Author: mookyj

27 Days: Turkey Hunters, Show Up and Vote

Standard / by mookyj / October 7, 2026 / No Comments

A Pre‑Election Editorial for New York’s Turkey Hunters and Outdoorsmen

My fellow turkey hunters, deer hunters, waterfowlers, small‑game chasers, and every gun‑owning outdoorsman across the Empire State- we are 27 days from an election that will shape the future of hunting, gun ownership, and rural life in New York.

Twenty‑seven days. That’s one moon cycle. That’s the difference between a gobbler on the limb and a gobbler in the freezer. And right now, the people who hate our traditions are already lined up at the polls. Meanwhile, too many of us are still shrugging, still silent, still acting like spectators. In 18 days, early voting starts…

I’m going to say this bluntly: If New York hunters sit out again, we deserve every ounce of what Albany is about to shove down our throats, and up our backsides.

The Numbers Are a Disaster. They’re OUR Disaster

New York has an estimated 1.9–2.1 million gun owners.

Turnout research shows 35–45% of gun owners don’t vote in statewide elections.

That means: 700,000 to 900,000 gun owners in New York sit out elections.

That’s not “downstate runs everything.” That’s not “the city outnumbers us.” That’s not “my vote doesn’t matter.” That’s us – hunters, shooters, outdoorsmen – choosing not to matter.

In 2022, Hochul won by 311,000 votes. Our non‑voting bloc is double that. Let me put it in turkey‑hunter terms: We had a longbeard at 25 yards, broadside, standing still… and we never pulled the trigger.

Four Weeks Out – Hochul Is Still Aiming at Us

Governor Kathy Hochul has made it clear she sees gun owners as a problem to be managed, not citizens to be represented. She’s pushing:

more restrictions,
more enforcement,
more regulatory pressure,
more “public safety” initiatives that treat lawful gun owners like criminals in waiting.

And she does it with confidence because she knows the truth:

Gun‑control voters show up. Turkey Hunters, Gun‑rights voters don’t.

If you were designing a strategy to steamroll hunters and gun owners, you couldn’t ask for a better gift.

Turkey hunters understand commitment better than anyone. We get up at 3:30 a.m. We hike in the dark. We sit still. We wait. We methodically deploy our strategies. We put in the effort. But when it comes to the one essential thing that protects our guns, our rights, our hunting seasons, our traditions. we sit on our hands, we vanish. We act like Election Day is optional. We act as if someone else will handle it. We act like the gobbler will walk into range on his own. Without our skilled participation.

Here’s the brutal truth: If even half of New York’s gun owners voted, the entire political landscape would flip overnight. Not in theory. Not in fantasy. Not in some campfire “what if” story. In cold, hard math. But instead of voting like a Tour de Force, we’ve spent years acting like spectators. We let others decide our future. We let people who openly despise our traditions write the rules. And now we’re less than four weeks from another round of those rules.

To the Hunters Who Vote: Thank You.

To the Hunters Who Don’t: You Don’t Get to Complain. Put up or shut up. It’s that simple, the cold, hard truth. If you don’t vote, you helped write the next round of gun laws. If you don’t register to vote, you handed the steering wheel to people who want your guns destroyed or locked away forever. If you sit home on Election Day, you’re helping push New York further down the path of “gun control as cultural punishment.” You don’t get to bitch when the hammer drops. You don’t get to whine when the next restriction hits. You don’t get to act shocked when Albany tightens the screws again.

That’s All We Have. Show Up. Vote. Protect What’s Yours. We spend all year preparing for spring turkey. We scout. We pattern. We practice. We show up before dawn. We put forth the effort. Now it’s time to put this nonsense to bed, where it matters even more. If we fail here, we set the table for incremental encroachment that will eventually be outlawed and canceled, superseding any turkey hunt in the future, or any other hunting or fishing pursuit, for that matter. Not to mention protecting your own person, your family, your own home.

In my best New Yorker accent: You need to get off your ass, show up and vote.

Because if nearly a million gun owners continue to sit out elections, the future of hunting and gun ownership in New York is already decided…

9/11, 25 Years, Sleeping With the Enemy

Standard / by mookyj / September 7, 2026 / No Comments

Twenty‑five years. A quarter century since those clear blue skies turned ash‑gray in New York. Every year I try to write something on this date, and every year I question whether it still matters. Words on a screen.

But then I remember Cynthia Giugliano. NYPD Officer Walter Weaver. Names you’ve seen honored, remembered, and carried on Turkey‑Talk since the attack. Names that matter. People that mattered. And they still do. Ripples of life interrupted and snuffed out for those on a path for the greater good.

