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ARCHIVED OLD GOBBLER TURKEY HUNTING TEAM CONTESTS => 2019 OLD GOBBLER TURKEY HUNTING TEAM CONTEST => Strut Stoppers => Topic started by: turkey harvester on February 07, 2019, 09:06:46 AM
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This is where we want to hear your story. Tell us the details too
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Well I’ll get it started guys. This morning at daylight was not too great. I heard a couple birds gobbled once or twice and that was it. I went on what I knew from earlier this week. Monday I heard a couple birds around a green field so I decided to setup the full strut gobbler and a couple hens and see what happened. Around 7:30 a gobbler came out about 200 yards away. He never could see the decoys and went the other way. He just knew something wasn’t right. I stayed with it and at 8:40 I heard a gobble way off. I knew I would have to get loud for him to hear me. I broke out the box and after a few minutes I spotted him about 500 yards away standing and looking. I called enough to keep him interested. He finally got close enough to see the decoys. He gobbled and strutted the whole way in. When he started to whip my decoy I gave him a dirt nap. Very exciting morning. Can’t wait to get after them again tomorrow.
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Nice job birdman67. I am a firm believer in scouting, that is where the game is won or lost.
John
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Way to go!
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Got on the board today. I’ll get the story and pictures up later on.
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Awesome, I'll get everything recorded when I get to work tomorrow. Went to my so called honey hole for the last 2 days. Not 1 gobble!! Did see a group of 17 hogs. Found some scratching but nothing vocal. May have to go find new territory.
Congratulations on scoring on a bird!!!
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Killed 3/17. Cannot upload pictures. Been uploading pictures the same way for years, and all of a sudden now....it’s not an acceptable format.
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try using Imgur. It's simple enough I can use it lol.
Congrats!!!!
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Congrats everyone.
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Congrats guys!!
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Congrats everyone!
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Congratulations dzsmith. I put my pictures up over on our scoring thread. We are not sure what happened to this birds spurs. Had four gobblers come in and this was one of the two stutters.
Try using the Tiny pic website...it’s pretty easy to post pictures from there.
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Congrats guys!
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Killed 3/17. Cannot upload pictures. Been uploading pictures the same way for years, and all of a sudden now....it’s not an acceptable format.
I used http://www.picresize.com to make the pics smaller.
Then I used http://tinypic.com/ to upload the images to this site.
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big thanks to turkey harvester for uploading the pics for me on the score board. They are not gobbling real hard yet in my neck of the woods. This bird gobbled one time about 945 150 yards away from me....HIS MISTAKE. it was over quickly....about 25 minutes later. I finally got my picture uploading straight again. Enjoy.
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Finally got it done.
Well I have Been dealing with plantar fisitis, So I cannot walk very far.
So I decided to Hunt a spot about 150 yards from the truck where we habe heard birds gobble and seen plenty of turkey sign. I was actually about 15 yds from the spot backwater killed his bird.
No Gobbling in the morning, heard some hens and had a couple jakes and some hens come by about 8:00am. Heard a gobble around 830 and another one about 10 minutes later did some calling towards the bird, got no response.
At almost 11 AM I heard something to my left and looked over and there is a gobbler and a couple Jake’s that slipped in. When I spotted him he was about 3 yards from me facing my decoy and He started walking towards her. He did not see me but saw the blind and started to putt and was ready to get out of town. I had already slid the safety off and had the gun up and was ready, So as soon as he putted ,I put the gun on him and shot him at about 8 yards.
I had passed on a Jake last weekend and the two jakes this morning thankfully I did. I just do not feel it when I have a jake come in.
I am not sure if this was the beard I had heard gobble or another Tom that slipped in.
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That's stuck in it out. I tore my meniscus cartilage in my knee some time ago and it's hard for me to walk very far. Congratulations on a great bird!! You guys are stackin em up like cord wood!!
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Awesome! Congrats bornagain! It’s tough when it’s hard to walk. Way to persevere!
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It's kind of looking sad at my honey hole I found last year. I've been 3 times, not a gobble. Where I sit I should here one a country mile. Did hear 4 behind my house this morning, but unfortunately all I can do is listen to em. Guess time to put the boots to the ground and find some.
