Texas Spring Turkey Season Opens

Spring Turkey season opens at our place this Saturday April 2nd and the opener always brings back memories of past seasons. I remember turkey season many years ago when as a teenager I would chase turkeys through the woods in Llano and San Saba counties with just a mouth call, a shotgun and dressed in Army and Navy surplus camo clothing. There were a lot of times that ole gobbler would see me move or the shine of my gun or face and be gone in a flash. As my skill developed and I learned about face paint and gun camo I became more proficient at bringing home a gobbler. I remember seeing the first outdoor television programs showing someone using a turkey decoy and how the turkeys came to the call looking at the decoy and not the hunter. I finally found a plastic turkey decoy in one of the outdoor catalogs and ordered it. There was no Internet or online search and ordering at that time, just the Gander Mountain and Cabela's catalogs. I could hardly wait until season to try out my decoy. The success I had with that plastic decoy through the years helped me take a lot of gobblers and even a few with my old grizzly recurve bow.

Many years later I was watching the tube one Saturday morning in the off season and here were these two guys in a weird shaped camo tent hunting turkeys in the middle of a field with a decoy right outside the tent. I thought I can’t believe this will work as the turkeys will see that tent out in the middle of an open field and won’t come anywhere near it. I was starting to think the turkeys were tame as the turkeys walked right up to the decoy and one of the guys shot that turkey at mere feet from the tent. I knew it must have been a fluke or a place where turkeys had not been hunted much at all. Flipping through the channels a little later in the morning I saw another hunter setting up a turkey decoy and one of the strange camo tents in another open field. He then proceeded to call several turkeys right up to the tent and took one with his bow. I went to the catalog basket in the bathroom library and started looking through the pages of an outdoor catalog. I had to have one of those magic camo tent blinds. That was the beginning of my love affair with pop up camo blinds and turkey hunting. These things allow the regular guy to have success with shotgun or bow in hunting turkeys just about anywhere. I have had people that can’t even call send me emails about having turkeys come to a decoy set up outside a pop up blind. If you are like me you will find a lot of uses for your blind. I have used mine on deer, hogs, and predators. I have even hunted waterfowl and sand hill cranes from one of the blinds. It pays to read and watch for new techniques and gear to be used in hunting. Sometimes it will even change the way you think and hunt. Have a great time chasing a gobbler this year. Have fun and above all be safe.

Remember to take someone new to the field and get them started hunting. Once upon a time someone took the time to take you hunting. This article is dedicated to the friends and loved ones that took the time to take me hunting through the years. I hope I made the cut, Wild Ed

Growing Up In Texas

This week I am going to do something I have tried not to do in the five years I have been writing this blog, I am going to post a story that I got by email and have no idea who to give the credit to. I hope you enjoy it because it really hit home to me. My brother, buddies and I all have similar stories. Just the mention of fertilizer, diesel and blackpowder still to this day makes me dizzy. Yes you can kill all the fish in a stock pond with an explosion. I can't hear very well anymore because of the swing set canon episode. I know a couple of guys that have permanent darker tans because of burning gun powder. People have learned valuable lessons like the fact that .45 bullets will go all the way through a house wall, fires do get out of control and the Texas wind is faster at spreading flames than a military flame thrower. Propane gas will freeze bullfrogs instantly and if you drop them they will shatter into little pieces, it is not to good on fingers either.A little red wagon will reach race car speeds going down a tall hill with two people in it. Foxes, raccoons, possums, nutrias, skunks, squirrels, cactus rats, field mice, coyotes, snakes, snapping turtles and most other wild things will bite when you grab hold of them. Some animals like feral cats, bobcats, hawks and owls even have claws and talons that can mess you up really well. It is not very hard to get both your thumbs caught in a #4 double spring coyote trap but nearly impossible to get loose by yourself. Numerous windows, light bulbs, pump floats, flower boxes and other items would have to be replaced if anyone mentioned names. places or times. Therefore all names, places and times have been left out and not one of these things ever really happened, just in case some of the guilty and/or some of the victims are still alive.