What doesn’t seem to matter anymore, to too many people, is remembering. NYC has spent the last quarter century rebuilding, reinventing, and rebranding itself. That’s what New York does. The quiet countryside in an open field in Pennsylvania, healed, quietly embraces the Flight 93 Memorial. The Pentagon has also rebuilt from the damage. But at some point, the woke, far-leftists, the DNC, and the DSA across the country, and more poignantly so in NYC, began making friends with ideologies, stories, and political stances that blur the reality of who attacked us and why. That’s what I mean when I say they’re sleeping with the enemy. Not literally, mind you. Morally. There is no sidebar to sexual innuendo…

Revisionism has crept in. Outrage has faded. The memory of so many lives cut short has been diluted in the rush of progress and busy lives. Their tragic loss is an inconvenience in the face of embracing the senseless narratives we are bombarded with week after week. Are we to tolerate the insensitive commentary that we deserved 9/11, and all the other disparaging trash worthy of a throat punch or ass-wooping of epic proportions? Would any of us have stood for ten seconds of that nonsense on 9/12/2001?

So who’s the enemy? Al‑Qaeda. Terrorists driven by a desire to kill indiscriminately on a vast scale. Who think it’s a just, religious edict to cause human suffering, to banish infidels. Who were behind the act of bringing down civilian airliners carrying innocent souls? Who despise America. They attacked the Pentagon. They attacked our friends in Pennsylvania. They attacked the World Trade Center and everyone inside. They attacked our citizens. Our mothers and fathers. Our sons and daughters. Our neighbors, friends, coworkers. Is it not also the enemy, those who enable, coddle, and muddy the waters of reasoned opinion to give our mortal enemy a toehold directly into our society? The future outcome lies in plain sight and is even defended by those who sympathize with radical Islam.

They attacked Cynthia Giugliano on the 27th floor of Tower 1. They attacked Walter Weaver while he ran toward harm to help others. I knew none of them personally. But that doesn’t matter. Each life lost that day was a tragedy. A punch to the gut of America. Today, too many in our country barely flinch. Some say we deserved it…

Walk around DC and NYC these days, and it’s damn near unimaginable that America endured one of its most traumatic days right there on our own soil. Memorials full of ghosts while the city rushes by. Tourists taking selfies. Younger generations, lacking any substantive context, on the surface appear to view 9/11 as a diluted echo of something long past. Something boomers fuss about.

I live out in the turkey woods, though. Forgetting is not an option when you hunt. Nature has a way of engraving past seasons into your collective thoughts. You know every track on the ground. Every rustle of leaves. Every gobble thundering through the majestic maples. Those gobblers were here before you showed up. The woods demand you remember. Is it not the way we regard the most important events and loved ones in our lives? I think about those memories of that fateful day every year on September 11th. Not knowing what came next, knowing every plane strike, each body plummeting out of windows and ledges, meant the end of life, innocent life. Hearing the recorded phone call exclaiming, “LET’S ROLL,” grabbed each of us by the soul in the days that came afterwards. The stories are gut-wrenching.

I want the country to remember. I want those diametrically opposed to my worldviews and my politics to remember.

The families who still carry the weight, they painfully remember. They remember their loved ones’ lives were stolen by a fanatical ideology that deals in death on innocents and fear.

We owe them more than a passing thought. We owe them vigilance. We owe them truth. We owe them memory.

But memory has become inconvenient, comfort over clarity. Too many want to rewrite the past to fit the politics of the present. Too many have forgotten the promise we made: Never Forget, and treat it like a slogan instead of a duty of caring for our brethren. So on this 9/11/26, I’m asking, insisting that we stop pretending forgetting is harmless. It isn’t. Forgetting is how complacency grows. Forgetting is how danger slips back in. Forgetting is how a city, and a country, ends up sleeping with the enemy without reservation or, worse, with malicious intent.

Let’s remember Cynthia. Let’s remember Walter.
Let’s remember the heroes, those lost. Let’s remember who attacked us and why.

In twenty-five years, I have not forgotten:

The memories and the feelings from that day have not faded, nor diminished. It was to be a perfect bluebird day in September. The near-perfect September day morphed, shattered for thousands of victims in mere seconds for many, some in agonizing, terror-filled minutes, hours yet for others. In the ripples of life, our greatest loss is to never know or benefit from the great deeds and accomplishments of all those lost. That we came together as Americans. We were united as Americans. We still are Americans. Many have forgotten this very fact in recent times. Those that perished on this fateful day of September 11th, 2001.Those that gave all in order to save lives. Heroes that walk among us to this day.Those who survived only succumbed to it days, months, and years later. We are all equal by way of our Maker.

