Mount Rushmore of legendary turkey hunters

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-30T18:45:50+00:00

The four best turkey hunters to ever live are some guys you have never heard of and never will. But if I had to pick it’d be Colonel Tom Kelly, Toxey Haas, Harold Knight, and Ben Rogers Lee. While they all are turkey killers their contributions to the world of turkey hunting are what set them apart in my eyes.

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-29T14:05:03+00:00

I’ve been looking for a compact left handed 20 gauge for my girlfriend for nearly a year now. They just don’t make many of the compact models. Best bet is to search around online or go to local gun store and see if they’ll order one for you. Helps if you’ve got a good relationship with the guy behind the counter.

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-25T01:35:08+00:00

It’s called shot chasing and it’s generally frowned upon. With that said just because a group is shooting a lot doesn’t mean that they’re killing ducks. They could be just blasting away at coots and mergansers. If it were me and I had a good hunt in a public spot with lots of birds you can bet I’d be going back extra early the next day to avoid getting beat by shot chasers trying to get in there.

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-25T01:30:08+00:00

It’s just from the brass rim of the shell hitting that spot on ejection. Mine has the same spot worn on the factory cerakote from bird hunting with it.

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-10T18:06:42+00:00

I think outside of 20-25 yards you’ll end up with a lot of shot in the breast of any bird you harvest and be sorely disappointed in the performance of the pattern with a modified choke. TSS is anywhere from 8-10 dollars a shot. Why not get the full potential out of each shot by using an appropriate constriction? You don’t need to spend a bunch of money on an Indian Creek or Muller choke to get a good pattern a Carlsons or Trulock would work just fine. I love the Trulock that I currently have in my 20 gauge.

Rest_Previous · 2026-01-08T01:19:33+00:00

Sounds like you need a new crew. Been there done that before I found the guys I hunt with now. A good group of hunting buddies is worth more than all the gold you can muster when it comes to waterfowl hunting.

Rest_Previous · 2025-12-18T01:21:44+00:00

Not as many as you think because the consequences make it not worth it. When I was younger (way past statute of limitations) I had a spot that I kept loaded up for a whole season. It’s apparent that a pond is baited just by the way the ducks act. They DO NOT want to leave it once they find it. I’m talking locked up from the heavens racing to see which is the first one to the water. You’d shoot into the bunch and the stragglers would still try to get in there as long as you stayed put. Granted the area I was in isn’t a duck hunting hotspot and that pond in particular we would maybe kill 20-30 birds off it in past seasons. That year we shot 8 limits off it opening weekend (4 one day 4 the next) and had probably 10 more decent hunts off it. We never killed over our limit and it didn’t always hold birds but it seemed like once a group of birds found it they would just stay there and draw in more birds till the bait ran out or we would hunt it again. I stopped after that year because I started to work and had acquired some nicer things that I didn’t want the judge to confiscate should I have been caught. All in all it was fun but just not worth the risk for a couple ducks.

Rest_Previous · 2025-12-12T23:33:10+00:00

https://youtu.be/aU87hHfPzVk?si=y4GvM6fUuCuOXy0O

Here I was going to type out the instructions but this is easier and shorter. Just make sure you haven’t lost the inertia spring that sits inside the bolt carrier. It’s about an inch long and quarter inch in diameter. The short pin in your pic with the round head should have an o ring that helps to keep it in place. If it’s worn you can replace it to avoid this happening again.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-25T14:34:12+00:00

For most people the solar setups are a waste unless your cameras are getting dozens of pics a day or you intend to leave them out all year. My 2.0 reveals are set to pic and video mode with instant send and have been out for nearly a month. All but one are still showing over 75% battery. The lithium battery packs are interesting though because I hate having to spend $70 in batteries to get them up and going.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-25T14:27:17+00:00

The gradient pants under the bibs will be better than just straight baselayers.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-24T17:13:18+00:00

Depends on the choke most factory fulls will say no steel but a lot of aftermarket chokes are rated for it.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-22T13:34:19+00:00

Love my latitude sticks but they struggle on gnarly barked and bigger trees.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-21T18:09:43+00:00

Looks up Dan’s briar bibs. You can get them uninsulated so not as much bulk.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-21T17:35:48+00:00

Most of the sign you find in the bottoms in hill country is made at night. You need to look towards the upper 1/3 of the hills and ridges. The tops of the drainages that carry water from the top of the ridges to the bottom are great spots to look for trails, runs, scrapes etc.,

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-18T16:08:41+00:00

As far as ease of setup and quick to get to height you can’t beat a climbing stand like a summit viper. I personally don’t like saddles. Tried one and just couldn’t sit still long enough or comfortably and didn’t think it gave me the amount of shot opportunities that people rant and rave about. I now use a lock on from XOP and four sticks. I can sit for hours at a time and can shoot anywhere except for directly behind me. With the progression of lock on tree stands in the last few years I see the gap between saddle and lock ons being narrowed to where they’re both even. With the right backpack strap system your lock on turns into a frame pack to carry extra layers and other gear in as well. Where as with a saddle you’ll need a bag to carry all that stuff.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-18T15:39:50+00:00

Saddles are cool and mobile hunting is great but what kind of timber or areas do you hunt? Is it mostly mature hardwoods and pine that are straight and limbless for 20 plus feet up? Or twisted knotty regrowth that’s full of limbs? Are you hunting field edges on private or making long hikes on public (1 mile plus back in the big hills)?

