Slappy

Considered something less tactical and more "grey man" style?  I went through this about 2 years ago when I started my new job.  I needed a backpack so I could tote my laptop around and various other items.  Long story short, I went with a North Face Recon pack.   Its a solid medium sized back, lots of pockets and organization options and approved by some Chiropractic Association so it feels great on the back.     H1https://www.thenorthface.com/shop/recon H107C

Not sure how far you want to drive but Big Hill Pond State Park fits your description perfectly. Montgomery Bell should as well.

There are lots of muscle memory exercises and all sorts of tips and tricks to help you shoot better that it can be confusing which ones to focus on. So to confuse you even further, I do recommend shooting at longer distances like Maroon mentioned. 60-100 yards even if you can find the space. This will help you aim small and miss small. And if you can hit at 90 yards, 40 won't look so tough. One thing that has helped me gain confidence is purchasing some appropriately grained (100gr for me) Blunt Tips that screw into your arrow where the broad head goes. With these you can shoot practice your yardage estimations and then see how accurate you are. Had a friendly competition with my cousin on a Gatorade bottle in a field once. We hit it 5 times in a row until it just got too far. Haha.

I know when I was a kid in Mississippi, the minimum poundage for hunting deer was 40lbs. So I'd probably stick with that unless TN has a different law I don't know about. There are however advantages to high weighted and fast bows. Such as they have a much flatter trajectory allowing more room for yardage errors and deer do jump strings, a faster bow does make the difference sometimes.

I keep my beard fairly short. I did grow it out a bit once and I didn't think it was looking that great so I trimmed it back. Anyways, I've been a beard oil user for a year now, both short Bears and long beard. I love it. It smells great. Keeps your skin hydrated and not itchey. Also helps reduce dandruff. It does soften and help tame wild hairs too. So it's good on short bears as well.

.270 best all around North American cartridge in my opinion.

Ha.  That happened to a good college buddy of mine.  Had some sorority girls do laundry at his apartment in exchange for them cleaning the kitchen...why sorority girls who pay thousands of dollars a year to be in one, can't pay $3 to do laundry at the sorority house baffles me...but anyways.  I guess they had never loaded a dishwasher before and used Dawn Dish Detergent...needless to say they ended up w/ a much cleaner kitchen floor than they had anticipated.     Did you take pics!?!

Hard to hate Perfection :-)

I carry at church.

I don't get it?? J/k....that was funny! :-)

Id say so. They are still in high demand. Glocks hold their resell value pretty well. You'd be getting a basically brand new gun less tax and/or FFL and background check fees.

I've never hunted East TN and it surprises the heck out of me that your experience has been that you see more bucks than does. Have you been limiting out with your 3 bucks every year? Last deer season, the state of TN reports that 95,498 bucks were killed and 69,424 does were killed. That's a difference of 26,065 more bucks than does. I don't think that's because there are more bucks than does, I think it's because many hunters think that if a deer has balls then it must be a trophy. Certainly there are hunters who just want the meat and I can understand that. The above numbers is a huge reason why we don't have more true trophy bucks visible and walking around. If the numbers were more balanced, bucks would have to compete harder and travel further to find does. As it stands, a mature buck 4.5+ won't travel far from his comfort zone because he doesn't have to. That's why he got old in the first place. I am a private property owner. We are managing our land to QDMA specifications. Protecting the young bucks and balancing out buck/for ratio and reducing our carrying capacity in relation to the amount of food we have. The past 3 years, we have killed does in the double digits. The first 2 years we protected all bucks. (Except I gave my buddy with Muscular Dystrophy the go ahead on a 2.5 year old 8pt). Last year was the first year we have started to see some bruisers walking around. We got our chance at one of them (see my pic below). So the fruits of our labor are paying off. In a perfect world, the entire state would adopt this fact based approach and the quantity as well as the quality of both bucks and does would explode. I say all that to say this, that I think dropping the buck limit will help the quality of our bucks in TN and for those that limit out every year on bucks, hopefully they start taking more does and being more selective on the bucks they take.

Cool thanks. I wouldn't want to keep getting beaten up so that makes sense to me.

Why do decoys not become as effective later in the season? Do they deter Tom's from coming in?

