Toxie Givens

Note: This article was written for the May 2010 issue of HuntX3 (www.huntx3.com) – View the pretty magazine layout PDF version here.

I know “what’s in your turkey vest?” is a rhetorical question but it makes you think about your own turkey vest and what equipment you have in it. Since there is no way for me to know what you have in your vest, than I am going to talk about what’s in my vest and what equipment I use. I got the idea of writing this article when I started to pack my vest for the upcoming season. I am always adding things to my vest especially when I talk to other turkey hunters or watch them in action on TV. Maybe this article will help out new turkey hunters and might even offer suggestions to an old veteran hunter that he or she might not have thought of before.

Obviously you need to start with a turkey vest. Turkey vests have evolved from being simple thin layered vests having a couple of pockets to having zillions of different size pockets hidden all over the place with comfortable flip out seats. Some of the new vests come with instructions to explain where all the pockets are located and what equipment can go in them. This year I have even seen a new vest that comes with mesh materials on the back that you can pull over the top of you to make yourself into an instant portable blind. Wow! What evolution the hunting industry has come up with!

Now that we talked about the importance of a vest you are asking yourself, “what do you put in it first?” It is not what you think; no calls or shotgun shells but instead my Thermacell with all of its refills and a can of bug spray. My theory is to be successful in the woods, you need to be comfortable and any type of bug buzzing around your head is not going to allow you to be comfortable. Any experienced turkey hunter has forgotten their bug repellant at least once and know what I am talking about. Along these same lines, I carry a portable rain suite. No one likes wearing wet clothes and a good rain suite can make your life more comfortable in the wet woods.

Next I gather all my calls and put them in my vest. I use primary box calls and I like to carry many of them because of their different sizes and makes. They provide me with different tones and pitches. I have had times when I had a gobbler stalled out at 60 yards not wanting to come in and just by switching to a different call pushed him over the top and he came on in for the shot. I also carry box calls that do not use chalk and are waterproof for those rainy hunts. Another good rainy day call that I carry is a slate call and sometimes I use it to simulate fighting hen purrs. My last calls consist of shock calls such as my gobbler, crow, coyote, and owl calls.

I also believe in a good pair of binoculars. I pack these in my vest so I will have them there when I need them. I also like to carry a laser range finder. If time permits, I will range my decoys and various surroundings to get an idea of how far I can shoot. Knowing this range can be the difference in harvesting a bird successfully versus shooting too early when you “thought” he was in range. In my experience judging distances in large open fields can be misleading and a range finder can alleviate this common error.

Another must carry for me is my portable GPS. I hunt some big tracks of land and sometimes when I am chasing a gobbler, I can get turned around and can lose my bearing. By having a GPS unit in my vest, I have the confidence to worry about the gobbler instead of constantly worrying about my location.

With the evolution of the turkey vest, bigger pockets in the back have allowed me to carry soft turkey decoys without adding much additional weight. I personally like to use the real mounted turkey decoys but in my experience you do not always have them on you due to their bulkiness and weight. But I do have a couple of soft decoys stuffed in the back that I can quickly deploy if the opportunity presents itself; especially during those “running and gunning” hunts.

Now I am going to talk about the items I call the accessories. My number one accessory is a half roll of toilet paper. You never know when Mother Nature strikes you and any good woodsman is always prepared. Another must carry is a couple sets of gloves and a head mask. Turkeys have unbelievable eye sight and everything you can do to combat that is a must. I also normally pack 10 shotgun shells in my vest which I feel is more than enough plus extras for those unexpected situations. I like to carry a couple of flashlights. I carry a LED flashlight for early mornings because it has a tendency not to be as bright and I carry a more powerful flashlight for coming out of the woods at night. I also like to carry a monopod gun rest in the back of my vest. You never know how long you might have to hold your gun while the gobbler moves into position and this can help you with those long periods of time to steady your shotgun. My final accessory and one that I added last year is a set of brush trimmers. These are handy for making ground blinds and can be used quickly to trim shooting lanes when that gobbler has responded to your call and is on his way. The trimmers also store very easily in my vest.