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Saturday morning. Havent killed a flydown bird in years. He was a mature bird. Hens were roosted about 150 yards across the creek from him. I busted them walking in, they only flew they didn't put. He hammered from 620 in the morning until I killed him at 710. He did come in from behind me, but I was prepared for it. #2 baby for the sip.
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Wow way to go guys! I’m jealous of you all who get to start in March. We are still almost a month out.
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Congratulations guys!!! I'm still 23 day from opening day and I can't wait. The team is off to a great start! Keep them coming!!
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Keep at them turkey harvester, you will find 1. Problem with public land is someone else will probably find him too.
Nice job dzsmith, great when a plan comes together. I would say busting the hens out helped you.
You guys will get your turn soon and then our season will be over. We will be sad and you will be the happy ones. Lol
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Nice job dzsmith
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thanks guys
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Hang in there turkey harvester. One will mess up.
Nice job dzsmith! Congrats!
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tagged in the sip. public land limb hanger. killed at 930 am. never gobbled on limb. he gave up his position on the ground at 9 oclock. very proud of him
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Way to go bud!! Congrats
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Congratulations dzsmith
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Nice job. Not saying all public land birds are harder to kill than birds on private, but most of them are.
From dealing with other hunter to pressured birds, it is a real challenge and an accomplishment.
I am looking forward to my Kansas trip to hunt some private land birds, will be my 1st time.
Anybody else started hunting yet?
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Congrats guys! I’m still weeks out from hunting and drooling at all the pictures!
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Nice job. Not saying all public land birds are harder to kill than birds on private, but most of them are.
From dealing with other hunter to pressured birds, it is a real challenge and an accomplishment.
I am looking forward to my Kansas trip to hunt some private land birds, will be my 1st time.
Anybody else started hunting yet?
where I hunt finding sign on public land is hard...hearing a gobble period, is hard....finding a bird that will gobble , and keep gobbling is very hard. basically you gonna blind a call a turkey in by having patience more often than getting on gobbling bird on public land down here. This bird gobbled in the evening one day three times....When I finally got a morning to hunt him, he didn't gobble period on the limb. He gobbled at 9 oclock on the ground to some hawks...just late enough for all the average road runners, joe blow hunters to be packing it in for the morning.
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I'm taking 6 of my students Thursday, along with others in our school to our state welding competition. Well I gotta brag on one of my kiddos. I have a young lady who moved here from Memphis to about the most hick filled town in Missouri,lol. Young lady told me she was deaf and she read lips and wore her hearing devices. She has never welded and comes to me and wants to do a welding sculpture. She says she wants to do a European deer mount out of stainless. Lucky for her during the summer I weld at a moonshine Distillery manufacturing company. So I basically could get everything she needed. Well tomorrow is our last day to work on it and she says I don't want to polish the antlers like the skull plate. Says it will make the antlers stand out. She wanted to do something that wasn't totally exact. Took her many hours of fabrication, welding, fusion, buffing and polishing. I'm super proud of her. First time in my 17 of education have I had a student want to even do it. Hope to take her to nationals this summer in Kentucky.
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Props to you as a teacher, very tough job.
And tell her congrats and nice job.
I could not see the pics, I will try again later from a computer.
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Trying to do it from my phone sucks.
(https://i.imgur.com/8jDzaFNm.jpg?2)
(https://i.imgur.com/tEvgUDNt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/Y5C8FLWt.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/GWtdz8Dm.jpg)
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Awesome job by her! That takes time and dedication to complete a job like that.
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Got number 2 this morning. He was a good ways from me but started gobbling early. I closed the distance and setup below him in a little field. It was one of those perfect hunts. I gave them just enough to get them curious and waited for the show. Two longbeards came down the hill in a line. They got to 20 yards and began to search for me. I let them entertain me for a few minutes before i got the strutter.
8 5/8 beard, 15/16 spurs, 19 lbs. 3 oz.
Not quite an upgrade. Got one more left to get.
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Congrats!! Hopefully after I get home from this school trip I get to take my nephew on Sunday if he hasn't scored.
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Nice job guys. Keep after it.
I have 1 more chance in Florida in about a week. And then backwater and I will be
Heading to Kansas at the end of the month to give it a go.
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It's been a heck of a week!!! Just got back from state competition and for 2 years in a row now one of my high school boys will be the only high school kiddo in the state Missouri to get to compete at the national skills USA welding competition!! I'm as pleased as I can be. This is 4 times in 7 years! Pretty humbling experience!!
