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I hunted yesterday and heard a couple birds, so we set near a trial before making any moves.
A thunderstorm was moving off in the distance, and a bird gobbled 150 yards away at 6:30: it does not start getting light until a little after 7:00. So we moved into an area to set up and wait for daylight. At about 7:00 I owl hooted to check on the bird and he gobbled in the same place. A few minutes later a made some soft yelps and few clucks and nothing. A few minutes later a wood duck zipped by us and a bird gobbled 80 yards to our left: different bird than earlier and he was close. I made another sequence of soft calling and he gobbled: I made 1 more sequence and he double and triple gobbled. I put the call down wanting to wait for him to get on the ground before calling any more. I told my buddy we should either hear or see the bird fly down, a few seconds later and he tells me he sees the bird and he his coming. I see the bird a few seconds later, his head was all white and he would stop and strut and then keep coming. He got to about 25 yards and my buddy asked if I could hear him drumming and I said no. ( I am convinced that is a sound I just can not hear) He stopped and went into strut again, and I was about to yelp to him to lift his head, but he did it on his own, and I took the shot. It was 7:18am, still seemed a little early and I was surprised he was on the ground that early. When we where walking out we heard another bird hammering a couple yards away, my buddy snuck out and looked down the road and could see the bird about 100 yards away. It was just one of those days. Osceolas usually do not gobble much when they hit the ground.
Great story and congratulations again! Don't you love it when it's one of those days that they hammer! Nothing like it.
That's exciting. I'm hoping for one of those kinds of hunts here soon!
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I hunted several days this past week and the weather just wouldn't cooperate. I had only heard one bird all week until this morning. I changed up my location and went to another listening area. While I was getting my gear out of the truck, a bird gobbled. I setup on the edge of a timber ridge that joins a group of pine trees. Once I sat down, the hammering began. It was 4 birds roosted and surrounded by hens. I tried to play it cool and let them make the first move. I let them know I was there but didn't wanna push the issue. Once they flew down it was evident that they were going in a different direction than I was. So I circled around them and went to where I thought they were headed. I sat patiently and waited in one of them to gobble. One of them gobble about 200 yards from me. I eased up to the top of ridge and sat down. I gave them a soft yelp and they cut me off. I heard drumming and knew they were close. 2 of them came up the hill but were behind a brush top. They began to putt some and I quickly used my mouth call to calm them down and they eased on up the hill. When they cleared the brush I shot the strutter. 8 1/2 inch beard, 1 inch spurs
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Congrats also, nice job moving on those birds. Always scary, but you never know what would have happened if you stayed put.
Nice bird and an exciting hunt.
Awesome job Tandy and John!!
Nice! congrats yall
Nice birds Yal. It's killing being able to go so little and having no action. But I know my day is coming. Keep up the good work.
Congrats on the birds men! Waitin on a week and a half to go by. Ain't got long.
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Nice birds congrats...
Started GA's opener off this mornin with a good hunt, just couldn't get close enough to connect. Birds was gobbling good this morning but they didn't wanna leave all the hens they was runnin around with. Fought with the whole group til lunch. Tried to move around to get ahead of them several times but just never could get close enough. Backed out went and got some lunch, ran a few errands and headed back in around 3:00. Set up on some good fresh scratching sign on a ridge top they made this mornin. Made some soft calls and scratched in the leaves every so often. More scratching than calling. Heard a few hens clucking and feeding around the bottom of the ridge below me around 5:30. I made a few more soft calls with some light yelps and heard a bird spit and drum a few times. I put the call down and scratched in the leaves some more. A few minuets goes by and I hear a bird walking straight up the ridge to me. I see his white capped head come up over the top of ridge and he gives me a good shot at about 35 yards around 6:00. Thank you Lord. I'm by myself and couldn't figure out a good prop to take pictures. By the time I made it out of the woods and home it was already dark so the pictures ain't what I wanted them to be. I always end up in the prettiest places Turkey huntin but never can get the pictures down. Today was a good day. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220403/9ad245952c746a9186b5385389df83a3.jpg)
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Congrats everyone!!
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Congrats Ross!
Well done dude.