This is republished each year as I find it so important to include:

On each anniversary of 9/11, my thoughts return to two fellow NWTF members Cynthia Giugliano & Walter Weaver that we lost that day. A memorial webpage can be found at http://www.turkey-talk.com/9_11_01_memorial.htm

I ask that each of you give thought to those that serve us in all vocations. In your travels, I ask that you take the time to thank those that serve us, and continue to support what they do for our country.

Along with counting your blessings, say a prayer for all innocent victims, and that you do something on your part to make the world just a little bit better for those around you. We can all benefit from random acts of kindness.

-Mike Joyner

Our Viking Diva Has Sung, Left the Stage

Standard / by mookyj / May 31, 2026 / No Comments

Well, my fellow brethren turkey hunters, our infamous viking opera singer has sung her last note. In true diva fashion, she has left the stage, and with the last report, she has left the building. With that, it’s a wrap for the 2026 New York State spring turkey season. By many accounts, including my own, it was a damn hard season.

From my own anecdotal observations, I can say without reservation that 100% of my known honey holes, the places I monitor throughout the year, failed to produce any evidence of gobblers willing to reveal their location or loudly voice an opinion. Not at first light, not on the roost, and not at any point during the day.

In contrast, social media is full of fortunate hunters who still have access to places where gobblers behave like the gobblers we all remember: birds that talk, commit, and play the game the way it’s meant to be played. As always, it comes down to location, location, location. Being in the right place at the right time, doing the right thing, only matters if you’re hunting where the gobblers are willing participants in our annual chess match.

In my own very subjective and patently unscientific observation, I hunted 14 mornings here in New York and heard a total of 19 gobbles. Fifteen of those were so faint that, had there been even the slightest breeze, or had I not been fully focused during that period of predawn light, I doubt I would’ve heard them at all. I can say with absolute confidence that those birds were at least within the same ZIP code, and most likely three parcels over at the very least. Half a mile with one or two gobbles is not the action-packed mornings I might have hoped for.

Even so, I did manage to fill both tags under somewhat strange circumstances. And, as always, each bird comes with a matching story far too long to cram into a single blog post. I’m certainly grateful to have made good on those opportunities without doing the one thing that would’ve convinced a gobbler to change his mind.

Without any official reporting yet from the state’s biologists, I do have a concern. My impression is that we had a very cool, if not outright cold and wet May. That’s never good. The worry, of course, is the likelihood of a poor or largely unsuccessful first nesting attempt.

This past week, I saw more hens out in the fields between 6:30 and 7:00 AM than I had seen during the entire season up to that point. That alone raised an eyebrow. And when I go back to the Roberts weather model, my first thought is that we may be looking at a generally poor breeding season. Unfortunately, this comes at a time when we could really benefit from the kind of warm, dry springs we had decades ago, conditions that helped boost productivity and rebuild numbers. That’s what we need now to bring the population back up toward what biologists might consider the carrying capacity for the available habitat here in New York. As data rolls out from the NYSDEC, I’ll be sure to share when it becomes available.

I have taken notice of a few record-book gobblers that really push the numbers upward, and would like to invite those so fortunate to tag these birds with exceptional attributes to contact me for possible inclusion in the Empire State Turkey Records Project. Click on the link for more information.

#2026springseason #turkeyhunting #nywildturkeyrecords #wildturkey #nyturkeyrecords #recordbookgobblers

A Memorial Day Reflection from the Turkey Woods

Standard / by mookyj / May 24, 2026 / No Comments

There are Memorial Days that pass quietly, and there are others that settle deeper in my thoughts. This year feels like the latter, a day when remembrance reaches a little farther into what I honor, what I most revere in this life.

I’ve been fortunate in my life. Those in my family who served came home. As a boy, I never knew enough to worry when my father was at sea. He was simply my hero, and I assumed he always would be. We honor those like him on Veterans Day, but on this day, Memorial Day, we think of them too, the living heroes who walk among us.

But today belongs to those who did not.

Memorial Day is for the ones who gave everything, who sacrificed their tomorrows so that we could have ours. It is a debt we can never repay, only honor. And in that moment of reflection, gratitude becomes something more than emotion. It becomes a responsibility, a solemn duty. It becomes motivation to live as the best versions of ourselves, worthy of the gift they left behind.