Got to hunt with the nephew. They heard 8 first day, had a spelling bee contest at 9, but gobbled great but was foggy. This morning, after only3 hours of sleep, I drive an hour and half to call for him. Not one stinking gobble all morning. We blind called, field hopped, nothing. Seen one on down the road in another piece we can hunt. Right in the middle of a large field with 5 hens. Wouldn't even look our direction so we decided to crawl behind my decoy. We were 100% sure nobody was in there cause they can't go in from any direction. Had 2 hens run up at bout 3 feet and wouldn't leave. He pealed off with other 3 and vanished out of the field. Had fun anyway.
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Keep at it Turkey Harvester...it’s going to happen.
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Congrats on the welding honors, I hope the kids appreciate your time and skills .
Like Backwater said, it will happen. Birds down here where really henned up the first couple weeks
Of the season. They would gobble on the roost a few times and then Off with the hens they would go.
We are gonna get out 1 more weekend before the season is over. ( this coming weekend)
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We are gonna get out 1 more weekend before the season is over. ( this coming weekend)
Good luck this weekend!
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Raining cats and dogs on one side of the state and having a blizzard in the other side. I'm sitting in the truck on the cat and dog side,lol.... oh ya morning before opener. Heard 4 at my honey hole it several others did too. My nephew put me on a spot right off a 4 lane,lol. Came in here yesterday, no gobbles, but by far the most scratching sign I've seen in years. I think the traffic noise might help muffle my sound. Apparently it don't bother them. Hoping for a better morning to maybe at least hear one here. But, who knows, wet or not he may still wanna be a blabber mouth.
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Lol, unfortunately if it public land your honey hole is prob several others honey hole. We deal with the same thing down here, we only have access to public land.
Just have to put the puzzle together and hope no hunter messes it up. I am done here in Florida, really looking forward to our Kansas trip. There we will be hunting private properties, so we will only have to deal with the turkeys and not other hunters. Anybody else hunting yet?
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We haven’t started yet here in New Jersey. It opens the 22nd. And New York opens May 1st. I’ll be hunting in both so if I’m successful you guys will know for sure. Good luck whoever is still hunting!
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We start Thursday here in Maryland
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Our season starts here in Ohio on Monday!
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IF he only had some hooks. Killed this dude on louisianna public land last Thursday afternoon. very little sign, very few turkeys, lots of hogs, and high water....but after 2 days and 12 miles of scouting I found one bird in the AM, and lord willing I killed him that evening 3 minutes into my setup. sat down at 355 and pulled the trigger at 358. scratching only!! he was right where I worked him that morning. 10 3/4 paint brush. 22lbs, only one spur that was 5/8 and the other was broken off. its been a good year
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Congrats! That’s a great trophy. Hunting in Illinois has been tough. Getting on some birds but still henned up for the most part. Called in a satellite Tom last weekend and he saw some jakes across the field and he took off running out of there. Had 8 jakes gang rape my laydown hen yesterday morning while the strutters hung up at 80 yards.
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Congrats! That’s a great trophy. Hunting in Illinois has been tough. Getting on some birds but still henned up for the most part. Called in a satellite Tom last weekend and he saw some jakes across the field and he took off running out of there. Had 8 jakes gang rape my laydown hen yesterday morning while the strutters hung up at 80 yards.
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stay with the big bird. youll get him
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Nice job Dzsmith.
Keep after them Dmason, hopefully it will all come together. All those Jakes is a good sign
For next year, but the Toms are defiantly afraid of them: especially in a group.
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It’s definitely a weird year on my hunting spot. The yearly roost is completely dead and they’re roosting in another spot they only roost during the fall. Gobbling their heads off til flydown then dead silence.
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Congrats dzsmith! Got on one opening morning but he's got a slew of hens. Stopped at another listening spot only to have one going crazy and I had to be at work in 20 minutes. Friday is my next day out. I think our birds are just now wanting to get cranked up. I think 3rd week will be the best. Hopefully try and help the team out. You turkey killin machines lol
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Boy the weather doesn't seem to want to give us a break. 35+ mph winds, been raining for 2 days. Today is actually the first time I've had a gobbler shy away from my full strutter. Only heard 1 gobbler, him, and buddy that was it! Incredible how nothing is gobbling. Supposed to be 70 tomorrow and very little wind. I don't know, I guess just keep on plugging. Gonna hit the new spot tomorrow with the wife. Hopefully someone can score. I can say that missouri definitely has a shortage of turkeys. Our stupid MDC is too worried about the elk, bears and mountain lions that we aren't supposed to have. The deer herd is plentiful but our turkey population state wide blows.