The following is the email just as I received it, except for some of the bad words I changed and that is all I know about it. I hope you enjoy the story. Wild Ed

Around age 10 my dad got me one of those little bada$$ compound bow beginner kits. Of course, the first month I went around our land sticking arrows in anything that could get stuck by an arrow. Did you know that a 1955 40 horse Farmall tractor will take 6 rounds before it goes down? Tough sumbich.



That got boring, so being the 10 yr. old Dukes of Hazard fan that I was, I quickly advanced to taking strips of cut up T-shirt doused in chainsaw gas tied around the end and was sending flaming arrows all over the place. One summer afternoon, I was shooting flaming arrows into a large rotten oak stump in our backyard. I looked over under the carport and see a shiny brand new can of starting fluid (Ether). The light bulb went off in my head. I grabbed the can and set it on the stump. I thought that it would probably just spray out in a disappointing manner. Lets face it, to a 10 yr. old mouth-breather like myself, (Ether), really doesn't "sound" flammable. So, I went back into the house and got a 1 pound can of Pyrodex (black powder for muzzle loader rifles).



At this point, I set the can of ether on the stump and opened up the can of black powder. My intentions were to sprinkle a little bit around the (Ether) can but it all sorta dumped out on me. No biggie, a 1 lb. Pyrodex and 16 oz. (Ether) should make a loud pop, kinda like a firecracker you know? You know what? Screw that I'm going back in the house for the other can.



Yes, I got a second can of Pyrodex and dumped it too. Now we're cookin'.



I stepped back about 15 ft. and lit the 2 stroke arrow. I drew the nock to my cheek and took aim. As I released I heard a clunk as the arrow launched from my bow. In a slow motion time frame, I turned to see my dad getting out of the truck.. OH [censored]! He just got home from work. So help me God it took 10 minutes for that arrow to go from my bow to the can. My dad was walking towards me in slow motion with a [censored] look in his eyes. I turned back towards my target just in time to see the arrow pierce the starting fluid can right at the bottom. Right through the main pile of Pyrodex and into the can. Oh [censored].

When the shock wave hit it knocked me off my feet. I don't know if it was the actual compression wave that threw me back or just reflex jerk back from 235 fricking decibels of sound. I caught a half a millisecond glimpse of the violence during the initial explosion and I will tell you there was dust, grass, and bugs all hovering 1 ft. above the ground as far as I could see. It was like a little low to the ground layer of dust fog full of grasshoppers, spiders, and a worm or two.

The daylight turned purple. Let me repeat this... THE FRICKING DAYLIGHT TURNED PURPLE.

There was a big sweet gum tree out by the gate going into the pasture. Notice I said "was". That son-of-a-[censored] got up and ran off.

So here I am, on the ground blown completely out of my shoes with my thundercats T-Shirt shredded, my dad is on the other side of the carport having what I can only assume is a Vietnam flashback:

ECHO BRAVO CHARLIE YOU'RE BRINGIN' EM IN TOO CLOSE!! CEASE FIRE. DAMNIT CEASE FIRE!!!!!

His hat has blown off and is 30 ft. behind him in the driveway. All windows on the north side of the house are blown out and there is a slow rolling mushroom cloud about 2000 ft. over our backyard. There is a Honda 185s 3 wheeler parked on the other side of the yard and the fenders are drooped down and are now touching the tires.

I wish I knew what I said to my dad at this moment. I don't know - I know I said something. I couldn't hear. I couldn't hear inside my own head. I don't think he heard me either... not that it would really matter. I don't remember much from this point on. I said something, felt a sharp pain, and then woke up later. I felt a sharp pain, blacked out, woke later....repeat this process for an hour or so and you get the idea. I remember at one point my mom had to give me CPR. and Dad screaming "Bring him back to life so I can kill him again". Thanks Mom.

One thing is for sure... I never had to mow around that stump again, Mom had been bitching about that thing for years and dad never did anything about it. I stepped up to the plate and handled business.

Dad sold his muzzle loader a week or so later. I still have some sort of bone growth abnormality, either from the blast or the beating, or both.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, get your kids into archery. It's good discipline and will teach them skills they can use later on in life.