There are other things I carry that deserve to be mentioned but these are the little things that support all the other equipment. These are: box call chalk, a turkey tote for carrying out a bird, extra batteries for my red dot sight and flashlights, a sewing tape measure for scoring your harvested turkey, bottle of water, goggles for keeping dirt and debris out of your eyes in those windy hunts such as in Texas, a hand towel for sweat and other things that might need wiping, and often some type of snacks for those all day hunts.

So, in conclusion, everything you put in your vest has a purpose with a goal of helping you be successful in harvesting that big Ole’ Tom. Now that you have read about what is in my vest, go over to the forums at HuntX3 (www.huntx3.com) and discuss with me and other fellow thunder chicken hunters what you have in your vest. I look forward to learning new possible items that I can add to my vest. Good luck this season fellow turkey hunters!

Note: This article was written for the March 2010 issue of HuntX3 (www.huntx3.com) – View the pretty magazine layout PDF version here.

So I got your attention with my snappy title. Any successful turkey hunter who has gone after the Grand Slam has an opinion as to which subspecies is the hardest. My opinion is that they all are hard BUT each in their own different ways. Noticed I said they were ALL hard but I did not specify which one was the hardest. I am sure if I sat down with other avid turkey hunters we would have some great discussions on this topic but since I need to write this article I am going to build my case for each one and then rank them at the end.

I currently lease properties that allow me to hunt 3 of the subspecies every year in Florida (Osceola), Georgia and Mississippi (Eastern), and Texas (Rio Grande). I got 2 of each bird during my 2009 season. Why do I do it? Well, because I enjoy the different styles of hunting involved with each subspecies.

Side Note: I have included the National Wildlife Turkey Foundation’s (www.nwtf.org) subspecies turkey map so you can visualize where each subspecies is located as I discussed them. The NWTF site has great information about each subspecies for the beginner and besides, they have been and are great stewards for the wild turkey.

Osceola
Let’s start with the subspecies where the hunting season opens up first, the Osceola. The Osceola is only found in the state of Florida and that they are only found in Florida starts them off on the difficult scale. The environment in Florida is normally hot in March and April with mosquitoes the size of dinosaurs. Out of state hunters have to find an outfitter, public lands, or a lease in order to hunt them. In my opinion, Osceola are modified Eastern turkeys that have evolved over time. They have longer legs to adapt to the Florida swamps and other terrain. They also have a tendency to not gobble a lot once off the roost. I can remember only a few times where they were fired up and gobbling their heads off for a given period of time. The mornings that I was present during these gobbling sessions, I harvested birds. My hunting style is very similar to how I hunt Easterns but with them not gobbling on the roost it can be difficult and frustrating.

Eastern
Chances are if you consider yourself a turkey hunter, you hunt Easterns. They are the most abundant species of the grand slam birds. They are also the hardest in my opinion. Whoops I let the cat out of the bag. Oh well. To kill an Eastern bird consistently every year, proves that you are an avid and successful hunter. In my opinion there is no other warier bird than the Eastern. What do I mean by wary? I think evolution has caused them to develop this keen sense of danger due to hunting pressure and the fact that they live in populated area where people are present. Therefore wary to me means a smart bird that is constantly looking out for danger and is always alert. You probably hear the word wary mentioned about whitetail deer. Turkeys are the same way. The hunting terrain for Easterns is normally not a big factor on how you hunt these birds.

Rio Grande
Now, I love hunting Rio Grande turkeys. As I mentioned before, I have a lease in Texas just for hunting them. They are no way as wary as Easterns and Osceloa in my opinion, due to the non-dense population areas they are found on. The first time we got the lease I swore they have never been hunted. My hunting lease is on the Pecos River where the Rocky Mountains start. It is very hilly and rocky with creek bottoms that have open cattle fields. This openness makes it difficult to “Run and Gun” so we hunt out of tents placed strategically along their feeding corridors and roosting trees. Another factor is that Rios cover a lot of ground every day foraging for food. When you see them fly off the roost they are normally going somewhere fast. So, if you do not get them right off the roost they might be a couple miles off your property by noon that day. Finally, another difficult factor is it is hard to hunt turkeys when you are constantly looking for snakes. I know snakes are found everywhere you hunt turkeys but in Texas they grow them bigger. When I refer to them I mean diamond back rattlesnakes. Besides my turkey calls and decoys, my snake boots are my number one hunting accessories when hunting Rios.