Turkey hunting is like none other. I am a big deer hunter...I mean BIG deer hunter. But nothing gets my heart rate up like a turkey does. This is for several reasons. 1) turkey hunting is interactive. Calling and having them respond is incredible. Sometimes calling works great, sometimes you need to adjust your calling and sometimes it doesn't work at all. But even that doesn't mean you won't have a good hunt. Have had several turkeys come into calling but they came silently. When a mature bird gobbles in the woods, you will feel it in your chest. Similar to a ghetto cruiser blasting rap music a few cars away. Hence the "Thunder Chicken" nickname. 2) Thrill of the chase. You have a few ways you can hunt them and you need to constantly adapt, improvise and overcome. You can sit and wait (much like deer) or you can run after them. Having to make that decision wether to sit and wait or chase is all part of the ever changing game. If you desired to chase, how close do you need to get? Lots of brain power involved in turkey hunting. 3) Closeness. You've got to get these birds in close (around 40 yards at most). When you have a bird in close to you, you can see all their feathers, their eyes, hairs on their neck. And they are BIG. those guys will be looking you dead in the eye. Being close also has its challenges. Turkey eyesight is second to none. You have to be completely cammoed and completely still, only moving at the perfect times or you will get busted. 4) Spring is beautiful. Temps are nice, all the critters start coming out. Everything is greening up and it's arguable the most beautiful time of the year. 5) Social. It's super fun to go with someone. In fact having 2 people can even open you up to some hunting strategies that will help bag more birds. You don't have to worry about sent or even noise too much. In the wild, it's normal for the hens to come to the gobblers. But as a turkey hunter, you are trying to reverse nature and have the gobbler come to you. It's very challenging. I'm sure I'm forgetting some things. But hopefully that helps give you some perspective.

I've got the hen ones too. They look great but are hard to tote around in a hurry.

Thanks! I was using an Avian-X Lifelike Jake Decoy. It's made of rubber and you blow into it to inflate it. He hated it too. Pecked it really hard several times and then spurred it a few times as well. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Avian-X-Lifelike-Collapsible-Jake-Turkey-Decoys/1167567.uts

[URL=http://s532.photobucket.com/user/jtv14/media/IMG_4625_zpsokqmsyp1.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s532.photobucket.com/user/jtv14/media/IMG_4624_zpsk0bo0pea.jpg.html][/URL] [URL=http://s532.photobucket.com/user/jtv14/media/IMG_4626_zpssk1golfz.jpg.html][/URL] I've been lazy! I killed this guy last Friday. I was literally sawing off branches when he stepped out into my field about 75 yards away! He left but came back and I managed to draw his attention to my decoys. He couldn't care less about the Hen, but that Jake decoy....He wanted to DESTROY. It was awesome. Took a while to be able to get my gun up without spooking him, but managed to give him a dirt nap a few minutes later. I had to let him separate from my decoy first because i didn't want to ruin my decoy obviously, haha. First one down this year! hopefully a couple more to go! Keep up the good work everyone!

Sorta reminds me of your profile pic.... :hiding:      :cool:

Ended up seeing a total of 12 turkeys.  Was able to interact with some of the hens and the jakes.  All of them were young so we didn't shoot.  Several clucks and kee kee runs.  Was awesome to hear!  Going to hunt again this afternoon to see what we can come up w/.  

I'm in the turkey woods this morning with my ole man. All quiet right now. Always having s good time though.

Tracey hooked me up! Got all the info I needed so I will be able to hunt legally with just my confirmation number until my license comes in. I LOVE helpful people. :-) haha

Thanks for the info ttocswob. I emailed Tracey to see if I can get my info.

Ok cool! Thanks gentlemen!

I sent off my info to Nashville for my TN Lifetime Sportsmand License! With the new increase in license fees, it will pay for itself in 9-10 years so I am looking forward to that! My question is: how long does it take to get it? Being the procrastinater I am, Until it comes in, I won't be able to hunt my FIL's land. Fortunately, my dad has property that I can hunt without a license. Killed a turkey in his land last year. Anyways, I'm just excited and anxious to get everything in. If you are on the fence about getting a lifetime, now is a good time to do so since the fees won't be going up for a few months. If you buy low now, it will pay itself off faster once the rates increase.