Author Unknown

Backyard Chicken Coop

How many of you remember your grandparents or maybe even your parents keeping chickens for eggs and maybe even meat. I used to go out and gather fresh eggs from the nest for my grandmothers. I can remember my grandmothers going out to butcher chickens on Saturday to fix for Sunday lunch after church. Yeah I know that was a long, long time ago in a land far away. Well believe it or not keeping chickens for eggs and even meat is again becoming the in thing all over the country. Many towns and municipalities are passing laws and ordinances to allow the keeping of small chicken flocks. In our area you can have up to five laying hens but no roosters to wake the neighbors up at 4:30 in the morning. Many families have gone to keeping chickens so that they can have eggs and meat without all the drugs and chemicals that are in many of the commercial eggs supplied today. My wife and I have talked about getting chickens several times but never really decided to really do so until just the other day.

I spent more days than I thought it would take digging up old fence posts in concrete and tearing down a falling down twenty year old privacy fence. Without the help of my wife I would still be out there working on that blasted old fence. We have a lot of sore muscles and two destroyed come-alongs to prove our labors. Anyway the new fence is up and looks pretty good, if I say so myself. We had planned on saving the old fence pickets to put on a wall in a room in a barn or house we plan to build in the future. Upon examination the pickets were to far gone to use much but about the four foot in the middle out of them. Thus the home built chicken coop was devised.

I wanted an Amish Style Saltbox Chicken Coop but did not want to spend between $1,000 and $2,000.00 on a pre-built coop. I also knew I could not have something real large in my backyard so I started looking for some plans to build a small one. I needed it to be portable and small enough that I would not need a building permit nor did I want it to stick up over the privacy fence to bother my neighbors. Not that I would mind bothering my neighbors I just wanted to stay out of trouble. I could not find any plans but decided to go ahead and build one out of the pickets from the old fence along with the cut off pieces from the new privacy fence I had just finished building. This is what I ended up with from the pictures I had seen and the plans I had in my mind.

The fact that none of the leftover lumber was over 50 inches long pretty much dictated the size it would be. It is constructed of about 75% old fence pickets and left over cut offs from the new fence rails. I did have to buy 4 new cedar pickets to finish the door as I ran out of old pickets with 48 inches of usable wood. Since I did not have any more long pickets to do the roof I just put corrugated metal on it. Not being a carpenter and only working on it part time it took me a while to build. Since I don't have any plans or drawings I am posting a build along of the coop in pictures. Hopefully the chickens will like it. Wild Ed

A Screech Owl box made from fence scraps

Teach Your Children Well About Where Meat Comes From

My six year old grand daughter recently spent a couple of days with us and was following me in and out of the house while I worked in the backyard. I decided I would dress out some Coturnix Quail Cocks I had finished feeding out for the BBQ pit. While I was dressing the quail out my grand daughter came around the corner and caught me right in the middle of the act of skinning one. The look in her eyes told the story. She ran in the house and told her grandmother what I was doing and that she was very mad at me for killing the quail. My daughters were raised around the ranch and hunting so it was not a problem with their generation. My grand daughter has been raised in town and had not had agricultural livestock or hunting experiences involving harvest or killing of animals. When the quail were all dressed out and clean I had a talk with her and showed her the clean carcass and how it looked just like a little chicken her mother would buy at the store. I also explained how someone somewhere had to kill and dress out the chicken, beef and pork that her family brought home from the market. I told the story of how GOD gave man dominion over animals and that we used them so that we could live a better life. Her Grandmother and I also explained how it was our responsibility to harvest or kill all animals humanely so that they did not suffer. I wanted her to understand that we did not kill lightly and that was why we used as much of the animal for food as we possibly could.