Congratulations! Nice bird
Awesome job!! Congrats
4/4/22 530pm. Bird never gobbled .... Drummed only . Entourage of hens. Called one time . Sat down at 3 pulled trigger at 530. Hens led him to me , but it wasn't gonna last much longer .... They knew there was no real hen there. Been a tough year, just haven't been able to go much due to work , so I'm glad to capitalize on a fine one .
Quote from: dzsmith on April 04, 2022, 11:18:28 PM
4/4/22 530pm. Bird never gobbled .... Drummed only . Entourage of hens. Called one time . Sat down at 3 pulled trigger at 530. Hens led him to me , but it wasn't gonna last much longer .... They knew there was no real hen there. Been a tough year, just haven't been able to go much due to work , so I'm glad to capitalize on a fine one .
Congrats man! Good lookin bird.
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Man you done a number on his head thats for sure. Congrats
Congrats DZ. I know that feeling about " life getting in the way of hunting": and turkey season is only 6 weeks long, so always feeling the pressure to get in the woods.
Congrats DZ! That's a great bird!
congrats! yall are laying them down!
I got one yesterday guys! He won't be a big scoring bird but hopefully he'll help the score. I'll add the story later today. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220415/da517dcc78fd0174edc797027da02acf.jpg)
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Congrats!!
Opening morning kicked our butts. Huck and I went to some private farms we hunt and with the 20mph winds and cold rainy conditions they just didnt want to talk or play much. Supposed to rain again this week so hopefully after it blows out we can get on some.
Congrats
Missouri. Started gobbling at 530, pulled trigger at 614. Roosted him yesterday, with his hens!!!! Awesome hunt. He gobbled so much he was choking himself. Literally, wish I had recorded it.
Heck ya!! congrats!!
4/21/22 Tennessee. This is the only bird I heard in the 2 days I was there. First morning , he was very far away but.... He was ready. I made it to him. Called , he was coming. Then he went silent ... which I would expect , but he was very close on the last gobble . Well... a few minutes later here comes a coyote . Turned out to be a female, can't tell by the pic , but a pregnant yote at that. Bird is long gone ... i kill the coyote which I typically won't do on an out of state trip. I make my own ammo, and I don't like wasting it . Never got on the bird again that morning , but I took the time to scout where he came from . A very nice long flat top ridge system. I went back later in the day with plans on attempting to roost him or at least hear him if he came back . And it started raining.... It quit raining right before dark and I didn't go quite all the way in there but close enough to hear him gobble .... Never heard a peep. One of those days you owl hoot so many times you have flock of owls trying to find you. It rains all night , and into the morning til right at first light..... I was running a little late , and didn't want to climb up to the ridge top until after fly down time . Well it's 630ish. An hour after first light , I've heard absolutely nothing . It's windy and wet. I climb the ridge , very carefully, and made my way to a pin I had dropped where I wanted to be from scouting the day before. This pin was my best guess as to where the bird may have came from the day before. I decided I was just gonna sit for a while , maybe call once .... Didn't have to ... because he gobbled right then, right from finger where I dropped my pin. So I cut about 1/2 the distance and sat on the flat ridge top ..... i call, he gobbles... multiple times . He's ready. He drops off the ridge and goes into the bottom. I know this from being able to hear him gobble , I can't actually see him. Well.... He stays in the bottom , and continues to gobble . I call one more time ... he gobbles and I can't tell if he's coming or going but I had a feeling if he came up there with me he would skirt me , and possibly be too far to shoot .... So , there was a dead tree about 25 yards in front of me , a good size one layed over , been there for years . The tree was right over the lip of the ridge maybe 5 yards on the down hill side . I knew there was a chance I could get busted , but I also knew if I could make it there and the bird was Going to pay me a visit I would be able to see him before he saw me considering the last place I called was 25 yards behind me . Anyway ... that's what I did . Crawled up there , kept my head around the root area for cover and layed my gun over the log..... he came by 2 minutes later . 23lbs 2 beards 8" and 5" , 1&1/8 spurs . Fine bird , and a cool story considering I killed the coyote that cost me this bird the day before .
Nice. That's a great story. I'm behind on posting my stories. Here we go.