This year, as in recent years, reflection carries another level of gratitude for what I have in this life. Five years ago, a near‑fatal bout with Covid nearly ended my time among the living. A year later, a gangrenous gallbladder nearly finished me. By all rights, I could have been denied my tomorrows with so much to do, so much unfinished. Yet here I am, another spring, another season, another dawn breaking over the hardwoods. The gift of second and third chances is not wasted in my efforts to be my best version, nor do I suffer any illusion of invincibility.

The turkey woods are my sanctuary, my church. They are where I speak quietly with my Maker, the God I believe in, where I find my bearings, where the noise of the world falls away, and the truth of things rises and reveals. To walk those ridges again this spring, the life I’ve built together with my wife, my children, my family, and friends is a blessing I do not take lightly. It humbles me to know that the fallen never again felt a cool May morning, never again heard a gobble thunder through the timber, never again returned home to family with muddy boots and a full heart. Life is preciously short, painfully too short for those heroes we honor.

Their sacrifice is the reason I still can. That we still can.

So on this Memorial Day, it is fitting that this old turkey hunter reflects, honors, and remembers. Everything I love- the turkey woods, the seasons, the family I return to, the life I’ve been allowed by the grace of God to keep living- came at a price paid in full by heroes who will never grow old.

-MJ

NY Turkey Records 2026

Standard / by mookyj / May 12, 2026 / 1 Comment

If you tag a gobbler that meets the criteria listed below near the end of this post or in any anticipated future editions, I would love to interview you for inclusion in the Empire Limbhangers book project. Although your stories and photos will be captured for the book, you will retain rights to your photos and your story. Should you wish to use the story I write for other purposes, copyright permissions can be granted as needed.

The main issue with keeping it all legit for the project is typically weight, as most of the small scales that are used to weigh fish can vary +/- 1 to 2 lbs or more. A weight coupon from a certified scale ensures accuracy and proof of measurement. Otherwise, it can be legitimately challenged. The scale should be suitable for products or goods for sale that are taxed in the state. I live in Cortland County and own several scales suitable for trade with a 25lb calibration weight with certification traceable to NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology, formerly National Bureau of Standards), and can also provide a video of calibration and the actual weighing of your gobbler. I will be glad to do so, and there is no fee.

Pics with tape measurement in the pics are required to show scale and accuracy for beards and spurs. There are several handy products to help measure spurs (including the curved outside edge) but as of this writing, none aside from a tape measure cover the spur measurements that have been described going back decades as published by the NWTF http://turkey-talk.com/scoresbpmeasure.html#spus As the decades long description covers the entire exposed spur that can occur below the outer edge of the leg, it is more often that the exposed spur is even with the leg edge. Anecdotal, as such, the differences observed have not exceeded 1/8″. As the calculation is x10 or x32 (SBP) for each spur, it is a detail to be aware of.

Anecdotal evidence, unfortunately, cannot be used to substantiate record book entries, no matter how good the stories are. Sworn testimony, under oath, from your pastor or favorite nun, still requires verifiable weight and photo evidence of measurements when reaching the thresholds stated here.

Best bet if you think you have one for the books: weigh the gobbler on a certified scale and be sure to get a weight coupon. Take plenty of photos, including those with a tape measure. NWTF requires witness signatures that also have to be an NWTF member if you wish to participate in their records program. Safari Club also has a program, but it is not viewable unless a member. I may include them if details can be worked out in the future.

Record entries not included in the NWTF system, once verified, can be accepted. You will note that the NWTF requires verifications that I have mentioned, and I will accept their determinations for the project. I do support their system and would encourage you to enter your submission with the NWTF as well. NWTF submissions are now accepted online: www.nwtf.org/hunt/records.

Scoring tabulations for the project will include the NWTF system and the SBP weighted system. For more info on SBP http://turkey-talk.com/scoresbp.html

For those that I have contacted or attempted to contact at the beginning of the project, your stories will be available to review as I complete them.

If you have harvested a legally tagged wild turkey with one or more of the following attributes in NY during the 2025-2026 spring/fall seasons, or years prior, registered or not registered w/NWTF records, I would love to talk to you about being included in the book!

Please contact mjoyner@joyneroutdoormedia.com

Note: Non-registered birds- measurable attributes must be verified for consideration.