Take the time to explain about meat to your children whether you are a hunter or not. Don’t let them grow up to be like that lady that wrote in to a hunting magazine wanting to know why anyone would hunt. She said hunters should buy their meat at the grocery store like other people, where no animals were harmed! Don’t let your children or grand children turn into one of those kind of people, Wild Ed

700 Pound Texas Gator Killed Outside Bastrop

A near 700 pound alligator was found dead on Wilbarger Creek near Bastrop Texas. Poachers had shot the large gator that was almost 12 feet long out of season and were unable to get the monster out of the creek. The alligator was decaying when located by Texas Parks and Wildlife Game Wardens. The skin and meat were not salvageable. The skull will be used for education or placed in a museum. An alligator this large is very uncommon for this part of the state. Tips from Facebook postings about the shooting have resulted in a suspect that Texas Game Wardens plan to charge with the illegal killing this week.

You may wish to scroll to the bottom of the page and cut the sound for the music to listen to the video

Homemade Vanilla Extract

Remember vanilla Cokes and Dr. Peppers, homemade vanilla ice cream and grandmother’s baked goods with real vanilla. My grandmother would make old time egg custards with real vanilla and cinnamon. I can smell it even as I type this today. I remember my family always brought back large bottles of vanilla whenever anyone went to mexico and gave them as gifts. I was always hoping I would receive one of those bottles at Christmas. Not long ago I was reading how real vanilla extract was made and came across some old recipes for making your own homemade vanilla extract. I was amazed to find out how simple the process is and how wonderful the flavor. I was also surprised to find out that most vanilla extracts are 35% alcohol or 70 proof. No wonder some of those old church ladies used so much vanilla extract!

Vanilla can be made from Bourbon, Vodka, Tequila, Brandy or Rum. There are only two ingredients, your favorite of the before mentioned liquors and vanilla beans. I prefer the mexican type of vanilla so I used clear Rum and mexican vanilla beans. I want to make some of the Southern style vanilla with bourbon in the near future. I bet it would be wonderful in custard or pecan pie. Here is the basic recipe and you can add a bean or two if you want it stronger or if you use too much of it up before the aging time is finished. It takes a couple of months to completely make but you can start using it in as little as two weeks. You can get your vanilla beans at some of the specialty grocery stores or do as we did and order them from Ebay.

Take two cups of Rum, Bourbon, Vodka or Tequila and place in a glass jar.

I use three vanilla beans for two cups of liquid and slice them length wise leaving about an inch at the top to hold them together and place in the liquid.

Try and let is sit for two months, at least two weeks before using.

I turn the bottle or shake it once in a while to facilitate the brewing. If you give the extract as a gift you may want to strain out the vanilla seeds and pieces. I find they add to the flavor of whatever I am making at the time so I leave them. Remember this has the same alcohol strength as whatever liquor you used to make it, so use responsibly. Try it and see if it is not the best vanilla extract you have ever tasted, Wild Ed

Serengeti National Park: December 31, 2010

Although Lake Ndutu is technically inside Ngorongoro Conservation Area, lying on the extreme western border of the reserve, it is clearly part of the magnificent ecosystem of Serengeti National Park. Indeed, the endless grassland plains of the Serengeti continue well past the park’s borders, and the millions of migrating wildebeest certainly know no bounds as they follow the rains during the year through several countries in East Africa. Although Aimee, Mark, and I were staying near the shore of Lake Ndutu for four nights with Serengeti Savanna Camp and had already seen most of the great mammals and bird life that the Serengeti offers, including all but one of the endemic bird species, I simply had to drive into the park itself. We decided to make the three-hour drive to Seronera, a tourist hub deep within the plains, with the goal of finding one of the famous leopards that prowl along the tree-lined Seronera River. This would make for a very long day of driving, as we would spend over twelve hours in the car, but the trip would quickly prove worthwhile.

After paying our entrance fees ($50 per person per 24 hours) at the monumental Naabi Hill Gate, set on a massive koppes that rises abruptly out of the plains, we continued along the main road for several hours, the rough washboard keeping our average speed under 30 kilometers per hour. Wildebeest, Thomson’s gazelle, and zebra numbered in the hundreds of thousands grazing on either side of the road as far as the horizon. Among them Kori Bustard, Common Ostrich, and a variety of confusing kestrels and harriers could be seen. We passed a solitary cheetah in the distance, resting sphinx-like on a small butte, and we watched a few spotted hyenas wrangle over a carcass with dozens of aggressive vultures. After fruitlessly searching around several smaller koppes, or rocky hills, where a variety of chats and rock-thrushes can usually be found, we pressed on to Seronera with unabashed hopes of finding a leopard.

