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McManus Camp
Spring Turkey Hunting - 2007
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2007 reports and photos from the McManus Camp are posted below. Just click on a photo to enlarge it and get more information.
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Hunt # 3 April 20-23
The final spring turkey hunt at the McManus Camp for the 2007 season found four New Englanders with us. Marc Brown, Eliot, ME, Dave Greenough, North Hero, VT, and Lawrence Pyne, Cornwall, VT are all very experienced turkey hunters, and have been here many times hunting with us. Lawrence brought along his ten-year-old son, also, hopefully to take his first-ever gobbler. Sadly, it was not to be.
Similar to the experience of our Home Camp hunters over this same span of days reported elsewhere on this site, these hunters at the McManus Camp had a rough go of it and collected only two gobblers for the entire group. Dave Greenough was the lucky hunter. The two camps are perhaps twenty-five miles apart, and it looks as if all the turkeys in the entire area west of town have changed their patterns and behavior over the past three weeks. When hunters of the caliber of these guys at the McManus Camp aren't harvesting birds, something is out of whack.
The infamous mid-season lull might be the culprit. Birds were heard; birds were seen; but birds refused to play the game and their response to these expert's calling was lackluster, to say the least. Marc Brown, for example, is a mite-fair caller and has won his share of contests in talking turkey. But he had a couple of toms hang-up around the 80-yard range and simply could not get them closer even using his considerable skills with his noise-makers.
And then - there were the fumbles and busted plays that plague the sport. Lawrence, finally on the last day, had a gobbler to within twenty-five yards for son Nathan, but the poor lad's gun just never fired that fatal shot because the safety on the gun was still engaged. A rookie's mistake, to be sure, and let's hope the trigger wasn't bent too badly by the misdeed. Similarly, Marc Brown was cold-trailing a couple of gobblers up a draw. One of the birds somehow got behind him and came walking right toward him perfectly into killing range while Mark was taking a much-needed drink from his water bottle. These kinds of fiascos are not uncommon in our spring wars with the Rios. You might be able to laugh later, but when things like this happen, you are forgiven if you cry a bit.
Beaver astutely noticed one bit of evidence which might explain the turkey's altered behavior. Of the two toms taken on the hunt, both crops were full of weeds and weed seeds. Neither milo nor corn was found. We employ the use of feeders simply to hold turkeys on our hunting properties. Normally this tactic is very effective. Keeps'em where we want'em and all that. But when Mother Nature puts out her finest fare, nothing we could possibly feed will compete. (The same is true with deer, also.) Hence the bird's altered behavior and travel patterns. Maybe. Right now, it's all we can come up with to explain the turkey's aberrant behavior. Hmmm - wonder if turkeys might like chocolate-flavored grain?
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| Maine weather delayed Marc Brown's arrival. |
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| Just in time for lunch, too. |
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| A vintage license plate. |
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| So with this find, let's have a little fun. |
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| Hunt # 3 - New Englanders all. |
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| Dave Greenough and his two fine gobblers. |
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| Gate decoration by Kim Richey. |
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Hunt # 2 April 13-16
The second hunt of the turkey season at the McManus Camp found a pair of hunters from Michigan and a couple of single hunters from North Carolina and Alabama. The weather was a bit windy and crisp on the first half of the hunt, but on Sunday, it simply could not have been a prettier day. Makes you glad you're out hunting when the weather is so nice.
The Alabama hunter, Chris Tusing, from Selma, has hunted with us a couple of times at the Home Camp, but this was his first visit to the McManus Camp. Chris had set himself up for a large challenge: his goal was to take a Rio with his bow. He did. Way to go, Chris.
John Womble, White Lake, NC collected his limit of three gobblers, finally, after taking a nice cedar bush with a well-placed shot. As a matter of interest, we have no limit on cedar bushes, although some mesquite limbs have some world-class spurs (thorns).
The Michigan hunters,Paul Savage and Jim Davenport collected only one bird for the pair of them. Seems Jim had some mighty bad luck on several occassions and just never could get things going his way. You would have to hear the stories, but Jim had some credible excuses and it wasn't for the lack of trying.
So the four hunters collected a total of five birds. Best weight was 20 lbs; best beard was 9 1/2"; and best spurs were 1".
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| McManus Camp Hunt # 2 |
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| Hanging out in camp at noon on a beautiful day. |
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| Sights you see while traveling to the McManus Camp |
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| Longhorns. |
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| Boone and Crockett longhorn |
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| Is this a roost tree? |
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| John Womble |
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| John Womble and one of three he took. |
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| John again, and look at that beard on that bird. |
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| John again, and another good beard. |
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| Paul Savage, Clio, MI |
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| Chris Tusing with the arrow that took this gobbler. |
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| Lunch time at the McManus Camp |
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Hunt # 1 April 7-10
The first 2007 turkey hunt at the McManus Camp found four Canadians here hunting in weather that could only be described as being "just like home". Snow, ice, sleet and plenty of cold wind. Gosh. We had suggested to these guys when they booked the hunt back in August that Texas in April is usually pleasant. But - looks like we lie a little sometimes.
Right from the get-go, the weather was bad. The hunt started at noon on Saturday. Beaver McManus said the thermometer at his ranch that day showed a high of 28 and a low of 23. Without the cloud cover during the entire three days, no telling what the thermometer might have dipped to. Needless to say, the hunting was mighty tough. But tough hunting calls for tough hunters, and the Canadians took it all in stride. The four hunters finally collected five birds. Martin Hartig was the lucky one to harvest a pair, and the others, thankfully, did managed to get one each. The gobblers were almost mute and the calling was sporadic as you might imagine in that weather. Wouldn't you know it - the sun finally reappeared on their final afternoon.
The heaviest gobbler of the group weighed in at 21 lbs. All but one gobbler sported spurs in excess of an inch, with the longest measuring 1 1/4". All the beards were in the 9" range.
The good news in the whole deal was that we got to meet some great neighbors from the north, and we enjoyed all our good conversations on a number of topics. We hope to see all of them back here hunting with us sometime soon.
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| We get Canadian instructions on snowball manufacturing. |
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| Murray Bradshaw drew first blood. |
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| Martin Hartig with one of his two gobblers. |
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| The snow is gone, but it is still chilly for the photo session. |
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| Three of the five gobblers taken. |
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| The weigh-in and measuring ceremony. |
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