Turkey hunting forum for turkey hunting tips
ARCHIVED OLD GOBBLER TURKEY HUNTING TEAM CONTESTS => 2020 Old Gobbler Turkey Hunting Team Contest => 2021 Old Gobbler Turkey Hunting Team Contest => Killer B’s => Topic started by: zsully on January 27, 2020, 09:07:33 PM
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I want to try something new this year and maybe this will be helpful for more then just me. It helps me get to know and remember screen names if I can tie it to a story. I want to use this thread for everyone to tell our hunting stories. Successful or not give a little recap of your trips afield and most importantly help us northern folk live vicariously through you guys hunting the south while we twiddle our thumbs till May. In return we will try to keep that fire burning after those seasons in the south are all in the rear view mirror.
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That sounds like a plan right there. Good idea.
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Heck of an idea, Zach !!!
Us Yanks can READ about it for 3 months before it finally gets here.
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Heard one gobble 5 times while deer hunting this morning...hope that helps!
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Heard one gobble 5 times while deer hunting this morning...hope that helps!
I’ll call it a spark. Lol. Maybe not enough to light the fire but at least a spark
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I’ll pop on this first.
I have “Good Friday” as a holiday for work. Usually it lands in the middle of April making it a great excuse to turkey hunt an extra day. In 2018 it was on March 30th. The only game in town was an archery hunt in Nebraska. Somehow, someway I talked my dad into going to southern nebraska with me. It was a place we had never been but the weather in the south looked too promising to pass up. We had as good of weather as you could hope for, and were running into gobbling birds. Most of them were still in their winter flocks so there was a lot of sorting out who was top dog. After a couple failed attempts getting close to gobblers but not being able to get shots off, we were down to our last evening.
I had sent some calls into a river bottom only to be met with nothing. Dad and I found a place on the map where the roads entered the river bottom from the other side. We knew we’d be able to split up and hopefully find some birds for the next day. Not long after splitting up we both heard gobbling and converged back together. The birds of course were on the other side, where we had just came from! I never could pull one into view On the opposite river bank but I stayed until dark and watched the birds fly up. My dad heard birds fly up on his way back to the truck as well. Two different groups of birds with gobblers in them and one morning left.
The next morning I went in stealth to where I watched the birds fly up. My dad went to the field edge where he knew the other birds were. I went for the stealth approach. No decoys, no blind, no nothing. Just my bow and what was in my vest. My dad took decoys and the blind. I started my walk in the pitch darkness and crept along super slow. I knew I was getting close but was too scared to get my phone out to see, for fear of the birds seeing the light. Finally I spotted a blob on a branch about 60 yards away in the predawn light. I knew that these birds were either going to fly down in this small hole I’d found in the timber below their roost, or all the way across the river where they flew up at. I gambled and put myself on the edge of that hole. It was almost too perfect. I realized I was in the hole I had aimed for, the birds were close, and they were unaware of me. At the edge of this hole it was almost as if I was in a duck blind. The deadfall was stacked so that I could stand and look over the top without needing any other concealment.
I went to settle in and heard a putt. I froze and slowly looked up after a minute or so. Almost straight above me was a hen. She was looking very alert as her head shot around, looking all around her. I’ve seen this before and thought for sure she was going to bust but after 3 or 4 minutes she calmed down and actually put her head back under her wing!
As slowly as I could I was able to get turned the right way, get an arrow out and knocked, and get comfortable. If there’s one thing I learned that morning it’s how much longer those birds stay in the tree when it’s colder out. Granted I was there very early but it seemed like forever until they woke up. I was treated with quite the show however. After getting comfortable I was able to spot the gobbler about 40 yards away, as well as many other turkeys spread around. The gobbler was first to wake, sending a raspy good morning gobble out. Almost sounding embarrassed, he hurried with another. This one much more crisp! From then on I was able to watch him go in and out of strut while constantly drumming and gobbling.
After about two hours he was the first to take flight. My heart jumped when he headed right for me but veered to land to my right. I had already ranged that spot and knew he was at about 20 yards. I slowly grabbed my bow and raised it up. He was in full strut with his butt to me allowing me to get in perfect position. He turned and walked from right to left. As he got almost behind a tree I flinched to start drawing but he stopped short of his head being hidden. When he started moving again he turned and walked straight back to the right. For whatever reason I rushed my draw right then thinking he was leaving. He saw movement, came out of strut and started walking away. I put my pin on his back and touched my release only to see it hit a small stick and tumble to the birds left. He took flight and landed in a tall pine about 100 yards away putting his discontent while I had a small temper tantrum. He then took flight again and sailed straight away from me. I walked over, picked up my arrow, sat down, and took it all in. It was time to head home.
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Checked some cams yesterday...got one in full strut with a couple hens. I would be more optimistic getting only a couple hens with him...problem is I know for a fact there are about 15 more in that area. I’ll have my work cut out for me. There are at least two more gobblers in the area so we’ll see how it goes. Our youth weekend is less that a month away and I’ll get to hunt the week after. Right now I’m tracking 7 gobblers on camera so there should be enough opportunities to get on one.
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Now that’s a hell of a story Trent. Great read and it really gets me jacked up to go out west.
Here’s one from last year too.
2019 started off on fire for Adam and I. We both killed birds on opening day and Adam filled his second tag on a hunt before work in the beginning of the second week. I had one tag left but hoped to extend the season so threw out an invite to my cousin who accepted then bailed the night before. Big mistake.
The morning found us on one of our favorite farms at the top of a hill. This is a relatively small woodlot surrounded on 3 sides by fields. At first light we heard a gobble on the far west side of the farm and closed the distance as much as we could. We set up 20 yards inside the woods and this bird was gobbling hard about 175 yards straight across the field. Our setup is perfect, we’re just uphill, sun at our back, comfortable tree and the gobbler is all by his lonesome. It was probably 5:30am and I was already thinking about coffee and celebratory breakfast at Alice’s diner. And that bird gobbled..........6:00 we find him in the tree.....gobble......6:30am passes.......he’s going to pitch out of that tree any minute..... gobble......gobble........7:00 still in the tree....... gobble...... gobble..... gobble........ 7:30 my butt is numb.......gobble..... we will show him, Adam sneaks back to the top of the hill and walks around calling.......gobble gobble gobble.........7:45 Adam comes back. Birds is still in the tree. 8:15......holy $!!@! he just flew down........8:45 ......did he land in concrete? He hasn’t moved more than 20 feet. We have to get him to see the decoy. Adam army crawls to the edge of the field and sets the decoy. I let out a few yelps. That bird who hadn’t moved all morning went into full strut and started coming quick. He ended up blowing right past the decoy and came into the woods to my right. With all the brush I could see him but I could hear him walking and he was close. I saw a big red head come around a patch of briars. He was about 3 yards. He putted and turned to run up the hill and I swung and shot killing him at about 15 yards. At the shot there was a gobble. Not far but not real close either. We collected the bird and he was a dandy and there was another gobble. This time it was clear that there was more than 1 bird and they were much closer. We sat down and decided to see what happened. We called a little more and what happened next was one of the most amazing things I’ve witnessed in the spring woods. Four longbeards strutted, gobbled and drummed their way past us at about 12 yards. Marched right down to the decoy, beat it up then marched right back up the hill past us again where they met up with two hens. The whole time gobbling and carrying on.
Man I can’t wait for spring.
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I’m gettin jacked up now! Great story sully!
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Love the stories guys. Here's one from my second hunt of the year last year.
March 15th, the MS opener, didn't produce any gobbles. It was windy, the woods were still wide open, and gobblers were roosting with their harem of hens. The next day proved to be calmer.
On the morning of March 16th, I walked through a clearing in the cover of darkness to arrive at my starting point, a high knob on a winding ridge in the hardwoods. I sat down with my back against a big white oak and waited for the woods to come alive. To my surprise, nothing gobbled on the limb. I could hear a long ways in each direction, and still nothing. I owled, and was immediately answered by multiple owls. They began to cause quite a racket, and at least 5 different owls began flying an acrobatic pattern all around me, and a couple lit in the tree above me. Despite all the noise they were making, no turkeys gobbled.
After about an hour and a half of waiting, a gobble sounded off from the bottom to my right. The first gobble of the year, and man it sure sounded good on this crisp morning. I gave a few clucks, but the gobbler did not respond. 5 minutes later, a pair of gobbles rang out, this time to my left. It was not long before I saw 2 longbeards walking in the bottom and up and over a smaller finger ridge to my left roughly 100 yards. They too did not respond to my calling.
As the gobblers to my left disappeared behind the crest of the finger ridge to my left, me ears were met with a "sphttt, vroom, sphtt, vrooooom." The turkey to my right was drumming, and it was deafening. After 10 minutes of listening to this, the other 2 turkeys to my left gobbled in the bottom on the other side of the finger ridge. I had a decision to make, stay put and hope the strutting turkey to my right comes in, or make a move on the 2 gobbling turkeys to my left? I chose the latter and quickly dropped off the ridge to my left and moved 80 yards, positioning myself where I could shoot as soon as the gobblers crested the finger ridge they had earlier walked over.
My first cluck and yelps were met with a thundering gobble from the strutting turkey that was now directly behind me, in the bottom on the other side of the large ridge I had just descended. He did not like his hen going to meet up with the competition. 30 seconds later, he gobbled on his own again, this time on top of the ridge, directly beside the tree where I had started the morning.
I was facing directly away from this turkey, and my heart was pounding as I heard the rattle of his chest. I let out a few clucks and immediately heard the "crunch, crunch, crunch" of a 2 legged animal walking down the ridge through the crisp leaves. I thought he was going to come on the right side of the tree, and turned my head to face 3:00. He stopped and gobbled at less than 10 yards away, with nothing between him and myself except the tree between us. The gobble about blew my hat off.
I heard his footsteps, along with 2 other pair of footsteps, and they were going to my left. My head was still turned to my right in the 3:00 position. I remained motionless as the footsteps walked less the 5 yards to the left of me. I slowly began turning my head when the footsteps were in front of me at the 11:00 position. So slowly I turned my head, and finally could see a sight to behold. 2 subordinate gobblers, heads void of noticeable color, going about their business, and 10 yards away, in the admirable periscope position, stood the boss of the group.
He was standing in a beam of sunlight, his head as vibrant red as I have ever seen. It was only a fraction of a second, but that moment will forever be engrained in my memory. He caught my movement, putted, and tucked his wings and turned tail to leave me. I quickly shouldered my gun and shot him through a small opening at 30 yards. It felt odd shooting at the back of a turkey's head, but he fell forward, stone dead, as if he had tripped and landed face first.