Merriam
Merriam’s are a lot like Rios meaning they are less wary due to lack of civilization. I hunted Merriams in the Colorado Mountains and these birds acted like they had never seen a human before. We could drive up on them in trucks and they would stand there and look at you. Once you got out of the truck they would run. You let an Eastern or Osceola see a truck or even hear one they will be in the next county before they stop flying. Hunting in the mountains to me was the biggest challenge. I was okay as long as I was going laterally or down the mountains but going up the mountains made me huff and puff like the big bad wolf in the three little pigs’ story. When turkeys would gobble, I would say let’s go for the one down there or over there. It was always hard to say let’s go up the mountain to get that one. Better yet let’s wait till another one gobbles. If you hunted Merriams in the mountains you know what I am talking about. The cold temperatures were another factor. Opening day when I was hunting in Colorado was 18 degrees Fahrenheit and five inches of snow on the ground. I was amazed to watch these beautiful birds gobbling and strutting in the snow.

Rankings
Now that I have built a case for each subspecies here is my rankings and a summary of why:

1. Eastern – Very wary birds to hunt due to surrounding population and hunting pressure.
2. Osceola – Less wary as an Eastern but has a tendency not to gobble; therefore, hard to initially setup on. Limited places to hunt.
3. Merriam – Tougher environments to hunt in due to elevated terrain and/or winter hunting conditions.
4. Rio Grande – Wide open country with them traveling long distances during the day once off the roost; plus the possibility of rattle snakes.

So basically you can sum up the birds in two types of hunting groups: wary pressured group: Easterns and Osceolas and the environmentally challenged group: Rio Grandes and Merriams.

Now that you know my rankings, go over to the HuntX3 forums and post your comments. Please feel free to disagree with me and voice your opinion. Or better yet, bring up points or experiences that I might have missed. I love a good healthy discussion about turkey hunting – a sport I am very passionate about. Good luck this spring!

Note: This article was written for the January 2010 issue of HuntX3 (www.huntx3.com) – View the pretty magazine layout PDF version here.

Everyone in this new millennium has a cell phone. A lot of us even have a smart phone such as an iPhone, Blackberry, Droid, etc… Now, you that have these smart phones might be missing out on some features that your smart phone is capable of that could help you when you are hunting. Some of you might be impressed and will go out and get a smart phone once you have read this article. I, personally, have an Apple iPhone 3GS. I will be using my phone to illustrate my points in this article. All of these examples can be duplicated on the other smart phones with similar applications and similar phone features. One more thing to note is that you need to have cell service in the areas you hunt.

I am an avid whitetail deer and turkey hunter and the weather is a key factor in hunting these challenging animals. Weather Channel (www.weather.com) is the foremost site for producing weather information. I have tested other weather applications but I like theirs the best. Besides when you need instant weather what channel do you turn on? They have developed a weather application to run on all smart phones.

The first thing I do is check the 10 day forecast to plan my hunting trip. It shows me the trend and pattern of developing weather patterns.

Then, the day of the hunt, I check the hourly forecast where I can see the temperature, wind direction, and wind speed that correspond to the hours I plan to spend in the woods. This helps me decide what stand location I want to go to. Also many of my hunting times have been adjusted according to this data. I also check this data while in the woods to see what is happening around me and I have sometimes changed locations due to the wind not being correct for a particular location.

Finally, I use it when rain clouds are in the air. You can toggle to the radar tab (Explore Map) and see a storm view of where you are hunting. You can then determine if the weather is going to miss you or if you need to get down and seek safety immediately. It also allows me to stretch my hunts to the last minute before I know the weather is going to set in.

As hunters we know how the weather effects the game and, as you can see, how useful a smart phone can be to deliver this information in a timely way. Of course, all of us hunters are trying to increase the odds in our favor and this type of technology can do it for you. If you have an iPhone and want this application, you can search “Weather” in the iTunes App store. Other smart phones can download other versions of this software from www.weather.com Website.

