the next few hours, we laughed and joked and just had a really great time……..
To be able to hunt with the three of these guys again was a true Califon camaraderie indeed.
And I did settle down, as you can see….
Someone once said, “It`s more fun to think of the future than dwell on the past”……
Ya know what I think?
I don`t believe that person grew up in a town as magical as Califon with these kinds of Friends way back when. As for this politically correct world that we live in nowadays,…….well…….
“Do forgive my evil ways……
Sometimes I have a real hankerin` for the past with true old Friends and some fine rabbit stew”
Had a really great time taking out my good friend Jeff Van Nest, pheasant hunting for his first time yesterday. Personally, I get a real sense of enjoyment when I take someone hunting or fishing, especially if it`s their first time afield.So let me tell you how the day started out.
My hunting partner Curt, called me earlier in the week and invited me to his gun club to have a go at some chukars and pheasants on Saturday morning. He told me they were stocking some extra birds so it ought to be good. We got to the club and began to hunt around 8am. The problem we had right off the bat, was `ol Jake was a little too rambunctious and wasn`t listening to Curt very well as he wasn`t staying very close to us. After a half hour or so, Curt got him to settle down a bit and Jakey did point a couple birds. Curt cracked one chukar and missed one. My barrels stayed cold, as I never raised my gun.
His hunting club is a fairly small piece so it didn`t take long to hunt as we called it quits by 9:30. Curt asked if I`d be interested in going to the state land over at Spruce Run, since it was so early in the morning. I said, “Sure…… why not? Hey let me call Jeff and see if he`d like to meet up with us” – I got hold of him and told him, “Hey get a orange hat and vest and meet us over at Spruce Run around 10, we`ll have a gun for ya” –
This turned into a real nice “reunion” as Curt and Jeff worked together back in the `80`s and hadn`t seen each other in over twenty five years. Curt let Jeff use his gun and just worked-and-walked with Jake as we all hunted.
As we headed out across the fields, we passed another hunter on his way back to his truck. Said he had a successful hunt and had bagged to pheasants. Now that it was later in the morning, there were very few hunters in the area.
Wasn`t too long after that, `ol Jake was on point. We all circled towards the area, were Curt`s GPS tracker was saying he was. Sometimes the birds can get a little more edgy this time of day and won`t always hold point, especially if they`ve been chased of shot at a few times already. And that turned out to be the case. As Jeff and Curt got closer, the cockbird busted point and Jeff fired off a shot but missed. I wasn`t anywhere near the bird……… so the Browning stayed cold.
Curt suggested we chase the pheasant as it hadn`t flown all that far away. He called Jake into the hedgerow and immediately the dog was on a “running” bird by the way he was hunting! Curt and Jeff stayed on one side together and I ran around to cover the other side of the thick cover. In a matter of minutes, I heard Curt`s 20 gauge over-under Beretta crack the autumn air as Jeff fired off a round! Next thing I heard was the pheasant tumbling through the tree tops! Jeff had just shot his very first pheasant!!
After all of our congratulatory hand shakes and pat-on-the-backs, Curt suggested we try to upper field as, “We always done well up there later in the day” – We trekked around the brush-hogged path, Curt saw a cockbird right in the middle of the path on a knoll, about a hundred yards away. We decided to see if Jake could find the pheasant and started to walk towards it knowing the bird would break into a hedgerow or field way before we ever got close. And right into a thick hedgerow he darted. When we go closer, another hunter was coming towards us and stopped to chat. He told us how “they just aren`t stocking this place like they used too…..There are hardly any pheasants anywhere out in Spruce Run ” – We told him that we were going to work around the field and he replied, “Yea go ahead….. but you`re just out for a nice walk fellas….there aren`t any birds. Hell they didn`t even stock here last night” – Curt and I just looked at each other and smirked a little bit as we said goodbye to the hunting “expert” –
We worked our way around the bottom half of one field and eventually circled up high to the upper part with no luck.
Then things started to get interesting…..
`Ol Jake stated barking…… like he does when a pheasant goes up into a tree! But within a few minutes he was heading back in our direction…….so we all continued along the cut path. Within fifty yards it split and one part of the path went down towards the thick field where he had barked. I went that way and Jeff and Curt stayed on the high end. Jake was definitely interested in heading towards the area I was going……and in a matter of minutes he flushed a cockbird behind me in the middle of this over-grown, thick field! I quickly spun around and shouldered the `59 Browning A5 20 gauge, fired off two quick rounds and the pheasant crashed through the thicket! Immediately as the bird crashed through the brush, it first appeared to be the bird getting up again……but it wasn`t! It was another cockbird bursting into the air! With one shot left in the Browning, I fired quickly and watched the ringneck tumble into brush! What were the odds of that happening? The pheasant I shot actually caused another to flush as it crashed through the thickets! Absolutely awesome! Jeff and Curt watched the whole episode and Jeff commented, “That`s some real good shootin` Ken!”