It was a picture perfect start to the season. I saw 5 different gobblers, and was lucky enough to carry one out. I eventually caught up to one of his brothers on April 16th, but that's a story for a different day.
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April 15, 2016. It was my last season hunting on Fort Benning, Georgia before I retired from the military. Here’s the story on the day I wrote it....
This past week here on Fort Benning has been tough. Not many areas have been open due to training, and most of the ones that have been open were bow only. The area where I shot one awhile back was one of the bow only spots, and I really wanted to get back in there. I figured if nothing else maybe I could hear one and try him with a gun next week if it was open.
This morning I was greeted with clouds and a strong wind. I almost stayed home but since I was up anyway I grabbed my bow and headed out the door. I parked my truck and walked to the food plot, found a spot, and set up my stake blind. I took a few limbs and filled in the holes so I could hide a little better, even though I didn't think it would do me any good. I placed a lone hen decoy (yea yea...I know) 19 yards from me. Since the ground was wet from the rain yesterday I unbuckled the seat from my vest, nocked an arrow, plopped down and set my bow at my feet. I figured if I heard one I would go ahead and raise to my knees and get ready.
As daylight approached the woods came alive, but no gobbles. After about 15 minutes I looked to my right and 30 yards away in the food plot I see this bird walking towards me. The grass on this plot is about knee high, but since I'm sitting down all I can see is his head. He looked like a mature bird from his head, and when he went into full strut his fan confirmed it. Unfortunately for me I'm stuck sitting on my butt and bow out of reach. How in the world am I going to pull this off?
He stayed in full strut and got to 15 yards. He spun away from me, covering his head. I leaned forward and grabbed my bow off the ground, only to have him turn back to face me. So here I am, bent over with my bow barely off the ground, and I can't move. He moves in to 9 yards, and I'm peering through the holes in the netting trying to keep an eye on him. His drumming is so loud is sounds like a cannon going off. He finally eases towards the decoy...
He walks behind a tree and I know this is my only shot. I raise to my knees and begin to draw my bow. The gobbler hears me move and comes out of his strut. He takes two steps to the right of the tree and faces away from me. I put my pin at the base of his tail feathers and let it go. The arrow smacks him, and he runs 10 yards before falling over like a whitetail! I couldn't believe it..I half heartedly expected to miss and watch the bird fly off to parts unknown. But there he lay no more than 30 yards from my blind.
This morning's hunt is one I will never forget. This is my first time to even attempt to shoot at a turkey with a bow, much less being able to take one home with me. His beards were 10 3/4", 8 5/8", and 6 3/4". His spurs were 7/8" with one being really curved and he weighed 20 lbs. He's my first multi bearded bird as well. I honestly don't know if I'll be able to top this one!
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Great stories guys!
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I’m tellin ya, yalls stories sound like they came straight from a book. I enjoy readin em. I can tell you one about a bird from last year that I’ll never forget but it ain’t gonna sound nothin like yalls.
April 30th of last year goin for the last bird for GA’s season. I was in the same battle with the same bird as I have been for this was 4 years now. In the 4 years I’ve hunted him, I’ve seen him 5 times and shot and missed him once left handed (came around my bad side and couldn’t get turned around) I just couldn’t ever seem to get the advantage on him. Ole boy was smart, a lot smarter than me. This is honestly the hardest bird I’ve ever hunted and the hardest that I hope I’ll ever do hunt. I called him the Ole Chattahoochee Legend.
I climbed up to a ridge top around the area he always roosted at before dark that mornin just to listen, just hoping another bird besides him would gobble. Hoping I could get on a fresher bird and that didn’t already know my tactics haha. On this ridge top you can see forever and hear everything for a long ways. Well...he was the only bird that gobbled that mornin and he was gobblin like crazy, I always knew it was the same bird because he had a rattle almost like a cough at the end of his gobble. So here I go makin my way back down to where he was at, just already in disappointment because I already knew how this was gonna go. Or thought I did anyways.
I get snuck on down to where he’s at and I can see him, he’s still in the tree with 3 hens around him to his left and their tree yelpin real soft and I’m to his right. I’m maybe within 80-90 yards from him at this point. I made a few tree yelps just to let him know there’s another hen around him and he gobbles back, I didn’t make a sound after that. The hens fly down about 120 yards away from him without a cackle and don’t say anything when they hit the ground. He didn’t gobble as they flew down or when they hit the ground. I pulled out an old wing and did a fly down, with no cackle. As it sounded like I hit the ground I made a few soft yelps and he gobbled back. The leaves are green on the trees this time of year so i just started walkin off away from him slowly as if the hen had already lost interest or she has better places to be. I thought to myself, I hadn’t tried this yet so we’ll see, it ain’t gonna hurt. I made it half way up a ridge away from him and made a few soft calls and he gobbles back and I can hear him fly down. He flew down towards me. I make it to the top of the ridge and call again well he gobbles and daggum he’s on me. $h!t I gotta sit down somewhere, I can’t believe this. I crest on over the top of this ridge and scratch the leaves out from under a big oak as I sit down. He gobbles again and he ain’t 50 yards from me but just on over the crest of that top I was on. I can hear him walkin, then I see his white head then his white waddles then his whole body and he’s in full strut. He gobbles again right on me and spits and drums. He’s maybe 38-40 yards now. I send it and he goes to floppin. Now why couldn’t it have been like this all along? Thank you Lord.
Ole boy had a 12 3/8 beard and 1 1/8 spurs and almost solid black in color. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200211/8ba367538a4d6e28ff13732649894c02.jpg)
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Horrible at telling stories, but 2 years ago I was set up well before light at a spot I'd taken a bird the prior 2 years very early, shortly off the roost. Couple light calls and they've come right in - picture perfect. It's a little cul-de-sac looking clearing in the back of this property, bordering a big swamp.
This time, as in the past, as the woods wake up and the sun starts to break, I hear gobbling. I'm thinking, this is going to be another cake walk. I make a couple very light purrs and he answers me right back with a gobble. I put the call down and just wait, I'm already thinking about breakfast back at home.
Probably about 30 minutes go by and I'm assuming the birds are on the ground by now, and then I hear a hen start yelping between me and the gobbler - now I'm thinking "CRAP", she's going to take him away. I hit the call again hoping I can bring her in, and sure enough shortly after here come 2 hens. The hens make their way into my decoys and are just feeding around my jake and hen. I've yet to hear the gobbler again, but out of the corner of my eye I see him down in the woods at about 70 yards, full strut, just walking back and forth, back and forth, in full strut. This goes on for about an HOUR. He's not coming any closer, and after the hens feed around for a while, they start to make their way back the other direction where they came from, and the gobbler follows. I'm running through my mind what I can do, or could have done, as I watch this huge bird walk out of my life. As they leave and I can barely even see them anymore down through the woods, I start cutting like crazy on my call, what do I have to lose now. As I finish doing this, I hear footsteps to my right, CLOSE, and coming closer. I set the call down slowly on my leg, and start to turn my head to the right as slow as I possibly can, and to my surprise there are 2 longbeards walking in towards my decoys at about 10 STEPS. They were at about my 4 o'clock when I saw them, and I'm thinking now, how the heck am I going to pull this off??? (I'm right handed). I spot a close tree that they're going to walk behind, and as they do, I start to switch my gun to try to shoulder it left handed, and my calls falls off my leg, hits another call on the ground as it falls, and my heart sinks, but somehow the birds didn't seem to see or hear it. I get my gun up left handed finally, and as the first one pops out from behind this tree, I shoot and drop him! Not having my gun fully shouldered, and left handed, it almost knocked me out of my turkey chair and dropped me too, but I didn't care at the time.
Anyways, I'm assuming these were subordinate birds sneaking in, and there was nothing special or crazy about this bird, typical 2yr old, but it was a crazy hunt, the closest bird I've ever shot (9 steps), and the latest I've ever shot a bird - 10:30am, and the biggest roller coaster I've had in the turkey woods, going from watching a bird all morning, then watching him walk off, as I turn around and watch 2 more walk in. I also blew a 2" sapling in half, so I'm still not sure how I even hit the bird, lol.
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Here's one from just this past December. I picked up a brand new place to deer hunt in October, RIGHT before bow season started. I put boots on the ground quick and threw up a few trail cameras to see what was around.
To my surprise, aside from several nice bucks, I had several nice gobblers continuously on my cameras as well. Throughout deer season, I kept seeing these gobblers, I'd see them in the field as I was walking in, they'd pop out in the field while I was in my treestand, they were very visible throughout October and November as I was deer hunting.
After killing a couple nice bucks at this place, I decided to try to see if I could kill one of these birds once our fall season came back in in December. I've never hunted turkeys in the fall, knew they weren't going to respond to typical calling, but I thought I'd try to see if I could possibly piss one off enough to come in to my jake decoy.
The afternoon of December 2nd I climbed up into my same deer stand overlooking this cut bean field, the same stand I'd already taken 2 nice bucks out of, and put my jake decoy out in the field about 20 yards away. The tree I'm in is huge, and is facing the field with my back to the woods - fortunately, because I forgot my camo jacket, AND we're required to wear blaze orange in the fall. I'm hoping that since my back is to where they'd come from, and up in the air, that this huge tree would hide me well enough.
3:30 I let out a few gobbles on my gobble shaker tube - nothing. 4 o'clock - same thing, nothing. 4:30 or so if I remember correctly, I gobbled again, thinking this is ridiculous and will never work. Then I hear what sounds like elephants running through the woods, coming RIGHT towards me from behind. I could tell exactly what it was, and grabbed my gun off the hook and aimed it under me right at the field edge. To my amazement, out RUNS THREE longbeads heading directly towards my decoy. Here is where I wish'd I had more patience to see what kind of show they would have put on, but instead I picked the lead bird and shot him on the run as they headed towards my decoy. After picking my jaw up off the ground, I climbed down and recovered my first fall bird, that I gobbled in, lol.
(https://i.ibb.co/s637jhh/59744673299-00270-FA5-526-A-40-CB-ABA9-E719560-F5-C22.jpg)
(https://i.ibb.co/jvHb3fh/IMG-5709.jpg)
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This is awesome guys! Getting me pumped and it’s not even mid February! Going to be a long couple of months!
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Loving all these stories and can't wait to be chasing gobblers. I suppose I should join in on the fun.
My story is a tale of the last 3 youth seasons. Now these aren't your standard stories, because it never seems to happen like this during the regular season.