April 14. My brother and I head to a public land spot and walk about a mile in down a gravel road and take a seat. We got there really early. It's daylight and we're still waiting around for a gobble and here comes another guy walking down the road. He was nice but he was talking really loud and obnoxiously. We talk and go separate ways. We cover some ground and finally here a bird later in the morning. We have to drop down into a bottom, cross a creek and get set up in a pine thicket. The bird gobbles a couple times less than 75 yds away but will not come in. He goes silent and disappears on us. We start walking again and we're calling as we go. We make a circle and end up back in the bottom but a good bit further up the drainage. We hit an old roadbed and decide to take a breather and shed some layers. At this point in the day we have kind of checked out a little bit and we're talking and taking off layers and all that. At some point while we were doing this my brother grabbed his box call and went to town on it. Almost just in a goofing around kind of way. It's been about five or ten minutes and we stand back up and strap on our turkey vest. We might have taken one step and a gobbler fired off about 75 or 80 yards up the bottom from us. We sit right back down against a tree that was conveniently a big old tree plenty big for the two of us. About 1-2 minutes later he gobbled again and he is close. Finally he comes into view and I tell my brother to stop him. The gobbler stopped with his head right behind a skinny little tree but he finally stepped out and I shot him. We both couldn't believe what had happened. I knew we had been calling while we were moving and thought he must have heard us but considered it super lucky. It's also lucky he didn't come in while we were standing around talking. Thank goodness for that gobble. It wasn't until we were about halfway out of the woods that I remembered my brother messing around on that box. I realized we had actually called that gobbler in. He was up the drainage and heard that box and came right in to us. I shot him about 11:00. Don't give up guys. Our whole morning changed in a matter of minutes. We went back today and my brother killed a nice gobbler and I had one super close but could never seal the deal. I also missed one a couple days ago. I'll tell that story in another post. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220422/9beabffde9c4b828220ad233ea0ef080.jpg)
My brothers turkey from today
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Great story ac. I'm in bama now . I need one to do that for me. Lots of nesting hens where I am... I hope they aren't done here , but I sure ain't hearing much for the amount of sign I've seen. And the couple I have heard aren't interested .
Quote from: dzsmith on April 22, 2022, 11:37:19 PM
Great story ac. I'm in bama now . I need one to do that for me. Lots of nesting hens where I am... I hope they aren't done here , but I sure ain't hearing much for the amount of sign I've seen. And the couple I have heard aren't interested .
I went into a new spot yesterday and as it was getting daylight I started hearing drumming. He gobbled probably 75yds from my tree. That was a nice surprise. He pitched down below me into a bottom and worked across onto another little finger ridge area. As soon as he hit the ground a hen started talking a lot so we started going back and forth. He was gobbling at everything but he walked right past the hen and went on his way and she came over to where I was. He never would break and come to my calls all morning. I tried him from a few different angles. I've seen lots of hens by themselves this year and gobblers by themselves or with other gobblers. I haven't seen a gobbler with hens yet. I don't know what is going on.
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Interesting !!!' Well I've seen some busted nests and and several sitting hens here. No hens together.... There's a ton of people hunting this place so I would like to think somebody is hearing birds. I've moved to a new area for now ... we will see how it goes. I did a mid day scout before the 1pm closure ... same thing , tons of sign... there is gobblers there . Will they talk. I guess we will see in a few hours .
Great stories guys. Congrats on the birds.
It's been a crazy week in the woods. WV gobblers in my area have been pretty tight lipped. Our season came in on the 19th and my youngest son wanted to go on a trout fishing trip. We had a great time and I was itching to get back to WV and chase these gobblers. Sunday was my first day out and I located a string gobble on the roost. I got within a 100 yd but a hen drug him away. Monday was the same deal. Average gobbling from the roost then pretty tight lipped on the ground. Mid morning I hoped to the opposite ridge and struck a gobbler who decided to circle me and come from behind. He sounded off the dreaded alarm putt and it was game over. Tuesday was rain and then more rain. I struck 2 birds late morning but they were too far off property so I backed out. Tuesday evening I was able to roost 4 longbeards with a single hen. I got a game plan together and setup a blind at 10 pm. I got in super early this morning and set out a hen decoy. Day broke and they hammered on the limb. I gave them very little soft talk as I was 80 yd below them. They flew down and you guessed it...she drug them away. After about an hour, a lone gobbler showed up silently looking for love...his search was over!(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220427/c753fe0b4e739deda817dd16c36c8488.jpg)
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Oh and these are the 4 longbeards and lone hen that I roosted the night before. This was on my drive out of the farm...I know where I might want to setup next time(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220427/13cc76e46efd89cf454b780eb9e80f78.jpg)
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Congrats on a great bird. Mo is kicking my butt this year, again lol.
