by Chris Larsen

Like it or not, social media is huge and it’s getting bigger. There are people from every walk of life using social media including foremosthunting.com. Twitter is one of our favorite social media outlets because there is always a conversation going on. There are thousands of outdoors folks on Twitter. Here is a list of some of our favorites in no particular order.

@Foremosthunting
This is our Twitter account. We post all our new articles and once in a while we bring back a few classics for review. Foremosthunting enjoys engaging with our readers, so don’t be shy.

@ForemostOutdoor
Follow Foremost Outdoor TV producer, Chris Larsen. He keeps you on top of new articles from foremost hunting.com and the happenings at Foremost Outdoor TV.

@ForemostCoyote
The newest member of the Foremost family of outdoor websites. Foremost Coyote is the Twitter home of foremostcoyotehunting.com

@Kmurrayhunts
Kari Murray of Northern Wisconsin tweets about her outdoor quests and misadventures on her blog, I Don’t Wear Pink Camo To The Woods. She is one of the first people a new hunter on Twitter should follow. She is always engaging with her friends and followers.

@Ghost1066
Tommy Ellis is an artist and outdoorsman from Tennessee. Tommy writes a superb blog called Following Ghost with lots of great stuff for anglers and hunters.

@BenGOutdoors
Ben Gustafson of Minnesota has a few excellent outdoor blogs. Ben G Outdoors and Abnormal Outdoors chronicle Ben’s outdoor lifestyle and weird stories he finds. Ben’s Twitter account is a great place to find the best stories on the web at any given time. He frequently Retweets great content from other users.

@Fowled_Up
One of the best new blogs on the web. A Missouri native tells the story of becoming a waterfowler with his new Chesapeake Bay Retriever on his blog, Fowled_Up.

@ladysportsman
Michelle Scheuermann does Communication Outreach for the Sportsman Channel. She also writes a great blog on outdoor television and business called BulletProof Media.

@FoggyMtnMeander
Justin Morell of West Virginia writes a great blog known as Foggy Mountain Meanderings. It’s a personal blog but Justin isn’t afraid to tackle the tough issues either. He just wrote an excellent blog on Sunday hunting laws.

@CoyoteAssasin
Duane Fronek is a trapper from Northern Wisconsin. He writes a superb blog called Wild Wisconsin. If you’re looking for information on trapping and predator hunting, look no further.

@Centexhunter
I recently found Josh Verdoon on Twitter. He’s from the Austin, Texas area and he hunts just about everything. He’s also got some cool buck fighting footage on his blog right now.

@BobStPierre
Bob is the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Pheasants Forever in St. Paul, MN. Bob is a big contributor to the PheasantsBlog as well. He doesn’t do a lot of engaging but his content is first rate.

@Huntography
huntography.com is a site dedicated to capturing hunting and the outdoor sports on film and video. Very cool posts and is definitely worth a follow.

@Hank_Shaw
Hank lives in Sacramento, CA but he has also lived in the Twin Cities, MN area. He is a big waterfowler and angler, but what sets him apart is his cooking. You can find some incredible wild game recipes and ideas on his website, honest-food.net.

@OBNetwork
The Outdoor Blogger Network is a centralized location to find the best outdoor bloggers on the internet. They share a wealth of information for getting started in blogging and making an established blog better. Rebecca Garlock, known as @Outdooress on Twitter, is the chief contributor.

@NorCalCazadora
Holly Heyser is one of the best bloggers I have found on Twitter. She writes on a wide variety of hunting pursuits but seems to specialize in waterfowling. She also has some great posts on women-specific hunting issues.

@HeyBJK
Brian is an Air Force Veteran and a heck of a writer. His blog covers hunting, fishing, shooting, and more. Brian is a very friendly guy, so don’t be afraid to start a conversation with him!

@Muskokaoutdoors
Bill Anderson is from Ontario, Canada. He’s got a superb outdoor blog called Muskoka Outdoors. What makes Bill a must follow are his Twitter newspapers. Bill has compiled an incredible list of outdoors accounts that his daily papers are compiled from. Great stuff!

@Mikehanback
Mike is the host of The Buck Stops Here on Versus TV. He also has a superb blog with the latest news and fascinating op-ed style articles. Very few national outdoor TV hosts regularly converse with average, everyday Tweeps. If you’ve got something interesting to say, Mike engages.

@DanSchmidtDeer
Dan is editor and author of one of the best hunting magazines on the newstand, Deer & Deer Hunting. He posts very interesting content on his Twitter page. If you’re a deer hunter, Dan Schmidt is a must follow.