As soon as we neared the river, I spotted a large pile up of Landcruisers along an adjacent road, and we sped off to join the crowd. By the time we arrived, there were almost forty vehicles jostling for position to observe a leopard that had just killed an impala. Over the next twenty minutes the number of cars on the scene doubled, as every safari group in the park seemed to converge on the site. Along with the other drivers, I did my best to deliver good views to Aimee and Mark, as we struggled to catch a glimpse of the leopard dragging the impala into cover along the river, but ultimately it wasn’t the intimate wildlife experience we had had in mind. Abandoning the fray, we drove off to Maasai Koppes, finding a pair of Secretary Birds, Grey Crowned Crane, Grey-Backed Fiscal, and Coqui Francolin among the tall grass along the way. Again, we didn’t see anything of note among the rocks, although it was already well past noon and activity was no doubt low. Returning back to the main road along the Wandahu River, we found an impressive group of elephants drinking in a marshy depression, stopping to watch as a newly born elephant clowned around in the water.

On our way to a popular picnic site, Aimee asked me to stop the car and back up a few meters, thinking she had seen something move in the grass nearby. Mistaking a log for a lion is easier than you would think, especially when you’re scanning the environment all day for game, but there was no mistaking the giant male lion that emerged from the grass and stalked towards our car, its mane blowing dramatically in the wind. Frantically we cranked up our windows as the lion approached within a meter of the door, sidestepping the car nonchalantly at the last moment and crossing the road to lay down in the grass on the other side. Our hearts now racing, we scanned around and found the rest of the pride, including several cubs trying to climb a tree. Within minutes there were dozens of Landcruisers approaching from all sides, so we continued on to the picnic site, proud of our recent encounter but desperate to stretch our legs. Unwinding over lunch in the shade of a large acacia tree, I watched Superb and Hildebrandt’s Starlings, Red-Billed Buffalo-Weaver, and the endemic Rufous-Tailed Weaver battle each other over table scraps as other visitors tossed aside their crusts.

Passing by the site where we had seen the leopard, we noticed another large congregation of safari vehicles nearby; this time they were lined up to watch a cheetah stalk around nervously in the shade. Noticing it was growing late in the afternoon, we agreed to head back towards Lake Ndutu. Arriving at Naabi Hill Gate near sunset, we took a break from the car and climbed up to an outlook offering 360-degree views of the Serengeti and the famous wildebeest migration. Sure, the volume of tourist traffic had been a bit offensive, and, yes, there are plans to construct a two-lane tarmac road that cuts straight through the park, but from our perspective that evening the environment couldn’t have looked more wild and pristine. Picking up Silverbird, Banded Parisoma, and Montagu’s Harrier on the way down the hill, we got back in the car to race back to Lake Ndutu before darkness fell. Within minutes though we were flagged down by a group of Kenyans that were standing around their car, which had suffered two flat tires on the ruthless drive in. Amazingly, these were the only other independent tourists we had seen all day. Offering them our remaining spare tire temporarily, we drove back to the gate together so they didn’t have to spend the night stranded in the plains.

Notable birds seen: Common Ostrich, Black-Headed Heron, Egyptian Goose, Secretary Bird, Black-Shouldered Kite, Hooded Vulture, Lappet-Faced Vulture, African White-Backed Vulture, Brown Snake-Eagle, Montagu’s Harrier, Tawny Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Helmeted Guineafowl, Coqui Francolin, Grey-Crowned Crane, Kori Bustard, Black-Winged Stilt, Blacksmith Lapwing, Crowned Lapwing, Little Bee-Eater, Lilac-Breasted Roller, Fisher’s Sparrow-Lark, Capped Wheatear, Banded Parisoma, Silverbird, Grey-Backed Fiscal, Northern White-Crowned Shrike, Cape Rook, Superb Starling, Hildebrandt’s Starling, Rufous-Tailed Weaver, Red-Billed Buffalo-Weaver.