Quote from: turkey harvester on April 27, 2022, 12:26:17 PM
Congrats on a great bird. Mo is kicking my butt this year, again lol.
These WV birds are sure giving everyone fits. We had a good hatch last year and there are plenty of jakes. I believe that's why these longbeards are silent. They are tired of a bunch of teenage boys ganging up on them.
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Another fantastic gobbling bird In Missouri right off the roost. Nice little bit of healing after staying in Alabama for 5 days and never getting to really even work one. This is the end of my trip. Wife is having gallbladder surgery Friday morning.... Spring started out very tough in Mississippi, but I was able to have a pretty decent season overall.... Looks like I'll be repeating Alabama for yet a third time . None of these other birds were upgrades by the way. The tenn bird would be if you were allowed to score both beards . Good luck with the rest of yals season.
Nice turkeys guys. Way to score out of state.
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Congrats to everybody on the birds! I had something happen to me that ain't ever happened before. It's kind of embarrassing but funny at the same time and something I'll never forget. I'm sure y'all are gonna rag me up and down for telling this but that's alright, bring it on haha. Me and buddy hunted around the lake yesterday morning, out of all the spots we checked we only heard one bird gobble so we went after it. We parked the boat and heard him gobble again to our right. We started making our way around to the left side of the ridge to get up above him. We made it half way up the ridge and he gobbled right where we was wanting to be, on top. I didn't want to call being down below him, I've never had that work out for me in the past. We got to the top of the ridge and set up, made a few calls but nothing happened after that, waited around for 2 more hours there and nothin. We backed out, be back after him another day. Ole buddy had to head back home to get some sleep cause We'r both on night shift but it was my off night. So I headed over to another area where I knew there was birds at and set up. This was around 11:00 now. I called every 15-20 minuets real soft and scratched in the leaves. I had been sitting for about 30 minuets and the #2 pains hit me. Must of been all the coffee I've been drinking. Working 6 days a week 12 hours a day on night shift is starting to catch up with me. But just like any of y'all, a man's gotta get his hunting in somehow. But anyways, I couldn't hold it, I had to go. I found me a thick area, made sure to bring my gun just in case. Just had got done and heard what sounded like a herd of turkeys coming. I'm standing up at this point with my pants still at my ankles and the walking sound in the leaves is getting a lot closer. I tuck up closer to the tree and see a big white head coming in, then there's a another and another one. Ended up being 4 long beards and 2 hens at about 35 yards from me. I get the gun up and bead down on the lead bird and shoot. He falls and the rest take off. I set the gun down, pull my pants back up, and go get him. Needless to say, I got caught with my pants down. I throw him over my shoulder headed back to get my gun and vest. Laughing the whole way, for I've never shot one half naked before. What a time. He Isn't a upgrade but I'm blessed to have him.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220428/c4c21a7e0eb830ceb8d3b2ca07e29918.jpg)
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Wow, great story. You really got caught with your pants down! Congrats on a great bird.......
Great job. Cant rag on ya if your carrying a bird out. Awesome job DZ, you've certainly found some birds.
Awesome job team! DZ I didn't get caught with my pants down this morning lol but I had an awesome hunt!
I roosted these birds a few times this season. I roosted them last night and they were higher on the ridge. I still decided to stay below them on the field edge and set out my DSD upright hen. At 5:44, I heard my first gobble and they continued to hammer on the limb until 6:21. Then they all flew down 1 by 1 30 yds behind my decoy. A soft call and they soon headed my way. I felt that the bird I was calling Buzz Cut (due to his fan missing 3 feathers at the top half) was the more dominant and bigger bird. He strutted the whole time and his head was as white as snow. I let him strut, spit and drum for a lil while then decided to pull the trigger on what turned out to be my birthday bird!!
