I know that spring turkey season is fast approaching and from time to time we will offer up tips and how to guides from experts in the field. Today I am going to offer up a nice article entitled “Decoying Field Turkeys” by my buddy Chuck Roberts.

Many veteran turkey hunters consider field birds to be among the toughest to kill. “Difficult maybe, but not impossible,” says award-winning outdoor writer and turkey hunting expert Bob Humphrey. “One of the major disadvantages of hunting field birds is they can see a long way,” he says. “You can exploit this however, by using decoys, which also focus the bird’s attention away from you, increasing the odds you can draw on them at close range.”

“The position, pose and sex of your decoys are all important,” says Humphrey. A typical decoy flock consists of one jake and two hens. “When using this trio, I always try to place the jake closest to me - well within gun range - and put the hens another ten yards or so farther out. My experience has been, the tom will almost always approach the jake decoy first, trying to separate him from the hens.”
“I also try to face my decoys in the direction I want an approaching tom to travel,” Humphrey says. “Consider this. You see someone you want to talk to standing on the other side of a large room. If he’s facing you, you may try to catch his attention, and wait for him to come to you. If you see he’s headed the other way though, you’re more likely to cross the room to get to him before he leaves. While I don’t believe turkeys go through the same reasoning process, I do believe they react similarly, based on which way the decoys are facing.”

As previously mentioned, where you set up can be critical, and the key to hunting field birds is visibility. “Whenever possible, try to set up on a high spot, so your decoys can be seen from any direction, and from a long way off,” says Humphrey. “Another good set-up is at the point, where a finger of woods juts into a field. With a flat woodline at your back, you have180 degrees of visibility. Set up on a point, and you and your decoys will have greater visibility.

I am going to change the pace a bit here today and talk about Electronic Game Calls. I am going to spend today talking about a calling system by Extreme Dimension that is very popular, portable, easy to use, and most of all, effective.

The Phantom Pro Series is the flagship line of calls over at Extreme Dimension. These calls are offered in wired and wireless models. The sound quality on these calls is outstanding. They will bring the game within range. The wired system can at anytime be upgraded to wireless with the additional purchase of the Wireless Upgrade Kit.
I don’t want to bore you with all the specifications but I believe it is worth a mention to let you know that the wired and wireless form of the system comes with the Pro Series Digital Call Keypad that offers twelve distinct sounds, will play two sounds simultaneously, overlap the same sound, and the ability to mute all if necessary. The call also includes a raised rubber key pad with the keys far enough apart you can easily work the call with a thick pair of gloves on, without hitting two buttons at once, unintentionally. Power and low battery LED’s on the keypad notify you of this status. A handy detachable belt clip is also included (two belts clips are included with the wireless system). The keypad has sealed module ports so your interface is protected from the elements.

The wired system comes with 60 feet of speaker wire and the wireless system includes a remote transmitter to hook to the ABS, all weather, 15 watt speaker (same speaker included with both systems). The wireless transmitter lets you get up to 200 yards away and kick back in your favorite ground blind or tree stand and wait on the game to come to you. The system operates on 4 AA batteries that have to be purchased separately.

The Phantom Pro Series calling system comes with one sound module and face plate. There are seven different game species to choose from including Phantom Whitetail, Phantom Predator, Phantom Moose, Phantom Elk, Phantom Bear, Phantom Gobbler, and Phantom Honker. You can go to the previous links and listen to a sample of the twelve sounds available on each module, but you should consider the sounds you hear on the computer do not in any way compare to the quality of the sounds on the call due to digital compression.

The part I really like about this calling system is the ability to buy additional sound modules for the calling system. This enables you to expand your calling options. Sound modules are easily interchangeable in your original calling system, all you have to do is change out a sound chip by unplugging the existing one and plugging the other one in, and changing the face plate on the module, and you are ready to go. Any of the above mentioned sound modules can be purchased at any time.There is talk of additional sound modules being available later in the year.

I have sold a bunch of these calls to the moose hunters in the northern US and Canada, they are especially popular in Quebec. The predator, deer, turkey, elk, bear, and snow goose hunters in the US, Canada and the rest of the world are using these calls everyday. As a matter of fact of all of the calls that we ship, we very seldom hear of anyone that is not satisfied, when we do hear from our customers they are wanting to brag about the calls effectiveness, or to purchase additional sound modules. Extreme Dimension has truly brought a state of the art calling system to the table with the Phantom Pro Series and the customer support at the factory is second to none.