I met a youngster at my church fish fry. He was 13 years old when we met and had never hunted turkey's before. I helped him get all setup with the appropriate gear and started talking turkey with him every Friday. As April approached, I started taking him out to scout for birds on Saturday mornings. We had several birds located on multiple properties I could hunt. I found this one farm that has a huge field with some timber to the east and south, and another GIANT field to the South. On the days I would scout before work, I continued to see huge flocks of birds, and at one point I counted over 20 gobblers in the field. You read the correctly, over 20 gobblers. I knew where we would be setup for his first hunt.
First Hunt: We get setup in a blind, well before sunrise. As it starts to get lighter out, I start to hear hens, and then the gobbling starts. Gobble after gobble starts echoing through the timber behind us. A short while later, the hens start to pitch out in the field in front of us about 80 yards. Hen after hen. As I'm watching the birds rain down over us, trying to find a gobbler, I look up the hill to our left to see two gobblers doing that mean run right to our decoys that are setup at about 10 yards. They came in and put on a show. They wouldn't separate as they continued to beat the crap out of my Jake decoy. Once they finally broke up, BOOM! Bird down. Solid first bird with a 10" beard and 1" spurs. His first hunt lasted 45 minutes. I told him that all hunts aren't like this.
Second Hunt: Season rolls around again and we find ourselves out scouting birds, to find a pile of birds again on the same farm. Knowing how difficult it was to haul the blind up the massive hill from the previous season, I went out the day before the youth opener and set the blind up all the way at the top. Probably 100 yards from last years setup. The morning of, I go and pick him up, drive out to the spot (which is only about 15 mins from his house), and as we were getting out he said he forgot his license. Beat feet back to his house, grab his license, and get back to the spot. As we were walking up, light was starting to brighten the horizon, and I was worried because I knew the birds weren't roosted far. Get in the blind, and as soon as we got situated, the first gobble lets out about 60 yards. As the lights kissed the sky, he sees birds fly down. He could see 3 gobblers strutting about 50 yards away to our left. I called a few times, and they start making their way to us. One pops out of the woods at about 20 yards, and he shoots and misses. Bird vanishes over the hill, and he thought his hunt was blown. I look out, and sure enough this bird comes back over the hill in full strut at about 40 yards. He gets the gun up and BOOM! Bird down. Couldn't believe it worked out that way. Yet again, the boy is tagged out in about an hour of hunting. I swore to him this isn't how it always goes.
Third Hunt: Last year, youth day again. Same scenario. Scout for birds and find them. This year I wanted to take him somewhere different in hopes of a little more challenging hunt. Picked up permission on a new place where I had consistently been seeing 7 gobblers. Night before season we try to go roost some birds. Get to the spot, and birds are in the field. I wanted to get a good viewing point, so I went to the tower that overlooks where these birds are. Come up over the hill and a flock of turkeys where right there. Birds scattered everywhere, but I happened to see one gobbler head down to the bottom of this pasture. Zach was with me this time. We picked him up opening morning, and headed out. Went to the pasture and got everything setup in the blind. It had just started to get light, and we heard him gobble about 120 yards away, down in the corner of the pasture. Shortly after that first gobble, I saw a hen, and then he flew down. He saw the decoy and strutted the whole 100 yards, right to us, without even making a call. BOOM! Blasted him at about 8 yards. 11" beard with 1 1/2" Hooks.
3 years in a row, and didn't even have 3 hours of hunting Turkeys under his belt. Needless to say, he loves to turkey hunt.
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Hey guys Alton here really enjoying the stories y’all are sharing and on a positive note I seen 7 strutters the other day
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Here’s one that isn’t turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I’m about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.
The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.
The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They’re big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they’re 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn’t take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it’s just a second.
Wow that’s burning fast......and hot. Dang it’s hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there’s not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I’m dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.
That’s when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There’s no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.
(https://i.ibb.co/b2CB8pX/915-BC978-4665-4-F29-994-B-60702302857-F.jpg)
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Here’s one that isn’t turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I’m about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.
The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.
The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They’re big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they’re 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn’t take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it’s just a second.
Wow that’s burning fast......and hot. Dang it’s hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there’s not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I’m dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.
That’s when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There’s no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.
(https://i.ibb.co/b2CB8pX/915-BC978-4665-4-F29-994-B-60702302857-F.jpg)
Haha what a day.
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Hahaha!!!!! That is great! Glad everything turned out alright so we can laugh about it now!
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Since I'm sitting at a computer and not trying to type this out on my phone, I figured I'd type up another story. It's the meat and potatoes of my Iowa trip last year. A trip I'd been wanting to take for a long time, trying to match wits with a public land eastern gobbler. For those that don't remember, I live in Wyoming and up until last year, all my hunts were western states merriams and rios.
I had 10 days blocked off for this trip. Before I left, I told everybody that killing one on day 3 or 4 would be perfect. Let me go figure some stuff out, struggle, and then be successful with plans on hunting my way back across Nebraska. I was in birds right away....literally. When i got to the big block of public I'd be hunting it was raining so I just decided to drive around and familiarize myself with the place, the roads, etc. My #1 spot on the map had a gobbler out on a field edge. The field was private but the woods behind him were public. It was great to immediately see birds doing nothing but internet scouting. I made a play on him and actually blew him out of the tree that evening. There was still an hour of daylight left and I never looked in the tree as I didn't think he'd be in it. But he was. With that hour left I beat feet to a ridge I had marked that was not far away where I knew would be a great listening point. It was and I heard one bird I thought was on public, and I either heard the bird I just blew out of the tree, or one that was very close to him.
Regardless, on the first morning I had birds all around me. I had way too much indecisiveness as there were 5 or so birds gobbling and I didn't know my way around the woods in the dark. It costed me as one gobbler pitched down across the field, and the others kept to the woods. I was below all of the birds in the woods and across the field from the only one working the edge. After blowing the first round, I scrambled to get close to a bird that was still on the roost and got to within 80 yards or so of him when he flew down. I lost track of him after he pitched down and picked my way through the woods not hearing anything but eventually spotted another (or maybe the same one) gobbler on a different field edge, just off public land. I snuck up to the edge and clucked at him and he hammered right back. I cut and called some more and he hammered again. I quickly gave him one more series to which he gobbled to and I snuck back into the woods waiting for him to cut the distance. He never did. After 45 minutes or so I snuck back up to that field edge and he was gone. Hungry, I started back to the truck and busted at least 2 more quiet gobblers. Chalk it up to a just a plain screw up, being in a new area, rookie mistake, or any of the sorts, I just busted at least 3 gobblers off of one ridge.
Driving around mid day I did spot one other public land gobbler, along with another gobbler a shed hunter told me about that I never did see, and a private land gobbler that was between 2 pieces of public. The other public land bird busted at the site of my truck so I never did get a good bead on him and that evening I snuck in from another direction trying to get those birds from the morning roosted. I never did hear any gobbling that evening but regardless, I did have options. None of them, however, seemed any better than what I experienced that morning and I knew they were still in the area.
The next morning I did the same thing, but knowing the land a little better I set up at a funnel point where I saw the only field bird cross the day before. I don't believe I heard any gobbling that morning but I sat for a couple hours. Another hunter snuck up behind me so we chatted about what our plans were and I decided it was time to move. He went to my right (south) and I headed straight ahead for the ridge I busted all the longbeards off the day before. Creeping up the spine of the ridge I was extra careful that morning. As soon as I could see over the knob of the hill I stopped and scanned the timber. In front of me I saw a tail fan come to full strut about 40 yards out. I could not believe my eyes and KNEW this was my chance. His head was behind a big oak tree and he was completely oblivious to me. I snuck up another 5 yards (maybe) and knelt down at the ready for when he moved from that spot. I was caught between trying to call to move him, moving for a better angle, or just being patient. As bad as I wanted to act I just stayed patient, knowing that when he moved he was mine unless he went straight away. Maybe 2 minutes into this waiting game 2 more gobblers came over a small rise right towards my bird that was in full strut. This caused him to take a few steps forward. In doing so I saw for the first time that he was 100% a longbeard. I settled my bead, pulled the trigger, he flopped and the others started flogging him. I let that go for about 5 seconds before I had to go see my FIRST hard earned eastern.
I was tagged out on day 3 with 7 days left of hunting and traveling ahead of me. Those stories will have to wait for another day!
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That’s a great story. I hope we have similar success when we head west to Nebraska and Kansas this spring.
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Here’s one that isn’t turkey hunting related at all but looking back now is pretty funny. This happened at my residence and the events I’m about to share are not exaggerated.......at all.
The date is February 23, 2020, in Pennsylvania the day dawned (after I had my full quota of coffee and checked OG) at a beautiful 50 degrees. This is completely unheard of in southwest Pa for this time of the year and like any archery/pheasant/deer/grouse/turkey hunter I had completely neglected my yard duties this past fall. With nothing on the schedule for today and that extra cup of coffee boosting my motivation I dawned my favorite pair of work pants and headed outside. These pants are those special pants that have history and every grease stain, paint streak, and thread bare spot has been earned over years of sweat, blood and tears.
The first goal was to get rid of those pesky dead decorative grasses that my wife likes so much. These things suck. They’re big tall and only look half decent for about two days in the spring. Now they’re 6 foot tall, brown and super dead. So down they come but now I need to burn all the stems and the root balls. First victim is standing in the mulch bed all by himself, badly wounded from a recent battle with a weed whacker. It shouldn’t take much to finish him off. I put the 8 inch stick lighter in my teeth and began my approach. There was no need to be stealthy, so I jumped into action and ran over there (more like a slow walk), lifted the lighter high and plunged it deep into the heart of the decorative grasses flesh. With a click the spark ignited the grass. Like most men, I enjoy stepping back and admiring my handy work and for some reason lighting fire is one of those things I always feel the need to step back and admire even if it’s just a second.
Wow that’s burning fast......and hot. Dang it’s hot. Then it happened. A slight gust of wind sent some embers skipping across the mulch and into the yard.. The yards pretty dead but there’s not much to burn. Better grab the rake anyways. This time I walked with a quickness to the garage and grab the rake. When I got back the fire had just barely started in the yard. I went to stomp and rake the grass that was on fire. One swift flick of the rake and it breaks in two. All the sudden I’m dancing around surrounded by fire. Shoot I need the hose. Back to the garage.....I come out with the hose over my shoulder doing my best impression of a fireman. It had only been thirty seconds maybe a minute. My front yard was blazing!!!!!!!! I ran to the top of my sidewalk closest to the house, lifted the nozzle and pressed the trigger. I was met with a loud snap and a jet stream of water smacking me in the face. I get the nozzle off and used my thumb to control the water and start fighting the blaze. In about 30 seconds everything was under control.