48 has been good to me. Woke up to a God that loves me so much that He sent His son to die on a cross for my sins!! A family that loves me unconditionally and supports me in every way possible. I hope and pray I'm still chasing them at 88!
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Awesome story and happy birthday!!
Quote from: wvhoyt19 on April 29, 2022, 08:47:13 AM
Awesome job team! DZ I didn't get caught with my pants down this morning lol but I had an awesome hunt!
I roosted these birds a few times this season. I roosted them last night and they were higher on the ridge. I still decided to stay below them on the field edge and set out my DSD upright hen. At 5:44, I heard my first gobble and they continued to hammer on the limb until 6:21. Then they all flew down 1 by 1 30 yds behind my decoy. A soft call and they soon headed my way. I felt that the bird I was calling Buzz Cut (due to his fan missing 3 feathers at the top half) was the more dominant and bigger bird. He strutted the whole time and his head was as white as snow. I let him strut, spit and drum for a lil while then decided to pull the trigger on what turned out to be my birthday bird!!
48 has been good to me. Woke up to a God that loves me so much that He sent His son to die on a cross for my sins!! A family that loves me unconditionally and supports me in every way possible. I hope and pray I'm still chasing them at 88!
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20220429/f4e93199b08238040cb135839cfd44ae.jpg)
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" somebody loves me, answers my prayers. I love somebody , I know he cares. Somebody tells me not to repine. That somebody is Jesus , and I know he's mine." W.f. Crumley. Your post randomly made me think of this old hymn....congrats on good bird .
Thanks for sharing! That's a good one for sure
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Congrats on "Buzz Cut", and Happy Birthday.
Quote from: JeffC on April 29, 2022, 06:21:01 PM
Congrats on "Buzz Cut", and Happy Birthday.
Thanks!
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Congratulations and happy birthday! Great bird and story
Congrats guys on all the birds, and happy Birthday WVHoyt.
I have never killed a bird half naked before, we should probably make you take the team picture the way you pulled the trigger. ( lol, just joking)
Well guys my season is done here in Alabama. Tomorrow is the official last day but yesterday was my last trip to the woods. I had a decent season. I killed one bird on a new to me public area. Unfortunately I squeezed the trigger three times this year and only killed one bird. I'm pretty sure one was a complete miss and another turkey I hit but it flew away. I still feel disgusted by this. I misjudged the yardage on this one. He was out in the open. I ranged my tree from the feathers I knocked off and it was 65 yards. I had a good rest and felt like I made a good shot. I would never shoot that far intentionally and I wouldn't be surprised if I killed that gobbler. I looked for him but couldn't find anything. I went back two other mornings and never heard him again. I had ranged a tree that was fifty and didn't realize he was past the tree in the heat of the moment. It would have been nice to have three turkeys in the freezer. I may make a run up to Tennessee for a couple hunts up there. I did shoot a hog on the way back to the truck yesterday so at meat I got a couple tenderloins on my last trip haha. Good luck to the rest of y'all.
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Well it seems the older I get the less I care about beard size and such. Its been a very tough season in Mo this year. 25 year low on numbers doesn't help either. But Saturday, Huck and I went to a private farm that normally produces good gobbling. Never heard a bird gobble. Do we decided to just start walking and looking in some fields we can hunt. Things were not looking good as we didnt see or hear crap. We were actually fixing to head to a different farm when my brother spots 2 white heads in the tall grass in a field. I broke out the full strutter and showed it to them and wow!! These birds came charging in on us rather quickly. They hit a dip in front of us and I couldn't seem em until they were right on top of us. Big red head, wanting to act like a big boy, so he'll die like a big boy. That hunt once again went from zero to 100 in a matter of minutes. My nephew who killed his first bird youth season got to watch the whole show. It was great!! Turns out he's an almost 18lb jake with a 5" beard and I'm just as happy with him if he would have been 25lbs!! My wife was sick so that was my last day to hunt too. Ended good and he ate well!!
Congrats!!
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Congrats turkey harvester.