Typical score greater than 75.000 (weight x1 + beard x 2 + L & R spur x 10)

Non-Typical score greater than 105.000 (weight x1 + beard(s) x 2 + L & R spur x 10)

Weight greater than 26.5 lbs. (verifiable certified weight)

Beard Length greater than 12″ (verifiable length)

Spur Length greater than 1.625″ (verifiable length)

Hens with spurs

. #turkeyhunting #nywildturkeyrecords #wildturkey #nyturkeyrecords #recordbookgobblers

Standard / by mookyj / March 29, 2026 / No Comments

The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls

by Brent Rogers, Danny Ellis, Chris McDonald, and Rick Powell
Available January 2026

An Essential Book for Any Turkey Hunter and Call Collector: The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls is a masterfully crafted tribute to the craftsmen, hunters, and storytellers who shaped one of America’s most enduring folk traditions. Building on Howard Harlan’s foundational work, Turkey Calls: An Enduring American Folk Art, this new title arrives at a moment when the firsthand knowledge of an entire generation of turkey hunters and call makers is slipping beyond reach, a generation whose firsthand knowledge during a period in our nation where wild turkeys nearly vanished on this continent, and roared back over the last eighty years is disappearing rapidly with time. Their stories, their craftsmanship, and their ingenuity form the backbone of this book.

Each year at Unicoi and the NWTF national convention, and on social media, we learn of the loss of those who pass with grand stories of a monumental time in the turkey woods. To those of us who have sat around those campfires at turkey camp, stayed up far too late swapping stories at these camps and annual shows, the loss is profound. In keeping with this, the book is essential to preserving this legacy in their honor.

Written by Brent Rogers, Danny Ellis, Chris McDonald, and Rick Powell, four men immersed in the culture and lineage of turkey call making, crafted a book that captures the evolution of the craft with clarity, respect, and a historian’s eye for detail. As we lose the Great Generation of wild turkey hunters and call makers, their stories, techniques, and handmade relics become more precious than ever. This book ensures their legacy endures.

The quality of the title is outstanding, the collectors offering features of a fine collectible and a handcrafted yelper, and now sold out, the standard edition is currently available. The reader will come across hundreds of high‑quality photographs, including rare pieces, private collections, and newly rescanned relics saved from fading into obscurity. Detailed illustrations trace the development of box calls, wingbones, scratch boxes, tube calls, pot calls, and regional styles. The title offers profiles of influential call makers, their innovations, and the cultural forces that shaped their work, along with historical forays exploring how geography, necessity, and ingenuity guided the earliest designs. The reader will be treated to a sweeping visual timeline documenting the transformation of turkey calls across generations.

On a personal note, it is truly gratifying to see this book come to life and to deliver a great title for the turkey hunting community. The quality of the printing is outstanding, and the turned yelper included with the special edition is a fine piece of craftsmanship; one I fully intend to road‑test this spring in the turkey woods.

What makes this release even more meaningful is knowing that it represents just one of many upcoming efforts to document the rich history of turkey hunting, restoration, and conservation. Plenty of familiar names will be involved in the months ahead, and that is good news for the future of our favorite game bird and for the generations of turkey hunters still to come. It is good to know that the right folks with the right talents and resources will be brought to bear in these efforts.

Also just released, and of great interest to anyone drawn to the history preserved in this book—is the newly launched Wild Turkey Archives at https://www.wildturkeyarchives.com/. It’s well worth a visit. You’ll find an impressive collection of media, photographs, and historical materials—many of which you may have assumed were long gone or forgotten. You’ll find Brent Rogers is also a part of that effort.

This is not just a reference book; it is a preservation of heritage. For hunters, collectors, historians, and anyone who appreciates the intersection of folk art and fieldcraft, The Origin and Evolution of Turkey Calls offers a lasting, authoritative record of how American call makers learned to speak the wild turkey’s language.

The Book is available directly from the authors @
https://turkeycallhistory.com/

A Gobbling Genetic Frontier

Standard / by mookyj / March 1, 2026 / No Comments

How the Wild Turkey DNA Project Is Rewriting the Story of America’s Bird

For generations, the story of the wild turkey has been told in feathers, tracks, and the thunder of a gobble rolling through hardwood ridges. Today, a new chapter is being written in code, genetic code, and it may reshape everything we know about the bird that has become a symbol of both all things wild and a grand conservation recovery story.

The WildTurkeyDNA project, launched in 2025, is an ambitious genetic study undertaken for the wild turkey genome. It is a collaboration between the Wild Turkey Lab, the National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited, the University of Texas El Paso, and the Low Country Game Bird Foundation. Its mission is bold and far-reaching: Build the first continent-wide genetic map of wild turkeys using hunter-submitted DNA samples.