Now that you know the weather you need to figure out where you are going to hunt. My phone has Google Maps with built in GPS so I mark my stand locations ahead of time so I can find them in the dark. This is handy because I don’t have to carry my GPS hand held unit anymore because I always have my phone. I also mark other important items such as trail camera locations, rubs and scrapes, etc… on my phone.

Now that you are on the stand safely, I have heard of hunters taking books and magazines to pass the lull times during their stand time. I have done this, but with new smart phones you can now have so much more. Also, it is a lot more compact and easier to carry. (You can even read HuntX3 articles and interact with our GREAT Website: www.huntx3.com while on stand!!!)

I am going to go over how I use my iPhone for entertainment while on stand.

Games – I have a several different games installed on my phone. These games range from card games such as Solitaire, Blackjack, etc. to strategy games such as Chess, Checkers, etc. Smart phone are becoming the new game systems and more games are being developed for them. One thing to note is most of the games I play are games that have pauses in them so I can look up and scan my surroundings to make sure nothing gets by me while hunting. You don’t want to get engulfed in a game and miss a deer walking by.

Multimedia – I use my phone to listen to my favorite artist’s mp3s and to my favorite podcasts. I also can watch recorded TV shows and movies. I just recently installed the Sirius/XM application where I can listen to satellite radio over my phone. This is how I listen while on stand: I stick one ear bud speaker in my ear and keep the other ear free to listen for game. I can’t count how many times I have watched deer or turkeys while listening to my iPod. This is great way to pass the time.

Internet Surfing – Everyone who surfs the Internet has favorite Websites that they go to everyday. Whether it is sports, news, tech, gossip, etc… you can read these Websites while sitting idle on stand. You can even write articles like this while sitting up a tree and of course don’t forget to read the articles on www.huntx3.com. (I know another shameless plug!)

Email – I sometimes check my email while on stand. This can be good when family and friends email you BUT it can be bad if it is business and there is a problem. Problems can distract you from hunting and I try not to check my email on really good hunting days. I have had to get down from a stand to go back and get on the computer or phone to solve a problem. Not fun!

Text Messaging – I never did much text messaging until I started texting while hunting. It is a great way to communicate with other hunters while on stand. Text messages start flying back and forth such as: Where we going to eat after we get down? You seen anything? Did you shoot? I just got the BIG one! You can also use it to keep in touch with other people who are not hunting. I have taught so many people how to text message just for hunting. Even the older generation who are sometimes technologically challenged are now avid texters. (LOL!)

As you can see, these entertainment tools allow me to stay on the stand longer which always increases my odds of killing the big buck I am after.

Now that you are entertained, you can review trail camera pictures of bucks that you have captured so when a shooter buck walks out you can recognize him and take him immediately. This review can be provided by your hunting club like your own FBI most wanted posters. It can help you nail down a buck you want to shoot or maybe let go.

I also store property maps on my phone. Use them with Google Maps and it can be one of your most useful tools to figure out that big buck.

Now that you have been prepared all during your hunt with your smart phone, let’s say you take that big buck. Use your smart phone to take pictures of him so you can immediately email or text them to your hunting buddies. Better yet, have a hunting buddy take pictures of you and your trophy.

In conclusion, I have shown how smart phones can be used to give you a technologically edge while hunting. They are very powerful and with new features being added all the time, they will remain part of my standard hunting equipment. I recommend they become part of yours.

Note: This article was written for the December 2009 issue of HuntX3 (www.huntx3.com) – View the pretty magazine layout PDF version here.

I love using technology to help me when it comes to hunting. In my opinion, the best technology I have used over the past few years would have to be Google Earth. Most hunters know that when hunting a property they need a good aerial photo. This aerial photo will give a hunter a bird’s eye view of the layout of the land. This will help you locate hunting spots based on natural funnels, pinch points, saddles, feeding areas, bedding areas, etc.

Normally this aerial photo is used as a sign in board or hangs on the wall at the deer camp. It is still just a photograph on a piece of paper. You can draw on it but there is only so much drawing you can do to it. That is where Google Earth comes in as a better tool. I think of Google Earth as my database or record keeping system. I have everything documented in Google Earth from trail camera locations to deer stands to where deer have been killed in past few years and so on.