I made a last minute run to Tennessee and was able to connect on a nice ole gobbler up there. I went up to my brothers place and did a quick hunt Friday afternoon and didn't hear or see anything. I camped out and hunted the next morning and all was quiet on the farm. There was one bird gobbling but he was across a highway. My brother text me to go try another farm that his father in law owns so I made a run over to that place. I walked all over the place over there and couldn't turn up anything. I went back to my brothers place and hung out with him for a minute before they had to leave to go somewhere. He told me to stop at one last place on the way home and gave me a key to the gate. This particular place is loaded with turkeys and is where I had originally planned to go, but the other family member backed out last minute so that's why I had hunted the other places. With a gate key in hand I took off with a renewed sense of expectation and hope. I had thought my season was over but I now had a chance. I've killed a few turkeys on this land and took off walking towards the back of the property to where I killed a gobbler last year. This land has two huge ridges/hills that run parallel to each other and a road they keep mowed in the bottom in between the hills. I walk a little over a half mile down the road and veer off into the woods. I end up walking over to the exact tree I killed my turkey at last year. I had been calling along the way and sat down for about 20 minutes or so. This was probably in the 11:00 time frame. Nothing was talking and I had just packed up my calls when a owl hooted and a bird gobbled 80-100yds away. I was totally caught of guard. I called to him and sat there another little while but he never made another sound. I'm wondering if he had snuck in to my calling and seen me and left and gobbled at the owl on the way out. Anyway I make a huge loop through some big woods and back down through a big grown up hillside and finally back to the road in the bottom. I slipped my vest off to take a break and I saw some movement in the road. I ducked down and grabbed my binos and saw a gobbler in the road that I had walked in on. There is tall grass on both sides of the road but there was some shrubby stuff across the road so I got down and crawled across to the shrubs. There was a bend in the road there so the gobbler couldn't see me. Once I got behind the shrubs I stood up and glassed down the road and saw that there was two gobblers. A strutter and his sidekick. I waited to see if they were moving my way. I figured I'd have the least chance of screwing it up if I just sat there and waited on them but they were drifting the other way. They were actually camped out in a shady spot but they eventually started moving away from me. I got out in the road and crawled for what seemed like a long ways and eventually was able to get off the road and close the distance when I got some terrain between me and the birds. I crawled right up to where they had been hanging out and I could see they had moved about 100yds down to the next shaded area. I tried calling and nothing worked until I finally did a Jake yelp. He gobbled at that one time. I called some more and he wasn't really in the mood. He finally gobbled on his own and I cut and yelped right back to him. This flipped the switch and they started my way. I eased forward to where my shotgun was laying in the road and just part of my head was poking out of the grass into the road. It would be dicey but I thought by the time they might see me it would be too late. I had been throwing my calls back behind me into the ditch and unfortunately the birds left the road in that direction before they were close enough to shoot. I was only catching glimpses of bits and pieces in the road so I'm not sure how close they came. I thought I was hearing drumming off to my side in the ditch and a bird gobbled. He was still out in front of me but fairly close. Maybe 50 or 60 yds. He gobbled again and it sounded like he was moving away again. I got out in the road and did a bent over jog to where the thick stuff came to an end and it opened back up. I peeked out and was looking for the turkey. He saw me first and jumped into flight. I didn't even think about what happened next. I just through up and put my red dot on his head and squeezed the trigger. I probably shouldn't have taken that shot but it felt good in the moment and I had a good sight picture. Feathers went everywhere and he flew about 100yds and it looked like he was going to land around the corner in thicket around a stream. The pile of feathers was about 30yds from where I was standing. I followed along where he had went and almost stepped on him while I was scanning ahead into the brush. He was stone dead. It turned out it was a pretty good shot and he just glided down to his finally resting spot. He had one nice sharp spur and the other was just a 1/4-3/8 nub like a Jake. The sharp spur almost looks like it had a double spur wanting to grow or had been injured. The birds on this farm are heavy and this one said 23 lbs on my old scale. I couldn't find my digital scale anywhere but this one says 20 on the dot for my 20 lb weight. Most of the turkeys we have taken here are 21-23lbs or so. I've gotten to squeeze the trigger on four turkeys this year. The first three were all Alabama public land and I only got to bring one home. I was thankful to get to run up to Tennessee and get in one more hunt on some private land. Here's a late season tip. I was expecting the birds to be in the timber in the shade and not out in the road where the birds were. When I was laying in the grass I was baking in the sun but when I moved into the shade where the birds had been standing it must have been 20 degrees cooler. I couldn't believe the difference. So the turkeys might still be in an open road or out in a field somewhere. Make sure you glass into the dark shady places really well. I shot this turkey at 2:00.