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Tried a new spot today with my buddy...landowner said it was full of turkeys and he wasn’t kidding. Thank God we went early we had the first 2 lanes we tried to drive down were flooded, tried another route that involved crossing a ditch that was so full it could have been a river, finally on our last ditch attempt to access had to cross a ditch and got water over the tops of my boots. Get to the spot right as daybreak was coming in, set up decoys, sit down and they immediately started gobbling!
Heard at least 8-10 and 2 of them were close. The weather has been , 20 MPH wind with rain all morning and expected to get worse so we knew it had to happen ASAP. My buddy was yelping with his diaphragm and they were answering about half the time. He switched to his woodhaven pot call and they fell in love.
As soon as they flew down they started working our way but got hung up on a creek. After about 20 minutes they couldn’t stand it and headed our way. Next thing I know a hen popped up 5 steps behind us out of nowhere. Thank goodness the 2 toms worked their way into the field and that was their last mistake. As soon as we started back to the truck the wind picked up and started spitting rain. Feels good to be on the board!(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190420/df5146a376d6326c6329714f8284a2eb.jpg)
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Nice job Dmason3, great bird. Did you guys double up? I know you said 2 birds and hunting with your
Buddy, but did not hear if you guys got both birds.
Keep after it turkey harvester, it will come together. I have never tried strutter decoys, but seen it plenty of times on tv. We have had instances where the Toms where afraid of a hen decoy and tan away, so you just never know. Hopefully the weather gets better for you too.
I know this, there was a shortage of 2 year old birds every where I hunted this year! Lol, love those 2 year olds.
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I got a big one this morning. Pics coming soon
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Can’t wait!
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Can’t wait!
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he's 22#s, 1.25"Spurs and 10.5" beard. I just have a take all the pictures
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Nice, congrats MDTom84.
Looking forward to the pics and hearing how it went down.
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So after have a tough time the last 4 days I went to some public land that I have never hunted, only scouted a few times before season. I went to a small field in the woods well before day light and when they started to gobble I had 6-7 different birds gobbling on the roost. 3 of them pretty close so I moved down to hill and got between the 3. I did some soft tree yelps and all 3 answered me back, so I just got quite. A few minutes later I see a black spot coming down the hill in front of me, a Jake, he walked by at 10 feet and went behind me where a hen was yelping. I made a few more soft calls and a bird answered me right where the Jake came from so I got the gun pointed in that direction. About 5 minutes goes by and the bird in front of me gobbles again and he is coming. Then I hear what I thought was a spit and drum behind my left shoulder, I just stayed really still. Then I hear the spit and drum again and it's really close, I slowly look to my left and this bird is in full strut walking right to where the other bird is gobbling. I waited for him to go behind a tree and I swung my gun on him and when he came from behind the tree, well he got a swarm of Federal HW#7s from my 11-87 20ga. When I stepped it of he was 11 steps! I'm going back to the same place tomorrow.
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Few more pictures, the pot is a Paul Platz canarywood anodized aluminum over glass with a hickory and snakewood two piece striker(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190422/c194353f6c0b5abc651e4a7cb8458b01.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190422/3fc0056a4d06013e01656ac3aee4ecb9.jpg)
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Great story. Great bird and Great call.
Good idea to go back in the morning, that is where I would be.
John
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Great story, good jobs guys.
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Oklahoma 4/19/19
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Congrats. No upgrade?
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Congrats. No upgrade?
no upgrade 9" beard, 1" spurs...14lbs. the louisianna bird would have been a nice upgrade if he didn't have broken spurs....but I reckon he had a hard life
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Nice job on the recent gobblers. Keep at it guys.
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Finally getting a break in the weather. Been raining for several days but it's clear and calm. Best part I played hooky today and am sitting at my old hot spot. I figured the first week would be crazy so I choose to stay out till weather broke. I'm just hoping to find 1 player,lol. Seasons been tough, flood 2 years ago wiped out our 2 year olds so gobbling birds are far and few in between. Then every road hunter comes screaming to your location lol. Can't kill em at work and this place has been good to me in the past. Gotta get the monkey off my back and put something on the board.