@TovarCerulli
Tovar is one of the most interesting people I’ve met on Twitter. He is a vegan-turned-hunter. You read that right. He brings a different perspective than most when it comes to hunting. His blog is one of the best written blogs on the net and he has a book in the works.

@FirstLightGear
First Light Gear is based in Michigan. They promise the best deals on gear, period. But it’s not your typical sales site. You will find awesome blogs and videos. These guys enjoy a wide variety of outdoor pursuits and their storytelling allows you to go along for the ride.

@Lukekujacznski
Luke is part of the First Light Gear crew. He always has a conversation going or is sharing first rate information.

@GooseDownGC
These guys are call makers out of Southern Illinois, but we won’t hold that against them. They love to chat about all things waterfowl and especially calling. They are a must follow for goose hunters on Twitter.

@DaveRichey
Dave hails from Traverse City, MI. I have never seen Dave have a conversation with anyone on Twitter. That’s usually a one way ticket to Twitter purgatory. But Dave’s writing is so good, you just can’t miss out on it.

@Jim7226
Jim Braaten hails from Minnesota and operates the hugely popular SportsmansBlog. Jim has been in the outdoor writing biz for a long time and is one of the best on the net. He is also organizing the Midwest Fishing & Hunting Outdoor Blogger Summit with Michelle Schuermann of the Sportsman Channel. If you are looking for high quality outdoor content, Jim is a must follow.

@SPORTSMANchnl
This is the Twitter account for the Sportsman Channel Outdoor Network. They keep their followers abreast of all the latest happenings in the outdoor world and have one of the best daily papers on Twitter. The best part about them is they regularly engage with their followers. You can literally have a conversation with the people in charge of the best outdoor network on the air. Try that with some other networks!

@A_Reel_Lady
Glynn hails from Oklahoma and has a blog by the same name. She is a multi-talented outdoorswoman with a talent for telling a story. I highly recommend following her.

@mgaryhanson
Gary Hanson of Anniston, Alabama is about as passionate about fishing as a guy could be. He also shares a wealth of information on hunting and other outdoor pursuits.

@Rbwrightoutdoor
R.B. Wright is banker by day, outdoorsman by choice. His outdoor blog is first rate and he is an outgoing, friendly guy. This North Carolina hunter and angler requires a follow.

@BryanHansel
Bryan is a photographer and kayak guide from Grand Marais, MN. Grand Marais on the North Shore of Minnesota, less than an hour away from the Canadian border. If you’re looking for tips on bagging your next whitetail buck, he’s not for you. But if breathtaking photography from my favorite place on the planet interests you, Bryan is your guy.

@WellsRobb
Robb Wells of Knoxville, Tennessee is a diehard waterfowl hunter. He shares a lot of great links on hunting and waterfowl… and he is always up for a conversation.

@Ilcornfed
Bryan Anderson of Fulton County, IL is one of the few outdoor Twitter recommendations who doesn’t have a blog. However, he is consistently sharing photos and information that any hunter would appreciate.

@KerryMackey
Kerry writes about the outdoors from a Christian perspective. His stories of pursuing game with his young sons are inspiring. Great follow for any spiritual hunter.

@BullsandBeavers
Chris Burget runs the website BullsandBeavers.com from beautiful Sun Valley, Idaho. Chris engages all of his followers and retweets anything interesting he finds on Twitter. He is one of the good guys of the Twittersphere and a must follow.

It’s impossible to include everyone in a list of 35 favorites. If I missed someone, I sincerely apologize and would appreciate it if you made some recommendations in the comments below.

By John Simeone

My revenge against the media hype of commercialization is to give the secret of the Manhattan Project of turkey calls to the people for free.

There are amazing turkey calls made by ingenious individuals who have been generations in the business of outsmarting turkeys, I salute them. Sometimes I have to ask myself about the simplicity of what genius actually is. Is genius highly complicated rocket science or is it as simple as the person that thought of a pet rock collection and made a million dollars. Personally I think it deals with observation and the relationship of knowing what to do about what you see. “Necessity is the mother of invention,” never rang so true.

There are only two things that will attract a turkey, one is food and the other is another turkey. The not so ethical turkey hunters of my state, not all, but so many as to cause an epidemic, have mastered the art of baiting, no pun intended. When I first explored the idea of my new call this weighed heavily on my mind as turkey baiting is not cricket in the ethics of turkey hunting. But what if you could make a call that sounded like turkey food. Didn't I just mention cricket, and not the British form of baseball?

