Manny and I met at a 3D shoot about 3 weeks ago in Quebec, we hit it off right away and Jake, Manny and I shot the first half of the course together.
I invited Manny down for the 3rd weekend of May to hunt turkeys with me. On friday evening , Manny pulled in from his 3 hour drive down the highway from Montreal.
We got him set-up, had a beer or 2, then went to bed to wake at 4am.
I got up and half expected to wake him, but he was up and ready to go!
We went out into the cold morning air, a heavy fog lay in the valley; promising a bright, warm day to follow.
We popped the blind and sat to watch the morning in the country come alive. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1031.jpg)
As it was late in the season, the gobblers are not hanging around the hens anymore and they are not gobbling....I knew this, but Manny was excited to be experiencing the thrill of waiting for the big birds to appear.
I told him that next season he could come down on opening week, when the gobblers are easy to call, and if you shoot true, easy to kill.
So as the fog drifted across the valley, the rising sun slowly warmed the late spring air.
the songbirds were out in full force, thier melodius voices made the day seem perfect, everything was in tune with mother nature this morning.
We waited, and around 7am, Manny saw a jake bird working his way across the stubble field. He was super- excited as I tried to call him across to us.
to no avail, my calling and the decoys held no interest for him as he worked his way over a rise and out of view.
Manny was pupmed, and promised this view to a legal bird... (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1033.jpg)
Manny was looking pretty deadly with his **** red wing hunter and his ninja-gear ensemble... don't ya think?
We waited and around 8 we packed it in, no birds were in range, but we did see 9 of them altogether that morning.this just made Manny's day, in his words, "perfection", fantasique" , " amazing"...all with the thick french accent that is my new friend, Manny. :archer:
What can I say... A wonderful time it was!
I had the best of friends working hard for me, scouting was done before I arrived, there was birds (we saw nine of them on Saturday), the day was as sunny as it can be!
We came back to a HUGE breakfast put on by Kelly, it was a superb meal and after, we retired to the living room with coffee in hand to plan for the next days hunt, and to plan for the rest of the day.
We decided to go to a spot that Jake and found over 100 morels last spring. this spring though has been very dry,I held no hopes of finding any morels at all.
so with flyrods in hand( my new custom-made bamboo, 7' 6" 6wt!) and an eager outlook, we headed down the trail.
I ended up finding 9 nice morels, both grey and yellow varieties! I was happy to find any at all.
We fished for a few hours and I hooked the biggest largemouth so far on my new 'boo rod, we were fising for panfish, but she picked up the fly, it was a blast! bamboo makes excellent rods along with excellent bows, what a combo!
Manny landed her for me( we released her fast, season doesn't open for another month) and we did a bit more morel hunting, then headed home for a cold, cold, beer. :bigsmyl: (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1040.jpg)
After the turkey went on the other side of the field, we packed and went flyfishing, caught panfish and Cary caught a big bass on his bamboo flyfishing rod!
I confirm, this bass was a beast!
Looks like a great time was had.
after we came back to a super lunch put out by our hostess, we headed over for a bit of bowfishing...being minutes from the St. Lawrence river is handy.
Great hunting for everything from turkeys to deer, to bear, to waterfowl...then some of the very best fishing and bowfishing in the entire world.
We have it all in southeastern Ontario... :)
The day was late and the fish still are not in that shallow, I did manage a long shot on a big carp, she pulled off though.
It was enuff to hook Manny though.
He is coming for the 3rd annual Carp-A-palooza next month.
I was trying to sqeeze as much as possible into the day for Manny.
He works an office job long hours; he needed the break.
we went to the huge yard and did some shooting.
Manny has recently ordered a new bow from Jim at Mississippi Lake Longbow, i recently ordered my 3rd from Jim as well.
since my bow was very close to the #'s that Manny ordered, he shot mine for about an hour.
I had to keep a very close eye on it...He was threatening to slip it into his blazer!! LOL
He shot it very well, and we did some shooting out to 60 yards...it was a blast. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1039.jpg)
We then headed out to the spot I killed my tom 3 weeks ago, popped the blind for the next morning, then came back to relax.
