pseudonym of a man
Mosquitoes use six needles to suck our blood.
Published on Jun 7, 2016 by PBS Deep Look
Seen up close, the anatomy of a mosquito bite is terrifying. The most dangerous animal in the world uses six needle-like mouthparts to saw into our skin, tap a blood vessel and sometimes leave a dangerous parting gift.
Watch this, so you have something to visualize next time you are in a deer stand or a turkey setup while feeling these prickly little beasts sawing through your skin.
Have you ever had a whitetail deer standing real close looking the other way while the wind is blowing from the deer towards you? This deer appears to be totally unaware of the danger near him. The draw is silent yet, suddenly for no apparent reason other than some dang sixth sense he tenses and bolts away out of range only to stiff leg around for a few minutes before fading off out of sight.
During my half-century of hunting a scenario like this has happened on more than one occasion. I’ve sadly shaken my head in defeat while racking my brain trying to figure out went wrong at the moment of truth. And not just deer, other animals such as turkeys, elk, coyotes, fox, cats and bears at times have appeared to have that sixth sense warning of danger at the very last moment. I have always thought something unnoticed went wrong, some movement, noise or scent and then redoubled my efforts to avoid making whatever mistake it was. However, in March another possibility was unveiled to me.
Early this year the upper left side of my body seized into pain shooting down my left arm causing my hand to go numb to the point where a needle pushed through it did not produce any feeling or pain. Needless to say, this is always a good reason to seek medical attention. Thankfully a heart attack and stroke were ruled out. The doctors suspected nerve damage and referred me to the neurology department.
An MRI showed nerve damage at the base of my neck, so the Doctor ordered an EMG (electromyography) and this was when things got interesting as they relate to hunting.
This EMG graph represents the noise made by contracting human muscles.
During the EMG I discovered when my muscles are moving and tensing they make noise, a lot of noise, the electrical static coming out of the EMG speakers was astounding. As soon as I heard that racket all those deer described earlier came to mind, and I remembered they came to attention just when my muscles were tensing for the draw or lifting the gun. I immediately asked the doctor if any research has been done to determine if animals can hear all those sounds. He was taken aback by that question; apparently, it had never occurred to anyone to consider the possibility. Of course, my next request was when the test is complete could we experiment with different muscle moves. He agreed.
I learned that if I quickly bunched up my bow pulling muscles, the noise went off the chart and when I ever so slowly tensed those same muscles for a draw the sound produced was much more moderate, almost a flat-line. We spent an additional 40 minutes as I experimented with different combinations of internal muscle movement while the doctor measured the sound levels and strength application. We discovered I could apply the same pressure with and without noise. Hmm…
Fewer deer escape me these days than did at the beginning of my hunting career. Buck fever does not have much effect on me anymore, and I’m smoother during the seconds of shot preparation and shooting. Perhaps there is no sixth sense, rather just a case of a very finely tuned sensory ability on the part of the prey.
Here’s a video of a basic EMG test. Mine was much more extensive, as in a lot more needles were inserted into me but the principles were fairly close to the same as shown here.
Time to eat wild turkey.
One of my summertime favorites is cedar planked turkey breast. Here in Wisconsin cedar trees are considered a native invasive because they turn the soil acid and use a lot of water. Foresters encourage editing cedar out of hardwood stands this provides me with ample opportunity to acquire 10-12 inch red cedar logs which are kept under the overhang of the shed so that direct sunlight will not over dry them. When a disk of cedar is required for cooking, I saunter out, fire up the chainsaw and cut the disks about an inch thick. Unlike the over-dried, thin store-bought planking wood these fresh cut cedar disks do not require soaking.
One half wild turkey breast with the silver skin and wing tendon removed. Use a Jaccard type meat tenderizer to perforate both sides of the turkey breast to facilitate penetration of the marinade.
Marinade
Marinade the turkey overnight then drain, rinse and set aside to dry while you prepare the grill.
Place marinated turkey breast on the red cedar disk and with a closed grill cover.
Cook to an internal temperature of 165 Fahrenheit.
Remove from grill and rest for 15 minutes. Slice and serve.