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Keep after them turkeyharvester.
Backwater and I will be in Kansas Monday- Friday, hopefully
We can get on birds. Gonna be completely different for us Florida guys.
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Went out this morning and didn’t hear a gobble. My buddy was hunting 20 miles away and same thing. Going back to our honey hole tomorrow, hoping for better luck
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Great job guys! Way to lay down some birds! I’ll be out this weekend for the last time. Hoping to limit out and get us an upgrade! Good luck to everyone that is out the next few days!
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Our season in Ohio opened on Monday. I have been able to get out a few times. I hunt a large field primarily. I saw toms both mornings and lone hens as well. The first day the Tom strutted in one spot for an hour and a half. He wouldn’t respond to calls at all. The second time I saw two toms but they were following hens and while they responded they wouldn’t break away from the hens. I’ve been running a DSD Jake and DSD lay down hen and another feeder hen. Any tips for hunting field birds?
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Got another one yesterday but it’s smaller. There’s no point in loading the pictures for the score is there?
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Nice job dmason3. I think photos are only needed for official scores, so I think you do not need them if it is not an upgrade.
John
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I limited out this weekend. I only heard one turkey that was over a mile away and in the middle of nowhere. The only way to him was on foot. So I struck out after him. After several changes in setup and several creek crossings, he made a mistake. Not quite an upgrade, 8 1/2 beard, 7/8 spurs, 19 lb 3 oz.
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https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=797266727308531&set=pcb.797266777308526&type=3&__tn__=HH-R&eid=ARBWKbjn89Bj6t0PlOck9K77FFDdNh48qKV8fgPgGWxHyiAc22WyM9h6_UGZG4UUJrLStXGD5ibrEXhh
Its almost like reoccurring nightmare lol. Rain nonstop for days, river at flood stage, worst turkey season ive ever experienced. The flood of 17 wiped out our turkey hatch and we are seeing the results of it this year. then I seen this on facebook, absolutely makes sense cause the spots we know there are birds, nothing. Last week and a half Ive talked to countless people who are good turkey hunters that cant make anything happen or even find any. I'm in that same boat. My honey hole was a very popular spot last Friday. Only bird that really wanted to play the game and some shat for brains shot it somewhere in between. He must have run to his truck, cause I went to go check out the kill spot and I heard his truck very rapidly exiting the woods. he parked bout 60 yards from me on bout 81,000 acres of Mark Twain lol. I'm going to go every chance I get I recon rain or shine to help contribute to the team. Half of that Mark twain they burned right before season and theres not a green speck to be seen to miles. I don't know, got till sunday. Maybe history will repeat itself from the last 2 years.
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Hang in there turkey harvester! I’ve been down to the last minute of the last day and pulled it off. Got my fingers crossed for ya buddy!
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Keep at it. Turkey usually like a freshly burned area.
I shot a nice bird in Kansas, I will get pics and score up when I get
Back to Florida. It was the last morning of our hunt in Kansas.
We had fun, it was a totally different experience. Wide open, glassing fields and
Moving on birds. The guy we hunted with said it was the worst year he has had in a while.
Not seeing many birds and birds are just not working.
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I shot a bird in Kansas on our last day there. The #s have been down and birds are not responding to
Calling, reaping or decoys.
We set up on a property, birds gobbling in every direction. Birds flew down and we watched them For about an hour. We had a Jake walk towards our set up but he would not come in, we watched a couple strutters and hens about 80yds down.
We decided they where not gonna come in, we would have to have someone crawl back in the creek bottom and down the tree line to get close enough for a shot. I crawled what felt like 100 yds but was only about 30 yds. I shot him at about 50 steps, I thought he was closer. Mossberg 500 20gauge with #9 TSS, Carlsons choke and a Burris ff3 did the job on him.
