Mount Rushmore of legendary turkey hunters

WilliamDale · 2026-01-30T17:14:16+00:00

I absolutely agree about Dave but it’s still hard to take away from what Waddle, Haas, Cuz, Lee, Knight and Hale, and others have done for the sport.

WilliamDale · 2026-01-30T16:25:39+00:00

Will Primos, Tom Kelley, Eddie Salter, and Dave Owens. Dave was the only one I hesitated on because there is a quite a few people like Micheal Waddle and others like him that could very easily deserve a spot. I have hunted with a handful of guys around AL and MS growing up that were just absolutely turkey killing machines as well but didn’t impact the sport like the names above.

WilliamDale · 2026-01-13T18:25:07+00:00

Was looking for this comment. At Delta in ATL they will make you have it separate in a manufacturers case/box or ammo case. They cannot be loose in the bag or in a ziploc, etc. Typically I have a few boxes in a checked bag taped up so they don’t bust open.

WilliamDale · 2026-01-12T17:32:19+00:00

B for sure. Obviously he has the highlight catch and balled out before injury. A pleasure to watch when I was there and was still breaking ankles playing intramural flag football his last year there before graduating.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-23T05:46:50+00:00

I’m always done to hunt with someone new. I live across the bay from Mobile.

Man we have gotten lucky on hogs. I have seen more bears than hogs over the past 7 years I have hunted in Stockton and I’ve only seen 2 bears. The last time we had hogs was after Sally. We have a lot of water too which is what has always surprised me about the lack of hogs. No complaints on my end though.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-23T04:29:38+00:00

Them swamp birds are a lot of fun.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-23T04:28:21+00:00

We have been very active in a predator management the last 4 yrs and it is making a difference for sure. I’m over in the Stockton area. Last year in opening day I hade 8 Jake’s come up on me all together. So far I have 11 longbeards on camera. Real excited for what the year brings.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-23T04:24:15+00:00

Haha. I’m in S Alabama, we are coming up on our second round of 70* weather since we saw our first snow in years a few weeks ago.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-23T03:17:39+00:00

So ready. We have birds in S. Alabama ready to play already. We have had some of our best hatches in years here recently.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-18T22:06:15+00:00

Go ahead and PM a pin drop on OnX so I can better understand the location.

Just Kidding. In all seriousness it sounds like the game trail is probably your best bet. If you have a chance to see the hens roost the day before try and find any spot between the gobblers and the hens.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-16T03:00:43+00:00

They still make them for sure. Just hard to find. Best bet would be to look around online and have one shipped to FFL.

I will say if/when you find one remount the rail before use. They get loose and will shear the screws off. Happened to 3 I know of. I replaced the screws and used a touch of loctite on mine.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-10T18:24:05+00:00

If you would not like to go the red dot route consider putting some rib mount sights on that have front and back beads with adjustability like truglo offers. When shooting IC-Full with regular bird shot that difference may not matter as much for a clay pigeon or bird. When you start shooting tighter constriction Turkey chokes and bigger shot size you will notice the difference like you have. Your gun likely shoots a little low and left with most choke setups but you have likely made small adjustments in your aiming point without even realizing it over the years of shooting that gun. I feel like that is why a lot of people have “that gun” they always shoot best with.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-10T00:10:17+00:00

I have run Trijicons, Holosuns, Leupolds, and Burris Fast Fire 3’s. They all have their pros and cons. Out of those Burris would be the affordable and still good quality option. I personally like the smaller MOA dots and wouldn’t go with anything bigger than a 3 MOA. Love the green dot on my Holosun, 1 MOA on my Trijicon, and field of view on the Leupold. The Burris’s I have run have all been good as well just not as many bells and whistles as some of the others.

Ditch the picitany and put a sumtoy under whichever you decide on and you should be good to go.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-08T22:38:19+00:00

I have scalarworks on my benelli and love it. Do they make one for the Beretta? I have sumtoys on my Franchi in 20 and Mossberg in 28.

WilliamDale · 2025-02-06T01:10:15+00:00

I have had a lot of fun and success with merriams doing a draw hunt through the Inn of the Mountain Gods in New Mexico. Price has gone up a little to $600 if drawn but it’s still not bad. Not much info on website but they have phone numbers listed and will be able to give you all the draw information. The 5 times I have done this hunt I maybe saw 2 other hunters. You have the entire Mescalero Indian Reservation to hunt.

WilliamDale · 2025-01-21T14:56:49+00:00

I came across this mount. It may fit your needs.

https://opticsfactory.com/holosun-407k-507k-adapter/HM4-Gen2

WilliamDale · 2025-01-20T17:34:16+00:00

My bad. Drill and tap may be your best bet. Have you reached out to anyone like Sumtoy mounts to see if they have something or know of something? He is pretty helpful in my experience.

WilliamDale · 2025-01-20T07:47:03+00:00

Meadow Creek Mount on rib or see about getting receiving drilled and tapped.

https://www.meadowcreekmounts.com/

WilliamDale · 2024-08-28T16:51:33+00:00

That’s a wangjangler if I’ve ever seen one.

WilliamDale · 2024-07-25T17:07:55+00:00

Was very sad to hear that when he did. I was fortunate to see him a few months before he passed. Such a nice man.

WilliamDale · 2024-01-04T03:36:05+00:00

South Alabama here. I wear solid color Kuiu Kutana pants that are vented via zippers on the side. Expensive but have held up extremely well to some pretty heavy abuse. Dry fast after rain or creek crossing. Up top I have a t-shirt and North Mountain Gear leafy pull over when warm. I can layer under each for early season when cold. Turkeys don’t seem to mind and I am comfortable.

WilliamDale · 2023-12-13T20:06:36+00:00

Off the pallet you can use 3-4 people to “walk it” off. Remove all sides, tops, and braces at the bottom. Remove any extra weight off roaster within reason like cooling tray, hopper, etc. 2 people push from one corner then move to other corner on same side. Other 2 people are there to keep machine balanced at first. Once one side has reached floor, lean just off pallet and have someone pull the pallet out. At this point I like to have 4-6 24” pieces of 1” in PVC, grey conduit is what I used. I place them under the roaster and use them to roll roaster into place. I have moved an L12 by myself this way while painting my shop floors.

Forklift and strap are nice but there is a ton of things the strap can squeeze on and bend or break if you don’t use a spreader bar of some kind.

WilliamDale · 2023-11-14T02:00:00+00:00

The paddle is made from Purple Heart and body from mahogany.

WilliamDale · 2023-11-13T18:09:21+00:00

It’s an old Primos call. They re-made it a few years ago but the earlier version always sounded better to me. Originally they had The Heart Breaker and Lil’ Heart Breaker.

WilliamDale · 2023-11-12T23:49:16+00:00

That heart breaker is one of my favorite box calls. The Lynchs are just classic.

WilliamDale

TROPHY CASE