That’s when I felt it.......a cool breeze not unlike what you feel wearing a pair of shorts in the summer. But I have my favorite jeans on. One look down confirmed it. At some point during the battle I blew the crotch clean out of my favorite jeans. There’s no saving them. So in the first 30 minutes outside today I broke a rake, caught my yard on fire, destroyed a hose nozzle and blew out the crotch of my favorite jeans. I think There are two morals to this story. 1. Never drink that extra cup of motivational coffee and 2. Yard work is overrated and I should stick to turkey hunting.
(https://i.ibb.co/b2CB8pX/915-BC978-4665-4-F29-994-B-60702302857-F.jpg)
They say that controlled burns are good for turkeys...………… So, I would assume a SEMI-controlled burn would be SEMI-good for them. Maybe try hunting in your yard this year. Hahahaha !!!!!
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More of a photo essay than a story...……...but there's a moral to it all.
If you were a Killer B member last year, you may be familiar with my best turkey huntin' buddy in the world...……...my daughter, Shawnee...……..better known as Pickle.
She started going listening pre-season with me pretty young. Here is a scouting trip from early April, 2014. She was 9 years old.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604169072_b34d461896_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603912946_9172aea976_b.jpg)
Youth Day 2016...……. Our first serious try at turkey hunting. 11 years old.
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604130197_1d9c00b354_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604130817_a7c397bf9a_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603873471_20341da11f_b.jpg)
Youth Day 2017...………
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604144432_73bbb7b9c9_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603403723_dee4e38abc_b.jpg)
Youth Day 2018...……...
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603867516_329e3b1ba3_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603366468_4eda341879_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604124342_4c691ceaaa_b.jpg)
Youth Day 2019...…………
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604157397_fbfb5eeb02_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49603396393_a17d0aae92_b.jpg)
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/49604188982_2e56562917_b.jpg)
Boys...……………. Where DO the time go ?????
If you have kids and they take ANY sort of interest in your passion for the turkey woods...……...get 'em out there NOW !!! Treasure EVERY second !!! Take LOTS of pics of ALL your times afield. It won't last forever, as much as any of us wish it would...…….
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Dang Don, I feel like I just watched your daughter grow up. That’s fantastic. My oldest (5) is really starting to get into hunting and my youngest (2) wants to do everything his brother does. I’m hoping it leads to two lifetime hunting buddies for me.
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Awesome story POk3's!!! As Zsully said, hopefully we have a similar experience out west.
That's great Yoder! Appears you have a lifetime hunting buddy, and she clearly a good shot. Those are all great birds.
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Thank you guys. Been trying to add pics and forgot how big of a pain that is! Mine are never the right format so I went and formatted some and still a no go.
I remember all the pickle stories from years past! Great stuff!
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She’s a turkey killer for sure! My boy is 20 now and doesn’t hunt as much as he used to so you better enjoy it while you can!
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Dang Don, I feel like I just watched your daughter grow up.
Yeah...........
I'm pretty well known for being about as emotionless as they come. I started getting a lump in my throat as I posted those pics........
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I didn’t hear any gobbles today in South Florida. Put my eyes on a big gobbler but unfortunately he caught a glimpse of me. Gonna be back after him in the morning. Based on sign there’s 3-4 I can chase. I’ll keep y’all posted!
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And so it begins. Good luck and keep us posted
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Good luck man...hope to see some pics tomorrow!
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Keep them coming...
Hopefully I’ll have a few to add to this when season comes in here in PA!
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Good luck, Delmar!!! I'll be looking forward to the update.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200308/d5785195b5b9980c6ed581c32a19573e.jpg)
I’m so blessed to have been able to kill my first Osceola at 12:30 today in Big Cypress. He’s a Jake, so I won’t be posting a score for him, but I’m more proud of this turkey than any I’ve shot.
After not hearing any gobbles all day, and walking in some of the thickest stuff you could imagine, I decided to gear down and methodically hunt over sign I found. After 45 minutes or so, I was ready to move to the next spot, but peaked down the trail before I stood up and there stood a hen.
One yelp and she sprinted dead at me, stopping at 5 feet. After this encounter, I decided to stay put and really stepped on my call. 10 minutes later this guy and his buddy come over my right shoulder at 8 feet, clucking and causing a racket I let him walk to 30 yards before I shot.
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That’s awesome man! Congrats on the bird!
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Way to go man, CONGRATS!!!
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Thanks guys! All morning I was really starting to feel in way over my head. Turkey hunting sure is a humbling sport, but it can go from bad to good in a split second
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Congrats Delmar!!! Way to stick with it. That’s a great hunt.
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That's awesome man! Congratulations, Delmar!
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Thanks guys! All morning I was really starting to feel in way over my head. Turkey hunting sure is a humbling sport, but it can go from bad to good in a split second
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Folks who have never hunted turkeys don’t understand. What works one day may not work the next. Or it may work 10 times in a row and then you get shut out the next 20. If a turkey could smell I don’t think I’d ever kill one!
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Atta boy, Delmar !!!!!!!!
CONGRATS !!!!!!
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Alright Delmar!!!! Congratulations on your first Osceola!
You’ve killed far more turkeys than me but I think that’s a great lesson for all of us. We all know how to kill turkeys, we just need to trust ourselves to reassess, take a step back, and make the right moves. I know for me, sometimes I go on tilt and start going too fast thinking “well let’s go check here...and way over there...and maybe there’s some this way.” All of the sudden 2 days have passed and I did nothing but nervously and quickly see the sites.
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Great job delmar! That’s a fine looking bird.
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200329/313aa0e674bbb27969d27de031365c48.jpg)
Was able to connect with this 2 year old bird at 10:45 this morning. I’ll post the story and score later this evening. Very blessed!
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Congrats Delmar
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Congrats Delmar!!!! That’s awesome. You’re killing me. I still have a month before I can hunt in Pa
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YES!!! Delmar strikes again! Congrats buddy.
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Thanks guys! So here's for a long winded story. I'm currently in my second year of law school at Ole Miss, and with all the coronavirus precautions, we've been moved to all online classes and the grades have been changed to pass/fail. These changes have allowed me to hunt every day it's not storming, and for that I am very fortunate.
The past few weeks have been a struggle, to say the least. It's always rough here in MS early season, with birds having lots of hens and are generally tight lipped once they hit the ground. Even then, I've been with 75 or so yards of a bird 5-6 times, and have had one at 40 yards, just on the wrong side of the property line, and also had a bird I was working killed by somebody else on Wednesday. As I'm sure all of yall can relate, these close calls, coupled with the days where I just strike out completely, make me feel like I completely forgot everything I know about turkey hunting.
This morning was Day 19 for me, and my best friend who hasn't turkey hunted accompanied me. Today's forecast was perfect: sunny, calm, and in the high 60s after an overnight thunderstorm. This was by far the best day we've had, and I thought it would bring a change in attitude to a bird or two. We only heard one bird on the roost, and as so often happens, he went quite shortly after flydown.
We decided to check out another spot around 9:30. I made a point to take the long way around to the back of the property line to not bump anything walking in. When we got to where I wanted to start on the ridge, we were met with a cacophony of dogs barking, doors slamming, and all other kinds of racket coming from the adjoining private property. I was pretty discouraged to say the least. We still decided to ease our way down this main ridge. After about 100 yards, I cut twice and gave a 5 note yelp. He cut me off after the 4th.
He was 100-120 yards away on a small finger than ran off the main ridge. My buddy and I quickly picked a couple trees and sat down on the south side of the main ridge, facing the finger. I gave a steady dose of purrs, clucks, and whines when we first sat down. He did not respond to any of my calls a second time. After 10 minutes, I see a hen walking on top of the main ridge towards us. I just knew she had the gobbler in tow. My belief was mistaken, as she was by herself and after gazing in our direction from 30 yards, decided she didn't like the fact she couldn't see her friend, and she began clucking as she walked over the crest into the bottom on the north side of the ridge.
I started clucking back, and she eventually calmed down and threw some yelps in with her clucks. The gobbler immediately responded to her. He had gone over the ridge 100 yards ahead where the finger joined the main and was now just over the crest approximately 60-70 yards. I told my buddy I needed to get to the big tree on top of the ridge, and ditched my vest as I made the 30 yard crawl. When I reached the tree, I let out one series of yelps and he immediately fired back. At this point I knew this was gonna end in either a dead or spooked turkey. I did not make another sound. He was close.
There was a small sapling directly in front of me at the 12:00 position, and I had left my pruners in my vest, now abandoned 30 yards behind me. So I put my barrel on the right side, towards his last location, and hoped for the best.
This turkey started drumming, and it was deafening. I knew he was right over the crest. After five minutes of this, I finally see the top of his fan, just 30 yards away. He has worked his way down the ridge to my 9:00 position. I now needed to get my gun barrel to the left side of this sappling.
He'd pop out of strut and periscope, and all I could see was his waddles up. I just knew the game was about to be up as he stared daggers in my direction. Then he would pop into strut, drop his head, and I would just see the top of his fan again. Every time he did this, I worked my gun his direction. After 5-6 times of him doing this, I finally had my gun positioned. I kee keed and his head came up for the final time. I probably skimmed the top of the crest with my pattern, but it was effective nonetheless. He made for a perfect turkey hunt that ended at 10:45 am, and sure lifted my spirits after struggling the past few weeks, and it was awesome to experience it with my best friend.
Sorry for the long winded story guys. I look forward to the rest of the season and hearing all of y'alls stories. Stay safe and God Bless!
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200330/d49ad6c8bad4530ed6aa5a80458b7501.jpg)
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Awesome job Delmar!!! Congratulations on OFFICIALLY breaking the ice for the team and getting back on track!!
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AWESOME! CONGRATS!!!
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Congrats Delmar. Real good bird. Love when it works out like it’s supposed to!
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(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200402/bd852783797477fb3ab47cc63858e345.jpg)
Was able to score on a nice 2 year old today at noon. Watched him strut and breed his hens at 80 yards for about 2 hours before he headed my way. It was a hell of a show. He scored like .2 less than my other bird, so no upgrade there.
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Look at you just pouring it on now!!!!! Man that gets me pumped up.
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That's freaking awesome man!! 3 birds down already, and we still have a month until we can hunt in PA. Congratulations, Delmar!!
