journal
Take the Time
To my turkey-hunting brethren, for that matter, deer hunting buddies, upland game hunting friends, and the hordes of fishermen I know: Take the time to capture a memory.
It is not the goal of incessant social media posting or creating shrines to one’s self.
Take the time to write in a daily journal, take the time to set up your camera to capture your hunt, and take the time to capture anything that attracts your eye. Sure, it might take ten to twenty minutes. Sit back down and write in your smartphone if you have to. Sometimes, it is a productive habit to write out your thoughts while waiting for the sunrise and the birds to gobble. Don’t like to write? Make a voice memo. The eggs and coffee at the diner will be there when you get there. Trust me, they’ll make more.
Attend to the trophy parts, ensure a clean harvest of the meat, and cool it properly, and ready to cook or put away in the freezer. The collections of beards, tail fans and spurs, along with the enjoyment of a hunter’s bounty, are all part of the hunt and your memory of it.
The emphasis here is to have the captures available years from now, as decades later, and if you put enough days afield, the stories and recollections merge, bits and pieces become one until you think long and hard and sort it all out. I can assure you from real-world experience. I started chasing gobblers in 1993. Since then, between spring and fall seasons in New York and add in out of state hunts both spring and fall it is fair to say that I’ve been afield somewhere north of a thousand mornings, and a lion’s share of all day hunting or combined with scouting and roosting over three decades. I can kick myself for not burning through rolls of film before digital cameras were cheap enough and all the rage. Had I not written out my story books as I have, starting in 2005, I would have much of it now as distant memories and so glad I captured them.
You’ll thank me many years from now should you adopt this as part of your hunt. It has never been easier with smartphones to quickly capture your thoughts, your story, and photos. You may not fancy yourself as a writer or photographer, but I can guarantee you that over time, you will find your skills, voice, and style, and it improves greatly with practice. I can tell you that as I age, officially entering the retirement years with no signs of actually retiring, that without the photos from my good cameras or smartphone, the note taking, and the story captures I incrementally do with each hunt, I would have far more difficulty in separating each hunt, as I have been blessed with so many fantastic days in the turkey woods. I know so many of you that are afield as I am, and there are hundreds of stories to tell. It would be my goal to encourage more of you to keep a journal. Turkey hunters as storytellers do not play second fiddle to any fisherman, and I encourage you to share those stories.
What I hope to strongly impart with each of you is that having these captures is instrumental to having vivid recall of each of these hunts. As time passes, this becomes an essential habit to enjoying these memories. Think of this arm-twisting as my gift of hard-earned wisdom. As we are soon to embark on the 2025 Spring Turkey Season in New York, I wish you all the best in your days afield.
© 2025 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
BOOK PROJECTS- 2024 UPDATE
Book Project Update-The following two projects have been long-term works in progress and very different efforts than the storybooks that I write one chapter at a time, at random throughout the years. Some just appear to be at random as a eureka moments once enough material is collected, and put aside to publish without any particular schedule. As these two large projects require large swaths of time to keep it all straight, with far too many moving parts, it is a much slower workflow.
D.D. Adams- Evolutionary Turkey Call Pioneer, a long-awaited title. scheduled to be released this past summer had been pushed back after a snafu in source material permissions. Regrouped on pictures and may have to do one more photo shoot to fill a few gaps. Expect editing and finishing chapters through the winter. Aside from proof reading there will be a period of review for any gaps.
Empire State Limb Hangers– New York Wild Turkey Records, another long-awaited title, is on track for this year. Weekly progress on this. The entire database has been gone through and grown the records two fold. The project expanded dramatically. All data is up to date and locked down as of July 2023. All but a last push on interviews and finalizing each story included in the book. Those that have responded with interest of inclusion will be interviewed.
Books Scheduled For Release:
ReaperCide, Fatalism Defined– tackles a controversial topic and includes musings collected for some time. Will be released 2/13/24. This was a formatting effort as it is a collection of commentary over the past decade. Much like the Random Musings series and a few other titles that will spring up unscheduled, it is mostly consolidating prior musings with a little polish and organizing.