In closing one thing I should mention is to check with your local DNR to make sure the use of these electronic calls is legal in the state or province where you hunt. Click here for a detailed list of legal states and provinces.

I am going to get into some analysis of game scouting cameras here today and in some future posts. I know that monitoring your deer herd or other game is becoming a year round adventure. The game cameras have evolved into giving you more information to analyze and figure out what your game is doing, so when the short hunting season comes, you can process this data and put yourself in the best position to harvest the trophy you have been monitoring all year. On top of that, looking at images from a game camera is fun, lets face it, you just can’t wait to see if that big 10 point has come by your camera.

I want to start today by talking more about the Primos Reconyx Silent Image Infrared Game Camera. I have mentioned in an earlier post that Reconyx would be coming out with a couple of new models this year. I realized after I wrote the post that many of you were not familiar with their existing Reconyx RM30 model. This is a true reconnaissance tool, it is quite a bit more pricey than a lot of the game cameras out there but it does what it promises, unlike many on the market today.

The game camera does not offer high resolution or color pictures (although the two new offerings available in mid 2007 will offer both). The resolution is around .3 mega pixels but this is where it gets interesting, this enables the game camera to record more images to the compact flash card (it will hold up to a 2GB CF card), and with its Near Video Technology you need the room on the card. A 2GB compact flash card will hold up to 40,000 images. This camera will take its initial picture from the time it wakes up in 1/10 of a second and will continue taking pictures at up to 5 frames per second, so when you view the frames in sequence it looks like video.The images also give you a time and date stamp, moon phase,and temperature. The only negative is the game camera does not have a battery meter on board, but the software does enable you to check the battery level, so if you have your laptop afield you can check it this way.

I met these guys a couple of years ago at SHOT Show and still remember, they were the only one of the camera makers that would put a card in the camera take a sequence of pictures, pull the card out and show you the images it recorded on the computer, right there on the show floor. I knew then that this game camera would be a true player in the market.

These guys at Reconyx have been building these cameras right here in the USA for several years, but have been marketing them to wildlife agencies and universities for study purposes, in 2006 they decided to make the leap into the recreational market.The game camera is infrared not flash, so there is no need worrying about spooking the deer at night. The infrared LED cluster is probably the biggest on the market and really lights up the area, the range is around 60 feet at night, which by all standards is great. The game camera comes in a rugged air tight, water proof case, that offers a threaded block on the bottom so it may be screwed into a tri-pod.

The camera operates on 8AA batteries that provide power for up to one month, you can also opt for a C cell battery upgrade (sold separately) that will give you up to three months of battery life. The camera will operate at extreme temperatures of up to -20 degrees fahrenheit with no issues. There is a bright red LED on front of the camera to help you set it up initially after mounting.

The game camera also comes with management software that lets you format your compact flash cards and load images into specific locations on a topographical map, that can be downloaded, of the property you are monitoring. This enables you to stick the compact flash card in its slot and flip a toggle switch and the game camera is ready to take pictures. It really is a simple and very easy to use tool. The Reconyx offers CodeLoc for security, the user programs a PIN into the camera, therefore if it is stolen, the company would have to reset it, reporting the camera stolen to the company could help in recovery.

This game camera will help you gather information like no other, although the camera can be set to delay between pictures, I don’t know why you would want to do that. The information you may be missing in a minute delay could be that big 12 point just easing through your area. The Reconyx is able to get images of animals running by it, and I’m not talking about the rear end of the animal, it will get the whole animal. Even though the image resolution is not as high as other cameras, the constant snapping of images gives you more angles and views to get a better grip on the animals’ score or other characteristics.

In closing I would just like to say that I am most impressed with the Reconyx because it just plain works, and is as advertised. Like everything else, it is man made, but I have found the guys at the factory are easy to get ahold of and easy to deal with, if you do have issues. They will turn around the camera quickly if you do have to send it in. You can click here to see a preview video of how the camera works if you would like. I will also attach some images.

Outfitters should really take a long look at these game cameras, they will give you the information you need to get your clients on the game and bring them back year after year.

I wrote to you in my last post about a few cool things I saw at the ATA show last weekend. Today I want to spend a bit of time talking about a line of products I saw that will simplify the mounting of game scouting cameras.