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Just shot a nice 2 year old a few minutes ago. It has been tough this year as the majority of the birds I had moved on to other properties...I’ll post the pics and story later on. It’s about time!
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Just shot a nice 2 year old a few minutes ago. It has been tough this year as the majority of the birds I had moved on to other properties...I’ll post the pics and story later on. It’s about time!
Congrats
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This season has been tough for me. Most of the gobblers I had before the season opened vanished to parts unknown. I had two that stuck around on one property but I let my dad get after those. He’s 71 and this piece of property is close to the house so it would be easier for him to get on them.
The other property had 3 but then only one would show up on camera. They would not gobble at all and his movement was so random...different hours and different days. I checked a camera on a food plot yesterday and saw that he had been there the last two days. After hearing nothing this morning on a different place I decided to get to the food plot this evening and just wait him out. I set up in the shade under some overhanging limbs and settled in.
I called every 20 minutes for the next two hours. About 10 minutes after my last call sequence I saw a gobbler step out of the woods about 75 yards away. He began making his way towards me so I said nothing. When he got to 30 yards I yelped twice and he stretched to peek through the shadows where I was hiding. I pulled the trigger on my 20 and he never flopped. He was a nice 2 year old and I couldn’t be more happy. I ended up deer hunting the bird but it was still exciting!
(https://i.ibb.co/CJ1wKN9/C43-D11-DB-0453-4-C1-C-B3-DB-F4016-D9-D3630.jpg) (https://ibb.co/f81XdBN)
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YES!! Congrat Mossyguy!
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Alrighty mossyguy! Congratulations!
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Congrats mossy!!!
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Way to go Missy!!!!! Congrats on a real good bird.
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CONGRATS, you guys !!!!!
Apologies........... I've been told I'm essential and I've been busy as a cat covering crap at work. Still have a month til I can hunt.
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Yoder, no apologies necessary. Everyone’s lives are pretty weird right now!
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Had my first public land mishap this morning. Found the gobblingest turkey I’ve had all year. Finally got into his bubble at 9:00. Had safety off 3 different times in 30 minutes.
Finally had him about to finish at 60 yards, breathing fire down my barrel, and all of a sudden heard some odd squeaking on a mouth call and putt putt game was over.
Someone had heard him from the road, cranked up their 4 wheeler, (which was plainly audible,) driven it to the trailhead, cut across private land, and walked straight down the road squawking to spook the bird. Very inopportune timing.
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Ah yes...the joys of public land. Never hunted public in Mississippi but in Georgia and Kentucky I ran across some doozies. When a turkey gobbles some folks just lose their mind...
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I’ve had some good ones here in Pa. too. The ones that are tough to swallow are the intentional ones where the hunter that screws you up is parked right beside you when you get out. Even had a couple over the years on private land too.
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That's a huge bummer, but hunt long enough and you'll see all kinds of things. I've had bb's whiz passed, been rained down on with BB's from a guy shooting a bird out of a tree, heard a dog get shot that came in on a guy, and bb's hit my brother in laws pants. There's some sloppy hunters out there. Stay safe and happy hunting my friends.
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Another afternoon bird a few minutes ago. Birds are not gobbling so I’ve had to rely on trail cam pics. Doubt this one will be an upgrade but I’ll measure to make sure. It’s been slow but a great season nonetheless!
(https://i.ibb.co/sC95tNy/54-F88-B1-A-568-B-414-C-8-AB1-E3-E41281-A5-CB.jpg) (https://ibb.co/W0vDsMg)
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WOOT WOOOOOOT !!!!!!
CONGRATS !!!!!
:z-winnersmiley:
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Congrats
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Well tomorrow is opening day in NC will see how it goes suppose to be 33 degrees in the morning so they maybe tight lipped
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Killer opening morning! Heard a bird hammering right at first light WAY down a powerline where I hunt, so I made my way in his direction down the powerline, stopping and listening, and he was steadily hammering. He ended up being much farther than I originally thought, so I probably covered close to a half mile at least trucking down the line in his direction. Finally got close and could tell he was over on another ridge, but I was close enough and even with him so I put out my jake and hen and sat just off the powerline in the woods.
Hit the call a few times lightly, and had a hen respond. At first I thought it was another hunter, but she made a beeline to the dekes and unfortunately was alone. As he's still steadily gobbling about 250 yards away, I was hoping she didn't go his direction. Fortunately she left the decoys and went the opposite way of him.
I don't think he went 3 minutes in between gobbles, and would respond every time I hit the call, but didn't seem to be coming any closer. I finally just put the call down and figured I'd sit tight and wait. 15 or so minutes went by with him not gobbling, and I thought I'd be in for a long morning, when he HAMMERED much much closer this time, probably 100 yards tops. I had the gun up and waiting, and waiting, and waiting, no turkey.
Eventually I catch a big black blob out of the corner of my eye coming around the big tree to my left, and he's in full strut in the powerline coming towards the decoys, 10 yards from me. I thought my heart was going to pound out of my chest as he SLOWLY makes his way towards the decoys, in full strut, spitting and drumming. After what seemed like forever of him tip toeing and towards the decoys and putting on a show, he finally made his last final steps, and I dropped him at about 15 yards. And I called him in with one of my calls I made, which makes it even sweeter! Pics are in the scoring thread
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Money! Congrats man!
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Nice work mossy!
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Another one bites the dust!! Congrats, Mossy!!
And a big CONGRATULATIONS to Twyatt
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Killed my final MS bird this morning. He played the game well. Its bittersweet to end a season, but he’s a good bird to end on. 11.5 inch beard, 1 1/8 spurs with one broke off, and he had been shot before. Found some #5s in his breast and I shoot 9s. Pretty cool to kill a bird who has seen a thing or 2 in his day
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Congrats on #3!
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Congrats Delmar and Mossy!!!
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Way to go, boys !!!!!!!!
Keep knockin' em down !!!!
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Congrats everyone
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Things are on fire and we’re still sitting on the sidelines in Pa waiting for our chance to get in the game. You guys are killing me!!!!!! Congrats on some great birds!
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Congrats to you all! Looks like a great season down
I’m going to make a trip to the Wyoming black hills (Wyoming resident) the 24th through the 26th with my girlfriend. Hopefully, if all goes right, I’ll have one of those low scoring merriam 2 year olds to add to the list!
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Congratulations guys!!! Solid birds. Can't wait to be able to toss my hat in the ring and compete.
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What another awesome morning in the woods! Went yesterday to a new spot, only heard a few gobbles off in the distance, but when I was leaving I noticed tracks and strut marks in the road right in front of where I'd parked my truck, clearly from the past couple days since it poured Monday.
So this morning I went back, but parked my truck WAY back up the road. Listened for a while at first light, but only heard one or two gobbles WAY off in the distance. Without having heard anything remotely close, I figured I'd just set up in an open spot at the end of the road and just plan on sitting til noon. As soon as I got set up, I decided I didn't really like that spot after all, so I grabbed the decoys and walked back to where I'd seen the strut marks, put my decoys right in the dirt road, walked about 20 or so yards and started to get set up and settled in. I kicked the leaves away, set my chair down, sat down, and was taking my calls out of my vest when I looked up and there's a gobbler RUNNING down the road straight towards the decoys! I didn't have my facemask on yet, had a box call in my hand, and my gun is laying across my lap. UH OH, is all I could think. He sprints right up to the decoys and then just stands there almost eye to eye with them, and freezes. I was hoping he'd be distracted enough to not notice me putting the box down and slowly raising my gun, but no such luck. He picks me off and as he turns around and takes about 3 quick steps to get out of dodge, I shot him, he didn't go down so I shot again and he made his way around the corner and ran up another road that was about 40 yards away and to the right and out of sight. I sprinted down the road and turned right and to my relief he was laying in the road.
I never made a call, so I suppose he was coming in to me kicking the leaves.
My biggest bird to date and I'm tagged out in VA! Pics in the scoring thread
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Hell of a bird! Congrats!
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Nice job Wyatt! Fixing to scratch that itch soon! Been listening for 2 weeks now
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Congratulations Twyatt!! Great bird
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GREAT BIRD !!!! CONGRATS !!!
I went ou this morning to try to get a line on a bird for my daughter next Saturday. Pretty disappointing..........but it was kinda windy and cold. Hopefully better finds tomorrow morning. Had my 13 year old son out in the back yard trying to familiarize him with the new .410 turkey gun. It went............meh.........OK. But he's not ready yet. We were shooting tin cans at 25-30 yards. We have work to do.
The gun, itself was actually ready to kill a bird at 30 yards with the practice rounds.......... 3" 7 1/2 shot. First shot I took was at 30 yards and it had WAY plenty hits to have crushed a gobbler at that distance. I have yet to put it on paper with the TSS #9's. Got a gut feeling it'll be quite OK.
Both kids and I took 3 blinds out to the property this afternoon and set 2 of them in their usual spots. The field where we put the 3rd one wasn't mowed last fall so no blind went there today. But my brother later said he would get it cleaned up this week. So may stick that one out tomorrow afternoon.
Gonna go listen in the morning. Then straight off on an hour and a half drive for an early meet-up with a guy who wants rid of a few Federal Heavy 7's. Just so happens I'd like to lay a few more of those in, so...........
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CONGRATS, KH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep knockin' 'em down, boys !!!!! Us PA boys will sit up here and watch from the sidelines............... ::)
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Congratulations, KH!! Good bird. Sucks that he broke a spur.
Our time is coming Yoder.
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Look at this!!!!! I go to camp for a long weekend and another falls to the Killer B’s. Congrats KH!!
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Look at this!!!!! I go to camp for a long weekend and another falls to the Killer B’s. Congrats KH!!
Go to camp, again !!!!
:toothy12:
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Well I went camping and good things happened in WV. Took a short drive over the border where a coworker generously allowed myself and a_jabbo to camp and hunt on her property. Friday night we were able to roost a bird and yesterday morning dawned foggy which turned out to be a blessing. We ended up misjudging where the bird roosted and got a bit tighter then we wanted. He ended up being about 80 yards directly uphill. When he pitched down it sounded like he was walking away from us toward a gas line. Since it was so foggy and we had the terrain in our favor we bailed off the hill hit an ATV trail and hooked around where we thought we would be in front of the bird. One call and he answered.......right from the tree we just left. We set up right where we were, Adam dropped back a little bit and started calling and man did he get this bird fired up. He was double and triple gobbling and man the drumming!!!! The drumming was so loud but the fog was so thick I couldn’t see him. Then like a ghost he just materialized out of the fog at 35 yards in full strut. He strutted and drummed his way to about 20 yards where I shot him. It was a great hunt shared with a great friend! Real excited for the Pa opener next Saturday.