What a perfect way to end a perfect hunt. Good friends and good shooting!
Now whenever it comes to fishing, those that know of me, know that you really don`t have to twist my arm all that much. So when I received a nice invite on Facebook from my friend Pat Gallagher, to have a go at jigging for Walleyes in the `Yaks,… well…..let`s just say no wasn`t even an option! The fact that I had never attempted this type of fishing, coupled by the fact that Pat who is an expert at this style of fishing, made this very appealing to me. So plans were made to meet up at Greenwood Lake, a waterway that I had never been fished. The only thing that I knew about this lake was the fact that it holds some monster Muskies and that my other friend, Walt Quirk always post some really nice pictures of `Eyes that he catches in warmer weather up there.
A little cold front blew in on Saturday, so I thought this might dampen our fishing plans a bit on Sunday. When I got to our launch, it was a “balmy” thirty-three degrees and didn`t get above thirty-five the rest of the day.
Pat knows the lake like the back of his hand, so once we launched, he explained what parts we would fish and he also explained the type of structure at each one of these spots. At the first spot, I watched him attentively as he explained the proper technique to “horizontal jigging” to me. Getting the proper cadence between jigging the blade bait and reeling was key. I have to admit, it took a little getting used too, because as I said earlier, I had never attempted jigging at all. And this wasn`t vertical up/down jigging, this was casting, letting it sink to the bottom, then “jig” the blade bait, let it go back to the bottom and repeat. Was all about developing a cadence to this method fishing.
We fished for a couple hours without any luck. Pat said, “the bite definitely seems off today……. going to be little tough” – I replied, “Well hell Pat, that`s why they call it fishin` and not catchin`” as we both laughed a bit.
The “Jigging Master” Pat working the water intensely.
Then just before we pulled up, “Fish On!” Pat yelled! “Not what we`re here for though” as he reeled in a nice slab size Crappie. We moved on to the next location as he explained how it was a sort of “shelf” and that we were going to fish the drop-off of it. I think it was only his third cast when again he yelled, “Fish On Ken!” and reeled up the first Walleye of the day.
1st jigged `Eye of the day!
Pat then jigged up another nice crappie and another small walleye. As for me, well…..to be perfectly honest, I was starting to doubt my “jigging” abilities a bit at this point. I turned to Pat and asked, “Hey you wouldn`t happen to have another one of those blade baits would ya? `Cause I really think mine is a bit too heavy” – Pat graciously replied, “Sure sure….. here you go,….hook that on Ken”
Within ten minutes, I barked “Fish On Pat! And a good one at that!” …….. and just as quick as I announced it, he was off! “Son-of-a-bitch!…damn he felt good!” – Now by this time, there were actually flurries starting to fall from the grey clouded sky as the November air seemed to be getting colder.
As I worked a bit closer to shore, I cast the blade bait towards a pile of huge boulders and slowly worked it back after it hit bottom. Suddenly a solid strike! I reeled back as I set the hook “Hey Pat I think I`ve got a good one! I yelled. As I went for the net, the Walleye dove deep under the kayak! I quickly sweeped the tip of the rod around the nose of the bow, hoping to catch a glimpse of the `Eye. Within moments, I brought the cold-water walleye to the net! I had just jigged up my first fish…… a nice, cold-water Walleye! I was ecstatic!
A real nice 21 inch Walleye!
Wasn`t too long before I had another smaller walleye in the `Yak. This one was a bit small, so he went back in the pond.
While it certainly was a tough bite all day, we ended up with five Walleyes, two Crappies and a White Perch. Considering the conditions, not a bad day at all.
I had such a good time fishing with this gentleman and I can`t thank him enough for inviting me and sharing his knowledge and expertise. There`s nothing quite like a day on the water, especially when someone shares the same passion for fishing as you do. Thanks again Pat. Looking forward to many more Fishing Adventures!
Proud to say that my “Winter Catfishing” story is in the December issue of Fur-Fish-Game Magazine! This is 5th time that I have been published, but it`s the 1st time that my story appears as a “Feature” on the cover of a magazine! I hope you all can pick up this month`s edition.
If you can`t find it locally, here are a couple ways that you can get it;
