Man Versus Nature

George wrote: snip

Yup just a bit different than a pat. I've found that a full choke 20ga with #4 works pretty well for turkey. Try for head shots so you don't mess up the meat.

Dave in Fairfax (wish I was back in MI)

Geez, you gotta scare them away?? The only wild turkeys I am familiar with (from Western Kansas) wouldn't let you get within 200 yards. Extremely skittish crtitters which is understandaable as folks hunted them.

Got some skeet loads for the 20 Ga , come to think. No problem with my conscience or the DNR if I do a Porky or groundhog, but the turkey might offend both.

Got to go south of my south line into the next county for legal hunting during the season....

Too bad, I love wild turkey, the meat, not the drink. Can't stand store bought.

Dave in Fairfax

Dave in Fairfax wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@fairfax.com:

Dave, the Patina Tools website in your sig line comes up with a dns error, at least from here. Since your posts are generally helpful, I thought I'd try to take a look.

George, the turkeys have become a nuisance in rural areas of northern California, too. But my mother used to find them a comfort, and would feed them off of the back deck. Between that and the deer, they didn't try to raise any veggies. Neighbors that wanted to needed pretty elaborate fencing schemes. We put big cages aound the roses, and the deer pruned whatever stuck out.

Patriarch, launcher of three bowl blanks last night, before retiring to study methods. again.

Anyone have any experience with wild turkeys? Suggestions on how to convince him (them) that there are better places to eat?

George

This time of year they taste pretty good.

Fred

George wrote: Ok, I keep urinal cake (naphtha) in my garbage can so the bears won't carry the bags away to dine in the woods, never let the little dog out at night without the big one to counter a single wolf, maintain an electric fence around my garden so I won't be accused of baiting deer, and stomp my feet to warn the big snakes of my approach. Today was time four that I had to chase a turkey out of the vicinity of my garden. Too many to be a coincidence. Though maybe he - it's a Tom - is strictly on an insect hunt, I wonder how long it will take him to become a vegetarian when the peas come in. Anyone have any experience with wild turkeys? Suggestions on how to convince him (them) that there are better places to eat? I'm thinking of a scareturkey, but with no information in the searches,

don't know if I would just be wasting my time. Maybe something turned with hanging shining swinging things on it? BTW, for those who have been startled by a pheasant or grouse, a turkey is another experience altogether.

Hey, I resent that! You might try a newsgroup called something, dot rural. Those turkeys can get large, eh? And I think they can fly short distances, like over walls(and electric fences). I've known folks to plant more than they need just to give the local wildlife their cut, but a turkey could damage a lot more than just his cut. I'm going for fully enclosed wire mesh fencing! Tom

They fly _very_ well. The one the dog and I scared out - or got scared by - this morning gained fifty feet or more in altitude in the first hundred feet and flew with power to a spruce about 600 feet away.

I guess the Buddhist prayer wheel approach is the one I'll take. Been wanting to get a couple whirligigs made anyway.

And I do so love fresh peas....

Pin chuck!

"George" wrote in news:42b88a07$1 snipped-for-privacy@newspeer2.tds.net:

Well, that makes more sense than the Nova Midi2, dovetail method. I blew out two dovetailed bases with a heavy catch. Pretty certain that it was operator error, and using too big a gouge on a modest sized bowl. I got a load of 'iffy' walnut, and it's not as forgiving as some of the other woods I've used. Lost one to ring shake, too. At least that one wasn't my fault, and I had the sense to throw it in the 'interesting firewood' bin.

Patriarch

They fly _very_ well. The one the dog and I scared out - or got scared by - this morning gained fifty feet or more in altitude in the first hundred feet and flew with power to a spruce about 600 feet away. I guess the Buddhist prayer wheel approach is the one I'll take. Been wanting to get a couple whirligigs made anyway. And I do so love fresh peas....

George, You might try contacting your local conservation officer. If they are doing damage to your property(crops) it is possible they will either help you get them to move or maybe give you a permit to shoot. (Yummy!) Nic

Hi George

I see a few wild turkey around here but none have come into my garden, not much to eat but flowers and weeds, only problem I have is rabbit and the occasional groundhog and white tail, and one grouse, must have lost its way, but since the turkey's hate flying I would go for high chicken wire fencing, then again if really wanting to get your produce it'll be hard to keep them out, maybe you have to make some turkey calls for hunting season and claim some repayment.

Have fun and take care Leo Van Der Loo

George wrote:

Some years back a hen turkey moved into our yard for the winter. We have a bird feeder hanging off our deck. Rather than fly to it, she would walk up the 13 steps from the ground to the deck and then jump up on the railing to eat from the feeder. When she was done she would jump back down (we could always hear that) and she'd walk back down the steps.

We could sit inside at the sliding door less than 2' from her without her being bothered. One day, though, I came around a corner, didn't know she was there and when she saw me she took off -- it sounded like an F15 it was so loud.

This year we had a pair of hens in the neighborhood but they did not get into the bird feeder habit. They did eat what fell on the ground though. And if they were walking on the road they took their time getting out of the way.

One snowy day I watched our neighbor shoveling snow off his deck right onto one of the turkeys which was on the ground below. He didn't see the turkey and she probably figured it had started to snow again.

Bill

Leo Van Der Loo wrote:

My bad. I was doing things from memory after my system crashed. Apparently the controller went out slowly, probably a hot chip failure. Anywho, the backups I had were worthless, which makes only slightly better than my memory. Try it with an org rather than a com and it'll work. Sorry about that. Addresses, e-mail addys, and phone numbers were fun, let me tell ya.

Dave in Fairfax

Rabbit and groundhogs do not like the snakes, the largest of which is over seven feet, so no problem there. Fencing would really be a hardship, because I've got three strands of that polypropylene and steel thread wire for the deer, though perhaps some of that sheep fence with both barrier and electric might do. Deer jump barrier fence.

For now, the scareturkey, and a bit more outside time for the big dog might convince him to relocate.

I heard him or one of his buddies calling this spring just south of the old orchard. also caught sight of him dallying with the hussy from down by the power line cut. Another dozen for next year....

Well, catches are certainly technique not nature, but you can help nature and Newton a bit by keeping that center post inside and a tailstock drawn up until things are at their lightest and most balanced.

If you have doubt on either a tenon or recess, run some water-thin CA into the endgrain to firm it up. Even helps if you have one of the "gripping" types of chuck, because wood is going to split out along the grain, and you don't want to create a place for it to start. When I have wet sapwood to hold, this is almost automatic. With support from a toolrest there isn't such a thing as a too-small gouge inside, that's for sure. But we do get impatient and chose too large once in a while. I have a 1" bowl gouge that's really too big after about the 9" interior diameter point, but he hogs so well down to that point I sometimes have to force myself to downsize.

Blue Racers and Gopher snakes are fun to play with, and the Indigos get huge and are gentle. As for the rabbits and deer, I definitely hear dinner being called.

Dave in Fairfax

How about a 12ga with about #4 shot? I hear they taste pretty good.

That's no lie. I jumped a pair of them while deer hunting one year. They ran

*toward* me, and then a good thirty yards past, before taking wing. Sounded like a train coming through the leaves... waaaaay more noise than a grouse.

I don't know where to find it or even what it's definitely called but there is an electronic scarecrow thingy that actually shoots intruders with a jet of water. It senses them, aims and squirts all on its own.

Sounds like it might work for you.

Around here (metropolitan Detroit) we are getting buried in goose poop that we are not allowed to invite to dinner although I've considered inviting a couple to play golf. Fore! Honk! Splat.

I've never played golf before. What club should I use and do you think it would help if I bought some plaid pants?

Bill