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Its slow where I’m hunting can’t get the weather to cooperate every time I go it’s cloudy rainy crappy mornings but I’m hoping I can get it done in Ohio this weekend congrats to everyone great birds and stories
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Hammer of a bird Z!
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Hell of a bird Captain! Bet hearing the drumming in the fog was something special
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I’m headed to Northeast Wyoming Friday to hunt the black hills. Gonna hit WY and SD and hopefully MT before heading across to Minnesota and Wisconsin
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CONGRATS Z!
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Howdy fellers!
Just returned home from my annual trip to the black hills. Had a great time hunting a lot of my familiar spots, learned more along the way, and found a lot of hard headed birds that would gobble at everything but would flat REFUSE to come to the call.
On my bird, myself and my girlfriend were able to put ourselves in between the boss hen and the gobbler. As soon as I figured out that she was calling to the flock and the gobbler was lagging behind with other hens I knew we had a great chance. We kicked the boss hen off of her high point and I basically become the boss hen, calling sparingly but it worked great. I had 4 hens come to within 30 yards and the gobbler finally showed himself at about 40-50 yards. It was one of my longer shots and I jumped up ready to hop on the bird but he barely flopped. Believe it or not, that’s a long spurred turkey for the black hills. This is only the second older bird I’ve ever killed up there as most 2 year olds have half inch rounded spurs.
This was my girlfriends first hunting trip where she was going to get to try and kill something and I had tried to get her on a gobbler the day before I killed mine to which we were successful at getting him to about 15 yards. We were unsuccessful at sending a shot down range. She was a bit apprehensive not wanting to shoot a jake (spoiled I know) and didn’t feel comfortable so didn’t shoot. There were probably 15+ turkeys in this group and it was a lot to handle. I got reminded quick on how a 99.999% successful opportunity for a seasoned turkey hunter is very touch and go with a beginner!
Sunday morning we got on the same group of birds off the roost. A gobbler and two hens branches off and worked our way. They started skirting us at about 50 yards and so we were able to work down a tree line to intercept them. He did perfect and came up to the crest of the hill and stuck his neck out in all his glory. I said “there it is...kill him.”...... 5 seconds go by and nothing. He puts his head back down and as she shifts he raises his head again... “okay kill him there.” Another few seconds and nothing as he turns to leave. I hit him with the call and he extends his neck one more time. “Honey, it has to be right now!” ...a few seconds goes by and and KABOOM! I just knew that was it but nary a feather flies, the bird ducks and takes off running at Mach 9. I said “well...you missed... but that’s okay!” She was pretty bummed as she really wanted to take a bird, but it was a good reminder for her to take target practice seriously and remember all the little things! I felt good that I gave her two great opportunities and the one she missed wasn’t a rushed shot, a borderline opportunity, or anything of the sort...just a flat out whiff! Sometimes the turkey wins!
(https://i.ibb.co/0tCDTXR/BB5-FEE77-8465-4730-83-E9-90-E2490-B9133.png) (https://ibb.co/bJsWT3M)
(https://i.ibb.co/Np1HGhg/752-DC19-D-826-C-4-A0-F-83-A4-44-A423-C25802.png) (https://ibb.co/92wCdXm)
(https://i.ibb.co/HgRdHtJ/6-A609345-71-A5-4303-9-DD6-5-F95558-CE5-EB.png) (https://ibb.co/j4qRryp)
(https://i.ibb.co/8c8hLWj/A68-A9-E15-A319-4-E3-A-B05-B-B3-CCB852-A031.png) (https://ibb.co/m8zxVLH)
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Congratulations on the recent success everybody! Just getting caught back up on all the stories and pics!
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Congrats POK - beautiful bird!!!
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That last pic says it all...been there-done that!
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Congrats POK!! Very nice western bird indeed.
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Beautiful bird Trent! Merriams have some beautiful colors
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Thank you guys!! It’s definitely a visual treat getting one of these guys on the ground. I never get tired of looking at them!
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MUCHO CONGRATS on a stud of a Merriam's !!!!!
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Great bird, POK! Congrats
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Thanks guys!!! Now who’s next!?
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Thanks guys!!! Now who’s next!?
I have a pretty good feeling our PA guys are going to lay down some birds this coming weekend!
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Our season ends on Friday and me and my pops have been fishing. So even though my season is done I’ll still be on here checking on you guys. Looking forward to seeing some pics of those northern birds!
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Thanks guys!!! Now who’s next!?
I have a pretty good feeling our PA guys are going to lay down some birds this coming weekend!
Went scouting and put eyes on 15 long beards this morning. Hopefully we can get one to play on Saturday. I’m ready!!!!
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GO GET EM BOYS!!!
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GO GET EM BOYS!!!
Good luck to all you Pennsylvania guys! Hey Trent, check you pms; I sent you a couple questions about Wyoming
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We've got birds lined up for Saturday, it's just a matter if any of them are willing to commit suicide.
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GO GET EM BOYS!!!
Good luck to all you Pennsylvania guys! Hey Trent, check you pms; I sent you a couple questions about Wyoming
Delmar I sent one back and have been awaiting your reply!? Did it not send?? Shoot me a text at 307-871-0575
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Going into one of the least optimistic seasons in a good while. The birds up here ate cicadas all last summer and had a very easy winter. Should be covered up in healthy, heavy birds. But I'm not seeing the numbers at our place I thought I would be.
Time will tell.
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They’ve been socially distancing Yoder...they’ll be there!
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After a complete flop of a morning on Saturday, today was a good day for redemption. Zsully and I have been wanting to hunt this particular little spot for quite sometime now, and luckily Z was able to speak with the Landowner to get permission. He told me yesterday that his 5 year old son wanted to go out turkey hunting with us, and of course that's absolutely going to happen. Z went and set the blind up last night, and with a good report back said that he saw a gobbler with a hen working their way in the direction of where we would be setup in the morning. Morning comes, and everyone is jacked up. Get to the blind and of course the wind had blown the blind over. Get that setup and we are situated. We were nice and cozy about 5:15, just in the nick of time considering daybreak is coming earlier. About 5:40, with plenty of light for turkeys to see, I hear a 4 wheeler coming. Sure enough, two guys come in from a neighboring property and start walking in our direction. GOOOOBBBLLEEE!! First gobbles ring out. Im looking out the back window, and these dudes are stopped about 80 yards away, and I know they see us. I throw a wave to make sure, and they walk away from us to setup about 130-150 yards away. We're hearing more gobbling, so I'm glassing the trees and see what appeared to be a jake out in front of us. I watched him gobble, but we were hearing a deeper gobble a little further behind him. I throw out some yelps and get some good responses. We watched the jake fly down, and we were positive the other gobbler was on the ground. I hit him with the sweet stuff and he started hammering back. Gave him a couple more yelps and zipped it. So the wait begins, but it didn't take long for Z's son to snap his arm up as the gobbler stepped out of the woods. Not sure if the gobbler saw him do that or he was being cautious of the decoys, but he was skirting them. Didn't skirt out of range though. A nice little 30 yard shot and he was flopping. I like it when you can score before work time.
(https://i.ibb.co/28NxV43/IMG-2795.jpg) (https://ibb.co/tZXgjrp)
(https://i.ibb.co/2dbr82B/IMG-2797.jpg) (https://ibb.co/NK4q1hz)
(https://i.ibb.co/qRYSsfC/IMG-2810.jpg) (https://ibb.co/vJ4FPGh)
(https://i.ibb.co/kBSw4dQ/IMG-2813.jpg) (https://ibb.co/MSCtcXM)
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Awesome!
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More points on the ground for the B's .
Not a monster...........but a hard-fought buzzer beater from outside the 3-point circle.
Details to follow.
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Good deal Yoder...I think we should keep this team from here on out ;)
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So.......... I was in the woods and set up tight on a group of 7 gobblers (2 longbeards and 5 jakes) shortly after 5 AM this morning. Long story short, I spent the next 5 1/2 hours playing cat and mouse with them. Twice I had the hammer back and a longbeard 1-2 steps from dying, only to be picked off BOTH TIMES. I still have no idea how..............
Anyways.........at 10:30 I headed back out the ridge to where they roost. Wanted to do some recon on tomorrow morning's setup. Got almost there and I hear somebody calling out in front of me. It was coming from very near the property line. So I put the stalk on......taking a step.......glassing for 5 minutes......repeat. Got to the point where I thought I should be able to see the guy. The calling was coming from a little ways off our property........from a big tree line at the end of the neighbor's field where it drops into our woods. Lots of overhanging limbs along the edge but I can't see the guy. Then I glass a little past where he's at and there's a mature bird in full strut !!! He was in a roll in the field terrain. That's when the lightbulb went on. It wasn't a hunter. It was a hen. And I knew which one !!! She and I had quite a discussion Saturday morning. We had a real shouting match for a while. Then she settled down as did I and called her and 6 other hens right to me. Wasn't a gobbler within 500 yards......... But that was Saturday. I know she's mouthy. So I started to work on her. Copy-catted her every sound.........plus threw some purrs, whines and even a couple kee-kees in because she did that to me Saturday. She started coming. But she swung a semi-circle into the woods and around below me. The hill slopes off pretty hard. So sitting down, you don't see very far very well. But I could follow the gobbler by his fan tips and occasionally his big, fat white head. She was headed to a small gas pipeline that went down over the hill between us. I figured when the tom got to the pipeline he might strut right up the hill to pick me up. I was sitting just yards off the pipeline. Then the hen started coming at me. Straight up the pipeline. She popped up about 25-30 yards from me. But she didn't see what she thought she would, apparently, and queered a bit. Not spooked, per se. But not all cozy either. She turned and started back down the pipeline. I just kept calling reassuringly to her. Now, I'm thinking this tom HAS to be RIGHT HERE. But I can't see him. I decide to slide my back up the tree I was against..... into a standing position ever so slowly to see where he was. Initially as I came up, I was looking across the pipeline where I had last seen him. But oops !!! He's straight down slope from me !!! He's in full strut !! He's behind some stuff............. A step and a half in front of me there's a small maple I can get a finger wrap on. He goes behind a huge triple maple and I step up and brace my gun on the maple. He comes out from behind the tree clump in full strut. He comes out of strut but his head.......all but the very top.......is behind a log. Slow as slow can be, strutting again, he takes a couple steps in the right direction. Comes out of strut......still the stupid log. Back into a strut.......takes a step or two..........starts to drop strut and his head came clear. Bang. It is done. 11:59 AM. We gotta quit at noon.
