RAF turkey hunting

[StanFoster]

I flew for over an hour today looking at farmers and searching out some wild turkeys. The first two pictures are farmers working their fields and planting corn. The third picture are some wild turkeys. I was flying over and spotted a jake fanning his tail feathers in front of two hens. I circled down but they were headed for the wooded area. You can see them running for cover.


Stan

[KenSandyEggo]

Stan, I flew my first Ercoupe (actually an Alon A2A) around Illinois for several years before moving out here, and if that flat-land there gets you this excited, you'd go nuts flying around here with mountains, canyons and the seashore. You have to come out here one day and go for a ride with me. These are pretty old, but here's a link to my photo page with some examples for those that maybe haven't seen them.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Stargate/7195/

The ones with a dash instead of the photo size are a series of pics on some jaunt I took. The flight to Lindbergh International with Stefanos wound up under "New Ignition" for some reason and I can't change it.

[StanFoster]

Ken: Your photos and that guy in Hawaii in his RAF are the most impressive I have seen.

I think what makes my flat land so exciting is that I can fly all over and should I have an engine out.....make it down ok without damage.

I fly my RAF like its going to quit....but for over a year now I am still waiting.

Odds are eventually it will......maybe the next flight....maybe not for five years.

One thing I havent mentioned too much is every flight I will chop the throttle several times and bring it down to almost a landing. It keeps me on my toes when the my 19th real engine out decides to happen. :eek:

Stan

[devon532]

Yes, practicing for that eventual engine-out is certainly a great thing to do. I noticed however that when any of us do this, we always have a nice flat landing place in sight before we pull the power.

What I've done to eliminate this is to fly at 1000AGL for a while, then when I want to practice the emergency I'll blindfold myself and then count to 200 VERY slowly. When I reach 200 I'll pull the power, count to 10, then pull off the blindfold and proceed with the emergency procedures. Really keeps me sharp and on my toes. Works every time (so far).

After you are done scratching and shaking your head in amazement, read on.
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It's Sunday morning with nothing to do and for some reason I was going to send the above post just for fun and to see what responses I get. Then eventually let on it's a joke. BUT... the voice of reason boomed out in my head that there are newbies and guests who read this forum and consider the info shared here as valuable and trusted information, so I didn't want someone to read it and then go out and try it before I posted my "it's only a joke" post.

Gee, am I maturing or something? Hope not.

I apologize for even THINKING about fooling with you guys and girls and it will never(?) happen again.

Hanging my head in shame........

[lanichol]

My son Taylor and I saw a few of those turkeys last weekend during youth season. I think the youth seasons are the greatest hunting events ever invented. We take advantage of turkey, pheasant, & deer youth seasons in our area.

A gyro would be great for having fun looking around...but totally illegal since it would bias your hunting.

[Harry_S.]

Vince: I was already formulating an answer to your post in as many four letter words and expletives I could get away with...until I scrolled down to your disclaimer. :(

Anyhow...nice write-up. :p :D


Cheers :)

[KenSandyEggo]

I'll have some lengthy posts and photos soon of what NOT to do when practicing engine-outs....like waving back at hikers and taking your eyes off the airspeed indicator while descending. It wasn't the landing that did me in though, but the attempted take-off. :eek: