I went pheasant hunting with my father-in-law Phil on this cool, damp morning in November.  We hiked into the fields around 7:15am and spent two hours walking the hedge rows and tree lines among the various fields.  About an hour in we were working the woods along one of the fields in the hopes that the birds had been pushed out of the fields, and we were right.  I spotted this pheasant in among the trees, and he took off like a bat out of hell.  One trigger pull later and I had my very first pheasant stuffed in the back bird pocket of my Cabela's hunting jacket.  I brought him home, dressed him, and cooked him up for lunch along with his heart and liver.  It was a great first pheasant hunt, and I hope to get out soon with a few weekends left in the season.

So Saturday the 30th was the last day of turkey hunting's fall season here in Massachusetts.  I got up around 5:30am, brewed a pot of coffee, and got all of my gear together (lumbar pack, .12 Winchester, camo jacket, and knife) and headed over to my dad's 40 acres of untouched, pristine wilderness.  I walked about 200 yards into the woods, over the knoll and into a nice depression that gave me good site lines.  The woods, being old plots of farm land from 200+ years ago, are spider-webbed with stone walls (used to corral cattle), so I found a great spot to sit against an old oak tree nestled right against a stone wall.  I made sure to hide all of my blaze orange gear and got comfortable.  After an hour or so of calling turkey and drinking coffee out of my Stanley thermos, I decided to change positions.  I hiked up to my left to the top of another knoll overlooking the depression, and now had a great view of 10 or so acres below me.  Within a few minutes, I head a "whoop, whoop" and turned to see a large turkey flying right behind me into a tree 100 yards or so to my north.  It was too far of a shot, so I tried stalking closer to the tree - to no avail.  Turkeys have excellent vision, so he saw me coming with no problem.  He flew far, far away, and that ended up being the only turkey I'd see all morning.  I gave up on this spot, as well, and decided to do some walking.  I walked all around the properties boundaries following stone walls and streams, and saw nothing more than a few chipmunks.  I found this mildly disappointing, as the last time I was on the property I saw 11 turkeys and 2 does, all with three other adults and two dogs running amock.  It was a cold morning with nary a cloud in the sky, and it couldn't have felt nicer getting out bright and early and enjoying the solitude that the woods has to offer.  I didn't bag a turkey, but the first (and last) turkey hunt of the short season was a success.  The spring season is 4+ weeks, so hopefully I'll have many more opportunities to take down a large Gobbler.