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Congrats Yoder! I have some good news on today’s episode of “Zach & Adam’s turkey adventures” as well. Spoiler alert.......It’s a double feature. We woke up early and hit a farm that Jabbo got us permission to hunt last year before deer season. It was clear this past fall that there was a good population of turkeys on the property as well. We knew we had to at least give it a shot this spring even though it is a little further then our normal spots. We took one trip early in April to listen and were rewarded with a hillside full of gobblers greeting the morning. Fast forward to this morning. We slipped through some thick brush toward the more open woods where we thought they would be roosted and settled in just before gobbling light. As the first gobbles rang out a couple things were clear: 1. were on the outskirts of the darn turkey coop, 2. We should’ve set up 15 yards further forward. 3: That hen above us on the hill is going to prevent us from gaining that extra yardage.
Welp, let’s work with what we got. We listened to the birds fly down and while the the gobblers would answer every once in a while they would jump all over our little hen friend just uphill from us. So we picked a fight and boy the commotion we caused!!!!! I’m on a pot call (Twyatt walnut/ceramic - I highly recommend it) and Adam’s working the ninja hammer. The hen’s screaming at us, were screaming back at her and screaming at each other all while this group of gobblers is hammering so hard and so often that I’m really not sure how they had any air left in their lungs. Both the hen and the gobblers are closing fast but the hen got there first and walked right down my gun barrel to about 10 yards. At that point she decided she didn’t like the fat camo blob at the bottom of the tree in front of her. She putted and removed herself from the conversation and walked back towards the gobblers. At that point things got quiet and we thought the morning was probably over.
We were sitting back licking our wounds when there was a gobble. Multiple gobbles from the exact spot those birds were at when we had our episode with the hen. Back in the game baby! These birds are about 60-70 yards at this point. We start some soft calling and scratching in the leaves. Our boys are warming up again when all the sudden there’s a putt from Jabbo’s tree. My first thought was WTF was that dude! Then out of the corner of my eye I see a Jake jump backwards from the back side of his tree. The Jake was 2 yards from his hand when he raked the leaves. So more putting and another stretch of silence.
15 minutes have gone by without a peep when I hear Jabbo trying to get my attention. I look over and he whispered, “I see one”. I’m searching and I can’t see this bird for the life of me. So I told him to take the shot if he had it. He whispered back he could see multiple full fans working our way. He told me he was on the lead bird and to call the shot when I had it. Two birds stepped out from behind the tree and I took aim at the one on the left. 1.......2......3. BOOM BOOM. The left bird fell and much to my surprise the right bird took off. As we both jumped up I looked at Jabbo anticipating the follow up shot. What I saw was a grown man celebrating like his bird was dead. That’s when I realized there was a third gobbler that had made it past me without me seeing it. When we went over there were two more longbeards not sure if they wanted to beat on their fallen comrades or get out of dodge. They finally did decide to leave but I know where we will be tomorrow. It was another awesome hunt to remember.
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CONGRATS, boys !!!!!
Well done !!!!!
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Heck yes! Awesome job guys! Love the stories and pics!
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Way to go guys! Great birds and well written stories! I’ve been off the grid camping in the black hills in Wyoming since Saturday. Sunday morning was the first morning to hunt, and I had the most heartbreaking miss of my life. Beautiful white tipped merriam in full strut, at 40 yards, on top of the most scenic mountain you’ve ever seen. And I blew it. Just absolutely whiffed. I was devastated to say the least.
Been hunting hard since then, but these merriams are the damndest things I’ve ever hunted. It seems like they run everywhere, often in the opposite direction and up unclimbable slopes.
This morning things swung in my favor. Roosted a bird last night, the same one I was on yesterday morning, where he flew down opposite of me and was 1/2 mile away before I could blink. Well, this morning was windy, and I was met with silence from 4:35 (when they have started gobbling) to about 5:15. 5:15 I hit the call hard and he hammered back, but was roosted 100 yards further than I thought. I close the distance and am set up on the flat top of a ridge and the flock was roosted on the side.
They were all very vocal, and he started gobbling at his flock mates and my calls continuosly. The lead hen flew down first and walked to 10 yards in front of me, cutting up. At this point I was liking how things were turning out. As I’m looking at this hen, I see other turkeys start pitching down to the side of the ridge behind her in the distance. Within 30 seconds he crested and was at 30 yard in full strut. I had a narrow window but took the first shot opportunity I had, and this time I didn’t miss. He’s a beautiful bird, and I’m very humbled to have taken him. Redemption after a miss is oh so sweet. (https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200507/f835c588a76e6d82611c7f5e00c89ec6.jpg)
(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200507/acbce47bec3b108005349075e4575329.jpg)
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Great stuff Delmar! Glad my home state finally gave up that bounty!!
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Just returned home after a fun filled few days chasing more merriams. I met up with a buddy in a neighboring state for what was supposed to be the better part of 4 days. I woke up at 2 AM Monday and was hunting by 10:30. I immediately went for a walk in an area that has consistently produced gobblers for our hunting party the last few years. Nothing. I didn’t hear or see a single turkey in a 6.5 mile loop. I also didn’t see any fresh sign. It was pretty disheartening and after the early morning and windshield time I was pretty whipped. I wanted a nap but decided I NEEDED to find turkeys. I went for a drive and hit all the high points on my way sending out calls. I finally got a gobble only for him to be moving the other way when I got in on him. Luckily I saw it was a gobbling jake so my feelings weren’t hurt too bad. My buddy arrived in camp during all of my driving around and went on a walk of his own to also see and hear nothing. I decided to drive below where I walked earlier in the day to REALLY make sure there were no turkeys around. As I got below my “loop” I spotted a longbeard in full strut following a few hens. I circled above where they were headed and about the time I was thinking what my next move should be I saw a hen heading right towards me at about 50 yards. The longbeard appeared shortly after. He got to about 40 yards and looked like he was going to circle back the way he came but instead he turned halfway back, then turned right at me and walked straight toward me another 15 yards. He stretched his neck out and that was it! It was great to have a turkey in camp after really not seeing anything for turkey sign. Make sure you zoom in on this picture to see the bags under my eyes!!
(https://i.ibb.co/mbJGxRs/1612208-C-DD38-40-FE-B7-F6-27-DBB533056-E.jpg) (https://ibb.co/bQ1Pf6h)
(https://i.ibb.co/VxfRFDb/6-D4-D1018-E9-D7-442-C-AF86-26-DFB3-D31728.jpg) (https://ibb.co/cw40WtR)
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That evening we were able to roost two birds but the next morning gambled wrong setting up under another gobbling jake. We decided to go for a drive and explore some country we had been wanting to see for years. We did and ended up striking up 2 gobblers. Circling around them a mile or more we finally spotted their hens. We waited and waited and waited and the gobblers never showed. I tried calling and it seemed they had just disappeared. As we got up to leave the gobblers spooked about 90 yards straight to our right. 2 big longbeards. That one stung. We were really in a good position but as the hens fed by from right to left and completely disappesred from site, we thought we had somehow spooked the gobblers on the way in. Nevertheless we at least knew where 2 longbeards were hanging out. We backed out of the area to check other places which didn’t turn up anything. At roosting time we headed back to where we spooked the longbeards and ran right into 4 jakes with a hen. We climbed a high point and were treated with 5 different birds gobbling as they got into their beds for the night.
The next morning me and Preston decided we’d split up. We had originally planned to stay one more day but with a half inch of rain in the forecast for that night and into the next morning, we realized today was our day! I gave Preston the option of where he wanted to be and id head for other birds. I climbed a high point as we didn’t have any of the gobblers pinpointed in my location. I was within 400 yards of 2 different birds and one bird appeared to have a “jakey” gobble. I headed for the other one. He was roosted just below a point that extended Into a creek bottom. That point had a circular knob at the head of it and then another secondary ridge that wrapped around toward the East. I figured if he was alone he’d be heading to that knob. If he had hens then i’d be close enough to him that I could figure out where he was heading. He was gobbling well as I dropped down off my listening point but I knew I wouldn’t be able hear him when I got low into the bottom. Going up the other side I could start hearing him and as I approached the knob it appeared he was more towards that secondary ridge than the point I thought he was on. He then gobbled again and I could tell he was already on the ground! It wasn’t quite 5:30 yet and sunrise is 5:36. I took a few steps toward a downed log and he gobbled again and about blew my hat off. It was obvious I wasn’t going to make it to that log. I just sat down where I was and hoped it would work. He popped up right at the top of the knob I had been trying to get to, and a little bit to the left of my downed log. He saw me and stuck his head up to study me so I let him have it. I believe he was fired up and coming to the sound of me walking. Either that or I was exactly right and he wanted to be on that knob. Whichever the case, it worked out perfect!
(https://i.ibb.co/5r3fhwz/EB357279-CAB6-473-C-9-D26-B5-FA877-D0-FD6.jpg) (https://ibb.co/D9FSfT6)
(https://i.ibb.co/FJwNjSb/6-AF39-F2-B-BE46-4-A62-B706-22-D0-B6-B35-A06.jpg) (https://ibb.co/2PtmfD7)
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CONGRATS, fellers on some GORGEOUS birds !!!!
Only thing more beautiful than a Merriam's tom is the country you hunt em in...........
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Congrats Delmar and POK! Seems like this team is a straight up force to be reckon with in the month of May. More good news today. AJabbo and I were at it again.
I wasn’t planning on hunting this morning since I have this recurring team meeting at 8:30 every Thursday since we started working remotely from this Covid stuff. Last night I slept like crap though. After tossing and turning and sleeping for crap I decided to go hunting. So at 4:00 I texted Jabbo and said I’m going hunting. The text was more so I wouldn’t feel guilty while I was out there by myself. To my shock he responded and told me to swing past and pick him up in 20 minutes. So off we went on an impromptu hunt back to the same farm we doubled up back on Tuesday. There were two more longbeards on that hill that we knew of anyway so why not. Off the roost they gobbled some but there was another just absolutely ripping on the next ridge over. I knew we should’ve asked permission over there. Oh well let’s play the hand we’re dealt. Listened to the morning dawn and the heard the birds fly down. Couple yelps and a response then silence. I check my phone 6:35......plenty of time. Little more calling with no response. Another time check 6:50. This probably isn’t going to work. GOBBLE......shoot we’re still in the game. Yelp yelp......GOBBLE. He’s gotta be about 80 yards. Just over the toll in the hill. It’s dejavu from Tuesday all over again. Couple yelp.......GOBBLE. It’s clear this bird has his feet in cement. We give him the silent treatment but we don’t have a ton of time for this......7:15. Gosh I gotta leave......GOBBLE!!!! Crap he’s right there. I can give it 15 more minutes. GOBBLE!!!! I feel like that was closer. Stay quiet. I can hear him walking....GOBBLE. There he is 60 yards out. Strutting.....spinning.....taunting. This is where I’m so glad jabbo was with me. Two flicks of the wrist and a little scratching in the leaves was all it took. GOBBLE.......GOBBLE and he broke. At about 25 yards the shot rang out......quick time check 7:42. WE GOTTA GO! I grab the bird and off we go. Here is where I’m embarrassed to say I never took a picture of that bird. He was gorgeous 9 inch beard and 1 inch spurs. So now we’re tagged out in PA. Might try to sneak back down to WV for a day early next week.