OK, so how did I come up with this brilliant idea? I came out of the woods a few years ago after a gobbler beat me fair and square as they usually do, subsequently meeting up with a very disgruntled turkey hunter. Evidently getting beat by a turkey to some people excites the revenge factor in some humans about like Captain Ahab vs Moby Dick. He swore out loud to me and the whispering pine trees of Louisiana, that he had a gobbler dead to rights, when a swarm of what he described more vividly as “fricken crickets,” started sounding off and the turkeys all went to them. Have you ever noticed how some people take things more seriously than others?

Well the minute I heard this it struck me like a bolt of lightning. Make a turkey call that sounds like a fricken cricket. The name of the call certainly was easy enough, but how would I make it legal, market and sell it. Also it came to mind why no one had ever thought of it before. Maybe they had and it didn't work. “No, it will work,” I thought as I know turkeys hunt by sight and sound, not smell. So in essence I had a call that sounded like turkey food, no one had ever thought to do that. If they had, obviously it would be on the market.

I knew before hand I couldn't make a recording of crickets as this would be an electric call and would be illegal. It had to be a percussion or wind instrument just like any other turkey call. That was not difficult as I found a ready made cricket sounding device that was in fact a musical instrument for a symphony orchestra to emulate the natural sound of a cricket.

It was there for the re-marketing if I wanted it. Of course no one believed me except one man, a state game warden, who also made custom turkey calls. He seemed worried that it would work so well as it would wipe out the turkey population. Knowing well the wild turkey, I seriously doubt it.

So I decided to hint around on websites to see if anyone else had the secret. I told them I had a call that sounded like turkey food instead of another turkey. The only response I got was from the mass of master turkey baiters that thought the only thing that would attract a turkey was a pile of corn. I got summarily accused of making a call that sounded like a deer feeder turning off and on. But no one knew of, hinted to, or had any idea of what it really was.

I actually had one fellow that intended to invest and partner up with me, but during the negotiations he made some serious racial slurs as well as comments against another religion on an open forum that was enough to put anyone out of business, so I parted company with him. I looked into commercial marketing with game call companies and once again got sloughed off. One company genius tried to tell me everyone knew about it, so I asked why it had never hit the market. Never got an answer on that, what I figure it was the standard slough off for all the crackpots with a new turkey call, including me. One owner of an outdoor company didn't even know what a turkey call was and had never been hunting, go figure.

By the end of the day I was fed up with humanity again. I'm a hunter and an outdoor writer, not an entrepreneur. So I decided to get even with all the commercial hype in the outdoor world and let everyone know about the Fricken Cricket turkey call and how to use and get one.

First, to get one, all you have to do is find a large music company and ask for a cricket sound effect instrument by L. P. It looks and works like a baby rattle, it is that simple.

You use the call when you have a hung up gobbler or he is with hens. You use your cricket in concert with your regular turkey call. If the whole flock is hungry they should all come. But that's not the whole set up. If fake rubber turkeys can be used as decoys, fake rubber crickets and grasshoppers can be used too, if you haven't figured this one out yet, try the words fishing lures. There are plenty on the market designed as crickets and grasshoppers. Put a little stick on glue and remove the hooks and you add them to your all ready set out turkey decoys.

If you live in the country and know someone that has chickens, go through a live grasshopper in the pen and watch them go for it. Then throw in a rubber cricket and you will find they will go for that too. You can get them in any large bait shop.

Once it appears that other turkeys have found crickets and the target turkey and friends see this along with the decoy crickets, it should cause a feeding frenzy like a school of sharks.

Is it legal? These are the things you can't do turkey hunting. You can't use grain to bait them, a live decoy or an electric calling device (in most states). You can use artificial decoys in most states. Check your regulation for specifics. My state doesn't say anything about making cricket sounds in the woods and considering it can be done with the human voice it would require a game warden behind every tree to enforce it.

Is it ethical? It depends on who you are talking to. Some hunters think, using scopes on a shotgun is wrong, using a 3 ½ inch shell is wrong, setting up an ambush is wrong, sitting on a chufa patch is wrong...and so on. What is really wrong is sitting on a pile of corn or using an electric caller. Why? Because it's illegal, otherwise it becomes opinion.

Will it work? Yes it will, just like any other turkey call. It is just different, no more than making a new fishing lure. If a turkey wants to come to it they will, anyone knows that. There is no such thing as a perfect turkey call, that's what makes it interesting.

Why don't I try to market it? I prefer watching all the outdoor companies out there silting each others throats trying to outdo each other, now that's as much fun as shooting a turkey to me. If it does become popular I only want to be known as the person that thought up the idea and like I always do, I ….Pass it on.