The method will result in tender, moist wild turkey breast meat that can be eaten with your favorites sides or sliced thin for use in sandwiches and snacks.
Other woods can be used to plank turkeys such as oak, hickory or apple. If you don’t have a wild turkey a domestic turkey from the grocery store can be cooked using this method.
The hen makes gentle clucks from a treetop behind me, odd perhaps, but this is one of the last days of the 2016 spring turkey season. For the most part, the hens are now sitting to incubating their eggs. The made morning rush is giving way to deliberate calm. At least on the part of the hen, not so with gobbler booming in the morning to my front. He is not in the mood to let go of his dominance or mating drive.
As the rays of sunlight begin piercing the woodland, my mind wanders over the passing days. Reminiscing about a turkey season before 
completion; who would think that is possible? This morning I’m having trouble shaking the feeling of melancholy, it’s typical at the end of a season to feel a certain reverence, but it’s not quite over yet. As the rays of sunlight begin piercing the woodland, in spite of the hard gobbling tom, my mind wanders over the last passing days.
Gobble gobble at the hen’s soft clucks.
It all started by accompanying my grandson on his youth hunt, the memory of those seven long beards coming in while he caused and earthquake in the magnitude of 3.6. The moment of consternation when he missed one of the biggest turkeys I’d ever seen afield that quickly gave way to a warm, confident feeling he’s on the road to becoming a hunter. He saw that insight that keeps us all hunting for just one more of those sights.
Gobble gobble the hen softly clucks.
My good friend Kody from Alberta, Canada, here on his first ever, heck he was the first Canadian ever to hunt spring turkeys in Wisconsin. 
Only two days to hunt but we crammed a full array of turkey hunting experiences into those days. This gobbler ushering the morning could very likely be one that Kody set up tight on; it’s in the same area. If only Kody could have hunted one more day. No one can predict the actions or behavior of turkeys; they are so random. The melancholy feeling set in after Kody departed for the airport so I setup in the field point where we had a close call with several different turkeys. I called a few times and let my mind wander savoring the memories of hunting with Kodyhunt’s highs. Suddenly the sight of two toms walking towards the decoy jerks me back into focusing on the now. With two
tags still open in my pocket, the last day of the fourth Wisconsin season, I realized the tom’s heads were going to intersect which would allow me to kill them both with one shot. A feeling of frustration enveloped me as stood over the two dead birds; why didn’t, couldn’t this have happened when Kody was here? No predicting turkeys.
The hen’s wings caress the air as she flys off roost to her nest, and I take over her clucking. The tom does not seem to notice any difference and gobbled right back.
Last week Rye, my Grandson from Texas came to visit, he’s seven and wants to hunt so bad. With his help, we set up a pop-up blind, and then he had a blast randomly sticking out the decoys. He called his little heart out, dang, no turkeys showed up only some crows. A couple of years ago I gave him a crow call to use on Texas crows, so I told him to order those crows to go away. Well, I don’t know what he said in crow to make those crows go so wild. Whatever his calls meant to the crows remains a mystery, we were soon witnessing 25-30 crows darting about trees around us, screaming and diving at the blind. Had it been crow season we’d have had to eat a bunch of crows. As it was, he just blew that call with more urgency and laughing between breaths. Oh yeah on the way back he begged to carry my gun, it’s all about fun, so he was my gun bearer.
Gobble, gobble, yelp, cluck.
Those last calls were a whole lot closer with some mind clearing directness bringing my attention fully back to the present, the shafts of sunlight are lighting the woods glistening through the rising mist. The canopy is thick late in the season limiting visibility for that turkey and me. The early morning wet dampened the woods allowed me to move quietly and get real close to this gobbler, him and I have a little contest to settle. The hen quietly flew off to her nest some time ago, so I took over her clucking without the old gobbler realizing the change. His gobbles had an urgency to them now at times he sounded like he was moving away and the next sound like he was in range, but I had not heard him fly down yet. Oh, of course, he is hopping from tree branch to branch trying see me through all the leaves. The gobbling sounded closer and farther depending on which direction he pointed his beak during the gobble.