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Way to go, Zach !!!
I had to leave a group of gobbling birds at noon yesterday. Thought maybe another buzzer-beatsr, but, no.......
This morning was very quiet. Only gobbling birds were on another property and FAR. Then the rain started. Currently sitting in a blind staying dry. This ain't my cup of tea. But it does beat sitting the couch looking out the window. Hard to believe there's been this little activity today.
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Great job sully!!! Gotta love hunts like that!
I just returned from getting my butt royally kicked in Colorado. Went down to hunt with some of my girlfriend’s cousins. They are new at turkey hunting, had founds some birds, and I thought so would go down there, teach them some things and we’d have a good hunt. I was wrong lol. Heard one gobbler in 3 days. Roosted him on the night of day 1, called him into 20 yards the morning of day two, and my girlfriend’s cousin promptly missed him. I then missed him as he was getting out of dodge. It was fun, but boy was it tough! Only turkey I laid my eyes on.
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Just got back from a 3 day hunt in PA with Zsully and A_Jabbo, and had an absolute blast! It would probably take me an entire day to type out the entire 3 days of hunting, but these guys are flat out turkey killers. You'd be hard pressed to ever find 2 nicer, harder working guys, that I swear are part turkey. They were both tagged out when I got there, and still worked harder than anything I've ever seen to put me on birds. My little flat-lander legs still hurt from walking those PA hills, lol.
Day one's setup literally had us right under birds - they pitched out of the trees and into the decoys and bird #1 was down and day one in the books within the opening minutes of daylight. I think we were back eating breakfast by about 6am. We had seen these birds the evening before, and thought we'd be set up close, but I sure didn't expect them to pitch down into my lap.
Day 2 had us in and around birds all morning, but couldn't quite get any to cooperate, and I think we walked from one side of PA to the other.
Day 3's morning sit had us right under some hens, but no gobblers around. Moved to another spot about 9am and the plan was to just wait out some birds that had been frequenting this property. With not much going on, my fat, worn out self fell asleep around 10:45 against a tree, and was woken by gobbles, and they were close, and getting closer! These 2 toms gobbled their brains out as they're coming in, and Adam casts a few yelps up in my direction and turned these birds right up the path and into my lap. Another beautiful PA bird down and a phenomenal ending to the best trip I've ever been on. These guys put 2 birds in my lap in 3 days!
I don't know what more anyone could ask for. The hospitality, meals, hard work they put in, their calling, and just pure turkey killing ability was second to none. I felt like I was at a 5 star lodge, lol.
Hard to top a great time with new friends, and some phenomenal turkey hunting! Big time thank you to them, great memories made, friendships made, and a couple great birds down. Definitely a trip I won't soon forget. These guys can flat out turkey hunt. Heck I make turkey calls, and was mesmerized by their calling ability.
Hopefully they'll chime in with some more of the details (bloopers), but I can still barely walk or hold my eyes open long enough to type much more. Between the possum trying to "get me" from behind one morning, and me doing a barrel roll out away from the tree at first light, with hens right above us, to the chipmunk crawling up the tree by my face, or whatever it was, there was definitely some laughs during the trip - not when it happened, but we can laugh about it now. Now me accidentally shooting half the beard off of the first bird, NOT FUNNY.
Anyways, on to the good stuff - - - - pictures!
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This hunt was a blast. Day 1 may have been the easiest turkey hunt I’ve ever been on. I saw that bird scouting Wednesday morning then again with Travis Wednesday evening. He was on a farm literally a mile down the road from the house and only about 150 yards off the road. To make things better this little patch of timber was surrounded by fields so we knew he had to be roosting there. I had no idea we’d be that close though. My favorite part of that hunt was the hen that landed between the decoys and Travis. We set the decoys close, probably 10-12 yards, so that hen landed at about 5 yards. After that I was a little concerned for days two and three after we hunted all of 15 minutes day one before Travis killed his first bird. Day two we hunted hard. Right off the roost we had two birds hotter then a two peckered billy goat. I mean they were screaming at everything. Unfortunately the only bird we called in was a hen. Late morning we ran into a big longbeard loafing in a bottom but just ran out of time since we had to stop hunting at noon. Day 3 was a day I had been hoping to avoid all season. There is this one farm we hunt that is an absolute mountain. It looks innocent enough from the road, just a big grass hill, but that b!/*h will try to kill you. There’s birds up there though and if you see them in the field the night before you know they’ll be close. Well Adam saw them there. Two longbeards at least...... for me that’s pretty much worth taking an @$$ whoppin to have the chance to call at two longbeards. So we made the hike and we’re rewarded with a couple hens yelping and not a single gobble from those birds. Off to the next. There was a bird a ways off trying to wake the dead with all his gobbling so he should surely play if we get close. We used the fog as cover and closed the distance to be rewarded again with a grand total of 0 gobbles. I did think that a rabbit was the upper half of a turkey in the fog and that was worth a good laugh. It sure was nice to get rewarded after all the walking and hard hunting though with 15 minutes of pure gobbling mayhem to finish off the trip. Such a good time creating new friendships, drinking beers and telling tall tales. I imagine these last couple days are going to be hard to beat for a long time.
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One of the highlights of the hunt with Travis was on the 3rd morning as I was sitting there and watched Travis as he jumped out of his skin and did a little dance just as it was getting light out and hens were just about roosted above us. I didn't realize what the heck was going on. Appeared as though he sat on an ant hill, but once I saw him throw a stick at something and watched an opossum scurry off, I realized what the commotion was all about. At first there was anger, but seeing the opossum I couldn't help but laugh. It's been a heck of a season.
(https://i.ibb.co/ZfG4qcY/2020-Turkey-Season.jpg) (https://ibb.co/dfjC8kL)
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Wow! Sounds like an awesome, fun filled trip had by all! Love the stories and pics!
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Great stories and pics, guys !!!!
WELL PLAYED !!!!!!!!!
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Way to go guys! Great stories. It’s always a great time chasing these birds with like minded folks. I’m in SW Wisconsin till Friday. My dad missed a bird yesterday morning. And he did perfect, I mean on a string to 25 yards. It was a heartbreaker but hopefully we can kill him tomorrow. The ungalaciated or driftlest area of Wisconsin is beautiful, hopefully we can put one on the ground before we leave Friday. It’s been a great 3 week trip regardless!
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Well, today marks the first day of the offseason for me. It’s sad to think about. While I love bowhunting deer, the thought of it doesn’t begin to fill the void that the ending of turkey season leaves.
I was able to fill my WI tag on the last evening of our trip. After dropping my dad off at camp to get work done, I drove back to a piece of public and walked to the end of a high ridge to sit and listen around 12:00. I wasn’t there 10 minutes and a bird gobbled off in the distance. I hiked down and up some brutal terrain and got in position, but the bird sidehilled me all the way to directly behind me.
While I was working that bird, another was gobbling equally as well on a bench down and up another hill. After the first setup proved a failure, I moved to him. He gobbled at everything, I used the terrain and got within 75 yards of him, and gave one yelp. No response. This troubled me, as he was gobbling at every noise he could hear. I thought he was either breaking to me or moving away. Sure enough, he gobbled 5 minutes later on the ridge I was just on, and his hen companion gave a few yelps.
After these 2 failed attempts, both the birds worked onto private, and a third was gobbling was gobbling wayyy off in the distance. I made the grueling track back to the truck, and it was 3:30 by the time I made it back. Everything had shut up, but I thought what the hell its my last night, so I walked the opposite direction I had worked those birds. At 4:00, I heard a gobble about 500 yards away. I moved closer and found this bird would only gobble at a purr on my glass call, and he’d hit it every time, but wouldn’t touch any other call or sound.
This bird was on the original ridge I had started on, 20 yards from the first tree I had sat on. This ridge was wide open, and there wasn’t really a play I could make. I glasses him in full strut, and after seeing him to over the crest, I sidehilled to the saddle in the middle of the ridge. There I was able to seal the deal at 5:00. I walked over 9 miles for this bird, and ended up killing him right where I started, go figure.
I feel so blessed to be able to hunt these birds another year, and can’t wait till next year already. Congratulations to everyone on a great year, this team has done some considerable damage on the turkeys in the past 2 years!(https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20200523/e25e7fb756f0100bee1c9f58d4e624cf.jpg)
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Great way to end the season Delmar. You’re right this team sure has been tough on the longbeards these last two years. Awesome to get to know a bunch of guys that are as turkey crazy as I am.
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It was fun for sure this year. Can’t wait to do it again next season!
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All thumbs up, as usual, Delmar !!!!!
The fat lady hasn't sung JUST yet, here. Took my younger boy out this evening for a sit in a blind. Had one gobbling...........just not playing the game well. Saturday is our last day. I have a game plan for this guy (who I shoulda killed on Monday, but.........) if he's gonna keep roosting where he has been.
Hopefully there's details to stay tuned for..................
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Proud to be a member of this team of killers! Hopefully a few more trips for me next spring!!
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OK..................fat lady sang.
Season closed out yesterday. My brother hunted last week and said the birds gobbled a little but were totally ignorant. He was right. Had a couple birds gobble early on. They were on the property, but at distance. They had completely shut off by 6:30 AM. I had stuff to do. So I called it a season around 10:00.
Weird year. The bird I killed never gobbled. Called 4 in that busted me for (STILL can't figure it out) no known reason. I haven't been picked off by 4 birds in the last 10 years COMBINED............so to have 4 in one season............and not know why........ I'm a bit disturbed.
Anyhoo..............only 11 months til our season opens again. But HOPING to shorten the curve a couple months by doing Florida in 2021.
Super team we have thrown together here !!! Hope all yinz are up for a return gig next year !!!