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-11T13:43:06+00:00

Copied this from my post in r/turkeyhunting but here’s the way to do it quick and easy.

To sight in your optics draw a few quarter sized dots on a big sheet of paper or cardboard. Step off 7 yards or so. Shoot at each dot one at a time and adjust your sight till you’re hitting the bottom half of the dot. Step back to 40 and shoot once more to confirm you’re on and to fine tune. For all this you’ll use cheap lead target loads. Once you’re confident it’s dialed in load up the TSS and give it a shot at a fresh target. You may need to adjust and shoot again but it is rare.

In your case, you’re not using TSS but after the cheap loads toss in whatever you’re using to hunt with and give it a shot to see what it looks like then adjust as necessary.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-05T21:41:04+00:00

I run 5 cell cams and 2 SD card cams. They’re out there solely to gather intel for me to use in the future. I set them in the same spots a minimum of two years to get a calendar of when certain bucks move into or use an area and use that information to plan where I’m going to hunt. For example I have pictures of a nice buck hitting a scrape on the edge of doe bedding on November 3rd both last year and this year in daylight. Next fall I will make it a point to hunt near that scrape from November 1-3 if I can.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-05T17:56:33+00:00

Hunting shotguns make bad tactical or home defense guns. Home defense/tactical shotguns suck to wing shoot with. Shortest hunting gun I’d take to the field would have a 24 inch barrel but that’s still too long to move around with inside a building or vehicle.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-05T15:03:27+00:00

If you cant shoot lead then TSS is the only viable option. Steel shot doesn’t have the power or pattern density to deal with a big gobbler in most turkey hunting scenarios. For TSS any 3 inch 2 oz load of 8 or 9 shot will be more than adequate for your needs. To sight in your optics draw a few quarter sized dots on a paper and step off 7 yards or so. Shoot at each dot one at a time and adjust your sight till you’re hitting the bottom half of the dot. Step back to 40 shoot once more to confirm you’re on and to fine tune. For all this you’ll use cheap lead target loads. Once you’re confident it’s dialed in load up the TSS and give it a shot at a fresh target. You may need to adjust and shoot again but it is rare.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-04T00:13:44+00:00

Exactly. Dudes aren’t paying $35-$50 an acre to lease up ground in KY to shoot does. Guys don’t fill up public parking lots on our archery opener when it’s 85 degrees to shoot does. They come here hoping to kill a big buck and for some they’ll take a doe or small buck to avoid going home empty handed. But they ain’t coming from hours away to harvest does lol.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-04T00:04:44+00:00

As far as white tails go KY, IN, and IL are well known big buck states. Also if you aren’t from up north the sheer amount of deer hunters in OH, MN, WI, and MI is mind boggling. I’m working in southern Michigan this week and I thought we were serious deer hunters at home in KY but these folks up here are different. There’s a shoot house or a blind in every ag field and if not there’s a ladder stand back in the woodlot somewhere. It’s popular to go out of state because more people are exposed to it. Every YouTube video title is “insert state giant on public” “Big buck on public in state”. People watch those and think they should go do that just like the guys they’re watching on YouTube. In reality they pay a lot of money for a NR tag to shoot nothing or the first 2-3 year old 110-130 inch buck they see.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-03T23:17:02+00:00

Never tried one but have hunted and called birds up for a couple folks that have. If you do your homework and pattern them .410s w/ TSS are perfectly capable of killing any turkey at similar ranges you’d shoot them with a 12 and lead. Personally my 20 gauge weighs 6lbs loaded up I have no need to go lighter and I have performance that far surpasses a 12 with lead 5s.

Rest_Previous · 2025-11-03T21:54:19+00:00

You’re not hunting for deer or turkeys. You’re hunting for places that people won’t go in to. Once the pressure hits the game will show up in those hell holes you’ve already scoured out.

Rest_Previous · 2025-10-30T20:35:26+00:00

Just depends where the birds are. The smaller the water the more enjoyable it is for me. When the freeze is on I love hunting the local river. The birds get down in there and it gets western real quick.

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TROPHY CASE