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Finally found a gobbling bird but gosh it's hard to compete with the real thing. Ohhh so close. One day left, gonna try to get tight on him in the morning. Our low numbers and seemingly increased hunter population hasn't helped either. Oh ya, towns bout flooded again. I'm liable to buy me a freakin out of state tag somewhere just to help contribute to the team. I don't think I can remember numbers this low and I'm 50 lol
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Well by far the worst season I can remember in a very long time. Temps were low, rained nonstop, bird numbers incredibly low, and hog numbers way up. Guys I didn't contribute anything this year to the team and I apologize for that. Had a chip shot Saturday, but that little guy on my shoulder said hey buddy its not worth it. I'm not taking a chance on crippling one just to say I killed one. My granddaughter spent second weekend in the hospital and the wife stayed with her. Its been just a screwed up spring here. Anyway you guys stacked em up like cord wood this year. Awesome. MDC needs to pull their heads out of their ars and start worrying about the turkey population and leave the stupid elk alone, and let hunters start killing the pigs that are ruining our woods. They're doing a crappy job of it. Anyway.... sorry folks for not helping our team out.
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Sounds like you tried your best turkey harvester, that is all you can do. It happened to me last year( no bird) and is very aggravating, but that is turkey hunting: especially on public land.
I hope everything goes well with your family, I am praying for your grand daughter.
Anyone else still at it? Should have a couple guys still going.
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We go until the 23rd, I have 1 tag left and I'm saving it for a bird that is living on my farm. He is a big bird (I have trail cam pictures of him) and has out smarted the last 2 weekends. So we will see what happens this weekend.
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I have dealt with a bird like that. You already have 1 down, so the pressure of getting a bird is off.
Looking back, I probably should have given up on him and gone and looked for a bird that wanted to play. Before you know it, the bird will have a name like Einstein and you will hunt him for multiple years. It would have been great to have killed Einstein, but it never happened. Some of Those birds have to be deer hunted, no calling and no decoy, just set up between where they roost and where they want to be.
Good luck, I hope you get him, if not he is gonna need to be named: and you can get after him next year.
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Pics of the bird on my farm(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190508/e0b9cab303111251900dfae2c1b7b0a1.jpg)(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190508/6276ace0c66a99a7972b90bb16885de5.jpg)
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Well guys it finally all came together. Our season has been open for 3 weeks now and I have really been putting in my time, but it just wasn't coming together. I had been seeing gobblers every time out, but they had been unusually tight lipped and with hens every time. I had been regularly seeing the birds transition through a portion of the field that in prior years was pretty devoid of activity. Last Friday I saw three gobblers move through this section and I moved my blind after that hunt so that I was within 20 yards of where they had been crossing. I hunted that location this morning for the first time. I didn't hear any gobbling off the roost (which is unusual), but at about 6:45am a solo hen came into my decoy spread (I had a DSD jake positioned over a DSD lay down hen with another feeder hen off to the side). Shortly after she arrived, two birds started gobbling, one to my east and one to my west. I responded with some yelps and soft purrs from my Halloran Cherry Slate over Glass. I could tell the bird from the east was starting to close the distance. The hen began to move in his direction and eventually moved out of sight, so I gave a few soft purrs to let him know that she wasn't the bird responding. After a few minutes he appeared over my right shoulder about 20 yards away. I grabbed the shotgun which was leaned against the blind and it caused the blind to "shift back into position" slightly. He saw that slight movement of the blind and turned around and disappeared behind me! I was so disappointed in myself, but he didn't seem seriously spooked so I made a few purrs. Two minutes later a gobbler appeared over my left shoulder. He ran in and kicked the crap out my my DSD jake before I shot him at 20 yards. What a fun hunt, but a trying and frustrating season. It felt really good to get one down and he turned out to be a really good bird: 1.5 inch spurs, 10.5 inch beard, and 21 pounds.(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190513/38289ef8718a899d0294b4003b7cace0.jpg)
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Nice! That’s a solid bird!
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Congratulations
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Congrats and nice job. That is a great bird. Do you have Anymore tags left?
John
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Ok team so I let you all down this year and I ask for your forgiveness. I was asked last year to join a small hunting team and started filming our hunts. Although at times it was enjoyable, it was very time consuming and frustrating as well. It is a lot of work! Plus I’m not the kind of guy to push products and being limited to only show certain products in the videos. My biggest regret is selling some of my Brad Roberts calls. Terrible decision but life goes on. I’ve since stepped down from the team but still support them as they are a great group and they love getting youth involved. I’m still generating some scripture posts on FB that goes out every Sunday.
With all that being said, I hope to be asked to be a part of Strut Stoppers 2020!