Hunters at the Center of the Story

One of the most compelling aspects of the WildTurkeyDNA project is its reliance on hunters. The 2025 program asked turkey hunters to submit samples from birds with unusual plumage to help researchers understand the origins of these traits.
For 2026, Hunters who harvest a bird with normal, or unusual plummage, typical or non-typical can request a kit, collect a small tissue sample, and mail it in. There is no cost to participate, thanks to funding from NWTF, DU, and other partners. NY NWTF has provided funding to cover up to 100 New York hunters that will be selected to participate, with some receiving kits and others mailed vials to put a sample in. Due to limited funds and resources, there is a selection process.
This study connects turkey hunters in contributing directly to the science that will guide future management. It also strengthens the bond between hunters and the resource they care about, a flashback of hunters helping‑science tradition that helped restore wild turkeys in the first place.

How It Works (source:wildturkeyDNA) click here download

Go to wildturkeyDNA.com and register to participate or use the QR code below.
Those that register will get an email asking them which county/counties they hunt in
Hunters who are selected will be mailed kits and asked to collect a sample from birds they harvest.
For each sample, hunters will upload an image of the bird and other information through their online wildturkeyDNA account.
Samples will be sent to UTEP via pre-paid mail for genetic analysis.
Hunters that don’t receive kits but want to participate will be sent a vial to put a sample in and asked to mail it to UTEP.Hunters receive a certificate of pedigree for their harvested turkey

Use your smart phone camera to capture QR code below to access the signup directly!

This work is powered and funded in part by state chapters like the New York State NWTF, whose funding helps keep the program free for hunters and ensures researchers can analyze thousands of samples from across the country.

Wild turkeys have roamed North America for thousands of years, shaped by geography, climate, and isolation. Each subspecies carries its own genetic fingerprint, from the white-tipped tail fans of the Gould’s to the deep chestnut hues of the Eastern. Understanding how these genetic signatures vary, overlap, or blend is central to the project’s mission.

Researchers are using DNA to answer the following questions that field biologists have debated for decades:

Are rare color phases: smoke, white, or mixed plumage, natural mutations, or signs of domestic ancestry?
Early results show many are fully wild, though some birds do show hybridization with domestic or heritage turkeys.
How genetically diverse are today’s populations?
Restoration efforts in the 20th century often moved small, related flocks into new areas. Scientists want to know whether history left some regions with narrower genetic baselines. What level of diversity exists, and what are the implications of determinations?
How distinct are the five subspecies at the DNA level?
The project’s next phase will analyze samples from across the entire range to map subspecies boundaries and identify areas of overlap.

This work builds on the model of DU’s DuckDNA program, which revealed widespread hybridization and genetic drift in waterfowl, findings that reshaped how wildlife managers think about long‑term species resilience.

The New York State Chapter of the NWTF is among the organizations helping fund the WildTurkeyDNA project. Their support ensures that the program remains free for hunters and that researchers can expand sampling, increase lab capacity, and accelerate analysis. The state chapter has a long history of supporting wild turkey research, habitat projects, and the restoration of the American Chestnut, which was once a primary food source for wildlife

For New York, where turkey populations have fluctuated in many counties across the state in a downward trend in recent decades, this investment is both pragmatic and symbolic. It reinforces the state’s long‑standing commitment to science-based management, wild turkey research, and positions New York hunters as key contributors to a national conservation effort.

This funding aligns with NWTF’s broader research strategy. In 2025 alone, the NWTF and its partners allocated more than $4.5 million to wild turkey research nationwide, bringing total investments since 2022 to over $22 million a scale of support unmatched in the organization’s history.

What Early Results Reveal

Although the project is still in its early stages, several patterns are emerging:

Odd-colored birds are often 100% wild, confirming evidence that rare plumage variants do occur naturally.
Hybridization with domestic turkeys does happen.
Genetic diversity varies by region, prompting new questions about long-term population resilience.
A continental genetic baseline is forming, something wildlife managers have never had before. A unified map of wild turkey DNA across North America that reveals how subspecies, regions, and restoration histories connect.

This emerging foundation gives wildlife scientists a powerful new tool to track genetic diversity, identify hidden vulnerabilities, and guide future management with unprecedented precision. As the dataset grows, researchers expect to uncover deeper insights into subspecies boundaries, historical movements, and the genetic health of local populations.

Why This Research Work Matters

Wild turkey restoration is one of America’s greatest conservation success stories. But success is not the end of the story. We cannot rest on our laurels as the wildlife ecosystem is ever-changing. Populations in some regions are declining, and managers need better tools to understand why.

Genetics offers answers that traditional field methods cannot:

It reveals hidden patterns of ancestry and diversity.
It identifies hybridization that is not easily identified in plumage.
It helps managers make informed decisions about trap and transfer and habitat priorities.
It provides a long-term roadmap for sustaining healthy, resilient turkey populations.