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Awesome job!! Congrats
Nice job, congrats.
Congrats!!
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I was having a frustrating start of the season here in NY. I hunted May 1,2,3 and, although among birds every day, all I could get to come in were a few hens and a couple jakes. Toms were there but wouldn't leave their hens. Gobbling like crazy telling me to join them but that was it. Out again May 6,7,8 and the same thing...amongst them but couldn't get a tom to leave the hens. So I decided to give them some time and didn't go out again until this past Monday the 16th. I know this 30 acre patch of timber quite well so set up in the dark. A couple toms started gobbling, plus a hen close behind me started tree yelping. I couldn't do anything until she flew down, which she did, sailing out into a field. One of the toms flew out to her. Then I started calling and got a gobble from a previously quiet bird about 150 yards away. He came in, with another silent tom, and they passed by me out of range then out of sight. I was able to call them back...this time only 35 yards away and I shot him. 17.8#, 10" beard and inch spurs.
An "As Found" picture.
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I hunted the same area the next day and, although hearing a couple, couldn't get them in. So I left there and went to another area about 30 miles away where I've had success in the past for a Wed. the 18th hunt. I was set up before gobbling time and one gobbled about 100 yards away. I tree yelped on my trumpet...he really liked it. Pretty much non-stop gobbles for about 20 minutes. Came in just out of sight and left! Gobbling steadily until out of earshot. Obviously he was on a mission and wasn't going to be deterred.
I started moving around a bit and raised another a couple hours later. Closed in on him a bit, called and he was coming in quickly. There was a large rocky knob about 20 feet high 50 yards in front of me and I expected him to come around it. No...he and another tom appeared right on top of it! He was fanned out in the bright sunlight...absolutely beautiful. It was steep and I figured they'd come down either side which was far less steep. No...they came straight down toward me! He met his demise at 30 yards.
Another "As Found" pic.
(https://i.imgur.com/h4UdxeIl.jpg)
Nice. Congrats again!
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Congratulations!
Congrats.
congrats to all you guys who have made it happen in your later seasons. its long gone here, I enjoyed the contest again this year. cant wait until next year. yal stay safe this year...tough times are ahead im afraid, so stay vigilante and trust the lord.
Really enjoyed reading all of your stories. Congrats everyone on a good season!
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It's been rough for some that's for sure, but some great hunting for others. Memories have been for first timers and old timers. I've enjoyed hearing the awesome stories and seeing the pictures. You guys are a great bunch of fellow turkey addicts and we make a great team. Looking forward to the 2023 strut stoppers!! Keep in touch.
I agree, I enjoyed this year and hearing how everyone was doing. I was a little busier than I would have liked, but that life sometimes. Already looking forward to the deer woods and next year for turkey.
Everyone stay safe.
John
Hope y'all have a great summer. I enjoyed being on the team again. I'm looking forward to next season. The two birds I missed will be nagging at me all year until the next kick off. I knows there's lots of talk of social media pressure and bird declines but I had a pretty great season. I can't complain.
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I enjoyed being on the team as well and am looking forward to next spring.
Still fooling with birds though. Near home is a patch of timber which is a no-hunting area...but calling ain't hunting so I'm having fun with them. One tom...a really good one, four jakes and several hens. I need practice with my wingbone and trumpet so that's what I'm using. So far they like it! Back again tomorrow morning. What will be interesting to see is just when he quits gobbling.
Quote from: Turkeyman on June 07, 2022, 08:30:50 AM
I enjoyed being on the team as well and am looking forward to next spring.
Still fooling with birds though. Near home is a patch of timber which is a no-hunting area...but calling ain't hunting so I'm having fun with them. One tom...a really good one, four jakes and several hens. I need practice with my wingbone and trumpet so that's what I'm using. So far they like it! Back again tomorrow morning. What will be interesting to see is just when he quits gobbling.
I used my trumpet a good bit this year. I didn't call any birds to the gun with it yet but I'm getting more confident with it. Have fun with those off limit turkeys.
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