A company from Minnesota called Trail-Pod Products has come out with a line of trail camera mounts that are simple and easy to use and I believe will be universal to every trail camera on the market. I saw these and thought “why haven’t these already been available”, it is truly a simple yet very useful idea.

Trail-Pod has four products and we hope to have these available for sale at BowHuntGear.com very soon. The first in called their “Tree Mount”, it is equipped with a universal camo mounting plate that will hold almost any camera out there (I saw several different models showcased on the Trail-Pod at the show). It is also equipped with a heavy duty ballhead that appeared very sturdy, this allows for you to adjust the camera to any angle you prefer, as we know some cameras take more quality pictures when angled slightly downward. Finally, it is equipped with a quick and easy screw-in mount that resembles a screw in step and will screw into any tree.

Trail-Pod also offers three more mounting units, they are all tri-pods that have the universal mounting plates previously mentioned attached to the top. The “Standard” tri-pod offers just a flat green finish with no rotating head. The “Deluxe Green” offers the flat green finish with the heavy duty ballhead, and the “Deluxe Camo” is a “Mothwing” Camo finish with the heavy duty ballhead. The tri-pods all come with anchors to keep them in the ground. These tri-pod models will let you mount your cameras in open areas such as CRP and crop fields. There are also some locking cables and additional anchors offered to secure your scouting cameras. These products all seem to be affordable ranging from $59.99 to $89.99 retail.

There were several more things I saw that will spark some interest in the gear market this year and I will be blogging about those soon. While at the ATA show I saw several “Outdoor Celebrities” mingling with their fans and signing autographs. Michael Waddell seemed to be everywhere accommodating his fans. David Blanton, Chuck Adams, Stan Potts, and Greg Miller were also there mingling and signing autographs. I also saw Erline Mandrell from the old variety show “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters” fame, she was endorsing cross bows and signing autographs.

Welcome to the Hunt Gear Guru blog. I have used digital game cameras for scouting ever since they were introduced to the market a few years back. I will keep you updated on all the latest news and exciting new camera buzz on my blog. I will also keep you updated on electronic game calls.

I don’t know of any other blogs related to these specific topics on the internet. I hope we can get your comments and thoughts on the products we will be blogging about. I also think in time with the growth of the internet more hunters will be joining these online blogs and forums. I really welcome that as we can all offer our opinions about our favorite cameras and calls. I know of several forums out there now that talk about these subjects and its really interesting to go through the posts.

I just returned recently from the Archery Trade Association Trade Show in Atlanta, GA last weekend. I saw some new cameras out there that could really get some buzz stirring around here in the next few months.

Reconyx has announced they will have two new models at a cheaper price than their RM30 edition from 2006 that will compete against the Cuddeback No Flash. They will continue to offer the Team Primos Reconyx RM30 in addition to the two new models. The Reconyx RM30 is a super camera that will give you all the information from a location that you could possibly want. It compares to a video camera as it’s response time from the time something triggers it until the first picture is captured is a blistering fast 1/10 of a second and it will shoot up to five frames per second as long as the animal is in front of the camera. The Reconyx RM30 is a bit pricey at $799.99 but I’ll have to admit if you want information this is the ticket as it will give it to you. The two new models will be a bit cheaper and one will offer color pictures during the day and infared black and white pictures at night as the Reconyx RM30 offers only black and white pictures. The new models should be available to the public by mid summer according to their factory guys. The new models won’t offer the lightning speeds the Reconyx RM30 does but they will be more than adequate. I’ve heard there initial response time will be around 1/5 a second (which is awesome) and they will be able to take up to two frames per second.

I also was delighted to speak to my Cuddeback representative and he informed me they will be taking all measures to make their three 2006 offerings (No Flash, EXpert and EXcite) better. I was informed they are going to install more plastic gussets in the back so the camera will not flex and therefore preventing the water leakage and battery falling out issues. They wil also shore up the battery problem even more by putting a stop to hold the batteries in place.

I am excited to be able to communicate to all of you through this blog. I welcome all of your comments and criticisms. This should be an awfully exciting year for everyone who has an interest in scouting cameras as technology is really getting us where we want to be. There are several more exciting cameras and updates to cameras I will bring you here in the next few blogs. Stay tuned and please enjoy.