Manny had a good feeling about this spot right away, good mojo.
We relaxed, talked at length about all things, admired my leather work from Tim Roberts( Manny is getting an AG and back quiver from Tim), Manny was very impresed with my new hip quiver from Tim, excellent job as usual. :)
then we prepared for a great dinner.
Manny being French, showed he knows his way around a kitchen, he brought some superb red wine and helped Kelly prepare the dinner...and what a dinner it was! Salmon grilled on a bed of dill, scallops and cheese in a rich sauce, rasperry-spinach salad, fresh bread, and more stuff that escapes me right now., here is Manny andd Kelly working hard. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1043.jpg)
after a great meal and super wine, we headed to the fire-pit for a bit of relaxing before bed.
It was a cool, beautiful night, the peepers were singing and the fire was great, what a day! Manny and I were tired out, so we headed to bed to arise at 4 am again. As usual, he was already up and ready, eager to kill a bird. (http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v611/ashstyk/IMGP1045.jpg)
So this was fantastique (with my french accent :) )
Being at work (actually since yesterday afternoon), I still have a big grin on my face.
What a time it was, every aspect of it was wonderful.
Thank you Cary, Kelly
:notworthy: :notworthy: :campfire: :clapper:
The next morning we headed out, shortly after sun-up, we heard some hen yelping. at first I thought is was another hunter calling, a bad caller at that!
then through the pines i saw a bird, soon 3 hens paraded past, no males theough, so we just watched and enjoyed.
I saw another movement, up came my Zeiss 8x30's, it was a deer!
soon we had 3 deer about 30 yards from blind, very ticked off that we were in thier path to the bedding area...
they hung around giving us a great show for about a half hour. Manny was having an exciting morning.
We saw a multitude of songbirds and had a pileated woodpecker land 20 yards from us, he was a fine looking bird.
we left at 9 am, no birds in the bag, but Manny was very happy.
Back to the house, for a breakfast of fresh morel-Omelettes made by your's truly! :) ;)
after breakfast, we sat, had coffee, and I said good bye to my new friend until next month when he will be back for the Carp-A-Palooza III
I would like to thank Kelly for being a gracious hostess and putting on excellent meals, she is a great lady.
Plans are laid for bowfishing, deer hunting and turkey season next spring. Manny is making me a 62" osage selfbow for Sept,,, I can't wait.
hope you all enjoyed Manny's first Turkey hunt!
BD
Sounds like ya had a great time.I went out yesterday for a couple hrs didn't see or hear anything.
I am hoping to make it up there again for the carpalooza since I won't need a passport to drive across at least for this yr LOL
Have a great day!!
Great stuff guys.My buddy Joe shot his first turkey yesterday with his longbow.It certainly was a rush.Iwill see you all in a month.
Fantastic!!!
What more is there to say. Nature was in great abundance for Manny to enjoy, he had the pleasure of seeing many species of birds and animals. No turkeys were bagged, but the thrill of the hunt was definitely exciting none the less!!!
Manny and Cary did not go hungry and they finsihed off with "died and gone to heaven" chocolate cake!
Great weather, great conversation and lots of great food and French wine to make wonderful memories for our newest visitor to Witch Manor. :saywhat: :campfire:
Thank you for coming Emmauel, it was a joy to meet you and have the opportunity to have you as a guest in my home.
The one who should say thanks is me for sure!
The warmth of the W Manor ;) ,the knowledge of Nature Cary continuously shown, as well as his longbow expertise, the highest quality of every meals or "en cas", the amazing quantity of wildlife make me say: Perrrrrrfect!
It was a week end where nothing can be better
Thank you my Friends
:notworthy: :archer:
Very nice..always neat when guys meet, get along and have some fun with critters and bowsnarras.
Good job guys :thumbsup:
looks like you Guys had a Great time :bigsmyl: :thumbsup:
way to go. It's always a good time hunting with new and old friends.
Oh man I wanna go next time too. That looks fun.
Congrats Manny you da man!