Now you are saying, “What is Google Earth?” and “I use Google to find things on the Web but what does that have to do with aerial photos?” Google Earth is an aerial mapping program that you can download from Google for FREE. Go to this link http://earth.google.com to download it.

Like all of Google’s products, Google Earth is very easy to use. Shown below is a basic screenshot of the application. The first thing you do is enter the location of your property and then Google Earth will fly to your location. You might have to start with a known location and then follow the roads to your property.

There are so many things you can do with this tool. Deer move from one point to another for a specific reason. I believe using Google Earth will help you discover these movements and behaviors. I spend a lot of time staring at my hunting properties using Google Earth. I reflect back on how and where I saw deer. What time of day? Where were they moving? Where did I think they were going? What time of the year? Google Earth allows you to zoom in and zoom out and it is so much better than looking at a printed out map on a table or the back of a pickup truck.

Once you have found your property, I recommend you draw your property boundary lines. I have done this to one of my properties as shown below. As you can see I have the line thickness increased and I have different colors. The different colors in the screenshot below represent different leases I have with different land owners. You can now see how your land lays out in comparison to your surrounding neighbors. You can now start thinking about how your deer move from your property to the other properties. This is also a good way to identify possible land you might want to try to lease or buy that will complement your current land.

Now that you have your club boundaries defined you can start entering information. I use folders and tags for all my information and I am going to go over each of these tag areas that I use. Some of these areas are deer killed locations by hunting season, tree stand locations, food plots, trail camera locations, etc. Using these tags not only lets you see your hunting area but it keeps a history of what is going on surrounding your activities.

I create folders to organize my tags as shown below:

The folders I like to use are as follows:

* Club Boundaries
* Feed Stations
* Food Plots
* Trail Camera Locations
* Hunting Stands
* Deer Killed (past years)

Club Boundaries folder: If you have more than one property then you will want to display them as mentioned before in different colors and organize them in this folder as shown below.

Feed Stations folder: I run different feed stations on my club and I like to display and organize them as shown below.

Food Plots folder: I have drawn the shapes and locations of my food plots using Google Earth’s drawing tools. The tools are easy and intuitive to use. A few of these food plots are shown below.

Trail Camera folder: I run up to 10 trail cameras at one given time so keeping track of them is essential. I have an Active folder that keeps all my information, i.e. camera id, location, date, etc… I also keep a Past folder which contains information on where I have had the cameras in the past. It is also good to create a Future folder that will allow you to plan on where you want to put your cameras in the future. Shown below are some of my active cameras and their locations.

Hunting Stands folder: This is where Google Earth can really help your hunting efforts by documenting all your stand locations. I have mine broken into 3 folders: Bow Stands, Tower Stands, and Ladder Stands. You can use different colors and icons to display your stands as shown below.

Past Deer Killed folder: I keep a record of where all the deer are killed and what sex they are for every year we have been hunting. This is great information to see where the most successful areas are on the club. Shown below are some of these locations.

Now that I have finished talking about my folders, I have a few more topics to discuss. With Google Earth you can get the Weather Radar super imposed on your location. You can do this by going to the Layers tab and choosing the Weather folder as shown below. This can be handy when you are trying to figure out when the weather is going to break so you can go get on a stand.

The final thing I want to discuss is a new tool that I started using in the past few weeks. It deals with geo caching photos to their GPS points in Google Earth. I used Picasa (another Google product) to view my trail camera and other photos. This program allows you to geo cache your photos in Google Earth. With this, I have been putting trail camera photos of bucks in the locations where I got their pictures as shown below. I also have been putting the photos of our stands and their views in Google Earth to share with new members before they go to hunt. Basically, anything worth documenting with a photo, I have been taking the picture and then importing it into Google Earth.

As you can see I use Google Earth for a bunch of different ways to document my hunting experience. Google Earth helps me in all aspects of my hunting. Whether I am looking for history of a certain area or trying to peer into the future, I can use this tool to help me. I hope this will help you download and use this free tool also.