Here was my season. I was blessed to take both of my sons who punched their tags within 2 days out of the same blind. My oldest son hasn’t hunted in awhile but wanted to spend some time with me so I got him a black sweatshirt and stuck him in the same blind my youngest son harvested from the day before. Then, I harvested a 2 yr old on a different farm on Good Friday. I didn’t have a scale and was too concentrated on getting the right pics and footage for the hunting show and failed to get the pics and measurements for this team.
Last but not least my buddy came in from PA and harvested a bird on his 2nd day here.
I was truly blessed this year and it will be a season I will never forget!!
Chris(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190513/a3b0a57df9815e4638cb16eea56bb323.jpg)
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I know what it is like to get busy: work, family, church.... You keep thinking you will get to it and before you know a large amount of time has passes by.
Its all good and I for one would like to have you back on the team.
Nice job on helping others get some birds. I know for me, it feels just has good to help someone else as it does to be the shooter. Those smiles really say it all.
John
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Man it happens. First time for me too. We would enjoy having you back in the team next spring. Looks like a successful season to me
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Thanks guys!
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I have a upgrade, I finally got the bird on my farm to mess up. :jackson:
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So I have been hunting this bird for the last 3 weeks and he always seems to be a step ahead of me. I had a really good idea of where he was roosting and this morning I got on the ridge early and set down on a tree that over looked a bunch of beech trees and was nice and clear. About the time I thought he should be gobbling I hit the owl call and he gobbled but I couldn't pin point how close he was. So I tried the owl call again and I could now tell he was only 50-60 yards away!! He gobbled about 10 more times and I kept telling myself that there's a really good chance he is going to fly down and land right in the opening in front of me. Well sure enough he flew down and landed 15 yards in front of me but behind 3-4 big beech trees. It took him about 15 seconds to walk from behind the trees and then he got a face full of Federal HW#7s from my 11-87 20ga!!! This is my 2nd biggest bird I have ever killed and to kill a bird of this caliber on my own farm makes it even better!!
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That’s a stud. Congrats. I’m jealous of everyone that’s still hunting!
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Congrats!!
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So I guess he does not get a name?
I am always afraid when I get that close to where they roost.
You Killed that bird with woodsman ship skills, No fancy calls, no fancy decoy... That is how you kill an old bird, nice job.
I 2nd what Dmason3 said, a little jealous.
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Congrats!
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So I guess he does not get a name?
I am always afraid when I get that close to where they roost.
You Killed that bird with woodsman ship skills, No fancy calls, no fancy decoy... That is how you kill an old bird, nice job.
I 2nd what Dmason3 said, a little jealous.
this bird was smart, 2 different times I had him at 50 yards and he would not come any closer. I knew the only way to kill him was to be at the right time and right place.
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Way to stick it out. Goodness that bird has got some hooks!! Congrats!!
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Way to go! That is a great bird!
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had a great early season! limited out in my home state. killed in louisianna on my second day on public land. and I killed on my second day in Oklahoma. had a mexico trip booked for a goulds, unfortunately even though I booked the hunt a year in advance I did not find out my travel arrangements until 4 days before the hunt and had to drive to south mexico…..Things got worse from there. I broke down 4 hours into mexico right after filling up with gas. My fuel pump went out in my truck and 2 guys stopped and helped me replace it on the side of the highway.....total disaster. having no phone service and not knowning whether or not I could finish the trip I borrowed a phone and canceled the hunt. I drove all night to get back across the border...knowning at least if I broke down in the U.S. that I could get a tow truck and have English speaking help. Thankful to get out alive and well. I went to Oregon the second week of may, and there was already poults hatched on the properties I hunted on public land. Spent 5 days there and never heard a single gobbler. walked 30 or more miles on public land there. the only gobbler I saw were on private and they were in large groups indicating to me that there season had pretty much passed by already. I went late in season hoping to avoid pressure.....that was a mistake. Im used to pressure I should have sucked it up and went early but I did get to explore some beautiful country and I saw plenty of blacktail, elk, and even one wolf. Anyway....some tough luck at the end...but I had a great early season. Good luck to those still going, and cant wait to hear from yal next year.
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Jesus, that’s terrifying. Glad to hear you made it out alive
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That would be scary. Where you alone or with a buddy?
John
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totally alone. I work a tough schedule. its hard to plan a trip with friends hardly anywhere.