In short, genetics is becoming the next frontier in turkey conservation—and hunters are helping lead the way.

Book Release: J Ranch Wild Turkey Cuisine: Wild Turkey Hunter Recipes

Standard / by mookyj / February 4, 2026 / No Comments

Joyner Outdoor Media Proudly Announces the Book Release of a New Cookbook by Lee & Mike Joyner Celebrates the Hunt, the Harvest, and the Meals That Bring Hunters Together

McGraw, NY — Outdoor enthusiasts, wild‑game cooks, and turkey hunters have a new reason to gather around the table. Acclaimed outdoorsman and author Mike Joyner, together with co-author Lee Joyner, announces the release of J Ranch Wild Turkey Cuisine: Wild Turkey Hunter Recipes, a cookbook rooted in the traditions, flavors, and fieldcraft of the American turkey woods.

Drawing from decades of hunting experience and the culinary heritage of the J Ranch, this collection showcases the versatility of wild turkey through recipes designed for real hunters and real kitchens. From campfire staples to refined lodge-style dishes, the Joyners offer a practical, flavorful guide to making the most of every bird harvested. Non-hunters will enjoy these recipes as well with farm-raised birds. “Wild turkey hunting is more than a meal; it’s a story,” says co-author Mike Joyner. “The recipes in this book honor the hunt, the turkey woods, and the shared moments that make wild‑game cooking special.”

J Ranch Wild Turkey Cuisine features:

Field-tested recipes for easy-to-make and flavorful cooking
Camp-friendly dishes alongside elevated, dinner‑table favorites
A celebration of the J Ranch tradition and the culture of wild‑game cuisine

Whether readers are seasoned hunters or newcomers to wild‑game cooking, this book offers a fresh, authentic approach to preparing one of North America’s most iconic game birds. J Ranch Wild Turkey Cuisine: Wild Turkey Hunter Recipes is now available for hunters, cooks, and anyone who believes the best meals begin in the woods.

About the Authors

Lee Joyner is a wonderful cook, a comfort food champion that brings a passion for wild‑game cooking and a deep connection to the J Ranch tradition, making this collaboration a natural extension of their marriage and shared love for the outdoors. Mike Joyner is an unruly force of nature in the kitchen, full of culinary surprises, and an award-winning outdoor writer, lifelong turkey hunter, and author of eight books celebrating America’s turkey woods.

All book formats are available on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GLDVZNFW

Tales From the Roost- 2025 2X Award-Winner

Standard / by mookyj / October 12, 2025 / No Comments

In the world of outdoor storytelling of the turkey woods, few voices capture the spirit of the wild with as much warmth, wit, and authenticity as Mike Joyner. His latest work, Tales from the Roost, Roost’n Time Tales, has not only resonated with readers and listeners alike—it’s earned top honors at two prestigious outdoor writer events in 2025, solidifying Joyner’s place among the turkey hunting story genre in outdoor literature.

A Storytelling Triumph

In May 2025, Tales from the Roost clinched 2nd place in the EIC audiobook category at the New York State Outdoor Writers Association (NYSOWA) Excellence in Craft (EIC) Awards, held in Niagara, NY this past May. This is a recognition that celebrates outstanding contributions to outdoor communication.

Just several months later, the book earned another 2nd place award in the AIC book category at the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) AIC Awards, held in Eau Claire, Wisconsin this past September.

Tales from the Roost is more than a collection of stories—it’s a heartfelt tribute to the rhythms of nature, the quirks of wily wild turkey, and the enduring bond between people and the outdoors. Whether read in print or experienced through its immersive audiobook format, Joyner’s tales evoke laughter, nostalgia, and a deep appreciation for the natural world.

Mike Joyner’s Signature Style

Joyner’s writing blends humor, insight, and a keen eye for detail. His ability to turn everyday encounters in the turkey woods into memorable anecdotes makes Tales from the Roost a favorite read among outdoor enthusiasts, storytellers, and anyone who’s ever paused to watch jake turkey’s antics, eagerly watch the sun rise through a ridge top overlooking a valley, or listen to the wind whispering through the trees.

A Well-Deserved Honor

Winning at both NYSOWA and AGLOW in the same season is no small feat. These awards highlight Joyner’s versatility and excellence in both written and spoken word—a rare achievement that speaks to the quality and charm of Tales from the Roost. Written in a manner of friendly conversation whenever hunters meet up, and was translated well by narrator Tim Harper with just the right tone and friendly inflection.

What’s Next?