Books in print:
Hills of Truxton: Stories & Travels of a Turkey Hunter 1.2 version, available online at Amazon and other online book store in paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. Hills Of Truxton
Tales from the Turkey Woods: Mornings of My Better Days 1.2 version, available online at Amazon and other online book stores in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. Tales From The Turkey Woods
Grand Days in the Turkey Woods is available online at Amazon and other online book stores in Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. Grand Days In The Turkey Woods Hardcovers w/dustjacket can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/Grand-Days-Turkey-Woods-Joyner/dp/1495125475
Ten To Life- Delirium Tales Of A Covid-19 Survivor is available online at Amazon and other online book stores in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B3LP45XD/
A Walk In The Turkey Woods- Wandering Thoughts and Revelations, is available online at Amazon and other online book stores in hardcover, paperback, and Kindle format. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BW36MGN9
An audiobook is currently in production with a 2024 release anticipated.
Random Musings- Of The Left Hemisphere, is available online at Amazon and other online book stores in Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. https://www.amazon.com/Random-Musings-Left-Hemisphere-Joyner-ebook/dp/B0C2WMQNHH
Random² Musings:-A Left Hemisphere Continuum, is available online at Amazon and other online book stores in Hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle format. https://www.amazon.com/Random%C2%B2-Musings-Left-Hemisphere-Continuum-ebook/dp/B0CK4WH86B
Personal Hunting Journals Collection. nine journals total in the collection, and tailored to your favored seasons. All journals are available for $7.59 on Amazon
For a consolidated set of links to purchase on Amazon, click on: https://www.joyneroutdoorme dia.com/journals_promo.html.
Future Projects:
Tales from The Roost, Roost ‘n Time Tales– Another turkey hunting stories book is likely to come out in the late summer of 2024 and depends on a number of things being completed prior to coming together. I rough draft stories each season, so it is not absolute in the schedule. As a fourth storybook, it may be one of the last of those efforts. The seasons and memories have been so inspirational which continues to drive these titles.
Random3 Musings:-A Left Hemisphere Continuum, last installment of random social media commentary, mostly conservative view points, some humor, and of course hunting themed commentary.
Old Turkey Tree, Stories From The Turkey Woods– will be a collection of my favorites from each storybook title and a full-color edition will be offered in hardcover, paperback, audiobook, and kindle. That will come sometime after Roost ‘n Time Tales is published.
A wild turkey cookbook is a slow cooker, a work in progress, a joint project with Lee Joyner and will come out whenever I get to road-testing my hazardous culinary skills. If I survive that experiment, it will happen…
There are more slow-rolling book projects that pique my interest in pursuing, and I add bits and pieces to each project folder as they fit or strike me to capture at the moment. There are a few novel project ideas if I ever get to it.
Websites: A redesign of the Joyner Outdoor Media website is active, integrating all the published book websites, lists current projects and future projects (mostly novels) in planning stages. the home base at turkey-talk.com is up and running, and will solicit advertising to make the indulgence self-sufficient when that final section is done.
-MJ
© 2024 Mike Joyner- Joyner Outdoor Media
A New Collection of Outdoor Journals
The initial collection is live and available on Amazon. The collection may grow based on demand. A nicely sized day journal for the Hunter or Huntress who desires to record each day afield. grouped as a details page, two lined notes pages, and a blank page to draw, doodle, or affix a photograph. there are thirty sets to cover your season afield or possibly several seasons depending on whether a daily participant, or a weekend warrior.
Recommended to be carried in a waterproof pouch. A fantastic tool for organizing your capture of a grand day in the outdoors!
In capturing your daily excursions in the great outdoors, there is no set rule, just write down what are your unique observations of your surroundings, and the events of your time there while afield.
Nine journals total in the collection, and tailored to your favored seasons. All journals are available for $7.59 on Amazon
The following are direct links
Turkey Woods Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/twj.html
Turkey Doggin’ Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/tdj.html
Whitetail Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/wtj.html
Elk Hunter Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/ehj.html
Upland Game Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/ugj.html
Fishing Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/fj.html
Waterfowler’s Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/wfj.html
Predator Hunter Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/phj.html
Trapper’s Journal https://www.joyneroutdoormedia.com/tj.html
For a consolidated set of links to purchase on Amazon, click on: https://www.joyneroutdoorme dia.com/journals_promo.html.
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