For a moment all went quiet and then the tell-tale thud, he is on the ground and my gun is pointed at exactly that location. I cannot see him only his feathers are making noise as they shake and rattle with his movement. The turkey is in range all I need to do is see him. Tension has a way of building in these situations; I dare not move, or the turkey may periscope me and then fade away as he did on so many other 
mornings this season. The gun is comfortable on my knee as I grip the striker for one last cluck while hoping he is not looking directly at me. There is no reaction to my cluck; all is quiet until that red, white and blue pulsing bulb of a head appears as if floating up a little draw in the hillside, it’s all I can see moving along. The turkey’s body is not visible only the head; it’s in range… At the blast, the bright head disappears being replaced by a wing tip skidding down the draw. I race to grab him to avoid joining his slide all the way to the bottom for retrieval.
A genuinely fine bird, double beard, 1 3/8” spurred gobbler. Heck, they are all fine birds I just love turkey hunting.
Turkeys are hatching in West Central Wisconsin
This photo was taken one day before the next one which shows four eggs.
In spite of wet, chilly weather wild turkeys are hatching all across West Central Wisconsin. Ground temperatures are more important than the air temperature in determining the timing of laying, setting and hatching. Recently hatched poults are being reported near their nests with the brood hen nearby watching over them.
Recently hatched wild turkey poults in West Central Wisconsin. June 11, 2016
Turkeys lay eggs one at a time, one per day in open woodlands or along the edges of fields.
Other broods that consist of fully feathered poults with limited flying skills have been seen along roadsides and in ditches feeding on insects. Insects are the most important first food items for the newly hatched turkeys. These poults are roosting in trees at night; this provides them much more safety than huddling on the ground with their brood hen.
When poults are a few days old and flightless, they remain frozen in place as their primary defense.
Poults can be very hard to see in all the lush springtime growth. More than likely poults have been hatching since early May when ground temperatures rose to 50 degrees.
Three wild turkey poults in this picture. Notice how well they blend into their surroundings.
If a brood or nest is destroyed, hens will re-nest until late August to early September, and this is why hunters sometimes see grouse sized poults in October.
Hens store sperm for about 90 days to make re-nesting possible. Gobblers can continue to breed hens through July; occasionally strutters will be spotted in fields during July with hens present.
Brood hen with poults. Courtesy of D Gordon Robertson
If you like what you see, I urge you to get out and see what is going on in your area and then let us know here in the comment section. I really enjoy being out at all times of the year.
Wisconsin’s spring 2016 wild turkey registration total is 11% higher than last year. Preliminary total harvest has 45,496 turkeys registered spring 2016.
Total 2016 turkey permits issued 213,672 compared to 2015 issued permits 208,250. About 26,000 applicants who were drawn did not buy their license.
Keep in mind the number of turkey hunters is less than the number of issued permits because each hunter is allowed to buy more than one tag. The total number of spring turkey hunting licenses sold each spring in Wisconsin ranges between 100,000 to 120,000.
How should hunter success rates be calculated?
Currently, WDNR calculates the state success rate using the total number of permits issued giving Wisconsin hunters a statewide success rate of 21.3%. If the success rate calculation is done using the number of hunting licenses sold, which would accurately represent the number of individual hunters, the success rate is 41.36% assuming 110,000 spring hunting licenses were sold.
If the average hunter in Wisconsin buys two permits; And that hunter shoots one turkey are they successful? Or do they need to fill both permits to be successful?
What about the obsessed turkey hunter who purchases at least one permit per weekly season, perhaps more than one permit in the later seasons, so they have 7 or more permits to hunt. How many of those permits do they need to fill to be considered successful?
Other hunters buy extra permits in other units and time periods so that they can spend time hunting friends or family in those areas. Perhaps they only hunt a day for two or don’t hunt at all due to personal scheduling conflicts.
Bottom line. Does the success rate percentage really matter?
Hunters can apply now for their 2017 spring turkey tags. Log into your account on www.GoWild.gov, “Buy permit application”, under application and points. Applications can be changed anytime and as many times as needed until the December 10th deadline.