With Tales from the Roost earning critical acclaim and audience love, fans are already wondering what stories Mike Joyner will share next. If history is any guide, it’ll be something worth roosting for. Two long-overdue and laborious works, D. D. Adams, Evolutionary Turkey Call Pioneer, and Empire Limb Hangers, New York State Wild Turkey Records, are past the halfway mark for both titles and are time-intensive efforts with plenty of challenges. There is a turkey-centric cookbook, J Ranch Wild Turkey Cuisine, co-authored with his wife, Lee (Mike is the control test subject to cook and prove anyone can make each recipe), in the taste-testing phase, and will come out in 2026. Another story book, several novels, and a few other surprises to reveal as these primary projects are completed.

Whether you’re a longtime follower of Joyner’s work or just discovering his storytelling magic, Tales from the Roost is a must-read—and a must-listen. Available on Amazon :

Audible Audio Book Narrated by Tim Harper https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Roost-Time-Turkey-Woods/dp/B0FCVHT28R

Paper Back Book https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Roost-Time-Turkey-Woods/dp/B0F3TFBQXV

Hard Cover Book https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Roost-Time-Turkey-Woods/dp/B0F3TBQGP

Kindle https://www.amazon.com/Tales-Roost-Time-Turkey-Woods-ebook/dp/B0F1MLQNMH

About AGLOW

The Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW) is a dynamic community of professional communicators who share a passion for the outdoors. Founded in 1956, AGLOW brings together writers, broadcasters, photographers, podcasters, and digital creators who cover hunting, fishing, conservation, and outdoor recreation across North America. Whether you’re a seasoned journalist or a rising content creator, AGLOW is where outdoor stories come to life—and where storytellers find their tribe.

Learn more at aglowinfo.org

About NYSOWA

The New York State Outdoor Writers Association (NYSOWA) is a vibrant network of professional communicators dedicated to celebrating and preserving the outdoor heritage of New York State and beyond. Since its founding in 1967, NYSOWA has united writers, photographers, broadcasters, and digital creators who specialize in hunting, fishing, wildlife, conservation, and outdoor recreation. Whether you’re chronicling the thrill of the chase or the serenity of a mountain stream, NYSOWA is where outdoor communicators find inspiration, recognition, and camaraderie.

Learn more at nysowa.org

9.11.2001 Temporary Lessons

Standard / by mookyj / September 10, 2025 / 1 Comment

Twenty four years have passed…

I digress for a moment to point out some repetition from recent years of commentary on 9/11

For the families, loved ones, and friends, the wounds of profound loss continue to be fresh for some. Life was changed forever for them, an unwelcomed new normal, and what changed for us in our reaction to the horror of that day has faded for far too many, judging by how we treat each other today.

It is hard to recognize the lessons learned on 9.12.2001 to where we are at now. For the days that followed, our politics did not matter, racism did not matter, we didn’t care what color you were, station in life did not matter. who we slept with did not matter, what set of sex organs we sported in our underwear did not matter, what God each other believed in, or what we commented in thought did not matter at all. We did not need pronouns, diversity training, reparations, cults of personality, or unhinged pundits to guide us in understanding what was in our hearts and what we felt in our guts -that we are Americans.

Twenty-four years ago, and one day later, with great cause, we rallied for each other and had each other’s backs. We demonstrated what is awesome about us, our country.

It can be claimed that we have forgotten who our family, friends, and neighbors are, what we actually mean to each other as Americans. Right now, we are failing at this. Too damn caught up in perceived racism, real or assumed inequities, mortally wounded by the infractions of the slightest language snafus. All fodder for justifying violence and abhorrent crimes. The social fires are fanned by our own elected officials who play us against each other in the manufactured chaos. It is a terrible way for those of us who live on, to honor those fallen on this fateful day.

Lessons learned twenty-four years ago need to be reinstated as a permanent staple of our society. How we treated each other back then, as we rallied for those lost and for justice to prevail, needs to be revisited in earnest.

In twenty-four years have not forgotten:

The memories and the feelings from that day have not faded, nor diminished. It was to be a perfect bluebird day in September.

The near-perfect September day morphed, shattered for thousands of victims in mere seconds for many, some in agonizing, terror-filled minutes, hours yet for others.

In the ripples of life, our greatest loss is to never know or benefit from what great deeds and accomplishments of all those lost.

That we came together as Americans. We were united as Americans. We still are Americans. Many have forgotten this very fact in recent times.

Those that perished on this fateful day of September 11th, 2001.

Those that gave all in order to save lives. Heroes that walk among us to this day.

Those who survived only succumbed to it days, months, and years later.

That we are all equal by way of our maker